Happy Friday! Today I am beyond excited to wrap up Manicure March with all of you. It was really fun to blog every single day for an entire month, and get back to the roots of Adventures in Polishland with nail polish reviews. If you missed any of the 31 posts, you can check them out HERE. I decided to do Manicure March to share with all of you my nail polish declutter project. Last year I began decluttering my nail polishes because I was feeling very weighed down by them. I absolutely love nail polish, and am still very passionate about it. However, I don’t want to hold onto them and not use them. I’m taking my time to pare down my nail polish stash to include only those polishes I absolutely love. I hope all of you are enjoying this adventure, and that you’re excited to see the final Manicure March results!
Manicure March by the Numbers
First things first, let’s discuss the numbers. I swatched 31 nail polishes during Manicure March. I didn’t have a specific goal in mind for how many I wanted to keep versus declutter, but I was hoping to destash more than I kept. Here is the breakdown of results:
Polishes Kept: 14
Polishes Decluttered: 17
I feel great that I was able to destash more nail polishes than I decided to keep. Of course, the end result for me is to build a collection of amazing nail polishes that I absolutely love. I would have been totally fine keeping more if they fit that category!
What am I doing with the decluttered polishes?
The biggest question I’ve received since announcing my destash project is what I’m going to do with the polishes I no longer want. I’ve thought about this in depth, and I honestly want to leave myself with the least amount of work possible. I’ve come up with a four-step process to help me move the decluttered polishes out of my possession as quickly as possible:
- Recycle Bad Formulas – Did you know you aren’t supposed to throw out nail polish in the regular garbage? Nail polish needs to be disposed of at a household hazardous waste facility. Unfortunately, there aren’t any local to me based on THIS online research. However, every year Zoya puts together an Earth day promotion where you can send in your old nail polish to be recycled. I’m going to keep an eye out for the 2016 promotion, and will post about it on my Facebook Page HERE when the information is available.
- Give to Friends and Family – I always offer any products I have to friends and family first. It cuts down on shipping costs and gives back to those in my personal community!
- Sell those Worth Money – If I have any nail polishes that are worth money, I might try to sell them in nail polish groups. I don’t think any of the polishes I’ve decluttered thus far fall into this category, but some might make it into the pile later. I will not sell nail polishes I received for review. However, I may offer them to others if they pay the shipping fee.
- Donate to Charity – Finally, I will donate the rest of my polishes to charity. Many shelters accept gently used nail polish, so check your local area to see what’s an option for you. I plan on donating to PolishedGirlz, an organization I’ve heard amazing things about in the nail polish community.
What Happens Next?
Manicure March completed my first round of my declutter. I did a modified KonMari method in which I held every polish and quickly decided whether it was one that sparked joy for me. If it did, I kept it. If not, I put it directly in the declutter bin. If I couldn’t decide based on the polish alone, I swatched it during Manicure March!
My next round is going to be based on nail polish color. I’m going to look at each color family of polish and get rid of any polishes that are the same or very, very similar. You can expect some comparison posts to be coming your way during that round! After that I will see how my collection is doing, and perhaps create a round three.
That wraps up Manicure March! I hope you enjoyed all of my reviews and the fun discussions we had in each post. I really loved hearing your thoughts, so thank you to everyone who commented and shared with me! My regular blog schedule will be resuming tomorrow, but I promise there are more nail polish reviews coming your way very, very soon!
Really enjoyed Manicure March, it was fun! I liked comparing notes on polishes I have and getting ideas for ones I may want (or want similar polishes if they aren’t available anymore). It was also fun to see some of the memory lane polished and hear your stories about why you kept them. People don’t realize how emotional nail polish can be!
Thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed the month!