How to Store Your Nail Polish: 6 Tips
Do you know the shelf life of nail polish? It's about two years, whether for natural or conventional polish. However, depending on how you care for it, you can either extend its lifespan or shorten its usability! So, how do you store your nail polish for as long as possible? Here are some very easy tips to implement for long-lasting polish.
Store your polishes in a dark place
Nail polish doesn't like sunlight or heat. They are known to accelerate the degradation of components. The results: the polish dries much faster, becomes gooey, and loses its shine.
To avoid this mishap, we advise you to place your polishes in a cool, dry, and dark place. However, avoid the bathroom, as temperature variations are frequent there, and, logically, near a window.
Ultimately, the most suitable place might be your bedroom, but also... the refrigerator! Yes, you read that right. You can also store your nail polishes in the fridge. It helps maintain their elasticity and makes application much smoother.
But, we admit, this is a solution to adopt only if you have a small collection of polishes.
Store your polishes vertically
Storing your polishes lying down in a box is certainly practical for saving space, but it's really not recommended.
The polish risks flowing into the cap - a disaster - and also separating. Separating? The polish pigments could detach from their base and settle at the bottom of the bottle. You may have already noticed this: after a while, the color applied to your nail is no longer quite the same as the one in the bottle.
The contents of your polish can also dry against the side of the bottle, and what a pain to try to retrieve even a little bit of product!
Convinced? Go, all vertical!
You can very easily store them in a box, a case in your closet, or even a desk drawer with enough height to place them upright. There are even small storage boxes and shelves that allow you to keep them upright.
Clean the neck of your nail polish bottle
By repeatedly wiping your brush around the neck, especially to wring it out, dry polish residue can build up around the bottle's opening. If it were only unsightly, there would be no problem. The issue is that it can prevent the bottle from closing properly and, consequently, allow air to infiltrate, which is the other bane of nail polish.
To avoid risk, we recommend wiping your brush on only one side, inside the neck, in one or two passes maximum.
Finally, even if it seems tedious, remember to clean the neck thoroughly after 2 or 3 uses to prevent these small clumps. Use a cotton pad soaked in nail polish remover and clean it well. Just a few seconds and you're done!
Of course, don't wait too long to properly close your bottle after use and put it away. The less it's exposed, the better.
Shake your nail polishes
It's highly likely that you don't always use the same polishes – we all have our favorites – and some only see the light of day on very rare occasions. Unfortunately, this impacts their preservation. Your polishes can then thicken and become unusable because they are not handled regularly. You should also know that dark nail polishes are more likely to dry out because they contain more pigments.
The solution: shake them occasionally.
So no, not every morning or every week, but a few times a year, during your manicure for example. This way, you mix both the components and the pigments, and maintain a homogeneous content.
While we're on the subject: the idea of shaking your nail polish before each use is quite common, but should be avoided. Why? Because it creates small air bubbles on the surface of the nail, leaving a not-so-flattering finish. Instead, prefer to gently warm the polish between your hands.
Avoid putting nail polish remover in your polish
Your polish has thickened, and your nail polish remover, right next to it, is winking at you. Yes, we understand, it's tempting. However, nail polish remover in polish: forget about it! Indeed, you will dilute its components. Consequences: it dries much slower, lasts less long, chips faster, and loses its opacity. All at once.
To save your polish that's starting to get sticky and make it more liquid, several simple and natural solutions are available to you:
- Turn the bottle upside down then right side up for 2 or 3 minutes;
- Warm your polish between your hands, as we discussed earlier;
- Submerge your bottle in hot water for a few minutes;
- Add one or two drops of body oils such as sweet almond oil, apricot kernel oil, or avocado oil.
Regarding less natural solutions, you can pour a few drops of special polish thinner or 70° or 90° pure alcohol. Close the bottle and shake. However, for your health and because we prioritize healthy and natural compositions, we strongly advise you to turn to the solutions mentioned previously.
And sometimes, the dreaded moment, you have to let it go. But when should you throw away a nail polish? When you've tried everything and there's nothing more you can do to save it. With a heavy heart, you must bid it farewell.
Opt for zero-waste nail polishes
Making your polishes last as long as possible also means choosing those that you can finish down to the last drop! But it is very often a feat to finish a nail polish entirely. Did you know that we lose up to more than a quarter of the product because the brush is too short to reach the bottom of the bottle?
This is where our zero-waste polishes come in.
Clever Beauty has developed and patented an anti-waste cap, the Click & Finish, which allows you to retrieve the bottom. Simply apply a small pressure to the top of the cap when it is unscrewed to lengthen the brush and collect the remaining polish. This saves 20% more product than a classic polish!
Ultimately, keeping your polishes longer means avoiding waste but also saving money.
In general, do not neglect the packaging, which also has a role to play in the preservation of nail polish. Indeed, although the color of a polish is very pretty, a large bottle with a small brush will not allow you to enjoy it to the fullest. The container is just as important!
With these few tips, we hope to have helped you best preserve the fluidity, color, and hold of your polish, and also postpone the moment of saying goodbye. 😉
