So I’m sitting here, looking at my un-tried polish pile (well,7 untried plus 3 yet unswatched), and trying to figure out how they’re gonna fit in my little shoe box of polishes. I’ve made a sort of unformal rule for myself that I can’t go over the shoe box capacity – if I buy a new polish and it doesn’t fit, then one has to go in order to make space. Take a lil gander at just how much space I have left:
Hmm. Not so much, eh! There’s 58 polish in the box now that are part of my ‘Passionate Love’ collection (meaning I don’t want to part with ANY of them!), and it looks to me like I’ve only got enough room for maybe 5 more if I get creative – and the 10 untrieds aren’t even accounted for! Yikes. So clearly the little rule isn’t going to fly. But, I still want to make an effort to keep my stash reasonable, because I just feel like if I let it get too huge, I’ll be anxious that I’m not wearing them all etc. etc. etc….you know how it goes in my world! At the very least, I’ll feel much better about it all if I’m ruthless, and refuse to keep shades that I don’t LOVE and/or that just don’t look flattering on me.
My untrieds
Here’s where YOU come in.
If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you might have noticed that I can be pretty tough when it comes to how I perceive shades to look on my skintone. So, I pulled all those shades that I’m not entirely sure about (12 in total) and I’m going to ask you to pick your top 5. Whichever lucky polishes have the most number of votes, will get to stay (for another year, at least).
The ‘ho-hum’ pile
(I never played the kind of dodgeball in school where your teams were picked by your classmates, and the outcast or least sporty of the group were left as the last choice….but this sort of feels like this to me lol)
Seriously though. These polishes have been kicking around the box, and I keep trying to make a decision on them but can’t seem to get ‘er done. As I hold all of your opinions in high regard, I’m leaving this one up to you. Swatches are below – this is no time to be nice: be honest, and be blunt. I can take it!
Nubar Marble Tower. Love the shade, do NOT love it on me.
RBL Insouciant. Blech. Washes me out big time. BUT can be worn as a pedi just fine.
Zoya Neeka. Should be glorious in theory, but just leaves me feeling blah.
OPI I Brake for Manicures. Yes, vampy. But…snooooooze.
OPI Royal Rajah Ruby. Argh! Utterly flattering, but I just don’t like it!
OPI Holiday Glow. Another flattering polish, that somehow leaves me cold.
Lippmann Nefertiti. I have yet to find a gold I like, so it’s not the polish’s fault!
China Glaze Hi-Tek. I haven’t shown this one on the blog yet, but I just took swatches and it’s been in the ‘to go’ pile for ages. Really not into the mega-metallic look.
Zoya Edyta. I’m a bit sad about this one, because I loved it last year, but this year…meh.
Zoya Yara. Again, why!?? can’t this be as wonderful as it should be?
Joe Fresh Moss. Really, part of the problem is I’m just not that into greens…
RBL Piu Mosso. I am just frustrated with the invisibility of the orange shimmer – otherwise, totally lovely polish.
So, there they be. Do you see my dilemma? The fact of the matter is, none of these are that terrible – they all have redeeming features in one way or another, but at the end of the day – some of them have to go. If I’m not loving them, with the amount of polish I have and will continue to accrue, they just won’t get worn. It makes much more sense to give these to someone else who will love them properly (those that are ruled as ‘must go’ will be put up for swap). It’s gonna be done. A new year means a whole lotta new polish that will be coming my way – so I have to make room!
Pretty pretty please – help a gal out! Which 5 polishes do you think I should hold on to????
Beauty Obsessed 
#1 by Terra on January 3, 2012 - 10:42 am
zoya neeka, royal raja ruby, holiday glow, zoya edyta, piu mosso. Those are the ones I think look nicest on your skin tone out of the rest. Any of those you dont want I would be happy to take of your hands lol. Good luck with the process! xoxo -T
#2 by Latoya on January 3, 2012 - 8:48 pm
Hmm, good choices Terra!! Thanks for your input – and yes, I will definitely pass the ones who don’t make the cut on to you!! Wear them well 😀
#3 by Eugenia on January 4, 2012 - 11:33 am
As I read your post, I couldn’t help but wonder why you would want to get rid of any of these shades, because from where I’m standing, they ALL look amazing on you! Then again, we all have differing tastes and you know best what suits you, right? Actually, I’m the very last person to give you an opinion here, because I have this teensy-weensy tendency to hold on to all my polishes! While I would recommend you at least hold onto the Rescue Beauty and any polish that may have been limited, such as OPI’s Holiday Glow, something tells me that perhaps deep down you already know what you want to do with these!
#4 by Latoya on January 6, 2012 - 11:46 pm
LOL You WOULD say that, Eugenia 😛 It’s not that any of these are total write-offs, but I gotta streamline!! I have the urge to hold on to them all too, but I am resisting, especially now in the early stages of polish hoarding LOL – because I know once I give in, it’ll be all over for me! I’ll admit, I’m leaning more toward keeping higher end polishes like the RBL’s, and LE products, but I want to learn to let go of things that don’t work either. Someone else could get awesome use out of these shades, while they just sit unloved in my pile. But, you never know what I’ll be feeling when it’s time to actually part with them! 😛
#5 by Larie on January 4, 2012 - 5:36 pm
OPI Holiday Glow needs to stay! I rarely see red/brown shades with silver sparkles! And RBL Piu Mosso, as well – it’s gorgeous. I also like Insouciant – and sometimes you need a go-to pedi shade!
#6 by Latoya on January 4, 2012 - 6:16 pm
Thanks for the recommendations, Larie! Holiday Glow is different, and unique, but for some reason it hasn’t been pulling me in like it should. But I’ll give it another thought! Piu Mosso…I just think I didn’t give it a fair shake, so that’s reasonable – and good call on the go-to pedi shade – Insouciant does fit the bill on that one!
#7 by Liz (Beauty Reductionista) on January 7, 2012 - 4:29 pm
First: AMAZING! One shoebox! I need to weed ruthlessly but it’s difficult to part with MAH BABIES!
Second: I’ve seen you try hard to love these colours and if they’re still not calling your name, CHUCK THEM. No sense in hanging on to them when you can make room for colours for your PASSIONATE COLLECTION (LOVE IT!). I say get rid of all of them EXCEPT Edyta because I can see you coming around to Edyta after some philandering.
Hope this helps! Don’t listen to the other comments! LOL 😉
#8 by Latoya on January 9, 2012 - 4:20 pm
LMAO! Yessir! I dunno, these polishes are just sitting on my bedside table now, looking all forlorn, and aside from a few of them, I’ll likely hang on to them all. I just know they won’t get use as compared to other polish I adore (in my Passionate Love collection, of course ;P), so I feel guilty, but at the same time, there is no hurry or need to get rid of them just yet, so we’ll see! I’ll probably just add them to the list of products that get three strikes and then out they go – seems like a good way to handle things at the moment!