As my collection of nail polishes grow, so does the number of swatch sticks!
I previously showed you the idea I got with chains, that are so easy to use and open, see the old post right HERE
But I found a better way to store and organize my swatch sticks - click on the photos to enlarge them:
It is a Raaco 1260-00 cabinet, height 552 mm, width 306 mm and depth 150 mm. In this range of cabinets you find different sizes and with different numbers of drawers, as you can see further down I also have one half this size with 30 drawers. The depth is the same in all of them, but some have drawers slightly wider and broader, it's the final two digits in the product number, that indicates the size of the drawer. See the entire cabinet product range HERE in English - and HERE in Danish.
Use the Find a dealer page to see where you can get it, you should be able to get it all over Europe...
I chose to put a piece of tape on the front of some of the drawers and put colors from the nail polish color range in each row..
This is how I organized and store my chains until a year (and several polishes) ago.
There were several disadvantages, the worst was that several colors faded even if they hung out of reach from direct sun light. Also sometimes a chain opened when handling, and a bunch of sticks fell off, very annoying, so I temporarily used a not so good drawer system for storage.
But I love the drawers of the Raaco cabinet. The swatch sticks fit perfectly ind them. they are kept out of the light and dust, and each drawer can hold around 45 sticks before it's full.
OK, let's see how I organized the colors...
Here are the red drawers going from bright red to darker red - and the last two are the lighter and darker red magenta colors...
The pink going from a pale pink to the hot - some of the hots might belong among the magentas, it's not always easy to tell :)
The lilac/lavender colors - again going from pale to stronger.
- and the darker purples going from medium to darker and almost black purples. The last drawer is the "difficult to fence" purples ;)
And my very, very few pastel yellow polishes *cough, cough* - and a few orange ones... There will be sticks that might be well placed in the neighbor drawer too, it's difficult to tell when pale ends, and when less pale starts LOL
The mints going from pale to Tiffany box colors - and the last drawer is the super bright and intense mints.
The greens with more yellow than the mint range - going from spring leaf green to dark green, and the last drawer is neon's...
The turquoise and the teals.
The blue colors going from a pale pastel blue to dark blue.
The shimmers, flakies, glitter toppers, gold/copper/bronce metallics, glitters and holo's and the silver ditto.
White/cream, nudes, taupe/brown, grey and the black and charcoal.
And the cabinet for my Chanel polishes:
Let's take a look in the drawers:
The red's, brown-hued reds and the lilac/purples.
The pink range.
The peach/coral range and 3 yellows.
And white/cream, black/charcoal, blue, green and browns.
The nudes, silver/gold/copper/bronze and toppers.
The Dior nail polishes, Estee Lauder, YSL and a few other high end brands...
That's it - thanks for reading (or scrolling through ;) this lengthy post!
If you wonder how many polishes I have, see my complete stash list HERE...
This looks supersmart! I guess I can find something similar in Sweden 'cause I really want something like this.
SvarSletIt is, I loved it - and yes, it's available in Sweden too, here is a link
Slethttp://www.raaco.com/Sverige-1063.aspx
That's really clever!
SvarSletYou've got drawers full of teals!!
It is, isn't it :)
SletAnd noooo, only a few, you know, not my color ;)
This is a great way of storing your sticks! I've never swatched any polish on sticks. I got a few nail wheels and played about with them.
SvarSletYour colour organisation is really good as well :-)
I'm so glad you like it, I'm so super happy with it!
SletWow! My jaw has dropped. And I saw some interesting colours :))) For example nr 463 :)
SvarSletLOL I thought I hear a sound LOL - I'm glad you like them :)
SletGreat idea :)
SvarSletIt really is (if I may say so myself ;)
Sletwow! great job <3 <3 <3 <3
SvarSletI'm so glad you like it Karo!
SletGreat option
SvarSleta beautiful maison
fb/abeautifulmaison
Thanks a lot Ghada!
SletWhat an amazing collection you have
SvarSletI am very pleased with it for sure, thanks a lot John!
SletOMG...I can't stop watching all those sticks (even if there are too many yellows for my taste LOL), storing them in a cabinet is a great idea. You do have a wonderful collection.
SvarSletThank you so much Aly, I'm so pleased that you like it and my polishes (or at least almost all hahaha)
SletIncredible, I've never seen so many swatch sticks! :-)
SvarSletI adore very pale yellow swatch sticks... :-) And your lilac/lavender and dark purple collections are wonderful! :-)
I love having swatch sticks - or rather looking at them :)
SletThanks a lot Tanja!
Great organizing system.
SvarSletI'm really pleased you like it!
Sletoh my god! :D
SvarSletLOL - I hope that is in the good way :D
SletWow! :D
SvarSletLOL
Slet1.300+ nail polishes!! WOW! It's time to open shop! :)
SvarSletMy daisies on the rings, but I like the idea with laces.
LOL - that might be a good idea, but too many polishes that I wouldn't sell :D
SletI love this post so much, even though I'm never going to do something similar myself--I'm too far down the nail wheel road to switch to sticks now. :)
SvarSletOh, I love it so much, I started with nail wheels, but got irritated that I could place them by graduated color when I got a new one, so the sticks are for me LOL - but I know what you mean, it's a lot of work to change...
SletBUT you can use drawers for nail wheels too!
Whoa! This is really awesome! So organized :D
SvarSletI'm so happy you like it, thanks a lot!
Sletincredible in a good way! very well organised :)
SvarSletThank you so much Mari, I'm pleased you like it!
SletInteresting to see how you organize it, and store the sticks. So many beautiful colors. I used nail wheels until 1,5 years ago. Then I was supposed to start with sticks, so now it feels like a lot of work. But this seems like the best way to get an overview.
SvarSletIt is a lot of work to start all over, but also a fun way to meet all polishes again, and maybe some of them need new homes :)
SletI agree, for me this definitely is the best way :)
wow, you can just sit all day and look at those swatch sticks *.*
SvarSletawesome collection of mints ;)
Yes, that is entirely possible - and let the dreams flow LOL
SletYes, I have a weakness for those...
You're a genius, I really appreciate this post, I will try to replicate this kind of storage :) Thanks for sharing!
SvarSletI am indeed - hmmm, how come you seem so surprised :D
SletI'm glad you found it useful :)
Brilliant =) I really like this way of doing it.. I am i bit concerned with the fading of the colors, even though my sticks aren't in direct sunlight - I'm pretty sure they fade anyway.. Which shop did you buy this in? It looks like something you can buy in Harald Nyborg or something like that?
SvarSletThanks a lot - and yes, they DO fade, especially mint and green colors.
SletI bought it online, just do a google search and lots of places pop up - your local byggemarked probably can get it too....