Cosmetic Cupcake

I'm setting up my new blogging area at the moment and I can't decide how I want to have it! One thing I knew I had to have though was a tiered cake stand to display some of my favourite nail polishes which is also a fantastic way to store nail polishes. If you have a smaller sized collection it's so much better than a box or normal plastic polish display stand!


I searched for ages for the perfect cake stand as I wanted something cute (of course!) and I finally settled on the Maxwell & Williams Cashmere Aviary three tier cake stand which is soooooooo adorable. I spotted it in David Jones earlier this year and knew I had to have it! I hit the jackpot though because I managed to redeem it using my Qantas frequent flyer points as they had a sale and I JUST had enough points! Very rarely do I actually get to redeem anything using frequent flyer points so it was very satisfying.


It comes with 3 cute plates with birdcages, flowers and birds. I love the colours and it's super easy to screw it all together.



A random selection of some of my favourite polishes! Yep most of them are glitters LOL.


What do you think? How do you store your polishes or display your faves? I came across a 2 tiered cupcake cake stand packaged in a nice pink hat box thingy at Target the other day which would make a perfect display stand if anyone wants a cute one!

Thanks for looking as always! =)

Hi ladies! I thought I would show you my updated nail polish storage today. I really need another Helmer but I'm holding off because it will only encourage me to buy more polish which is NOT good! I've acquired a lot more stuff since I last showed you my nail polish storage (you can see my posts from August and October and last year) and I also have a cheaper option to the Helmer too which I've had to add to my storage to hold nail stuff! I love seeing stash pics so I included pics of my polishes ;) WARNING - this post is a bit pic heavy!

YES my Helmer is next to my bed.
On top of my Helmer I keep my nail art toolbox, manicure essentials, nail dryer and nail polish remover and cotton pads so they're handy. Keeping everything in close reach is important when doing your nails I think - that way you won't wreck your nails looking for stuff!


Below are my trusty manicure essentials that I use for every manicure. I love my hot pink Manicare nail dryer which is a must for me! The container is actually a lipstick holder which I got from a dollar store and holds my essentials perfectly.


I use the blue Manicare nail polish remover with vitamin E to remove my polish. I use the Konad One Touch Remover for konading. I'm a cheapie so I just recycled an old Ferrero Rocher plastic box to hold my cotton pads =p Works well and didn't cost me anything!


I can't believe at one point all my nail art stuff fit in the toolbox below! Gosh that was a long time ago lol. I got this great toolbox from Riot Art and Craft for $19.99 and it's perfect for holding nail art stuff. It holds all my rhinestone wheels, cut fimo pieces, nail stickers and other bits and bobs. It's a great toolbox because the bottom is tall enough to store nail polishes so it's great to take on the go too.


I like to sort my nail polishes by family (brand) but here and there it's mixed up which kinda annoys me haha. I'm very OCD =p If you're wondering, the red stickers on some of the bottles you see below is my attempt to keep track of what I've used and what I haven't but I gave up after a while.

1st drawer holds OPI, Nicole by OPI, holos, flakies, Cult Nails:

I've moved back home into my new room so I thought it called for new nail polish storage. I still absolutely love the clear storage boxes that I used (see my previous nail polish storage post) however my polish collection has expanded to the point that boxes are stored here and there in my room which was annoying the crap out of me. Like I've said, I am way OCD about organising stuff. I couldn't organise the boxes the way I wanted them so I finally caved and bought myself an Ikea Helmer!


I picked white because it matches the rest of the furniture in my room. Besides going halves with me for the Helmer (I was still ummmming and ahhhing in the store which the boy HATES so he said he'd help out just to get me out of the store I think!) the boy was also very kind and assembled it for me =D After assembling it he said that he doubted I could have assembled it myself what with the folding of metal etc.. I couldn't agree with him more after seeing the instruction booklet!

While I was at Ikea purchasing my Helmer, I picked up a roll of Rationell Variera drawer mat which you can use to line drawers for pots and pans etc. I bought it so that my polishes wouldn't slip and slide when I pull the drawers out but according to the Ikea website it's main purpose is to protect drawers against scratching and also to dampen sound.


It's clear and comes in a roll which you then cut to size yourself. I placed one of the empty drawers on top of the mat, marked the size and then cut out accordingly. The 1st piece was trial and error to get the exact size so cut out more than you need and then trim to fit is my suggestion.


I almost gave up using it. The curl is SO strong that even after 2 nights of being flattened by 4 of my 5kg nursing textbooks it was still curling up. I was ready to throw them out in frustration and for having wasted $3.99 (special price with the Ikea Family card!) but my sis suggested I Google a solution. Lucky I did! One of the tips I looked up suggested soaking cut out sheets into hot water to flatten it. I did this for about 3-5minutes per sheet which flattened them mostly. For extra measure I stuck them under my textbooks overnight again. Worked like a charm! Then I lined the bottom of each drawer with them.


I decided to organise my collection by brand, collection and where the polishes are from. I like to have polishes in their neat little families ok =p

On the top of my helmer I've got my manicure essentials box, removers, nail stamping plates and cotton pads and tips. My nail dryer isn't shown in the pic but I keep it on top as well:


1st drawer holds treatments (base and top coats, hardeners, cuticle softeners etc.), konad polishes, nail art stripers and nail wheels:


2nd drawer is China Glaze polishes:


3rd drawer is OPI, Color Club, Essie, Orly and misc. higher end polishes:


4th drawer is for my lovely European polishes - Catrice, Essence, Barry M, Hema, Art Deco, S-he etc.:


5th drawer is for my awesome American and Asian polishes - Sinful Colors, Claire's, Sally Hansen, Rimmel, Pa, Elianto etc.:


And the lucky bottom drawer is for my Aussie polishes! Ulta 3, BYS, Glitter Gal etc. I actually have about double the amount shown here but I've lent them to girls at work. It crossed my mind to ask for them back for a night just for this post but I couldn't very well do that haha =p


I am so happy I got my Helmer! It is a great solution for nail storage and it is so sleek and compact. At the rate I'm going buying nail polish I will probably need another one next year which is definitely not good! o_O

I want to mention that I've updated my blog with some pages at the top including a "where to buy" guide on my best kept places to buy nail polish - both international and local brands. The guide is mainly geared towards Sydney ladies but includes my favourite online sellers too.

I hope you enjoyed this post! Don't forget to enter my Polished Pink for October giveaway here!

Edit: See my updated nail polish storage from October 2010 here.

When I posted about my awesome swaps recently, Nur from Nur KissKat commented that I had a number of polishes and requested I do a post about how I store them. I love reading how others store their polishes (I love storage options haha) and was intending to do one but never got around to it so here goes. Thanks for the request Nur!

I actually don't have many polishes - especially compared to the hardcore nail bloggers - but I have WAAAAY more than I ever intended to accumulate! I'm an addict now haha. My family and I are currently renovating our house and are in rental accommodation at the moment, so this is my very temporary setup for all my nail bits and bobs until I move home and can set up a more permanent solution. I'd love to get a Helmer but we'll see.

My nail area:

Top shelf:

Nail storage box, nail art storage box, nail plate books and manicure essentials.

Bottom shelf:

Nail storage boxes, nail polish removers and other nail bits and pieces.

Nail polish storage:

I currently use these clear Homemaker storage boxes which I got from Kmart for only $6. They come with a clip on lid which makes transporting them easy and they are stackable which is fantastic. It also keeps your polishes dust free too and hold up to 45 China Glaze/OPI/Orly polishes or more if the bottles are smaller. I have 3 of these currently but I need another one to store my new swap polishes and others lying around without a home!

* I forgot to mention the dimensions of the containers as they come in many different sizes. This is the 7L container which is 33cm(w) x 22.5cm (d) x 15cm(h) if you're looking for them =)

China Glaze and OPI polishes:
Looking a bit empty because I'm lending to girls at work =p
Color Club, Orly, Essie, Nubar etc.

Miscellaneous polishes - Ulta 3, BYS, Sinful Colors and my lovely European lacquers.

My nail art box:

I love this storage box. I bought it at Riot Art and Craft a few months back (see my post here) and now use it to store all nail art stuff. It comes with 2 layers - the first is divided into little compartments in which I store nail dividers, droppers for Seche Restore and OPI Drip Dry, extra Konad stampers and scrapers, nail glue and blade for cutting fimo clay.
The bottom compartment I use to store all the polishes I use for Konading, striping polishes, nail stickers, rhinestones and fimo clay.

My nail plate storage:

I've been trying to find a way to store my nail stamping plates for quite some time now. My collection is getting larger and it was really annoying not having a quick and easy way to choose what design I want while trying not to ruin my freshly polished nails! I saw this great storage option by Susie but I couldn't find anything like this at all in Sydney. Her way of storing plates is perfect because it's small and compact. I went to Kings Comics, Games Paradise, The Collectibles Fair in Parramatta, dollar shops.. nothing like the one she uses. All I seemed to find were the A4 cardholders that hold 9 cards and I didn't want that. I finally found my perfect nail plate storage solutions at Office works and a dollar store.


It's a 4 to a page card holder and I can flip through my Konad, fauxnad and Bundle Monster plates like a menu, it's great!

Next are the essentials I use for every manicure:

I use Swisspers make-up pads to remove my nail polish which I cut in half and then store in an old Ferrero Rocher container along with cotton buds =p I like to reuse and recycle ok! I'm always in a rush so I use my trusty Manicare polish dryer (love this thing!!). I store my manicure essentials like topcoat, basecoat, Seche Prep, Seche Soft, Konad double sided stamper and plastic scraper, crystal nail file, tweezers, cuticle stick and my fave nail polish corrector in a plastic lipstick holder I found in a dollar store.

And lastly my nail polish removers which I use:

Nailene Artificial Nail & Polish Remover for removing glitter polishes (works fantastic and I'll have to do a review soon), Manicare polish remover, Konad One Touch remover and little travel size bottle of polish remover I got in my swap with Anita.

I hope that helped you a little Nur =)

Thanks for looking! Don't forget to enter my 200 followers giveaway here!

Last week was a particularly tough week at work for me so I decided to take a half day ADO (Allocated Day Off) and do a little bit of retail therapy at my local Westfields for a very mini but nonetheless mood lifting haul.

I think cheap and cheerful finds are always good to lift your mood! At Sportsgirl I purchased a pearl and rose bracelet which was $19.95.

Pearl and rose bracelet
I also purchased Sportsgirls All Night Fighter - under eye brightner, a steal at just $12.95.


All night Fighter - under eye brightner
I normally use MAC Select Moisturecover for under eye circles etc but I thought I would give this a go for times when i don't need to look my absolute stunning best (HA!) such as for work. The applicator is a bit annoying to use so i just blend with my ring finger or if I have time with a concealer brush. Coverage is OK for me since my skin is very fair.

Swatched without blending
I would definitely repurchase All night fighter as a cheaper alternative to the higher end brands.

My last haul was clear tool box from Riot! Art and Craft. I've been searching everywhere for the perfect clear carry box to store all my nail stuff and I finally found it! I wanted a box that was clear, sturdy and with a large compartment on the bottom for polishes and a tray on the top to store odds and ends and most importantly within my $20 budget. After searching high and low in the dollar shops, Target and Kmart I thought I would try my luck at Riot!. Here's what I found:


It's large enough down the bottom for all my polishes and nail art polishes too and the top holds all nail related bits and pieces perfectly. Annnnd it was only $19.99!

How do you store all your nail supplies?