Starting a Nail Polish Collection: The First Colors Worth Owning

Starting a collection is exciting, and that is exactly how people end up with eight nearly identical pinks and nothing to wear to a wedding. A small, well-chosen core covers almost everything, build from there.

Start with a versatile core

You do not need forty bottles. A handful of shades that each pull their weight will cover most occasions:

• A neutral or nude, for work and everyday. Nude, taupe or a milky pink.
• A soft rose or pink, the easy, goes-with-anything classic.
• A true red, the one shade that always looks intentional and dressed up.
• A deep vampy shade, oxblood, plum or near-black for evenings and winter.
• One fun color, whatever makes you smile. A bright coral, a teal, a glitter.

That is five bottles that genuinely take you anywhere.

The two coats that matter more than color

Before buying a sixth shade, buy a base coat and a top coat. They do more for how your manicure looks and lasts than any individual color, here is what each one does.

Pick shades that suit your undertone

A color that looks amazing in the bottle can look off against your skin. As a rough guide: warm or olive undertones tend to glow in corals, warm reds, browns and creamy nudes; cooler undertones suit blue-based pinks, berries, true reds and deep violets. It is not a rule, just a way to skip the shades that will sit in the drawer unworn. (Posh Beauty Blog has a beginner color guide along the same lines.)

Buy as you go, not all at once

The fastest way to a drawer full of regret is buying a big haul on impulse. Add shades when you actually reach for a gap, “I wish I had a soft sage”, not because a set was on sale. A collection built one wanted color at a time is one you will actually wear.

Track it from bottle one

This sounds premature with five bottles, but it is the easiest habit to start early and the hardest to start late. Once you log what you own, you stop re-buying near-identical shades (the number-one beginner money sink) and you can see your gaps at a glance. By the time the collection grows, the system is already there. More on the why in how to spot dupes before you buy.

Further reading: a beginner’s guide to nail care and color (LONDONTOWN).