Nail Equipment AKA The Box Of Glory!

I don't know about you but I'm always interested in taking a little gander at other peoples' nail bits and bobs and storage compared to my own. My stuff is an absolute shambles at the moment and doesn't even nearly fit all my polishes and accessories in. I've been searching far and wide for the perfect nail storage system for weeks with absolutely no luck. Here is what I'm doing at the moment. 

 

As you can see my nail boxes aren't exactly winning any beauty competitions (probably wouldn't enter a box into a beauty contest anyway) but I think they do have a certain Jess like charm to them. 

Before I started storing my nail art stuff in here this box was just wooden and plain, I really never meant for it to get like this. However now it has evolved into what is commonly known around my house as "The Box of Glory"... Or atleast I call it that. I just tested a couple of colours on the box and it became some what of a palette. Also note the poor attempt at a Hello Kitty made out of acrylic that is now stuck on forever and where I spilt my nail glue and a plastic tip was in the firing line. These simply will not come off. 

 

I'll start with what's inside The Box of Glory, this is anything and everything. And to be honest just a huge mess but it works for me! ... Kind of organised chaos I suppose.



Here are a few of my must have items for general nail care. Files, cuticle pusher, buffing block, cuticle clippers, nail scissors, nail brush and cuticle oils/softeners. Many of these items came from a big pack off eBay, others from Sally's and some I've picked up along the way in places like Boots. 

Above are some incredibly essential items for anyone who paints their nails at home. Nail polish remover (Poundland), Acetone (Sally's) and Cotton Wool Pads (Boots). Acetone is great for removing things like glitter and other stubborn nail polishes, I also use this to remove any excess polish from my cuticles etc. If you ever want to get acrylic nails off at home, you'll need this. Just soak your nails in a bowl full of acetone for probably about 45 minutes to an hour depending.

 

Speaking of which, above are my set of brushes. In which is my smallest one which I use to make sure my nail varnish is nice and smooth and there is no excess polish around my finger. I do this by dipping the brush in acetone.
These brushes are a mixture of Acrylic Nail application brushes (which I have ruined every one of), and acrylic paint brushes. To be honest I got these from WHSmith and because they're for regular painting  rather than nail purposes, they are just too thick. I think I will soon be investing in a new set.

On the other side are my dotting tools which are from eBay and only cost a couple of quid. These are great for spots and dots on nails and even other detailing. They come in lots of different sizes which is handy. 

Here comes the fun(ish) bit, all the nail art bits and bobs! These are all my nail wheels containing jewels and studs and pearls and beads and glisteny thingssss. LOOK AT ALL THE GLITTTTTTERRRRRRR!!!!!

Then surrounding them we have nail tattoos, striping tape, beads/caviar, more studs, some strange heart things I got from Dunelm Mill of all places and some little flowers. The possibilities are endless!

Again following the arty theme, these are my Winstonia stamping plates, they're the only ones I have so far but after trying them I'd definitely love to try out some Konads. As you can see I have the Konad stamper and scraper set but I rarely use the scraper. That Subway card does the jobby. Well done Subway card. Well done.



More decorative things leads us onto all my little pots of goodness, flocking powder, glequins and strange shaped glitter pieces. It was nice to rediscover these, I'll have to use them a bit more, they've been neglected!



More little pots of joy! Coloured acrylic powders. These are what I used for my Kawaii/3D Nails. They work just the same as if you were going to get pink and white acrylics only there are a lot more possibilities here.



Acrylic paints for intricate nail art, a lot thinner to apply than nail varnish so this can be much easier to use. I like it too because you can mix the colours (which I've done a lot of on the Box of Glory). You can use these just like you would with nail varnish, give them a good top coat and they should last just as long. 

I'm sure you will have seen this type of thing in nail salons, all of this baring the file and clippers came in a set I got off eBay. Good value for money. I use these if I'm applying acrylics. It also came with a really creepy finger for practicing on but to be honest I like to keep it hidden away because it kind of scares me. 

These are just a couple of little extras I have in there, from left to right. Nail drying spray (Poundland), would not reccommend this, not the brand itself, the actual spray. It does make them dry but it sort of makes them like... The only way I can describe it is like blue tac. It makes the polish feel tacky and if you rub up against anything it will take a large portion of your design off so really pointless in my opinion. I may just be using it wrong but hey. I'd much rather use a fast drying top coat (Seche Vite always).

Next along are just my hand and foot creams for moisture. I have a massive obsession with Soap and Glory so love this stuff. The Clarins foot cream on the end is also fab! Moisture is essential to great looking manis. 

 

Now last but in no way least is the red silky box that you can see has made an appearance in many of these photos. This is my nail polish box, despite the fact it only holds 74 (I think) of my polishes (Yes I have more!), I love it. It's actually my GHD hair straighteners box but I'm way too lazy to use it for that purpose,

 Inside hopefully you can see there is a certain amount of order. The brand that really controls the box is Barry M with 21 polishes. Others that made the cut for the box are Sally Hansen, Topshop, Models Own, OPI, China Glaze, Gosh, Seche Vite, Boujois, Estee Lauder, Rimmel, 17 and a couple other random brands.

In the top left hand corner you can see all my nail art pens, all by Models Own and then in the bottom right hand corner are my favourite base and top coats.

I also have another bag containing miscellaneous  polishes and many Sally Hansen base coats and strengtheners etc bringing the overall total up to 86 and constantly growing! And those are only the ones that made it over from my Dad's house to my boyfriend's house! Oh dear.

So I hope you've enjoyed seeing all my little secrets and what I use behind the scenes as it were. If anyone sees any pretty storage boxes with drawers, preferably portable, please let me know because I seriously need something new and something that can fit everything in!

Thanks guys!