How many nail polishes should you have?
Photo of essie nail polish bottles on pink marble background
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For functionality and those who are considering what their baseline polish needs are, below are the minimum requirements for nail polish you should have to maximize their use before the brand’s “best use” date.
According to the essie FAQs, each bottle of nail polish includes 30 applications, with sheer colors yielding slightly more and glitters, less.
While nail polishes have no technical or legal expiration date (FDA does not regulate it), some special effects colors can break down quickly, and essie provides 2 years or 24 months as their best use date.
Based on these numbers…
Photo of essie nail polish bottles on pink marble background with text overlay How many nail polishes should you have?
As a conservative estimate, you do a manicure around once a week, that is an average of 105 manicures every two years.
You will need a minimum of 4 bottles of nail color every 2 years.
Now include 1 bottle of top coat and 1 bottle of base coat for every 2 bottles of color, your minimum total is now 8 bottles of nail polish total every 2 years.
If you include weekly pedicures, double these numbers to 16 bottles of nail polish every two years.
These figures represent the number of polishes you should have if you keep your nails consistently painted.
To get that full week’s worth of wear out of your nail polish, consider investing in a long wear line of nail polish.
Photo of OPI Infinite Shine Let’s Be Friends! with top and base coat on pink background
Have ridges or other natural nail bed irregularities
Like dark colors and are concerned about staining the nail plate
Want to include a nail treatment in your nail polish routine
Photo of four essie gel couture nail polish bottles
To end, there is no maximum limit on how many bottles anyone should have.
For the estimated minimum limit of bottles you should have to maximize their use before their best by date, and keep your nails painted:
If you go with a long wear nail polish line with a base coat, you are looking at a minimum number of 8 nail polish bottles every 2 years.
If you go with a long wear nail polish line with no a base coat, you are looking at a minimum number of 6 nail polish bottles every 2 years, including top coats.
If you want to include pedicures, double the number to 12-16 bottles every 2 years.
Keep in mind that when you invest in proper nail polish storage techniques, you may get your nail polish to last longer than 2 years. In this case, it is possible to accumulate more than 12-16 bottles of polish.
After their best use date, nail polishes may thicken, the color may degrade or separate. There’s no guarantee they’ll be effective but there’s also no guarantee they will break down within this time.
As long as you have the storage space to store your “vintage” bottles, keeping them beyond the best use is up to your discretion.
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