Hello there friends!
So I’ve been thinking about how I can continue to blog about nail polish as the samples, which are sent to me from PR companies, get less and less frequent. I have this ridiculously vast collection and once I’ve swatched them, it’s like they go off to their respective IKEA Helmer drawers never to be seen again and I want to change that.
The idea I have is to start reviewing shades by one brand, one by one. So each blog post would be a slightly more in-depth review than a whole collection post and would feature more photos (usually I just feature one photo per shade). I was thinking I could do this with OPI since OPI is the most popular brand on my site. Then I was thinking I could even try to do this with their entire permanent line, since those shades are more accessible for people. I am actually trying to get a list of their permanent line as I write this.
Anyway, I would love to know if this is something worth pursuing, which means I need to know if you would actually read these posts. So please let me know and thank you!
25 comments
Have you thought about selling them? There could be people still looking for some of the older polishes. Less clutter, less stress.
I’m not looking to get rid of them. And if I was I would donate, as selling PR samples wouldn’t be ethical.
I’d love to revisit older polishes from collections that are discontinued. I have around 700 OPI polishes I mostly collected 5 to 10 years ago when nail polish had a huge surge in popularity. What happened to that!?! It seems like its lost popularity and there are hardly any nail polish blogs left☹
YouTube and Instagram is what happened to that. They kinda killed blogging. 🙁
I’m actually glade I read this comment. I was thinking of re-opening my blog since I have better and more up-to-date products. The more I think about it now, I’m realizing more people are using IG instead of blogs, twitter, and FB. I’ve noticed even on YT nail polish channels are a “small” community.
I prefer a few photos for each polish instead of one per post. I always post one at a time and with a minimum of 3 photos. So totally up for that 😀
How many drawers of OPI is that? I got 3 drawers plus several minis!
I will still be reviewing collections as a whole, people who read my blog don’t like waiting a week or more to see new shades being reviewed one by one. This is solely for older shades. This is around 850 bottles of OPI so it’s probably an entire Helmer, maybe 2.
It’s a shame nail polish companies seem to be going a different direction with their PR–as for me, I don’t want to watch youtube videos that are like 20 minutes long just to see a swatch. I like to read blog posts and look at swatches that way. I must have purchased 50 bottles of polish based on seeing a swatch on your site, and i bet there are a lot of folks like me who don’t comment a lot but who faithfully come to you for swatches of nail polish.
Right??? I want to see pictures and read a description, not wade through a video, try to figure out if it’s worth scrubbing through, end up missing the one I wanted to see, etc.
I definitely prefer blog posts too! I like watching swatch videos, but rarely have time. Blog posts are so much more convenient to read. It is sad that a lot of companies and indie makers seem to care more about the video reviewers than the bloggers any more, the bloggers are who really have the kind of review archive that I actually return to as a resource, unlike a video.
I’ve been lightly following you for a long time, and while I’m not a blogger myself I can totally see your dilemma in terms of a business etc. Your idea on reviewing the permanent line is a good idea, maybe even showing the difference in shade between other colors for people trying to get a perspective. Depending on the age of your polish it would be interesting to see if that would make the actual consistency or application different from the newer ones (formula, brush shape, etc). Good luck!!
I too would much rather read a blog and look at swatches then have to wade through a video, and your swatches are the best, Kelly. They have pushed me into buying lots of nail polish too.
maybe compare them to limited / discontinued shades? i know i’m always on the lookout for dupes of older shades i missed out on
I still prefer blog posts as a way to see what’s happening in the nail polish world, and to get an idea of the color and formula. I buy online a lot, so it’s hard to know if I’m going to like the polish.
I’d like to see Cirque and Zoya reviewed regularly, especially the new collections. As for posting reviews on shades that you’ve already reviewed in the past, I probably already have a lot of those, if it was a shade I liked.
But whatever system you come up with is great — I just want to see you keep doing the blogging!
Also, I stopped getting your e-mails several months or maybe a year ago. I tried re-signing up for the e-mails but that didn’t work. Maybe you are no longer doing the e-mail each time you do a blog post?
The emails still go out when I do a post…That’s weird it’s not working for you! Sorry. 🙁
I was just gonna say that. I’d love to see posts on dupes within your opi collection
I like this idea!!
I agree with the blogs. I much prefer a good description. I recently purchased a polish from a new company that said the color was Tiffany blue, which I love. I bought it. It was nothing like it, also it was very flat/matte, which wasn’t even mentioned.
Also I totally prefer to just read a blog and look at photos, who are the people who have time to watch a 30-45 min video to see swatches of a collection!?! Same goes for makeup.
I’d love to see these in depth posts. After you go through OPI, maybe you could do Essie, too? I love your blog posts. I hate watching videos to see color swatches. If I do watch them, it’s with the sound off and I FF every now and then to skip over things I’m not interested in.
I love this idea but will you have the time and patience. It’s rhetorical, you don’t need to answer that. I think it is why people don’t blog anymore, it’s too time consuming. I may look at instagram but there is no effing way I will watch 20 minutes worth of some inane ramblings on YouTube that other people post. I have always checked your site for swatches before anyone else. I also loved the macro shots you would do sometimes.
I would love to see this! I only own about 600 bottles of polish total, but it has always been a dream of mine to swatch every single one and take a photo, compare the formula and coats needed, etc. So I would love to see this if you did it with your massive collection!
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Thank you for doing what you do! I’m sorry to hear that YouTube and IG are killing blogging. I enjoy reading your blog and would much rather see your swatches and read your polish reviews (which takes me a minute or two) than watch a long video! IG is ok I guess but I don’t want to follow a bunch of nail IG accounts, I mostly just follow personal friends there.
Whatever you want to do, I”ll keep reading! I do like the idea of in-depth swatch reviews, and I really love the idea of doing dupe comparisons!!! Sometimes a certain polish is hard to find, so dupes are useful. Other times, I need to know if a polish is different enough from a similar-looking color I already own to see if it’s worth purchasing.
Thanks again for doing your thing!!!
I only get PR from Zoya. I have the same problem you do- swatch the polish, take the pic and write the review, wear the polish, then the polish goes back in the drawer and repeat. I”m working to break that cycle and wear them all and rotate with shades per season. Now, when I declutter I go by what’s flattering and declutter unflattering and unworn shades even if it’s from categories I like.