– Toothpicks and needles are great for swirly drag marble goodness – Cotton buds are great for glitter gradients too – Kitchen and makeup sponges can be repurposed for gradients – Crisp lines can be easily achieved with sticky tape ![]() ![]() – An amazing water spotting effect with alcohol spray and a cup of water – Tea bag + super glue = magically repaired nail (also inelegantly known as “tea-bagging”)Īnd most of the cool nail art looks can be achieved with dirt-cheap household products: – PVA glue + water = glitter-friendly PVA base coat – Acetone (from the hardware store) + glycerin (from the laxative section of the pharmacy) + water = the perfect combination of gentle and effective polish remover There are heaps of things in the nail world where DIY is just as good, if not better. Discount online stores Born Pretty and KKCenterHk stock pretty much anything you could possibly need for nails. Nail art supplies are also often cheaper if you do some digging, and you can access a greater range – eBay has super cheap nail art tools, beads, foils, decals, glitter and decorations, often with free shipping. However, there are risks to buying from unauthorised retailers – fake OPI in particular are very common, and getting really difficult to tell from the real deal. Before you start sending money to strangers though, make sure you’re aware of some sensible precautions to take – groups like the Safe Swap Society are good places to seek advice. In this case it’s handy to have an overseas mule or a swap buddy to pass on the savings. Some polish brands are unavailable in certain countries, while others have bargain prices or massive sales that are only accessible to certain areas (I’m looking at you, Zoya). Hello, old friend and harbinger of impending debt. Online stores like Cherry Culture and Beauty Joint have some great bargains and hard-to-find brands like China Glaze, and as I mentioned before, indies are excellent quality and value, offer the best customer service and usually undergo more stringent quality control than commercial polishes. Discontinued and limited edition polishes frequently show up. Blog sales are also a great way of scoring lightly used polishes for cheap – frequently a blogger will buy a polish, swatch it, realise it doesn’t suit them, then put it up for sale. Apart from waiting for sales, you can also explore the world of salon supply stores – while some require proof of professional qualifications, many don’t (you can see some Australian polish stores on this map). There are also ways of getting your hands on commercial brands, without paying full price, if you’re willing to put in some work. Buying in bulk also saves costs – if you can find a few polish fans in your local area, you can split postage costs, and take advantage of sales that happen while you’re unavailable. If you “like” an indie brand’s Facebook page or follow them on Instagram, you can also keep track of their sales. It’s also guaranteed to be more interesting on your fingertips! Being Australian, I tend to avoid international postage and go for Aussie indie brands – here’s a comprehensive list of links to their stores and stockists. Handmade indie nail polish generally retails for $7-12 a bottle, which isn’t dirt cheap, but still a lot cheaper than the average store-bought OPI (RRP 20 AUD) or Essie (RRP 17 AUD). “OPI” is basically the standardised unit of measurement for nail addicts. Other good quality commercial brands available in Australia for under $5 a bottle include Sinful Colors, Essence and Savvy. Australia’s ulta3 brand retails for $2 a bottle, and while not every shade is perfect, most are excellent. ![]() There are also some collector polishes packed with diamonds and such, but if you’re reading this article, you’re probably not in the market for them.)įor common finishes and colours, you can save plenty of money by sticking to budget brands without losing out on quality. (Some pigments like Spectraflair, used for linear holos, can be more expensive, but not so expensive as to necessitate a price over $14 or so. The ingredients that go into nail polish – solvent (ethyl and butyl acetate, isopropyl alcohol), nitrocellulose, resins, plasticisers, suspension agents, pigments – aren’t expensive, unlike, say, some skincare products. And conversely, the fact a polish is cheap doesn’t mean it’s poor quality either. That $40 price tag is no guarantee of quality. More expensive doesn’t mean higher qualityĮvery brand has duds.
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