Nail Polish Swatches

If you’re anything like me, you paint your nails religiously and accumulate more colors than you can count.  Sound familiar – welcome to my world!  A surefire way to always have a standout color at your fingertips is to keep an index of nail polish colors.  Because, really, how can one tell apart “Taxi Yellow Creme” and “Sun-Sational?”  It’s not easy.

I’m all about good design and wanted to come up with an aesthetically pleasing way to showcase my color repertoire.  Check out what I did below!

What you’ll need:

-  Parchment colored cardstock

-  Glossy photo paper

-  Hole reinforcement labels

-  Acrylic paint

-  Glue stick

-  Scissors (or paper cutter)

-  Hole puncher

-  Ruler

-  A roundup of your favorite nail polishes

 

1. The first step is to create a vintage-inspired price tag.  I did so by searching for an image of one online and then used it as a template.  With a ruler, I created tags that measured 3’’ by 6.”  Depending on how large you want your tag, this measurement is completely up to you.
2. After you’ve created your tags, the next step is to use a hole puncher to make a hole at the top of the tag.  Paint a sheet of hole reinforcements in whatever color you desire (I chose a brownish purple color).  Let them dry for 20 minutes and then stick one of the reinforcement labels on the front of the tag and one on the back.
3. Gather all of your favorite nail lacquers and divide them into groups by color.  Taking a sheet of glossy photo paper, simply cut out squares (mine were three quarters of an inch all around).  Once the squares are cut out, you are ready to paint them.  Depending on how transparent the colors are, some squares may require multiple layers of polish.  (Note:  I was very pleased with how the nail polish dried on the photo paper.  The finish was super glossy, giving the end result a nice sheen.)
4. Next, you’ll want to arrange all of your nail swatches on your tags and glue them.  I fit four swatches onto each tag, but feel free to arrange them any way you wish.
5. Finally, use your fanciest script handwriting to note the name of each color right below the nail polish swatch.

 

The next time #manimonday rolls by and I’m short on time, all I have to do is take a look at one of my tags and pick a swatch.  The hardest part will be in deciding between “Spiked Punch,” “Dance Party,” “Pinkini” and “Pink Wink.”

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