Keep or Donate: Nail polish, round 2

Hey everyone, 

Another week has passed so a few more nail polishes have been passing the test of keep or donate. If you didn't see my first Keep or Donate post, this project was inspired by PetitPearStyle on YouTube and the KonMari method of decluttering. The idea is to wear at least 6 polishes a week and decide during that week if I would like to keep them in my collection or donate them to family or charity. As always if you do not like feet, you may want to skip this post as my toe nails do feature. 

Models Own polish in Asscher Blue 

I do believe before this manicure I hadn't actually worn this polish! It is a beautiful pale blue (opaque with 2 coats) with tiny gold glitter which shine when you move. This polish didn't last well on my nails, probably only a few days without chips, however the beautiful gold glitter just made this a keep for the Christmas season! 

Rimmel London 413 Orangina 

Now I'm quite glad I painted this colour on my toes. As I live in England, it is getting rather chilly now and the socks are coming out, which means I could hide this polish. It became this horrible orange colour with two rather streaky coats and I could tell straight away it was a donate. I just don't like this colour on my skin tone. 

Ciate polish in the hamptons

I do have a love hate relationship with Ciate and so far (bar the grey polish in the last keep or donate) most colours have been a keep, including this one! This polish is a green and gold glitter with a clear base, perfect for a topper. I absolutely love the constancy of Ciate and have decided I want to try this polish on top of others in the future. 

O.P.I- Next stop..The Bikini Zone 

I don't know which year or collection this polish came out (sorry!) as I bought it from TK Maxx, however I do know this is a perfect polish for the fingers or toes. It's quite a pale polish and it takes a couple of layers to make it this colour but isn't it beautiful! I know this is going to be a lovely colour for work or in the summer so I am going to keep this one. 

Colour Couture Purple 

Straight away I can tell I don't like this polish at all. After two coats, it was still very streaky and my nails were still poking straight through. I'm not going to go anymore into it other than say donate (my sister already has it).

Barry M Socialite 

I love this polish so much! It's very opaque with one coat yet you can still see the polish under it too. It glitters very well and shines beautifully under light. With two coats, the polish stays well and doesn't chip. I've always loved Barry M so this one is defiantly a keep. 

Here's to another week of keep or donate. I'm going to keep doing these as I really feel I'm finding out which colours I enjoy wearing and what suits my skin colour. I hope your enjoying this series as much as I do! 

Emma 

Declutter & Tidy- KonMari method

Hey everyone, 

So recently I've been wanting to have a major destash and tidy up due to the fact I'm moving in with my boyfriend (not soon, just want to be prepared) but I didn't really know how to go about it. I've been watching destash videos on YouTube and a lot of people talk about Marie Kondo's "The life changing magic of tidying" book. I decided for £7 on amazon, why not take the chance? And I'll tell you now, the hype is for a reason. Her main way of tidying is to declutter first but by asking yourself with each item "does this spark joy?". It is a difficult question to ask with such materialistic items but it works. So first in the book is clothes, so this is where I started. She says to place all your clothing items from around the house into the centre of a room and then hold each item and ask the question. I started off with a room looking like this... 

After about an hour or so, I ended up with my two bags of summer clothes sorted and in the wardrobe let alone all my other clothes. I ended up throwing away 2 full plastic bags full of clothes and need to sell 2 pairs of shoes. Although Marie does say not to let your family go through the bag, I find that charity starts at home so I let them. My family have taken a few items and my nan took a few items for my cousin. I ended up destashing these items and my wardrobe looked so much neater! 

After this went so well I decided to go onto the next section which is books. Now if you know me well, you already know I am a good book fan so I knew this would be harder than clothes for me to let go. However the process is still the same. Pile up all the books and ask yourself (holding each book one by one) "does this give me joy?". Here is my starting pile and what I ended up with. 

Considering I do enjoy my books, I found that only a few books in my collection I had re-read and had touched my heart. These were the books that I have kept and are now looking neat and tidy on my book shelf. I have a lovely collection to go down to the charity shop tomorrow and my nan also took a few for my cousin.

I have found that this method of sorting and tidying has really openned my eyes to how much junk and clutter I actually keep in my tiny room (and I thought I was actually quite neat!). After these two sections, I actually went on to do the third which is paperwork (another area I knew I needed work in). It took me a good few hours to sort it all out but I ended up with a good pile for the shredder and a good pile for recycling! Anything really is possible if you put your mind to it! 

Emma