This is a post I've been wanting to do for a while. My nail polish collection has over double in size within the last couple months and is still growing. I didn't know what to do with it! I've seen so many nail blogger's blog about this lovely storage unit but I had no idea how PREFECT the Helmer was until I owned it.
As the tile says, this storage unit is from
IKEA. It comes in 3 colors. I really want the red color but my IKEA was out. :( I went with the silver/grey instead and it ended up working out well. The storage unit kinda resembles a filing cabinet. There are 6 drawers, each 4in high (prefect for almost any size polish). The unit itself is about 2.25ft high (without wheels 2ft 2in high). I didn't put the wheel on mine. It fits perfectly underneath my desk!! :) Sooooooo
convenient because that's where I always paint my nails! I couldn't ask for a better storage solution.
Before I show the pictures, here are some tips to building the Helmer:
- Have all the pieces viable.
- The only tools you will need are a Phillips Head screwdriver and some patience. :)
- The direction do not have words so pay CLOSE attention to the details on the images.
- It's very easy to accidentally build parts of the unit... backwards (I did it twice, lol). If that happens it's not impossible to back track. Try not to get frustrated (like I did)!
- You will use all the pieces, there are no extra parts.
- Building this by yourself takes an hour or more. Longer if you build parts backwards. :( It took me an afternoon. But I took frequent breaks to watch Netflix. ;)
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| My old polish "storage". |
This was my old polish "storage". It sat on my dresser in a somewhat organized... mess, haha! It got to the point where I had so much polish I was using baskets from Easter to hold things. Even then, it was still very chaotic. I knew there had to be a better way.
I first tried using one of those clear plastic drawer thingys... (I have NO idea what they are called but you can that you can pick these up anywhere). It worked... for the most part. I mean it stored my polish. That's all I needed really, right? Well, not exactly. What I didn't like about the storage unit was that, I had no room for
growth and this was very important to me. Other things I dislike were, opening and closing the drawers were a task, they didn't slide easily and the whole storage unit would often slide when I tried to open a drawer. The only somewhat positive aspect I liked about it, is that it was clear and I could see into that unit. But even then, that wasn't very important to me.
I google'd "nail polish storage" and kept coming across these prefect containers (the Helmer) that stored polish wonderfully BUT I couldn't figure out what they were. You'd be surprised how many people posted pictures showcasing their polish collection but not telling their viewers WHERE they got the unit from. I eventually figured it out and intermediately went down to IKEA to purchase one. The Helmer was only 39.99, but they did not have the color I wanted. It was still a great deal!
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| A small container on the top of my Helmer. It contains all my base/top coats. My hand lotion, cuticle cream, and any remedies I use to help heal my dry cuticles. This is kinda my "go to" container. |
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| Drawer one: This contains all my manicure items, manicure sticks, cuticle pusher, nail polish remover, cotton pads, tweezers, nail clippers, nail files, etc. |
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| Drawer two: Has most of my nail art tools. Tape, nail stripes, brushes, sponges, and some extra overflow from drawer one. |
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| Drawer three: Contains my OPI, China Glaze, Essie and Butter London polish. |
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| Drawer four: Contains my specialty polish like magnetic, holos and crackles. This also has my Zoya, Revlon, and GAP polish. |
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| Drawer five: Contains my Sally Hansen, Wet n' Wild, Forever 21, Old Navy, NYC, and random polishes. |
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| Drawer six: My very last drawer contains all my nail strippers and mini nail kits. The wheels that go to the unit are also in this drawer, in case I ever wanna add them on in the future. |
And that's it! I didn't realize how much polish I had till I sat down and organized it all. I have over 125 polish, counting my nail strippers, over 160. Again, my collection is still growing and this Helmer is PREFECT for that. I still have room, the drawers slide nicely, and the price of the unit is amazing. You can even label each drawer if you'd like but I choose not to. I'm sure the placement of my polish now will be different in a couple months.
P.S. If you're someone with a big collection, I would suggest the Alex from
IKEA. It's taller and has more drawers. More expensive but I'm sure it's worth the price. OR you could just buy 2 Helmers, haha!
How do you store you polish? Would you consider a IKEA Helmer?
