I start with a package of Nail Polish & Art Wheels which I get at Sally Beauty Supply. It's $5.99 for a pack of 10, which I don't think is a bad deal considering how helpful they are!
Then I use a fine tip black Sharpie marker and number the nail wheel from 1 to 18 (I put a dark mark in place of the "1" so that I can see the beginning at a glace). I sort my nail wheels by Brand (except for brands I know I won't own a lot of, then I make "Misc" wheels for those). I put an "A" under the brand on the first wheel of that brand an when I have more than 18 colors of a particular brand I just make a new wheel and label a "B", "C" etc.
Here are visuals of two of my China Glaze wheels:
The reason I do the numbering this way is because it's much easier to write the numbers on the wheels than it is to try and squeeze the polish names onto the small space. I tried once to write the names on the back of the swatches but I found that the marker showed through to the other side when it was behind a lighter color.
To go with each wheel, there is a corresponding index card. The card is labelled the same as the wheel (ie: China Glaze 'A', China Glaze 'B', etc) and numbered 1 to 18, just as the wheel is. So the name of the colors for each number on the wheel is written on the card next to its respective number. This way when I see a color I want to use, I just look up on the card to see what color it is so I can find it in my stash.
Here are pics of the China Glaze cards that go with the wheels pictured above:
I do this for every polish I acquire before I add it to my stash, that way I have a nail wheel swatch and a card reference for every color in my collection. I don't worry about keeping them in color order because that would be impossible. When I have a batch of new colors to add, I do try for a "rainbow" order for each new group I add, but overall there is really no order to the colors on the wheels, but that's fine since I can still find everything easily with the cards!
So there you have it! Do you like my system? What kind of organizational system do you use for your collection? :)

I like your system. It is similiar to mine, but I sort by color group instead of brand name...
ReplyDeleteVery good idea!!! Where do you store all your polish?
ReplyDelete@Sarah: http://polishfixation.blogspot.com/2011/07/polish-display.html :)
ReplyDeleteVery nice, I've only started doing the color wheels but been trying to think of a way to organize them. I like how you've done yours!
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome! I'm in the process of swatching all my polishes on wheels, but mine are by color family.
ReplyDeleteSo many beautiful colors! I would have lots of fun with wheels :) Love your system!
ReplyDeleteThat's a fantastic way of doing it.
ReplyDeleteI love looking at nail wheels, yes I am weird lol!
ReplyDeleteshel xx
thats not a bad idea :D
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for this post! I've been wanting to do wheels now for a while. I use a binder and have the name of the brand, name of polish, and a swatch of the color. I've posted about it before. But the wheels just look so pretty!
ReplyDeleteloooove this dea probably gonna do the same; thanks for sharing!! [=
ReplyDelete