Thursday, June 26, 2014

Enchanted Polish Display with swatch rings

Hey guys! I know it has been forever since I last posted but things have been hectic with Bear, the Epileptic Wonder Dog. Anyway, I just posted a picture to Facebook of my new Enchanted Polish display rack and people seem interested in how I did it so I thought I would do a quick explanation. As you probably know, my Enchanteds are exceptionally precious to me. One of the big problems I have with wall racks for polish is that light can degrade polish pigments over time. But since the Enchanteds are in boxes, I figured it would be reasonably safe to display them in a wall rack. However, it made for a relatively unexciting display. So I decided that I would devise a way to show them off, as well as making it much easier to find a given color out of the sea of boxes.

  First of all, here is the rack:
Sorry it is so dark - there is a large shade tree blocking a lot of the light to this room

To make the swatch rings, you need swatch rings (duh) which can be obtained from eBay or Amazon (they usually come from Asia so be prepared for a wait while they ship); paper clips, wooden toothpicks, and glue (I used E6000 adhesive). 




Start by squeezing out a small dollop of adhesive onto a disposable surface like a paper plate. Pick up a tiny amount with the edge of a toothpick. You may need to twirl it like a fork of spaghetti to break it free of the main pool of adhesive.




Apply a layer of the adhesive to the right hand top edge of the swatch ring from about the 2 o'clock to 4 o'clock position
Naked nails - eek!


Lay your paper clip on top of the swatch ring such that the largest round edge is laying in the adhesive (see photo).


Use a new toothpick to smooth the adhesive over the end of the paper clip and embed it in the adhesive fully. Try to keep the adhesive on the top surface of the swatch ring. Gluing your swatch ring to the paper plate or other swatch rings is counterproductive ;)



Step away from the swatch ring. Leave it alone until it has dried - I generally leave it overnight. Once it has cured it is ready to paint and attach to your box! 




The Enchanted boxes have two styles - the older plain boxes open in the front and the newer holo boxes open in the back. The back open ones in particular can't be opened with the swatch ring on - it needs to be slid into place from the side. Using your nail to pull up on the inside curve of the paper clip ever so slightly can open it up and help ease the swatch ring onto the lid. 



So there you have it! I have used this for a number of other boxed polishes like Femme Fatale, NailNation3000 and ILNP as well. Let me know what you think in the comments!