My Nail Polishes Live in a Sad, Overlooked Box — A Beauty Writer’s Solution Is the “Dopest” Alternative

I’m a reasonably organized person. When you do a quick scan of my apartment, everything looks as though it has its place and is clutter-free. However, open up one of the bins underneath my sink and you’ll find a menagerie of old and new nail polishes that hardly see the light of day. (I’m guilty of not checking what colors I have before purchasing a shade that I already own.) It’s clear that I need a better system.

Well, beauty writer Tynan Sinks has the ultimate solution: a shelving unit as you’d see at a proper nail salon. In his profession, he’s likely been sent a lot of nail varnishes. Instead of leaving them in a dark, sad box, he proudly displays them — and it’s almost like an art piece with all the colors!

“The trick that always works for me is, if you paint your nails, to buy a nail polish wall rack,” Tynan explained at the time of the House Tour. “It gets your product out of your drawers and clearly displayed on your walls so you can see all your shades, everything has a place, and it works as its own little art piece.” 

In the closet of Tynan’s cloud-inspired apartment, he installed a five-level nail polish shelving unit. While he has two closet spaces (a luxury in New York City!), Tynan admitted that he had to get “creative with storage.” The nail wall used what would otherwise likely have been a blank wall and freed up precious floor or drawer space.

Tynan says that as soon as people see his nail polish shelves, they usually go out and buy one of their own. “Which everyone should; they’re dope,” Tynan doubled down in the video above. But if you’re short on wall space or have tiled bathroom walls like me, you don’t have to miss out on the storage possibilities. You can always snag a tabletop version that displays nail polishes beautifully and keeps them organized.

This storage trick is a great reminder that inspiration is literally at our fingertips; sometimes, you have to get creative. I’ve been going to nail salons since I was a child, and it took seeing it in someone else’s home for me to realize how clever it is. If you’re anything like me, bring your nail polishes out of the dark and get your own shelving system today. To see more of Tynan’s gorgeous apartment, visit the full House Tour.