Where I Buy My Nail Polish & Nail Art Supplies

Wednesday 25 May 2016


One of the most common questions I get asked is where do I buy my nail polishes and nail art supplies.  I was recently asked again in my Facebook group so I thought why not do a blog post with all the details.  It will save me going into all the details each time I am asked.  This post may be a little lengthy so I do apologize but I would rather have too much information than not enough.  I'll split it up into categories so you can just skip to whichever part you are interested in.


A little disclaimer before I begin, I have included links to all the stores that I shop at online.  I am not affiliated with any of the brands or companies (although I may have been sent press samples from some of the brands mentioned).  These are just the places that I shop at now and have regularly shopped at over the past few years.  All of the information I have is purely based on my experience and nothing else.  Also, if you don't know I am based in Australia so I can't say whether these stores will ship to you or not. 

Mainstream
Before placing orders anywhere I always do "pretend" orders (eg. fill up my cart with whatever I am after and find out what the shipping is going to cost - each site I am going to mention will let you know how much shipping is before having to officially checkout) at various stores before deciding on where to actually shop.  Each store has different price points for polishes and shipping as well.  There isn't a huge difference in prices when you get the totals from each of the stores.  It's usually around a couple of dollars.  Personally I find it best to do "bulk" orders to get the best value for your shipping.  So rather than doing lots of small orders here and there I just do a big order every now and again.  Right, now lets get into which sites I shop from.

Head2Toe Beauty: This is where I buy the majority of the China Glaze polishes from.  I would say that at least 90% of my China Glaze's have been purchased here.  They also sell brands such as Color Club, Orly, Essie, Seche Vite just to name a few.  I have purchased all of these brands from H2T before with no issues.  Shipping to me has always been one week to two weeks from ordering.  For the best value with shipping I always get twenty polishes (or slightly less if I am getting a large bottle of Seche Vite).  H2T also offer a 5% discount each month.  The code is always listed on their homepage.

Nailsupplies.us is my other go to store.  They sell very similar items to H2T, however they also stock OPI.  You need to create an account (this is free) and you can see the full product range.  All of my packages usually arrive within two weeks and I have had no issues.  I haven't seen any discounts for this store.  I usually get up up to nine polishes from here, but have done bigger orders as well.

HB Beauty Bar is a new store that I have been shopping at recently.  I have only done a few orders with them so I can't comment too much.  In my experience the customer service isn't the greatest, but it's not the worst.  They are one of the sites that actually sell Zoya and ship to Australia.  They also have brands like Color Club, Essie, OPI, China Glaze etc.  The prices are quite high for the polishes but the shipping prices are quite reasonable especially for bulk orders.  You can also find various discount codes for the store as well.

Indies
Fun fact for you:  I only buy Australian indies.  I have nothing against the international brands, in fact there are some amazing brands out there with polishes that I drool over.  Why don't I buy them?  Well when I first started my polish obsession I was strictly OPI only.  Then I branched out to the other mainstreams and my wish list was massive but the funds just never matched it.  We've all been there.  Anyway I then got sucked into the indie world and made the rule that I would buy Australia indies only.  I have stuck to that rule to this day.

So where do I buy my Australian indies from?  I buy directly from each of the sellers, or from one of their stockists if there is an exclusives.  The brands I buy from regularly and recommend are:


There are of course many, many other great brands out there.

Stamping Plates & Polish
I always buy directly from the brands for these as well.  Brands I shop from regularly are:

 Pueen

Again there are a heap of other brands both that I own or are on my wishlist.  The above brands are just where I show at more regularly than the others.

Nail Art Supplies
The bulk of my nail art supplies (studs, charms, glitters etc) have been purchased from Born Pretty Store.

My nail foils have all come from Dollar Nail Art.

Nail art tools (dotting tools and some brushes) are from eBay.  I also have a few brushes from Winstonia.


My biggest tip when shopping (especially for polishes) keep adding polishes to your cart until the shipping costs changes to the next bracket.  For example, whether you have seven or nine polishes in your cart you are still paying for shipping for nine polishes so why not add in another two polishes?  Of course, it will depend on your budget.  But like I mentioned earlier, I find it better to shop in bulk and buy less often than buy regularly and only get a few polishes at a time.  That's just me though.

Right I think that covers about everything.  I hope it makes some sense and helps you.  If you have any questions or want some more information on anything just let me know (comment below, email me, ask me on Facebook or Instagram).  I am happy to help where ever I can.


9 comments:

  1. That Head 2 Toe beauty site has amazing prices!!! I had never heard of it before. This is an excellent post!!

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    1. Glad you like this post. I love Head2Toe. Out of all the polish sites I buy from that one I have been shopping from the longest and I keep going back time and time again :)

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  2. Great post!! :) What shipping option do you go for at Head 2 Toe for international?

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    1. Thanks Serena. Glad you liked it. I'm not 100% sure what the option is called. It's whatever the cheapest is. As for how much it costs for 20 polishes I have zero clue off the top of my head (I also don't pay much attention to how much shipping is. Just the overall total). Best bet would be to do a dummy order. It will tell you the shipping price before having to "pay". :)

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    2. Thank you! Sorry I asked twice!! I'll have a look on the website! :)
      I'm always looking for the best option to ship to New Zealand, polishes are so expensive in the shops here! lol! :)

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    3. Polishes in store in Australia are expensive too. It's sad when our dollar is so low and it still works out cheaper to import them than buying locally. Hopefully the shipping to NZ isn't too crazy :)

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  3. Great post! What does shipping usually cost you for 20 polishes from head to toe?

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  4. Im so shock that h2tshipping cost has double in price from last year . So frustrating ... Why shipping has to be soo expensiveee .. And btw thanks for the detail info tracy :)

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    1. Has it? Boo! Can you tell I don't pay too much attention to shipping costs? lol. I only look at overall price :)

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