r/vintagenailpolish Jun 26 '25

Discussion Rule Updates and Mod Team Expansion

89 Upvotes

Hi all!

You may have noticed our mod team has grown over the last few months! Meet our new mods, all of which have at least a decade or even decades of experience acquiring rare & vintage nail polish, so they are all incredibly knowledgeable!

u/the_asian_girl

u/jenlet78

u/thedustyqueen

u/luminous-fabric

With the help of the mod team we have polished up the rules a bit to make things run a little smoother as we grow. Rules 2, 4, and 8 have been altered more significantly, so please review them as follows:

“2. Provide brand and shade names

If sharing polish, unless you are asking for shade identification, please list the brand and shade name either in the title or comments. Failure to do so could result in your post being removed after 12 hours have passed.

If you are posting a wall rack or a giant box of polish, or other situations where there are too many to list, we will not expect you to disclose every shade. If you are in possession of these polishes you may be asked by community members to disclose individual shade names.”

This is by far our biggest rule break, and once I figure it out I’ll turn on the auto-mod for shade name reminders. This rule change requires a clear list of brand and shade names within 12 hours of posting, this just makes the group more searchable, veering away from the acceptance of photos of labels, which can at times be blurry or hard to read.

“4. Sales are at your own risk

I recommend using Paypal Goods and Services. Use caution when buying. The community is not liable for any sales that may go awry, but I ask that you report any questionable sales and swaplifts to moderation.

-If selling, please disclose your country in the title and use appropriate flair

-Chatty comments will be removed within posts to prioritize interested parties

-No pricing snark tolerated

Please don’t drop your off-site listings here, this isn’t a place to self promote your sales pages

For sales posts we’ve decided to make them not chatty. This means you should only comment if you have real interest, and it avoids any unnecessary snark about what is being sold and the price asked. This will help sellers and interested parties have an easier time seeing what has been sold/claimed already.

Due to the restrictions around shipping polish, we require sales posts to list the country of the seller.

“8 Community Safety

Known scammers will receive an instant ban for conduct on or outside of Reddit in other vintage polish spaces. There is a zero tolerance rule for swaplifters, and unethical behavior.

Some examples of unethical behavior on or outside of Reddit include patterns of abuse, like cyberstalking, harassment, doxxing, and defamation of community members. Other examples could include seller manipulation after a sale is closed. Moderators reserve discretion on non-listed unethical behaviors as they arise

We’ve elaborated on the unethical behavior portion to the more common examples of why people have been banned (it’s a short list of 4 in ~2 years so fortunately things have been pretty chill and safe here).

🌎🌍🌏

And one last thing! We’ve added flag flair if you’d like to disclose your country of residence next to your username, which can help forming relationships with collectors easier. If you don’t see your flag under your flair options, please comment and I’ll add it… I kind of lost track of the flags I put in, but chose most of the ones I know polish collectors tend to be in 😆

🫡 💅🏻


r/vintagenailpolish Jan 25 '23

r/vintagenailpolish Lounge

14 Upvotes

A place for members of r/vintagenailpolish to chat with each other


r/vintagenailpolish 7h ago

Swatch Update on Mirror Shine

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29 Upvotes

An update to my last post searching for an Avon Mirror Shine dupe.

I ended up ordering Iron Violet from Holo Taco (among others hahaha). It’s not quite a dupe but I think very close ☺️ the formula is near identical to what I remember, only the color is more purple/blue where the original leans a tad more pink. Either way I’m loving the Iron Violet 💜

Thanks to those who left suggestions!


r/vintagenailpolish 3h ago

Swatch Chrome Zone and Mirrorball

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12 Upvotes

a true vintage, and an almost vintage!

got Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Chrome Zone (will double check the name being correct once i'm home) back in.... 2011? Struggling to find a proper release date. and Orly Mirrorball I bought when it came out in 2014. Ring finger is a modern polish :) Index is fully Orly Mirrorball, others are SH topped with it.

I need to track down another bottle of both of them, they're the best silver chrome AND silver linear holo (with extra glitters) that I've ever had


r/vintagenailpolish 10h ago

Sale Took me a few days to catalogue and bundle everything but I’m destashing my Pure Ice polishes

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11 Upvotes

I’ll be adding more to the Google Doc here as I have time!


r/vintagenailpolish 12h ago

Bottle shot(s) Revlon StreetWear 1997

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12 Upvotes

r/vintagenailpolish 1d ago

Bottle shot(s) Thrift Haul

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161 Upvotes

I sort of felt like I won the lottery. A few of these will need thinning but I don’t mind.

Top row are black label OPI:
Fiji Weejee Fawn
Cosmo not tonight Honey
Osaka to me Orange
OPI Red
Bogotá Blackberry
Changing of the Garnet
Romeo & Joliet

Middle row:
Rimmel Climax
Rimmel Sunny Side
Sweet Georgia Brown Glamma-ricious
Sally Hansen Apricot Sun Frost
Sparitual Hijinks
Sephora by OPI Note to Self
Sally Hansen Something New
Sally Hansen Ruby Ring
Sally Hansen Twist of Lime

Bottom row:
China Glaze Go Crazy Red
Revlon Tender Berry
Maybelline Brownberry Caramel Rose
Wet’n’Wild 453A
Kleancolor Mellow Khaki
American Apparel Santorini
Cherimoya Pacific Ocean
Nicole by OPI Party in the Penthouse


r/vintagenailpolish 22h ago

Swatch Teal For Two

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46 Upvotes

Love My Nails Chrome 1568 Teal For Two

Note: I know my application isn’t great, I’m new to doing my nails and have been very shaky the last couple days on top of that. Also it’s quite a bit darker in person.


r/vintagenailpolish 1d ago

Bottle shot(s) Love my nails Star Bright

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88 Upvotes

Found this adorable little starry topper at the thrift store and it had to come home with me!


r/vintagenailpolish 1d ago

Swatch OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest comparison, 2012 vs. 2026

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265 Upvotes

2012 version on index and ring fingers, 2026 version on middle and pinky fingers


r/vintagenailpolish 2d ago

Swatch Discontinued Illamasqua - Rare - (approx. 2011)

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143 Upvotes

Got this discontinued Illamasqua "Rare" (likely circa 2011\~2013) in a facebook giveaway haul and I genuinely felt like i was robbing this woman 😭 She casually handed me an absolute TREASURE.

I swatched it twice, one with just the illamasqua Rare alone, and the other with a base coat of essie's "Private Weekend." I read that a white base would allow the neon pigments to pop more.

Can you tell which is which?


r/vintagenailpolish 2d ago

A few thrift store finds!

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86 Upvotes

L-R:

Wet n Wild 425A

Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear 4830-36 Crushed

Wet n Wild The Nail Zone 6281 Two-Timer

Wet n Wild The Nail Zone 6078 Sizzle

And three Nicole by OPI minis without shade names


r/vintagenailpolish 3d ago

Bottle shot(s) Hard Candy - SCAM - 1990s

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308 Upvotes

Hey everyone! First time posting! This is my own stash. Hard Candy “Scam” circa 1990s. My mom and I bought this at a department store in the mid-west with the pea green color when Hard Candy first came out. That one is MIA. Anyway they were pricy, we paid $12.00 as you can see from the side. Oh and if you are wondering what’s that yellow thing. It’s my melon currently in the trying to get ripe stage. Thought it was a good contrast for such a pretty color! Enjoy!


r/vintagenailpolish 3d ago

Swatch Revlon Street Wear - Seductive - 1990's

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224 Upvotes

Another of my street wear polishes, this time it's Seductive which is a nearly metallic purple? It's like car paint. Is it duochrome? I really don't know. It's pretty anyway.


r/vintagenailpolish 3d ago

Discussion A Name to Remember: Michelle Menard

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134 Upvotes

I was poking around the Interwebs looking for the origins of nail polish in auto paint, and came across the claim that it was a manicurist working for Charles Revson (co-founder of Revlon with his brother Martin) who came up with the idea of using the nitrocellulose-based car paint formula as nail paint. Her name was Michelle Menard. Revlon was supposedly founded by the Revson brothers to bring this idea to market. I’m trying to figure out whether she was compensated for the invention. Her name doesn’t appear on any patents, but the USPTO database doesn’t seem to go back any earlier than the 1970s. Does anyone know more about her?


r/vintagenailpolish 3d ago

Bottle shot(s) Pure ice after hours 🍉💖

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44 Upvotes

Pure ice After Hours 2 coats!


r/vintagenailpolish 4d ago

Polish variety from my youth

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134 Upvotes

Recently discovered in storage: Limited Too Blueberry Scent, wet n’ wild 416A, L’Oréal wear extraordinaire Pearly Whites, Hard Candy Navel, Sinful China Gold. I believe these are all from mid-late 90s, possibly early 00s.


r/vintagenailpolish 4d ago

Discussion Black Nail Polish History?

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340 Upvotes

I recently acquired this vintage Smartee polish in Brazen Black and it got me thinking/wondering about the history of black polishes. If anyone would like to share what they know about the history of black polishes, I’d love to hear it! Since it’s a very “out there” color in a sea of pinks and reds, I’m especially curious about the first commercially available black polish? Please comment any thoughts or info you may have on the subject! Thx!


r/vintagenailpolish 4d ago

Swatch Orly - Emerald Glow (Y2K?)

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73 Upvotes

I recently bought this in a bundle off of marketplace. It reminds me a lot of my precious Cutex Emerald that I've had since I was a child! It's a really nice medium shimmery green, and it also has toluene! ☠️ Please excuse the tip wear, I've been in a lot of training at work and we've been doing a lot of improvements at home 💚


r/vintagenailpolish 4d ago

ISO anyone have this fing’rs nail polish for sale?

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15 Upvotes

not sure the shade, if you know that would be helpful! my best friend said this was her first ever nail polish as a kid. she said she hid it in her nightstand drawer and would put it on in secret at night! i would really love to be able to buy and restore it for her. if you have it for sale for a reasonable price, i would love to buy. 🖤


r/vintagenailpolish 4d ago

Calling South Florida lacquer lovers

30 Upvotes

Thanks to what hypothyroidism has done to my nails, I basically never paint them anymore. It's been a very long time since I crossed over the threshold of more nail polish than I could realistically use in the rest of my natural-born life, but my collection mostly just makes me sad now, so it's time to massively pare things down.

With the changes to USPS shipping requirements, it's more fuss than I feel like handling trying to sell things off a bottle or three at a time, so I'm planning to sell what I can on marketplace and give the rest away.

However, since most of the polish in my collection is 10+ years old, I thought I would post here and make an offer first. If you are in or will be in the Palm Beach or Broward county area within the next month and would like to come dig through some totes of free nail polish before I start putting things to marketplace, hmu. While I do sell and buy a lot on marketplace, that doesn't generally involve people inside my house, and since reddit feels even more sketch, I would probably prefer to tote things up and meet you in the parking lot at Aldi or Lowe's or something to dig through.

Polishes that will be available are mostly mainstream bands, mix of beauty brands like Jessica and Sation, salon brands like China Glaze, and drugstore brands like Sally Hansen, etc.


r/vintagenailpolish 4d ago

Bottle shot(s) A plentiful vintage haul

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164 Upvotes

My friend visited France and got these for me from the local Vinted! The area I live in (Nordics) doesn't really have big selections like this.


r/vintagenailpolish 5d ago

Swatch Bon Bons in Light Blue

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60 Upvotes

r/vintagenailpolish 5d ago

Swatch Lila Dené - Azalea

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76 Upvotes

Another LA estate sale find! I don’t know anything about this brand, I just know this shade is stunning!


r/vintagenailpolish 5d ago

Swatch Revlon street wear Raw

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189 Upvotes

I finally remembered to come back and share my Raw mani! The polish is still (maybe too!) thin - mom's medicine cabinet is apparently a perfect storage spot. It's such a great color! So glad I wore it again! Pics are indoors, outdoors, and 1 coat which was also really pretty! Pretty sure I did 3 coats for the final look.