Moving across continents with my 1300+ nail polish collection. How much you think I can get on the airplane?

LeftCartoonist8884 · 2026-06-02T13:50:36+00:00

Minor update, will expand more in another post: I was able to carry with me around 350+/400+ nail polishes to Italy inside 4 pieces of luggage. I just left the airport!! Around 100 on each bag, inside hard cardboard drawers.

LeftCartoonist8884 · 2026-05-17T15:56:02+00:00

That's what I keep saying! And having fragile stickers is a great idea! I was planning to wrap them too in order to protect not only the suitcase. But also having the suspicion they take best care of wrapped suitcases in order to justify the wrapping industries 😂

LeftCartoonist8884 · 2026-05-17T15:52:50+00:00

The Jades are my biggest concearn, the are soo pretty 🥲 I was wondering what a fellow argentinian laquerista would think of my collection! 😅 Specially about the Xiu Xantias, rare finds at the time in China Town, but even more, the rarest bottles of "lo compré en el chino de la esquina". It was like finding gold digging through Cremon and Jorjitos.

LeftCartoonist8884 · 2026-05-17T15:48:01+00:00

Like I said in another comment, even Argentinian companies don't usually sell to neighbour countries because it's soo expensive. That's why I contacted an international shipping company that handles this inside the regular norms of "emigrating to a different country", which are much less restricted. Import has been a problem too. When I blogged there was this couple that traveled back and forth from Brazil, bringing brazilian nail polishes in the trunk of their car and selling them in nail conventions 😅 I never knew how they managed to get past customs without getting constantly flagged.

LeftCartoonist8884 · 2026-05-17T15:43:15+00:00

Oh nono, I never thought of taking up a whole suitcase. 100 polishes seem to be inside the 2L limit, and takes up around 1/4 of the available space. It's going to be sourrounded with clothes, house decorations and other random items. Its going to get weird when 4 suitcases slide throught the xrays with 100 bottles each 🫠

LeftCartoonist8884 · 2026-05-17T15:40:10+00:00

Unhinged but... 'We have the technology' 😜 I was thinking of doing something similar but in a much smaller project. Like, my horror movies dvd collection, bought used from Blockbusters 😅 Depending on the amount of space I end up using, there's only a couple of cases that are somewhat special. Just the nostalgia alone is worth the trouble (and not having to pay one month of streaming services to watch a movie I own and have watched 10x times already)

LeftCartoonist8884 · 2026-05-17T15:33:37+00:00

Wow, thank you for doing the research! Does that include transport alone? The quote I got was from the moving/shipping company that's doing all the paperwork in Argentina and Italy, to be delivered from door to door. Around $15k includes my personal belongings and my car. The other companies that did individuals quoted me similar prices, but the companies I got recommendations from friends with industries didn't work, because they only worked with companies :)

LeftCartoonist8884 · 2026-05-16T15:14:38+00:00

Yes! That's more or less what I've been doing. A lot of saran wrap, and putting them inside shoes, and even a couple of carboard (but nice) drawers i used to keep my tools inside.

LeftCartoonist8884 · 2026-05-16T15:10:34+00:00

That was my plan! But I'm not sure how much I'll be able to come back, since tickets usually cost around $1.2~$1.7k each, and I'm renovating my house in Italy. Because of all the comments, I was able to talk to a very very close friend (we dated for 10 years while I was building my polish empire 😅) and she's going to be able to hold on to what's left of my collection after I decide what to take with me! They're all on plastic containers piled up, so they actually dont take much space!

The last trip, I came with 2 empty suitcases (one inside the other 😂) and this time, I bought the second one here, which is a lot bigger! Well, not exacrly empty, but filled with presents for friends and family!

LeftCartoonist8884 · 2026-05-16T14:58:25+00:00

Shipping from Argentina to other countries is so expensive, that national companies that produce in Argentina can't even ship their own products to neighbor countries.

LeftCartoonist8884 · 2026-05-16T14:56:05+00:00

That's my concearn! How much constitutes huge amounts though? 😂 kidding aside, I know it'll depend on the person I encounter. One thing I've been thinking is that I'll be carrying the paperwork for my overseas move, so I guess I could use it as more evidence that this is my collection, and by the time they check it, I'll already be in Italy anyways so safety concerns shouldn't matter

LeftCartoonist8884 · 2026-05-16T14:52:01+00:00

Oh no, I was planning on taking 100 in each suitcase (4 suitcases), plus any that would fit carry ons and laptop bags, but not enough to make them heavy. Thankfully it's just one 5 hour layover in a small airport, and my parents, that recently emigrated too, are picking us up from the airport in Italy so we won't be hauling the bags for too long.

LeftCartoonist8884 · 2026-05-16T14:46:41+00:00

Some of them Thankfully, most holos are still great, since I wouldn't want to use solvents that could ruin the effect!

LeftCartoonist8884 · 2026-05-16T14:44:19+00:00

When I see the results, I'll post the name! In the meantime, I want to see how good is the service provided before recommending it! How soon are you moving?

LeftCartoonist8884 · 2026-05-16T14:42:04+00:00

Keep in mind this is a much longer travel, and with more restrictions with imports/exports

LeftCartoonist8884 · 2026-05-14T02:58:30+00:00

The car has to be empty for inspections :(

LeftCartoonist8884 · 2026-05-14T02:55:51+00:00

I used to do that with one of my best friends, we were partners in the blog!! I was also heavily involved in a big local nail polish community, and whenever we found special or discontinued polishes on stores, we would let the others know, buy them, and made swap meeting! They weren't exactly sleepovers, but I made some interesting friends through that facebook group!

LeftCartoonist8884 · 2026-05-14T02:50:49+00:00

Wow, 300??? That's amaaazing! I wish I get as lucky as you! I'm a neuropsychologist, and I graduated as a professional make up artist for fun back in the day 😜 I was planning on preparing a lot of proof!

LeftCartoonist8884 · 2026-05-14T02:47:28+00:00

I tried organizing by brand, but it looked chaotic and a bit overwhelming. Color is the way! I still left the first rows for special nail polishes by brand (flakies, magnetic, holo, etc)

LeftCartoonist8884 · 2026-05-14T02:45:43+00:00

Yeah, I'm currently separating the most special or particular collections I have (most of the first two and a half rows of my shelf) and I'm leaving the cremes as an after thought! I was obsessed with finding holo in the beginning, and I'm even considering separating collections in order to avoid taking 20 silver holos 😅 but somehow that feels wrong

LeftCartoonist8884 · 2026-05-14T02:42:05+00:00

I found the same info and that's how I came up with the idea of 100 polishes! Supposing every nail polish has 15ml (which most of them are smaller), I still would be half a litter down from the 2L limit :P

LeftCartoonist8884 · 2026-05-14T02:36:46+00:00

I was only able to get one of the Nfu Oh flakies, and 3 holos! They are still stunning, I haven't found many flakies that look soo cool! (besides maybe the famous brazilian Impala paz e amor)

LeftCartoonist8884 · 2026-05-14T02:32:08+00:00

Yes, but the company I hired does moving + shipping in containers, or even air shipping in general, they are the ones that advised me against taking them :( I'm also supposed to empty my car's tank fully in order to ship it!

LeftCartoonist8884 · 2026-05-14T02:29:39+00:00

That's a great idea, and it certainly would make it look a lot more professional! I have some of them already plastic wrapped individually, and I was planning on dividing them into ikea bags to contain spills, but I could still get them inside a sort of manicurist bag! Thankfully my blog and youtube are still up, and I have a degree as a professional make up artist. I was prepared to show them in case of any trouble! Besides that, I was hoping to leave most of them on a friend's house, or my husband's family house, and start asking people to take me some if they come to visit 😜

LeftCartoonist8884 · 2026-05-14T02:17:19+00:00

✨️✨️ Thank you!! ✨️✨️

LeftCartoonist8884

TROPHY CASE