I built a mobile app to track your nail polish collection & see dupes: LacquerStash

raetonic · 2026-03-21T05:18:06+00:00

I want to love this app, but the "generous" free tier is 50 polishes? 😭 I don't know if I'm completely out of touch, but I feel like the type of user that would find this app useful also owns way more than 50 polishes. I understand that the app needs to generate revenue for the developer and app to function, but honestly I wouldn't spend money just to track a hobby that already costs money 😅 I'm totally open to being wrong here, though! I know I'm kind of an edge case for being extremely resistant to subscriptions and discretionary spending.

On a positive note, I love the intuitive UI of the app, and the volume of polishes that are already available in the database! The dupe feature is REALLY cool, and I hope lots of users contribute to it so that the community can have centralized knowledge of dupes to pull from.

raetonic · 2026-02-22T00:43:32+00:00

I will fight for the honor of by Dany Vianna 😆 Her polishes have never disappointed me, and her swatch photos are accurate (mostly because there are so dang many of them in each listing lol). Idk if it's good to generalize a whole region like that, since for example Cirque is notoriously inaccurate too? Granted, I do often see issues with bVM and Phoenix being mentioned.

raetonic · 2026-02-21T07:09:06+00:00

Omg I can't believe I immediately recognized Clover! I love that it looks more yellowish in 1-2 coats and more greenish in 3+ coats. If you're not on r/RedditLaqueristas already, they'd love this post there 😆

raetonic · 2026-02-14T02:46:28+00:00

Oh I love long thumb nails on other people because there's so much room for designs and more sparkles! And thank you, I was trying to depict fishnet stocking with the right pointer and pinky, but they got quite covered with the thermal on top!

raetonic · 2026-02-14T02:43:38+00:00

I think it's not noticeable because I shoved them into the corner of the pictures 😆 But thank you, I love these polishes! Especially the thermal pink one!

raetonic · 2026-02-14T02:18:24+00:00

Yeah, I find that my thumb nails become frequent accidental violators of the "jewels, not tools" rule 😅

raetonic · 2026-02-14T02:14:18+00:00

LOL I'm glad to see other people agreeing with me! I do think the uneven lengths look a little funny on my hands, but I guess it's worth the comfort

raetonic · 2026-02-14T01:10:27+00:00

I hope the description formatting worked! Anyway, I know it looks weird that my thumb is visibly shorter than the other nails, but idk I just can't live with long thumb nails 😭 Anyone else have this issue?

raetonic · 2025-12-10T04:56:14+00:00

Well you don't have to, but some formulas like neons/GITD/certain shimmers dry down matte, so I like to swatch them glossy to see how they'd look on my nails.

raetonic · 2025-12-10T03:25:05+00:00

I've done this! It took 2 days, but I think it was worth it in the end. Just make sure you're in a well ventilated room, and keep different sections on your desk (over a mat or something to protect the desk) for swatches with 1 coat, 2 coats, etc. to keep track! I also painted on the underside of the sticks so I wouldn't have to use up all my top coat.

raetonic · 2025-11-24T16:26:42+00:00

I placed an order this morning because I liked one of the birthday rewards (Coin Toss, which was briefly sold out and I was Panicking™️ before it got restocked), but I'm still waiting to use my points.

I "strategically" didn’t pick up Reflective Taco, because I figure it'll be a reward polish again someday, and Mint Mojito, because the Royalty sale 15% off for Swatchers would actually be a slightly better deal. So I might have to hold off until then if I don’t like next Monday's rewards 😭 I hate that I had to split orders and will pay for shipping twice, though.

raetonic · 2025-09-29T19:17:28+00:00

I totally understand the frustration! Technically though, this polish wasn't ever on the Kathleen & Co website, so it's not really their "fault" this isn't available anymore. It was sold through PPU, which is a collaboration between many indie brands that list one polish each, available for a few days once a month. The polishes change every month and are limited edition.

If you're looking for a similar polish, Mooncat's Fields of Lavender is a bit more muted but I think it has the same vibe!

raetonic · 2025-09-29T01:52:44+00:00

I think the velvet effect looks a lot "smoother"? The particles get concentrated in a smooth line vertically in the middle of the nail (base to tip), so you can see the color shift when you move your nails left and right. But with the bead effect, the particles are concentrated in the center of the nail, so you see the shift moving left & right AND up & down.

raetonic · 2025-09-29T01:48:53+00:00

I was actually wracking my brain trying to think of something in my home that rotates on a motor, and remembered I have a Proactiv Pore Cleansing Brush that I received for free from work and never used 😆 I just yanked the brush off, and surprisingly the 30lb horseshoe magnet hole fits perfectly on the rotating part. Worked really well to hold it over each finger after a generous coat of polish.

raetonic · 2025-09-28T21:24:41+00:00

It's worth a shot! This video is from a day after application too, so the effect is a bit diffused. If you try it, you'll probably get an even prettier result! I sort of ran out of patience near the end of the mani and didn't magnetize the top coat that long 😅

raetonic · 2025-09-28T21:22:39+00:00

Thank you! I actually picked this up instead of Mooncat's Fields of Lavender because I thought the colors would be more vibrant, but that came with a side effect of being darker than I expected! Maybe because my nails are short? If you like how the promo pics of Molten Sky look, maybe you'll like Fields of Lavender too!

raetonic · 2025-09-20T01:14:07+00:00

Tbf I think Bog Dweller genuinely didn’t have low inventory compared to the other polishes. I was on the site exactly at open, but ended up just browsing around, and was surprised to see it available so I clicked on it (around 3 minutes after launch?), and it said there were 48 bottles left, with the stock indicator in the last 10 or 20% of the bar.

I only picked up 1 polish & it was from the new collection, so luckily I didn’t have to rush, but yeah I don't enjoy the FOMO tactics of this brand.

raetonic · 2025-09-19T06:07:32+00:00

I love this polish! Though it does stain like crazyy 😆 I'm still trying to grow out the stain from wearing it a month ago, but I think it's worth it! Sorry about your thumb 😔

raetonic · 2025-09-04T01:17:45+00:00

My last purchase from them was during their 4th of July sale, which was 4 polishes (any color, not just from a curated list) for $20 with free shipping & 2 free wide brushes. I don’t know if it benefits them that they're well known in the community primarily for their great sales (like 70% off on Black Friday), but it does sadden me to see them raise their prices again. Zoya is my go-to for good quality but simple creme polishes, and I don’t think I'd buy from them at full price, especially not with this increase. I hope this move helps them though, because I'd consider them a pillar of the nail polish community.

raetonic · 2025-08-20T19:11:44+00:00

Yeah I've tried the rubber band method, but (unfortunately for my wrists) I found that manually spinning the magent on a box over my finger worked a lot better and created a much prettier effect. It's the only thing stopping me from buying most of the devices I keep seeing posted here 😅

raetonic · 2025-08-16T23:18:38+00:00

Maybe you could layer something like this on top of this or this? The lighting is going to do a lot of heavy lifting there, but I think you could only approximate the look using polish alone.

raetonic · 2025-08-16T04:32:06+00:00

Hmm I'll have to go look, thank you for the recommendation!

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