Tips: The Dangers of Nail Polish Storage

Some time ago, I blogged about storing nail polish in the fridge, and it sparked a little conversation about where people choose to store their polishes and whether or not keeping them in the fridge really does lengthen the lifespan.

I've kept my polishes in my fridge ever since I moved into my flat roughly eighteen months ago, and have just got into the habit of putting them in there, without really thinking about it.

I'm not sure how long ago it began, but for longer than I care to think about, I'd begun noticing that food stored in the fridge had started to taste a little "tainted". I remember originally that I'd just assumed that something in the fridge must have gone bad, so I promptly threw out a couple of things that I wondered might be causing it. I followed this up by cleaning my fridge using all of the "old wives tales" methods, and thought nothing of it. Until I noticed that things were still tasting "off". It was effecting virtually everything from the butter, to the cabbage.

Knowing that the fridge was definitely clean, and that there was nothing food-based that could be causing the tainted food, I wondered if it was just something "lingering", and placed a cup with Bicarb. of Soda into the fridge to attempt to rid the area of the odour. Irritatingly, and weirdly this only seemed to make it worse.

You might be able to guess, for the title at least, where this is going. But I have to confess that it wasn't until recently when the boyfriend commented how something tasted like "nail varnish remover", that it finally clicked in my head, that it could be the nail varnish causing the taint.

I'm so mad at myself for not realising it sooner. And it really does make sense. Think about it. When I first moved it, I only owned around five polishes, but as my collection has grown over the months, I have come to own roughly 50 or so polishes, all of which are of course chemicals with an incredibly strong odour. We're always reading about being careful when applying nail polish, and to make sure we do it in a well-ventilated room, so I can't believe that it just never crossed my mind.

I honestly hate to think how long I have been poisoning myself with all of that nail polish in my fridge, and I wonder how many others are doing it, without even realising it. Okay, so most "normal" people probably aren't storing quite as many as me, but I really do encourage anyone who is currently storing their polishes in the fridge, to be careful, especially if your food starts to taste weird without realising it.