Hello there! Are you ready for the weekend? I know I sure am! 🙂
Don’t you just hate it when your nail polish goes bad? It seems like I buy a bottle, use it once (if I’m lucky), and then throw it away a year later because it got all thick and gunky. I know I can thin it out with nail polish remover, but then it takes forever to dry, and it my nail polish doesn’t dry in under a minute I have it smeared on my clothes, my laptop, my coffee cup, my cats… you get the idea.
Since I’ve been on an upcycle kick as of late, I started thinking about all that old nail polish I need to throw out. Once it gets old, it’s not good to paint my nails with let alone anything else because it just ends up a big old goopy mess. But I got to thinking- what if I took the painting part (in other words, using a brush) out of the equation? That’s how I came up with using it inside a Mason jar- no brushes required! 🙂
Please note that the finished product is for decorative purposes only and is not food safe and is not intended for food storage.
Since we are headed into Fall, I decided to use old pearlescent nail polish in Fall colors. I love how the colors shine inside the jar!
How To Paint Mason Jars With Nail Polish
Here’s what you’ll need:
- A Mason jar
- Old nail polish in one or more colors
- A clean cottage cheese or similar container (to catch any extra paint and to hold the Mason jar if drying it upside down is necessary)
- Paper towels
Note: You’ll want to do this in a well-ventilated area because using this much nail polish at once gets quite fume-y!
Pour some nail polish into the bottom of the jar. If the nail polish is thick and goopy, you can thin it out using a little nail polish remover (it works good for this, just not on my nails).
Tilt the jar to and fro to spread the paint around. Add more paint as needed.
Keep adding paint and tilting the jar back and forth until you get near the top, then tilt the jar to let the paint run around the rim. It runs on the rim pretty well, but if some does run out, just wipe it up with a paper towel.
Let the paint dry for at least a few hours to lessen the fumes before you bring it in the house to decorate with. The paint set up pretty quick so I was able to let the jar dry on its side, but if the paint is still runny, let it dry upside down in the plastic container for a bit so you don’t get the paint coagulating on one side of the jar.
I would let the paint dry for at least a few days before actually putting anything inside the jar. Once thoroughly dry, the paint *should* be waterproof enough to hold water for flowers. I say *should* because I haven’t tested it yet, but when I do I will update this post with the results.
So that’s it! Pretty easy huh? 🙂
Let me know what you think and if you have any questions in the comments section below!
Very pretty! Love the colors that you used. Might have to try this with some of my old bottles of nail polish.
Thank you Jeanette! 🙂
I love how that turned out! The iridescent nail polish sparkle in the jar is beautiful!
Thank you Kelli! I really like the iridescent look too! 🙂
Now I know what to do with all those colors that were just “not quite right” for my nails! Awesome!
You’re welcome Sheri! And I know what you’re saying about some colors just not being quite right for my nails! They look good in bottle, but then it’s a whole different story when I paint my nails! 🙂
Cool idea. I might use different colors & try to give it a tie-died look. There’s some funky blues & greens that my daughter doesn’t want anymore.
Thanks Letty! I’m glad this gave you some inspiration! 🙂
This is such a genius of an idea! Very timely, too, because I have a ton of old nail polish. Now, I know what to do with all of it. Thank you! 🙂
Thank you Carole! 🙂
Oh my gosh, Michelle, what a great idea. I LOVE this! Definitely going to do this when my polish goes bad. Thanks for linking up at the Weekend Blog Hop at My Flagstaff Home!
Jennifer
You’re welcome Jennifer! 🙂 And thank you for hosting the link party!
OH my gosh…I totally love this idea and am going to try it ASAP! 🙂
Thanks for joining Cooking and Crafting with J & J!
Thank you Jess! 🙂 I’m glad this idea really seems to be catching on… less old nail polish in the landfills, more on beautifully painted Mason jars! 🙂
This is awesome (and looks so easy)! What a fun and cheap way to spruce those jars up. Would be great for Christmas time soon – adding some candy or flair inside the jars. Great post!
Thank you Chrissa! 🙂 I have a TON of Christmas themed nail polish that I bought a couple of years ago and promptly forgot about, so it’s definitely going into some Mason jars this season!
This is such a great idea, the nail polish gives such a beautiful finish to the jar. I’m definitely going to give this a go to use up old polishes I have that I for some reason keep lol. It’s amazing what you can do with nail polish -I just made some watercolour teacups with it, they turned out really well. I love the shades you’ve used, they make me even more excited for Autumn 🙂 xx
Thank you! 🙂 Your teacups sound lovely! There’s so much you can do with old nail polish and a little imagination!
I’m SO Excited you shared this!! I’ve been on a paint everything with nail polish bend, and this just got me happy to use more nail polish all over again! Awesome Idea! 😀
Thank you! 🙂 I’m glad this inspired you to continue on your bend! 🙂
totally cool! Just think of all the totally cool nail polish colors out there! This I have to try for sure! Thanks for sharing at the creative challenge!
You’re very welcome- thank you for hosting! 🙂
If the polish is a color you absolutely love, you can get Nail Polish Thinner at Sally’s, or other beauty supply places. It’s what salons use to get all the polish out of the bottles. It returns the polish to the original texture with only a few drops. It’s a few bucks for a bottle that lasts forever! Keep on creating!
I didn’t know about nail polish thinner! Thank you for the tip Elaine! 🙂
Loving this! You are so talented. Thanks for sharing this at our party. Pinned and tweeted. I hope to see you on Monday at 7 pm, so we get to party with you again! Lou Lou Girls
Thank you so much! And I’ll be by tomorrow night!
Wow, it looks awesome!! I think I’ll give it a try, thanks for sharing!!
You’re very welcome Pili! 🙂
I would never have thought to use nail polish! Thanks for sharing on My 2 Favorite Things on Thursday! Hope to see you again this week!! Pinned!
You’re welcome Elaine, and thank you! 🙂
Wow, I love how these turned out! I have a bunch of old mason jars, and this would be an easy project for them. Thanks for linking up to This is How We Roll linky party!
You’re very welcome; and thank you! I’m glad you like them! And thank you for hosting the link party!
Just discovered this wonderful site. will be back here many more times.
Thank you Lori, and welcome! So happy to have you here! 🙂
I am going to sit up a place outside so i can paint. Love this idea. However, i would like some hints as to how to use it in decorating, more than putting flowers inside. What say? Thanks Lexie
Thank you Lexie! I’m happy you like it! 🙂 One idea for these is to paint 2-3 of them and group them as part of a display on a mantle or table. This is a great question, so I’m going to post it on my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ThePaintedHinge this afternoon for my other creative readers to chime in on, so check back there later this evening! 🙂
Your jar turned out so pretty! I love how the colors marbled together.
Thanks so much Kaitlyn! 🙂
I love it, did a jar in sparkling nail polish, put on old board and wrote Bless our home put on some sparkling nail polish on the letters, put flowers in jar. Thank you for the idea.Sharon
You’re very welcome Sharon! Your mason jar sounds beautiful! 🙂
I had been pricing painted Mason jars on ebay and they cost a fortune. I think these sellers think they have the market cornered because the mark up for their jars is 200%. It’s absolutely ridiculous and simply greedy. Then along comes sweet little Michelle sharing her beautiful and easy DIY jars for virtually pennies! Thank you for being a sharing, caring and wonderful person! I wish the world had a few more Michelles in it! Gratefully yours :>)
Hey there I’m really sorry if this is a dumb question. Once the nail polish is completely dried and done so in a well ventilated area, would it be safe to use this method to tint glass jars for homemade candles? Or do you think there would still be enough fumes to make it dangerous? Thank you
Hi Emily,
It’s not a dumb question at all! I haven’t tried it myself so I can’t give you a definite answer, but if I had to guess, I’d say that the heat from the candles may cause the nail polish to give off fumes even if the polish is dry. Again, I don’t know for sure but I always like to err on the side of caution.
How about trying battery powered tea lights? They put off very little if any heat, so there would be no problem with them heating up the nail polish.
I hope that helps! 🙂
Good article! Excellent idea. It’s so nice and amazing. I have never seen this. Thanks for sharing this blog. I have such type of related products. Can I Sale this??