Pottle Review | A DIY Solution for Custom Nail Color

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Can you think of anything more unreasonably disappointing than going to a nail salon knowing the color/design you want, and not seeing it on the wall? And I’m sure we’ve all found ourselves frustrated at least once when the gel color we want is only available in a regular polish formula. So you quit trying to be spontaneous and dive headfirst into an existential crisis as you resort to the same old nude, red, or white nails. Well, celebrity fashion manicurist Nettie Davis heard our cries and created a tool kit called the Pottle so we can create and store our own nail polishes (gel included), makeup and skincare products.

Davis is a Los Angeles-based celebrity and editorial fashion manicurist who is always on the move, either visiting clients like Willow Smith, Janelle Monáe, and Zoë Kravitz, or hitting up photoshoots for campaigns like Target, Sephora, and Dior.  During her travels, she kept running into an issue where her custom colors and gels weren’t traveling well in their original bottles. “I’m a mobile nail chick, I need to keep it neat!” Nettie says. That recurring problem leads to the invention of the Pottle (a hybrid of pot and bottle). 

This 4-piece refillable set ($20) allows for the mixing and storing of gels and polishes and includes a plasma builder gel so you can create gel color from scratch, make regular polish into a gel, or add glitter and pigments for something completely new. Additionally, the Mix ‘n’ Store Pottle is great for creating and storing other products like face masks. The possibilities are only limited to your imagination. 

I tested the Pottle out and felt like a kid in a beauty supply store. For my trial run, I added glitter to a Zoya nail lacquer, because life is more fun with glitter, no?

Step 1: Open the Pottle.  Unscrew the base from the wand to open the ‘pot’ part of the Pottle.

Step 2: Remove the copper mixing marbles.  Pour in the nail lacquer.

Step 3:  Add as much of the glitter pigment as your heart desires.

Step 4: Using the glass crystal wand, get your Harry Potter on whip it up!

Step 5: Add the copper mixing marbles to your concoction, screw the top part of the Pottle back onto the base and shake that (insert Megan Thee Stallion lyrics here).

Step 6: Polish a thin layer, first, then build an additional two or three coats depending on your taste level.  Add a top coat and voila!

P.S., this is a Pottle brand luxe brush that I will never use because it’s way too pretty. But I highly recommend grabbing a Pottle set for $19.99, like yesterday.