My Style of Polish Purchasing

The indie-polish market is anything if not saturated. I don't have a problem with it in the slightest - but I can say that it leads to a lot of questions posted online or asked directly: How do you decide what indie polishes to buy? Especially when you can sneeze and get boogerfy at least five makers within snot-shot? 

(Snot)

I can say that I usually don't actively seek indie polishes, I tend to stumble on them. I find new polishes in a couple of ways - Reddit, blogs, browsing Etsy, recommendations from my friends, and even polishes that are made by some of them. Either way, I tend to be very picky-choosy when it comes to spending my money.

(UT took all my money and my soul)

If the polish is a new brand for me, I try to find as many blogs as I can to determine the quality of the formula. The various blogs also give me a chance to check out additional swatches. Finding more swatches is my biggest recommendation for people who are looking to buy a polish. Swatch pictures on an Etsy site can be awesomely accurate - but they're on someone else's nails, with someone else's application style, and someone else's skin tone. Not to mention the difference that lighting can make on a swatch! 

(This is a pretty serious difference)

Once I come to the conclusion that I want a polish based on cross referencing swatches and reviews from bloggers, I start to evaluate price. If this is a brand new maker, I try to wait for a sale. Also, I'm poor and I like sales. Unless something is limited edition and I've been lemming it (i.e. Scofflaw Love Letter to Kurt Vonnegut) I try really hard to not pay full price. However, sometimes the quality of an established or familiar maker allows me to throw caution to the wind, and I go full monty and buy a bunch of stuff. Familiar makers to me include: Lucky 13 Lacquer, Digital Nails, Hare Polish, Scofflaw, Emerald & Ash...... pretty much anything that I've tried before and cried from the workable gorgeous formula and unique colorations. 

Anyway, this is how I usually come to a conclusion. How about you guys?