Rakuzen's Nail Polish Collection: Part 1

As promised, here is part of my nail polish collection. I'm too busy (lazy) to do it all at once, because...



No, this is not all of it. But this is a good part of it, and when I want to find all of one brand, I have to dig through it. So! The collection will be coming slowly.

Today though is my OPI collection (which isn't a lot, sadly), my Zoya collection (likewise) and the top coats/bottom coats that I use, for whatever reason. First up: OPI.



From left to right is: Jade Is the New Black from the OPI Hong Kong Collection; OPI Absolutely Alice from the Alice in Wonderland collection; OPI Simmer & Shimmer from the Burlesque collection; OPI Do You Lilac It?; OPI Black Shatter; Nicole by OPI No Limits matte; OPI RapiDry top coat;



OPI Kreme de la Kremlin from the Russian Collection; OPI Ink; OPI Stranger Tides from the Pirates of the Caribbean collection; OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui from the Hong Kong Collection; OPI Alpine Snow; OPI Illuminate from the Designer Series; OPI Here Today, Aragorn Tomorrow; OPI Pearl of Wisdom from the Hong Kong Collection; and OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender, also from the Hong Kong Collection.

There were a couple that didn't turn up for the picture, like OPI Breathe Life and OPI Dim Sum Plum. (Also, can you tell that I love OPI? No? Kay, well, I'm kind of pathetic and didn't have to look at any of the bottles or online for the names/collection.)

My Zoya collection:



From left to right: Zoya Dove; Zoya Lolly (Matte); and Zoya Caitlin plus the Zoya remove +.

(And no, my pictures do not do any justice to the polishes. Please forgive my poor camera skills.)

I just have to say that (and this is my own opinion. I am not sponsored by Zoya.) that the Zoya remove+ is the most amazing nail polish remover I've ever used. It takes off glittery nail polish (even Absolutely Alice, which is killer to remove) in seconds, with half as many cotton balls as it usually takes. And on regular nail polish? Let's just say that I no longer dread having to take off my nail polish. :) But seriously. It's only $10 or so for an 8 fl. oz. bottle. The spout is awesome, because it locks when not in use, otherwise you unlock it and push down (with a cotton ball) and it soaks your cotton ball with just three spritzes. It also preps your nails and doesn't dry them out, and it smells nice too.

My top/base coat collection:



From left to right: OPI RapiDry top coat; Essie Matte About You top coat; Sally Hansen Double Duty Base + Top Coat; Sinful Colors Base Coat; Seche Vite Quick Dry Top Coat; Essie Matte About You top coat; and Seche Vite base coat.

Why am I so bad at taking pictures? I have no clue. But I promise that it will improve as I start doing more nail art and swatches. Or I'll get a stand. Or someone with not-shaky hands to hold my camera.

July 4th

Happy Independence Day to my American readers! :)

I went out to Beauty First in Ann Arbor today, and got a lovely surprise. Three OPI nail polishes and one Essie polish for the price of $20.



From left to right: Essie Matte About You Top Coat, OPI Stranger Tides from the OPI Pirates of the Caribbean collection, OPI Here Today, Aragorn Tomorrow, and OPI RapidDry Top Coat.

I don't know if the OPI Here Today, Aragorn Tomorrow is the matte version, which is what I was actually looking for (but the salesperson didn't really know what I was talking about. She also probably thought I was a freak for knowing the exact name and release date.), but even if it's not, the non-matte is pretty too. The Essie was on sale for $2 (!!!), regular price $10. Both OPI polishes were regularly priced at $8.50, but with the purchase of two OPI's I got the top coat for free.

Doesn't the beauty of it all make you want to cry? It makes me want to cry xD Coming soon will be swatches of Stranger Tides and Here Today, Aragorn Tomorrow. For work, I'm not allowed to have bright colors, so we'll see what I can do.

Have a good holiday!

Summer Cleaning

Yes, it's been awhile.

*hides*

I would blame school for this, except I've done a lot of nail art, even during school. It just takes so much EFFORT to take pictures (Yes, I am that lazy). But I do have some things for you to see.

I took pictures of my nail polish collection, categorized by brand. But that was about four months ago, and I have acquired several (beautiful) nail polishes since then, and I can't bear to post the pictures until they're all together.

So my first post will be an old picture. My first Frankenpolish. This polish was created by mixing a pea-sized amount of grey eyeshadow from my 120 piece Manly Eyeshadow Palette with fifteen drops of clear nail polish. I really wanted one to match a headband that I had, and this worked out perfectly. I was thinking it was close to Sally Hansen Gunmetal (a color I adore), but it was actually closer to a Maybelline polish... One of the 60 seconds one, that I can't quite remember the name of.



In the process of mixing. It was really easy, almost no thought (Phew) was involved.



The finished product. It was a little bit darker than the picture, but not by much. A gorgeous grey, if I do say so myself, and exactly what I was looking for. My only problem was that I didn't make quite enough, so it was streaky. I'd misplaced my bottle of Gunmetal, and happened upon the Maybelline Express match for this franken when I went to replace it.

In the next few days, I will be revamping my blog. Expect a lot of nails with dots on them, my blog expanding to be more than just a nail blog (I might just make it a beauty blog), pictures of my nail polish collection, and some checkered nails.