Rescue Beauty Lounge Piu Mosso

Good morning. Today I have for you one of the new Rescue Beauty Lounge polishes from the recent Firebird collection. I chose one shade from the collection, Piu Mosso, and pre-ordered it way back in July. I received it in late August and finally got around to wearing it yesterday.

Unfortunately my experience with Piu Mosso was not what I had hoped, in general and certainly not based on my previous experience with RBL polishes. However, some of that was definitely due to operator error and was not the fault of the polish - so I'll have to give it another try to know for sure. Perhaps my thoughts will be helpful if you're considering buying this shade.

I chose Piu Mosso because of the gorgeous murky blue base color and the sunset-orange shimmer.

Doesn't it look awesome? Amazing? Delightfully unique? Well in the bottle, it is.

Part of me knew the shimmer would not be that strong or dramatic on the nail but...I couldn't help hoping otherwise. You do get flashes of it from time to time:

But mostly, it looks like this.

Indoor lighting

Natural lighting

In the picture above, you can see a bit of the dragging (near the cuticle on my middle finger) and the dullness of the finish. These are two of the issues I had with Piu Mosso.

To be fair, I didn't exactly set myself up for success with this manicure. I put the polish on at around 11pm, when I should have been going to bed. I was dead tired, exhausted actually; and to make matters worse I decided it would be okay to drink a Diet Coke before/during doing my nails. So my application skills were probably not what I would call "ideal." I was impatient and cranky and probably rushed a little.

However.

The formula was definitely thick and definitely difficult to control. It was pasty, resulting in drag marks like you can see in the picture above. I did a very thin first coat but went fairly thick on the second coat; this would also prove a bad idea when not 10 hours later the manicure began chipping. (I do think that's my fault...I used too thick of a second coat.)

I used Seche Vite as a top coat. I don't remember this giving me problems with RBL previously but I'll definitely try something different with Piu Mosso next time. The chipping got much, much worse and I actually removed the polish less than 24 hours after putting it on. Typically I leave manicures on for at least 2-3 days and if I need to, I often get 5-6 days of wear. So this was annoying.

I dearly love my other RBL polishes - they are heavily pigmented, easy to apply and have good wear with my usual base coat/top coat combination. I might try a couple drops of thinner in Piu Mosso.

The fact is, however, that none of these tactics will change the fact that the color isn't quite what I'd hoped. Someone suggested trying Piu Mosso over another polish with a similar base color, and I'm willing to give that a try as well.

The biggest bummer of all is that when you lightly swipe a cotton ball soaked in acetone over the polish, it lifts up just enough of the murky blue to let that coppery orange shimmer really glow. ARGH!

RBL Bangin' & H5

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I still wasn't up for facing another holiday manicure today, so I cracked into another Chez-Delaney stamping plate.  I wanted to use the tip pattern from plate H5, which is a pattern centered about a heart, and I thought it would look cool in Konad Black Pearl over a red creme.  For the base color, I went with RBL Bangin', halfway between a coral and a red, because the color is light and vivid enough to provide a stark contrast to the Black Pearl.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Bangin' is, like their other cremes, just perfect in two coats. It's normally easy to apply, but I must confess that today's manicure is neither my best application nor stamping.  The fact is, I did my nails while watching a Jackass DVD, so I kept busting out laughing.  I wish there were a more age-appropriate reason for the imperfections, but alas, I apparently have the sense of humor of a twelve year old boy.  So be it...  As a result, the only really decent stamps ended up being my thumb, which you can only see half of, and my middle finger.  I was laughing for the others and smudged them a little - just enough that they look crappy in a giant picture, but not enough to redo it.  Here's what I've got.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Bangin' Nail Polish with Chez-Delaney H5

It's not perfect, but I like it a lot just the same.

That's it for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

RBL Purple Haze & H4

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I just got around to changing my manicure today, and I realized that at this point I'm already weary of winter and holiday manicures.  I still have a long way to go!  I decided for a change, I'd go with Rescue Beauty Lounge Purple Haze and try out one of the Chez-Delaney plates I got this week.

Purple Haze is, of course, as fabulous as always.  It's a great shade and it virtually applies itself, and it's perfection in two coats.

For the stamping, I wanted to see how Chez-Delaney's gargantuan tip patterns worked, and I went with the one on plate H4.  That's actually the main reason I ordered these, some of them have tip patterns that are friggin' enormous, so much so that I could literally have double the free edge I have now, and they'd still cover in one stamp.  For me, that matters because having to double stamp is a bit of a hassle, so these are great.  Just for a sense of scale, here's a picture of the plate from Chez-Delaney's site.  I used the one in the middle.

Chez Delaney Nail Stamping Plate H4

As you can see, the tip pattern and the full nail pattern to its left are the same length.  That's good news!

I did the stamping using Konad White, and they turned out well for the most part.  At first, I had a little trouble getting the Konad stamper to cover as much of the pattern as I wanted to pick up (I just used about half of it), and for some reason I start on my left hand.  So the stamping's a lot better on the right hand, but I have a heck of a time getting a picture of my right hand, so I'll just have to show you the imperfect left.

RBL Purple Haze Nail Polish, Two Coats, with Chez Delaney H4

I like it, and I'm excited to have some fun new plates.

On an entirely unrelated note, a few days ago in the comments, Cat from Australia asked about summery Christmas manicure ideas for those in the southern hemisphere.  I have two ideas I'm tossing around which are not complete, but I thought I'd ask you for your ideas as well, if you'd care to share them.  We can consider what it would be like to have late June weather at Christmas while the snow falls outside (like now!).  I'll be showing you at least one of the two ideas I'm working on this week.

That's just about all I have for you today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Chanel-oh!

Hi there. I've been "working" on a massive Photobucket organization project over the weekend, labeling and tagging my nail polish photos. Years from now, when wise people ponder the decline of civilization, they will point to my efforts and say, Blame her.

So here's what's been up, on my nails anyway.








Lastly, you may have heard there's a new Chanel release coming soon (perhaps tomorrow?). Called Riva, it's rumored to cost $39 per bottle. While I highly doubt this I cannot find any evidence supporting or contradicting the claim. It's a very pretty light blue with a bit of shimmer. I saw a swatch on the MUA nail polish board and it looks gorgeous on, though as to be expected it's drawn out the Chanel haters.

I have my share of Chanel polishes. As nail polish goes it's expensive, and if you buy a sold-out limited edition color on eBay long after it's been cleared out of boutiques and online stores you're going to pay a ridiculous amount for it. My rule is that I either get it at retail or I don't get it. Other people have different rules and that's fine. To each her own! It's just nail polish.

What's strange is that the mere existence of Chanel nail polish seems to make some people very very angry, which is...strange to me. As with anything, it's possible some of these people have purchased Chanel polish and been unsatisfied or had a bad experience. Other than that I'm not sure why there's any need to get angry about nail polish. If you don't like it, don't buy it...it's really that simple.

As for me it's safe to say that if Riva is in fact $39 I won't be standing in line to purchase it. I'm very happy with all of my Chanel polishes and have enjoyed them a great deal but even I have limits. (Update: Apparently the retail price will be $27.)

No, it's true, I do.

For your enjoyment:

OMG.

The rumors are true: I caved to Konad. I Kaved! More to come when I'm a little better at it. I assure you this looks highly janky IRL.


Rescue Beauty Lounge Grunge with Konad Special Polish in Black.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Coral

Good morning, Dear Reader!

You know, with the exception of recent weeks, I've been changing my nail color just about every day for a few years now.  A consequence of that is that I really haven't been able to speak to the wear of most polishes, since I take them off the next day.  In the last few weeks, I've been reminded of just how annoying a really chippy polish is.  Case in point: MAC Jade Dragon.

I just took off Jade Dragon this morning (after three full days of wear), and it was chippy.  I had chips within twenty four hours of applying it, and yesterday little flakes of Jade Dragon were coming off every time I turned around - it was pretty much a reminder of why I didn't buy MAC nail polishes for a while.  I'd heard tales of bad staining from it, and although I had some minor staining to both my skin and nails upon removal, it wasn't really noteworthy.  The chipping really was, and I hadn't heard that before, so I thought I'd mention it.

When I changed color this morning, the one I chose to use was Rescue Beauty Lounge Coral.  It's a coral creme, a great shade.  I needed three coats of it to make it totally opaque, but I'm reasonably certain that I apply very thin coats - I frequently use one more than others report using, so two may be sufficient for most.  The dry time for Coral was a little below average for me, but the color is well worth a few extra minutes' wait.  Here is the finished Coral manicure.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Coral Nail Polish, Three Coats

It's a really nice one for the last days of summer.  Despite that, I don't think that I would buy this one again.  The fact is, there are quite a few other really good corals that are far less costly - there's a Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear I really like, there's also the whole Corals Collection that Nubar put out last year, and both brands work quite well for me and have a far smaller price tag.  However, RBL Coral is still a great polish, so I'm going to enjoy it since I have it.

That's the update for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

RBL The Real Housewives of the Tudor Dynasty

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I'm back with swatches of the Fall 2010 Rescue Beauty Lounge nail polishes (samples from RBL), and they are fantastic.  All were good in two coats, and all four are gorgeous shimmers.  You can read about Ji Baek's inspiration for the collection here. RBL will announce their availability on Facebook.

Jane is a pale neutral with a hint of pink and lavender, and just the perfect subtle shimmer.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Jane Nail Polish, Two Coats

Anne is a grey green with just a hint of pink shimmer.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Anne Nail Polish, Two Coats

Catherine H. is a gorgeous Wedgewood blue shimmer.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Catherine H. Nail Polish, Two Coats

My favorite is a real stunner, Catherine, which is a deep purple shimmer.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Catherine Nail Polish, Two Coats

I am absolutely in love with all four of these!  What do you think?

That's it for the RBL Extravaganza today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

RBL Fall 2010 Press Release

Hello, Dear Reader!

I just received the press release for Rescue Beauty Lounge's Fall 2010 release.  I should have the polishes today, so swatches will come later.  Click on the image for a full page view.

Chanel Gold Lame & RBL Locavore

Good morning, Dear Reader!

After a week of wearing holos, Paradoxal just wasn't doing it for me and I changed it yesterday morning.  I tried out Chanel Gold Lame, which is a two coat light gold shimmer.  It didn't seem blingtastic enough, so I added two coats of Rescue Beauty Lounge Locavore to it, and then I was happy.  Here it is a day later.

Chanel Gold Lame Nail Polish and RBL Locavore, Two Coats Each

It took three coats of top coat to make it smooth, but it was worth it.

That's what I have for you this morning, Dear Reader.  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!  

RBL No More War & BM17

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Yesterday I got my Rescue Beauty Lounge No More War from the re-release of it, so I had to use it today.  However, there was an unfortunate incident...

Yesterday I wore American Apparel Malibu Green, and upon removal this morning, my skin became Malibu Green.  I use non-acetone remover normally, so I started with that, was horrified at the color of my skin, grabbed some Remove+ and tried that, used a nail prep product that's acetone and isopropyl alcohol, then resorted to whitening toothpaste and mouthwash.  Know what?  My hands are still somewhat Malibu Green.  I was going to use old pictures you haven't seen today, but then decided I'd go ahead and show you my green hands so you know what you might be in for.  I look like the daughter of The Green Giant.

So, today's mani... It's RBL No More War with a tip apptern from Bundle Monster plate BM17 in Konad Black Pearl.  Here's two coats of No More War alone.

Rescue Beauty Lounge No More War Nail Polish, Two Coats

See how stained my skin is?  I've never had that happen with any polish before - usually acetone remover will take it off, but I told you all the things I tried, and this was as much progress as I was able to make. 

Here's No More War with the Bundle Monster stamp.

Rescue Beauty Lounge No More War Nail Polish, Two Coats, and Plate BM17

The Bundle Monster tip patterns look super narrow on the plate, but they seem to work just fine for me.

That's today's Nails of the Day and my tale of woe.  Until tomorrow, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!  

RBL SpongeBob Nail Polishes

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I'm what, a year, year and a half late on showing you Rescue Beauty Lounge's SpongeBob Collection?  That's because I wasn't sold on them until recently, and when I placed an RBL order, I sprung for them and got them today.

The reason I was reluctant was that from reading other reviews of them, I knew they took four coats and that even at four coats there was a visible nail line.  I flinched at the four coats thing both because that's high maintenance and because that's using a lot of a high end polish at one time.  I changed my mind because I've been successful in layering over white as of late, so I figured two coats of the RBL's might work over two coats of either Essie Walk Down the Aisle (if I'm up for risking a bit of VNL) or Orly White Out (which I used today).  That left only the high maintenance issue, and I liked all three colors enough to deal with that.

What I like about all three is that they're the slightly off-beat RBL kind of shades - the blue's a little dustier than others, the coral a bit peachier, the yellow a little paler.  They're essentially RBL doing cool cremes, which is what I look to them for.

I swatched the three to see if they'd work over White Out - they did.  I really, really like them.  Keep in mind this is not how the colors were intended to be worn, but my way of wearing them.

Squarepants is a great pastel yellow.  It could probably use a third coat over White Out to be perfect, but I was trying to be consistent and see what two would do.  For a yellow, a third coat's not bad at all, so I'll try that next time.

RBL SpongeBob: Two Coats Squarepants over Two Coats Orly White Out 

Bikini Bottom is a light blue that's just a tiny bit dusty, making it more interesting than just a pale blue.  Two coats of it over two coats of White Out was just right.

RBL SpongeBob: Two Coats Bikini Bottom over Two Coats Orly White Out

The one I chose to wear is Starfish Patrick, which was also perfect in two coats.  I had to be careful while waiting between coats on this one - there was an incident during shipping that cracked a corner of the bottle and the crack has started to spider outward, so I was afraid to tighten the cap at all lest I be left with a handful of Starfish Patrick and broken glass.  I emailed Ji at RBL about it as soon as I found the damage, and typical RBL customer service, she simply asked for the picture I offered in order to replace it.  Things happen, but RBL is always great about dealing with them.

RBL SpongeBob: Two Coats Starfish Patrick over Two Coats Orly White Out

So those are my swatches of layered RBL SpongeBob nail polishes.  I'm really happy I finally went for them, and I have other nice RBL's to show you in the coming week.  Tomorrow morning, though, I have something really fun (I think!).

That's all for today, Dear Reader.  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!  

Konad Plate M71 & Hidden Treasure

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have a couple of Konadicures using Konad plate M71 for you, as well as some bonus pictures of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure.  The Konadicures are photographed in natural light, the Hidden Treasure pictures are me trying to find the right spot to use in the light box.

The first Konadicure is a base of China Glaze Something Sweet from the Up & Away Collection, two coats, stamped with Psyche Pink Konad Special Polish using a lace pattern from plate M71 and tip patterns from plate M19.

Konad Plate M71 over China Glaze Something Sweet, Two Coats, using Psyche Pink

The second is today's Nails of the Day, three coats of OPI Fiercely Fiona stamped with a lace pattern from plate M71 at the tips using Green Konad Special Polish.

Konad Plate M71 over Fiercely Fiona, Three Coats, using Green Special Polish

Now for the bonus pictures of Hidden Treasure... I have three because each different angle showed Hidden Treasure differently.  The manicure is two coats of Hidden Treasure over two coats of Rescue Beauty Lounge Mismas.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Hidden Treasure Nail Polish, Number One

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Hidden Treasure Nail Polish, Number Two

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Hidden Treasure Nail Polish, Number Three

Pretty cool, huh?

That's it for now, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Rescue Beauty Lounge Diddy Mow

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I finally have RBL Diddy Mow for you, the other I got from RBL's Surf's Up Collection.

Diddy Mow is a muted green creme, and is the same color as a pair of over-washed Army Surplus pants that one of my friends wore in college. It was perfect for me in two coats.

Rescue Beauty Loungs Diddy Mow Nail Polish, Two Coats

I just thought I'd give you a peek at Diddy Mow - I don't have much else to tell you this morning. So until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Rescue Beauty Lounge 360

Hello, Dear Reader!

I got a little package from Rescue Beauty Lounge today, and in it were my picks from their new Surf's Up Collection: 360 and Diddy Mow. These, and the third shade I passed on, a red coral called Bangin', sold out fast in the initial pre-sale, but word is there will be another.

I tried out 360 (officially 360° in the pre-sale email, but the label says just 360) tonight. It's a greyed out dark aqua blue with a hint of shimmer. In two coats, it was even and opaque.

Rescue Beauty Lounge 360 Nail Polish, Two Coats, from RBL's Surf's Up Collection

360 is a unique color and I like it quite a bit, but it's a little plain on its own. As luck would have it, I also picked up some fimo sticks today, and may add to this tomorrow. If my first try with fimo is a success, I'll show it to you. If it's a failure, I'll keep it to myself and show you Diddy Mow instead...

That's the update for now, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Polk a dots rock!

OK so I admit that my PJ's inspired this manicure....is that weird? Who cares!
I used Rescue Beauty lounge Bikini Bottom as a base and a dotting tool and french tip white for the polk a dots. I love this manicure as much as I love my jammies!Bikin Bottom is so perfect!Polk a dots Rock!Oh yeah, the Muse PJ's!How can you not love polk a dots
What is your favorite pattern?

Appropriately Enough

I started my new job and I'm fairly certain I saw another woman there wearing a super dark green polish, so I am probably safe to wear whatever I like, but I'm going with the "appropriate" colors for now. It's harder to make mistakes with them, too, and have I mentioned that this job, like most others, requires waking up early? It's odd making the adjustment, my day -- my real day, the part when I get home -- is so short now. That part...I'm not wild about.

Anyway, on to the colors.

This was...awesome. I wore it on my first day of work and I was sad to take it off but you know...this obsession...it owns me. This is the kind of color I really love: subdued with an edge.


This...was another story. I received it in a swap and was pretty excited about it, and it is a pretty color but a bit of a streakopotomus. There is some very subtle silver glitter in there that gives it a bit of interest, but the pink is pretty far into Barbie/candy pink territory. A little too far, maybe, for me.

Sally Hansen Nail Prisms

I'm sure if you're a girl who is the least bit girly in terms of makeup and whatnot, you know about Sally Hansen products. Basically, if you do your nails, you've used a Sally product at some point, because she makes all of them. I'm a big fan of the instant cuticle remover myself.

Anyway, in terms of nail color, Sally Hansen makes A LOT of freaking lines of nail polish. So many in fact that one might wonder...why exactly...but anyway. One thing I've discovered as I've learned from more hardcore nail polish devotees is that this humble drugstore brand can inspire deep devotion, especially to such beloved discontinued polishes as the Chrome Nail Makeup, Magical Nail Makeup, Fire Opals and Nail Prisms.

I stumbled across a few Nail Prisms recently (you can find all of these wonders on eBay, and some at dollar stores) and they are indeed quite pretty. Normally I'm not a glitter fanatic, but this one is lovely.

The color is Purple Diamond. I put it on over 2 coats of Rescue Beauty Lounge Bruised, which is a really pretty polish by itself.

Shiny goodness!