Rescue Beauty Lounge Under the Stars

Sorry for my lack of posts this week folks.  Between the holiday weekend and some other stuff going on, my nail polish time has dwindled.  Over the next few weeks I will likely only post once or twice a week because I'm moving! So between packing and boxes and cleaning, my nails are going to really take a beating.  Hence they have already been filed down.  I'm thinking about using this time to do a Shellac review, as I just picked up a Living Social coupon for one.  For now I bring you my belated (and kind of sad) 4th of July mani.

First off, let me say that this mani got completely ruined by the fact that my Rescue Beauty Lounge (RBL) topcoat gave me bubbles!!!!  Ughh I'm so mad.  This is the first time I have ever had an issue with RBL products.  But I had SO much time to do this weekend I didn't have time to fix it.  I guess it's too thick, so hopefully that'll stop after I thin it out.  So you can see a ton of bubbles in these pictures, so please ignore.  My pinky and ring fingers looks the best.  My experience with RBL polishes and the treatment system is that they are all fantastic.  Great formulas, pigmented colors, great brush. I usually never have to do clean-up with my RBL mani's because the polish practically flows correctly on it's own.

RBL's Under the Stars is a blackened blue base with beautiful bright blue glitter in it.  The glitter is sparse and small, but given other people's swatches, I may have not rolled the bottle enough before application (a la Courtney's Royal Navy technique), so I think my swatches may not be true to the amount of glitter.  I think they are pretty true to color though.  The lighter blue tones you see are what's reflect in direct sunlight, with the darker tones being what you see in all other lighting.  It definitely doesn't look black in real life, but it's DARK.  I love this polish in the bottle more than on the nail, but I'm not ready to part with it.  So look for (better) more swatch of this puppy down the road!

Rescue Beauty Lounge Under the Stars
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Rescue Beauty Lounge Under the Stars
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Under the Stars is still available on Rescue Beauty's website, which is the only place you can buy it at $18 a pop.  The formula is totally worth the cost (I know, I know the bubbles! but that's NOT the norm I swear).  Under the Stars is technically Limited Edition, so snatch it up before it's out of stock forever.

My 4th of July Manicure: Orly Royal Navy and a Patchwork Accent

Happy Independence Day to all the American readers out there!  And a belated Happy Canada Day to the Canadian ladies!  ;-)  I wanted to do something festive to celebrate, so here's what I came up with!  

I started with Orly Royal Navy - a royal blue jelly with aqua blue shimmer.  It's a smidge deeper in color than my photos show, but every bit as vibrant.  It just screams summer!  The formula is amazing, and I used two coats.  It's a jelly, so there's a little VNL (visible nail line), but I promise it's not nearly as noticeable in real life as it is in these photos. The only weird thing about this one is that the shimmer settles to the bottom of the bottle, and it's really hard to shake it back to life.  I usually shake the heck out of it, and then let it sit upside down in a cup while I'm filing, pushing back cuticles, etc.  Then by the time I'm ready for color, it just needs one more shake, and it's good to go!  :-)

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I really love Royal Navy, and I think it's a great jelly for anyone who's new to jellies and looking to get their feet wet.  Makes a great pedi, too!  You can pick it up for about $7 at Sally's or Ulta.

I was going to just leave my mani at Royal Navy, but I just had an itch to kick it up a bit for the holiday. My original idea was to do red and white dots across the tips of my ring fingers.  I don't have a dotting tool, so I tried using a toothpick.  NEGATIVE.  Bad idea.  I ended up getting polish everywhere and having to redo both ring fingers.  Argh!!

Next idea - a patchwork manicure!  You can find a way better tutorial on patchwork manicures than I could ever show you here from Erika at Chloe's Nails.  She pretty much pioneered the patchwork manicure, and her work is incredible!  The basic idea is to use Scotch tape to block off areas of your nail, then add other colors on top.  I think there's a bit of a learning curve when using tape for your manicures, but overall, it's a pretty simple process.  I used Milani White and China Glaze Ruby Pumps over my original Royal Navy manicure, and I'm pretty happy with the result!

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WOO-HOO!  I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Fourth of July!  May the fireworks be abundant and beautiful!!  :-D

OPI Miss Universe Collection Giveaway!!!!!!

Courtney and I are SOOOOOO excited to bring you our first giveaway!  The Miss Universe Collection by OPI is the first full collection I've wanted (which is a bit of a cop-out for me, cause it's only 4 polishes), but we figured this was the perfect opportunity to give away something to our amazing followers.  We are a small blog but we so appreciate the love you give us - here is our way of saying THANKS!

OPI's Miss Universe Collection includes 4 polishes. In this giveaway, one lucky winner will have all of these babies delivered to your door!

• Swimsuit...Nailed It! An itsy bitsy teenie weenie vibrant shiny-blue bikini.
• It's My Year It’s about time for this champagne-rose to shine!
• Crown Me Already! A sassy silver sparkle that knows what it’s worth.
• Congeniality is My Middle Name And berry-wine shimmer is what I do best!

Swimsuit...Nailed It!,  It's MY Year, Crown Me Already!, and Congeniality is My Middle Name

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EDIT:  I've now got swatches up of the full line.  Go here to see them.

Contest rules and information:

1. You must be a public follower using Google Friend Connect (GFC).  New followers are welcome.
2. To be a contestant of this giveaway you must fill out the form below.  One form per person. Required information is your GFC name and email address (for contact purposes only).
3. One entry is automatic for all contestants.  A second entry can be earned by linking to this contest. 
4. The giveaway will close on Sunday 7/15/11 at 10:00PM E.S.T.
5. The winner will be selected using random.org.
6. The winner will be contacted by email and will have 48 hours to respond.  If the winner does not respond a new winner will be selected.
7. The contest is open internationally.

Good luck everyone!!!

THE GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED! WINNER TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON!!!!

The Foil Method

"The thing about glitter is, if you get it on you, be prepared to have it on you forever, 'cause glitter is the herpes of craft supplies." - Demetri Martin 

So true, Demetri.  So true.  Ever tried removing a glitter manicure?  It takes forever, your cotton pad/ball/felt gets destroyed, and glitter gets everywhere.  EVERYWHERE.  In summary, it's nothing short of a complete pain in the ass.  Some folks even shy away from wearing glitters, out of fear of the imminent torture that is removal.  Never fear!  The amazing (AMAZING!) girls over at MUA have a fool proof method for getting that stuff off without all the work.  This isn't my method, but I've used it countless times, and I'm happy to share it with you!  I present....The Foil Method!

First up:  the cast of characters.  You'll need pure acetone (You can use acetone polish remover, but it may not be as effective.), small felt squares/cotton pads/cotton balls, and cut up pieces of aluminum foil.

Soak your cotton pad with acetone, and press directly onto the nail.  Cover as much of the nail with the cotton pad as possible.  (A sincere thank you to my wonderful hubby for taking all of the rest of these photos for me, since I don't have three hands.)

Cover the cotton pad and your finger tightly with a piece of aluminum foil.  

Do the same to all your fingers on one hand.  (I highly recommend doing one hand at a time.  That way you'll have one free hand to work with.)  ROBOT HAND!!!  LOL  Leave the cotton pad and foil on for 10-15 minutes.  

*NOTE:  Everyone else in the world says this should only take 5 minutes.  I have NEVER had success leaving it on for only 5 minutes.  I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, but I usually do 15 minutes and it works great every time. 

After letting it soak, peel back off the aluminum foil, but leave the cotton pad on your nail.

Push down on the cotton pad and slide off the nail.  

VOILA!  The glitter slides right off the nail and onto the cotton pad.  Repeat all these steps on your other hand, and you're done!  Pain-free glitter removal!  (Ignore the fact that my nail is horribly stained.)

And that's it!  I hope you guys give this a try, if you haven't already!  It's super easy and keeps messes to a minimum.  Those MUA ladies sure are geniuses!

Time to bust out your favorite glitter!  :-D

Rescue Beauty Lounge Insouciant

I know, I know, I'm a nail polish snob.  I can't help it.  Honestly, once you have had a good formula (even at $18) you'll know why.  And don't get me wrong, while I love me some Rescue Beauty Lounge (RBL) polishes, I also have a very deep serious love for Deborah Lippmann polishes.  I haven't tried any other high end brands, but if they are anything like these ladies' polishes, sign me up!

So how does one afford to buy $18 polishes on a budget?  You save your purchases for really special polishes that you can't get elsewhere, that will really complete your collection and will be ones you will wear! Well at least that's how I do it, and eat lots of ramen :).  Just kidding!

So what makes Insouciant so special.  First the formula, its goes on amazingly smooth and pigmented.  I barely had to do cleanup with this one, the polish just flows on itself.  What you end up with is a beautiful dusty lavender full of secret blue shimmer.  It's pretty obvious on the bottle, but not the nail.  You can see it, you just have to look hard for it. :)  The shimmer just gives the polish a wonderful sophistication.  Take a look!

Rescue Beauty Lounge Insouciant
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Rescue Beauty Lounge Insouciant
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Bad news guys, Insouciant is sold out and it was limited edition so it's not coming back (at least not yet!).  But you can still find it on Ebay sometimes.  Or if you have to have this polish, you can try swapping for it on MakeupAlley.com! :)  Happy hunting, it'll be worth it.

OPI Glam Slam! England - Grape...Set...Match and Servin' Up Sparkle

Good Morning everyone!  Today I'm totally excited to bring you the new OPI Glam Slam! England set.  I was able to snag this up online last week, so I can bring it to you before it's available at Ulta stores.  I am even more in love with this set then I thought I would be.  I new I wanted it as soon as the press release came out, and then when I saw Scrangie's pictures of it and described it as a less black version of OPI Ink.  OPI Ink is one of my favorites, so I was excited about this one.

First up is Grape...Set...Match.  I'm not into tennis, but that's a super cute name!  It really is a less black version of OPI Ink.  It's a duo-chrome that almost got a foil finish to it in a gorgeous deep grape purple color.  The foil-like finish is due to the tiny sparkles in the polish.  These pictures aren't 100% accurate, it was hard to do this polish justice.  The picture also look like the polish is gritty, but I promise you it's not.  My camera and I are still fighting, but it's getting better.  Now I know why Courtney is always so frustrated photographing purples.  As for the duo-chrome - depending on the light it either looks this royal purple seen here or a more red based purple (you can see it in the bottle in these pics).  I even took a little video for you so could see a better representation of the color, finish and sparkle.

OPI Grape...Set...Match
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OPI Grape...Set...Match
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OPI Grape...Set...Match

(click to watch)

Now it's time to layer on Servin' Up Sparkle!  This is a glitter top coat.  No, scratch that, this is an AWESOME glitter top coat.  It's got a ton of tiny silver holographic glitter, and some larger hexagon shaped holographic glitter. All you need it one coat to get the perfect density of glitter.  You will need a thick layer of top coat to get a smooth finish though, due to the hexagon glitter.  Scrangie's post has some great pictures of Servin' Up Sparkle alone, but I just wore it right on top.  I can't wait to try this polish layered over black!  I included another video so you can really see the holographic glitter in action!

OPI Servin' Up Sparkle - over OPI Grape...Set...Match
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OPI Servin' Up Sparkle - over OPI Grape...Set...Match
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OPI Servin' Up Sparkle - over OPI Grape...Set...Match
Blurry pic to enhance the sparkle!
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OPI Servin' Up Sparkle - over OPI Grape...Set...Match
(click to watch)

If you love purples, OPI Ink, or holographic glitter top coats, I suggest you pick this one up as soon as it's available.  I got mine from NailSupplies.us, but it's currently out of stock.  You might have to wait for this one to come to your local Ulta or salon.  It should retail for around $17.

And apologies still for my pictures.  I'm working hard to get them looking good, but I'm still have trouble.  I did a mini-crash course with Courtney last weekend and I think there is some improvement, but it still looks like my camera is focusing on the  finger rather than the nail.  I also get wicked glare... maybe I'll try a light diffuser?  My biggest issue is my camera's auto-focus, it really hates me and it continuously refusing to focus on macro pictures when I'm close up.  Let me know if you have any tips for me on how to improve my pictures.

OPI Glam Slam France: Spark de Triomphe and White Shatter

After my vampy-on-the-first-day-of-summer fiasco, I made sure to go for something that screamed summer for my weekend mani.  Summer means sunshine, and what could rival a holo for sunny day mani?  GLITTER!  I dove head first into OPI's French Open Glam Slam duo.  Created with Serena Williams, the France duo contains a sparkly glitter and a brand spankin' new white shatter.  Bring it, summer!

I started with the glitter - Spark de Triomphe.  It's a combination of gold and silver glitter in different shapes and sizes, including small and large hexagonal and round glitter, all suspended in a clear base.  The gold and silver together give an overall color that's somewhere between champagne and pale gold, depending on the light.  It applies pretty easily for a glitter, but unless you want to layer this over another color (Two coats over OPI Glitzerland would be perfect!), you're gonna need at least three coats (shown here) to get this one opaque.  It dries rough and bumpy, as with any glitter, but you can smooth it out with a coat of Gelous or Instant Artificials (both thick, acrylic-based base coats found at Sally's) before your top coat.  Pleeeeease click to enlarge these photos to check this one out up close!

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Ohhhh, you guys, I am in LOVE with this polish!  I'm not a huge glitter girl, but I love everything about this polish, from the name to the color, to the sparkle!  And boy, does it sparkle!  Even in low lighting, it was gorgeous!  My pictures don't even remotely do it justice!  I loved this so much, I wore it alone for three days!

...And then I added White Shatter.  I'm gonna be honest.  I never intended to get the White Shatter.  I really only wanted Spark de Triomphe, so I tried swapping for it.  Turns out my lovely swapper wanted to swap the set, so the shatter found its way home to me.  I loved Spark so much on its own, I was kind of sad and scared to cover it up with the shatter.  The two were meant to go together, so I forced myself to try it out.  One medium-thin coat of shatter later, and here's the result:

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Well.  It's not as bad as I feared it would be, but I just really don't love it.  White Shatter was super easy to work with, it's totally opaque, and I think it looks cool with the glitter poking through the cracks, but Spark de Triomphe is the star in this duo, and it's just too gorgeous to cover up!  It's a good look, but I prefer the glitter all by its sparkly self.  :-)

So, White Shatter gets a pass from me, but Spark de Triomphe is a MUST HAVE.  MUSTTTT HAAAVE!  It's stunning!  Perfect in every way, shape, and form!  This duo was part of OPI's May Glam Slam collection, so you should RUN (don't walk!) to your nearest Ulta to grab it while you can!  I'm telling you guys - it's all that and a bag of chips!  Mmmm...chips....