Rescue Beauty Lounge 360

Top five favorite polishes ever.  Words can not express how much I love this.  Rescue Beauty Lounge's 360 was one of my first purchases from the RBL world.  It's a beautiful duty grey blue with secret silver shimmer in it.  Just like Diddy Mow, the shimmer isn't really noticeable, just gives it move of a sophistication and depth.  The formula is great like always and opacity is fantastic.  I did 2 coats out of habit, but I could have stopped at one.  This is a great muted summer color.  If I didn't feel the constant need to change up my polish I'd probably wear it more often.

My one gripe about my photos is I don't think they are color accurate.  I've decided my point and shoot sucks, so in the future I will start using my boyfriend's for swatch pictures.  If you want to see what this puppy really look like, check out Scrangie (good color match to outdoor light) and All Lacquered Up (good color match to indoor light).   

Rescue Beauty Lounge 360

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Rescue Beauty Lounge 360

360 was originally released as part of RBL's Spring 2010 Surf Collection and is long sold out, but luckily it's coming back this October so you'll be able to purchase once again.  I know I will for sure get a back up bottle!

(Minus the Peanut Butter and) Jelly Sandwich!

Lately the big buzz on the MUA Nail Board (besides Orly Fowl Play, of course) is the jelly sandwich - lovingly dubbed the "jelly sammich."  If you're new to the concept, as I was, the idea is to sandwich a chunky glitter in between layers of a jelly finish polish.  It softens the look of the glitter and make it look suspended in the jelly.  A layer of shimmer or glitter on top is extra - just like condiments!  I hope you're hungry, 'cause this one's delicious!  ;-)

First of all, I have ZERO creativity when it comes to layering ideas, so this one is just one of the popular layering combinations.  For this one you'll need the following polishes:

-Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Purple Pizzazz

-Sinful Colors Hottie (dupey to OPI Last Friday Night)

-Pure Ice Rio (I've also seen this combo with Clarins 230 or Pure Ice Heartbreaker, and they all look amazing!  Rio was all I had...)

First let's start with Purple Pizzazz - an amazing bright purple jelly with red/purpleish irregular shimmer.  The application was unbelievably amazing!  I used two coats, and while there's definitely VNL in real life, it's not nearly as noticeable as these pictures would have you believe.  Ott-Lites are like x-ray vision for nail polish.  :-)  

DISCLAIMER:  I apologize profusely for the fact that these photos are completely and totally unbelievably color inaccurate.  *sobs*  I dreaded posting these just for that fact.  I tried desperately to adjust them with my photo editor, but I just couldn't get it right.  Purple Pizzazz looks completely blue in these photos, but it's not even remotely blue in real life.  Definitely more of a red-leaning purple.  Bright, but still has depth.

These photos are under my Ott-Lite:

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 I snapped this one in my bathroom for a change of lighting.  This is MUCH closer to actual color, but it's still off.  I'm sorry!

In one word, Purple Pizzazz is AMAZING.  Even if you have no desire to use it in a jelly sandwich, you NEED it!  It's stunning.  Mesmerizing!  Unfortunately I think it's discontinued.  You can definitely still find it in your local drugstores, but be prepared to hunt for it.  I went to about six different stores before I found it, and then I found three.  Feast or famine, right?

So then, I added one layer of Sinful Hottie, one more layer of Purple Pizzazz, and one layer of Pure Ice Rio (this layer is just to add some extra shimmer - you can stop at the second layer of jelly if you want).  Here's the magical result!  (Again, this is definitely purple in real life.  Stupid lack of camera skillz...makes me haz a sad.)  Definitely click to enlarge to see all the goodies going on here!

Ott-Lite:

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Another attempt at color accuracy.  It's definitely close.  This also shows the complexity of the layering.  It almost looks like a flakie in real life!

I was unbelievably happy with this!  It looked sooooo awesome!  Glittery and sparkly and squishy!  I'm really loving seeing everyone's combinations on the Nail Board, and can't wait to show you guys more!  I've got a few more combos up my sleeves.  :-)

Have you guys tried a jelly sandwich?  Any recommendations for ones that I should try??

Another Look: Illamasqua Baptiste

Hey guys!  What do you think of our new header?  Courtney made it and it's totally awesome.  I'm obsessed!  So I messed around with the layout theme a bit to better match it.  What do you think?

Now onto the nail polish.  When Courtney and I first met, she went on and on and on :) about this Illamasqua polish called "Baptiste" and how it was the sexiest polish of her life and if she could marry it she would.  So some time later, I had the opportunity to swap for it.  Then about 3 months later I finally got around to wearing it.  I seriously thought Courtney was going to disown me as a friend for not wearing it sooner.  About a week after the big move, my other half and I got to sneak away to the beach for a day.  Most people would wear a fun bright summery color to the beach, or if you are like Courtney, you wear a holo.  Me, I opt for a deep vampy purple. :)  Well in my differences I thought some beach pictures to show off Baptiste's shimmer would do nicely.  Plus it was one of those - "If I don't wear it now, I'll never wear it!!!!"

I think a good way to start off is to take another peak at the swatches Courtney put up of Baptiste back in February.  These pictures are awesome.  They show the shimmer, the depth, and of course the beauty that is Baptiste.  One thing you will notice in my picutres is the polish is nowhere near as glossy as it should be.  I got one word for you - sunscreen!  Do you guys have this problem.  It's always jacking with my nail polish.  I actually had OPI's Come to Poppy on my toes and it really jacked with that, pretty much leaving me with a matte neon coral.  Oh well!  (And yes I put sunscreen on my feet, everyone should! Just say no to skin cancer)

This is two coats of Baptiste.  If I had been more careful, I probably could have done one.  This is my first Illamasqua polish and I loved the formula and brush.  I didn't need any clean up!  I'm a sucker for a good formula.  Make sure you click these guys to see them full size!!!

Illamasqua Baptiste

Illamasqua Baptiste

This polish is very dark, and while it is easy to see the shimmer in the light, it is always very dark.  However, from afar I can instantly look at my nails and tell they aren't black, so that's nice.  Baptiste is part of Illamasqua's normal collection and is available at Sephora.  You can also buy directly from Illamasqua's website.  This baby is about $14, but I think well worth it!

Oh and good news!  My Tony Moly Galaxy polishes showed up!  So look for those coming soon.  I'm so excited I could scream :).

Adventures in Shellac

Let me start off this post by saying that my plan to show you my 14 days of Shellac was an epic fail.  Mostly because I had absolutely no time with the move to even begin to take pictures but also because this Shellac mani did not hold up.  I've had good luck with Shellac in the past, and honestly I think it has to do with the poor shape of my nails.  I've got so many peelies and the tips past the nail bed are so weak, that the nail was breaking underneath the Shellac.  So then the Shellac would chip because there was no nail under it....

Shellac is a gel hybrid by CND that goes on like regular nail lacquer but then cures completely dry and hard under a UV light in a few minutes.  The process is quick and painless and gives you a full proof (normally) mani for 2 weeks without the damaging effects of acrylics.  My only gripe in the past with Shellac (I've done it twice before) is the lack of colors.  Luckily they put out a set of brand new colors recently, so I was able to get something much more my style.  This is Rock Royalty topped with Iced Coral.  Rock Royalty is a great royal purple, where Iced coral is essentially nude with a green iridescence to it.  Layer the two together and you get a rocking teal that flashes purple.  LOVE!

Shellac Manicure - Iced Coral over Rock Royalty

Shellac Manicure - Iced Coral over Rock Royalty

Shellac Manicure - Iced Coral over Rock Royalty

The whole process took about a half an hour.  My nails looks perfect for 3 days.  Then I started to get chips because some of my ring and middle fingers broke under the Shellac.  By the time my move came around (almost a week into the mani) my finger nails were horrible and my cuticles were a mess.  So you only get to see my mani on day 2.  Next time I do Shellac will be for my vacation in September, so I'll do better keeping you guys updated then.

Shellac mani's are usually about $20-$25 more expensive than a regular mani, which is why I usually do them for vacations only.  In the past they have lasted for me for 14 days, no chips, no breaks, shiny as the day they were painted.

Another Look: Essie Smooth Sailing

A few months ago Jessie showed you guys Essie Smooth Sailing, and her glowing review had me drooling over it, but for some reason I just hadn't pulled the trigger on buying it.  An amazingly generous girl on MUA was nice enough to throw it in as an extra in a swap, so I was dying to try it out!  Jessie and I decided to introduce the "Another Look" posts to give each other the chance to review polishes that the other had already posted, while giving you guys another perspective - and of course, more pictures!  Win for everybody!  :-)

Without further ado...here's my take on Smooth Sailing!

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Smooth Sailing is really a gorgeous polish.  It's brightish, but still somehow muted, which I really like.  The shimmer shows up well, especially in the sun, though unfortunately the silver shimmer tends to drown out the pink and blue.  Application was a bit of a problem for me.  The first coat went on kind of gloopy, but also patchy at the same time.  Kind of like a holo, maybe?  I don't know, but it was strange.  Thankfully, all patchiness was smoothed over by the second coat, and all was well.  :-)

Remember a while back when I said Smooth Sailing might be a good substitute for RBL Catherine H?  Now that I finally had both, I decided to do a comparison to see just how close they were.  GUYS - I finally did an on-the-nail comparison!  LoL I really want to do more of them, it's just that it's so much quicker to do them on the nail wheel.  I promise I'll try to do more on-the-nail for you.  Anywho, check it out:

 Index and Ring:  Essie Smooth Sailing, Middle and Pinky:  RBL Catherine H

Erm...well...looks like I was a bit off.  A lot off.  They're in the same vein, but quite different.  Smooth Sailing is much lighter and brighter than Catherine H, while Catherine H shows off that pink and blue shimmer much better.  In all honesty, even though I was disappointed in that strange cloudiness of Catherine H, I prefer it to Smooth Sailing.  Thankfully all the Queens are coming back, so you'll have a chance to pick that one up in just a few months!

As for Smooth Sailing, it's nice, and I like it, but I really don't love it.  I wanted to love it.  I wanted it to fill that strange void that Catherine H had left, but it fell a bit short.  I can't really explain why (D'oh!), especially since it really is a beautiful polish.  It's certainly worth getting if you don't already own it, but I just can't whole-heartedly get behind it.  It makes me haz a sad.  Now I need some chocolate and glass of wine...

;-)

Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure (Over Rescue Beauty Lounge Diddy Mow)

It's Layering Time!!!!!

So by the time we got back from NYC, my quick Diddy Mow mani was looking very sad.  I had a couple of days until my Shellac manicure and didn't have time to redo everything (my big move was less than a week away) so I decided a coat of Sally Hansen's Hidden Treasure layered over Diddy Mow would look good.  Turns out I was right!!!

I'm not sure if you can tell from the pictures, but Hidden Treasure looked AWESOME over this dusty sea foam green.  If you have something even remotely like Diddy Mow, try layering Hidden Treasure over it! I promise you won't be disappointed.  The red/gold flakes just really completed my mani.  I might had to wear Diddy Mow like this from now on!

Butter London Bluey

After sadly removing the lovely Wallis earlier in the week, I was kind of having a hard time deciding what I wanted to do for my weekend manicure.  I've got a ton of untrieds I need to get to, but nothing was really jumping out at me.  Luckily, Jessie saved the day and picked Butter London Bluey for me!  :-)

As with most of my Butter Londons, I feel the need to address the name first.  Knowing pretty much next to nothing about British slang, "Bluey" reminds me of when I was a kid and I named my teddy bear "Blackie" because he was black or "Brownie" because he was brown.  (I promise I got more creative with my names as I got older.)  So...."Bluey" because it's blue, right?!  Negative.  Apparently "bluey" is "vintage slang for a pornographic film."  AWESOME.  Haha!

So what kind of polish does a porno film inspire?  Well.  Bluey is a deep teal shimmery blue.  It's got that awesome glowy look it to it with the blackened edges.  No worries, though.  True to it's name, Bluey never looks black.  It's a little on the sheer side, so I needed three coats for opacity, but the formula was great!

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I gotta say, it's truly stunning!  My coworker almost fell out of her chair when she saw it for the first time!  I really loved it, but I was sure I had something pretty similar to it.  I went Helmer diving and here's what I came up with:

(L) to (R) OPI Catch Me in Your Net, Butter London Bluey, $OPI Teal We Meet Again

Um...yeahhhh...those two on the right?  Pretty much dead-on dupes.  Sigh.  I really thought they would be different!  In the bottle, Teal We Meet Again looks deeper and more green than Bluey.  I even showed hubby, and he agreed with me.  Some kind of weird polish warping goes on when it makes it to the nail though, 'cause I had a REALLY hard time telling these two apart.  Here's a close-up of just Bluey and Teal We Meet Again (apologies for the blurriness - my camera really hates these kinds of polishes):

(L) Butter London Bluey, (R) $OPI Teal We Meet Again

Bummer.  As excited as I was over Bluey, I couldn't help be a little disappointed that I already had a dupe living in my stash.  Since I'm happy enough with the $OPI, and it only requires two coats for opacity, I'm sticking with that one.  Bluey is being re-homed to Jessie.  :-)

I figured I may as well get my money's worth out of Bluey while I still had it on, so I decided it would be the perfect base color for Butter London Henley Regatta.  This is one coat of Henley Regatta over three coats of Bluey:

 

Duuuude.  These two were made for each other!  It's really a great combo for "work to play."  I wore Bluey to work on Friday, and then added Henley Regatta for the weekend.  Love it!  Soooo sparklayyy!

As much as I love Bluey, if you don't already own it, I'd opt for the Sephora by OPI option instead.  It's more opaque, you'll get a little more polish for your money, and it'll cost you $4.50 less.  Though Teal We Meet Again was released with last summer's Havana Nights collection, it's still available at http://www.sephora.com/, and I'm pretty darn sure it's in the core collection in stores.  Henley Regatta, on the other hand, is a MUST-HAVE!  If you don't already have it, RUN to your nearest Ulta or Nordstrom and pick that bad boy up!  It looks great on its own or layered.  And I love me a versatile polish!  :-)