Rescue Beauty Lounge Coral

So remember when I brought you Deborah Lippmann's Girls Just Want to Have Fun?  Well I decided I might as well show you Coral by Rescue Beauty Lounge and get this comparison out of the way before I forgot about it forever.  This is another beautiful, fun, bright coral with an excellent formula.  These new swatches are just getting better and better.  This is another fantastic formula from RBL, and super shiny too. This is no top coat!  Coral is a more orange leaning coral than Girls Just Want to Have Fun.  Which I would have never know without wearing them next to each other on the nail.  This is 2 coats.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Coral

Rescue Beauty Lounge Coral

Rescue Beauty Lounge Coral

Time for the comparison.  The middle finger is Coral, the left and right are Girls Just Want to Have Fun (GJWTHF).

GJWTHF, Coral, GJWTHF

GJWTHF, Coral, GJWTHF

I have to say, formula wise I like RBL Coral better.  It's more opaque and is thinner.  Even though GJWTHF is a little squishy, its more sheer so I need more coats.  From a color perspective, the Lippmann wins all the way with me!  I'll take pink leaning over orange leaning any day :).

RBL Coral is still available on their website for $18 a bottle.  If that's a little steep for you, go with Girls Just Want to Have Fun to save a few dollars.  While they certainly aren't dupes, you likely don't need both in you life.

Cult Nails Clairvoyant

All right my friends - I bring you PolishedCasual's very first Cult Nails lacquer, which was a gift to me by an amazing lady :).  Consider her my secret nail polish fairy!  Anyway... she sent me this amazing polish called Clairvoyant, which apparently is also known by the limited edition name Unicorn Puke :).  It is a sheer blurple jelly base PACKED full of every color flakie imaginable.  I layered 2 coats of Clairvoyant here over Sinful Colors Hot Spot. I'll let these pictures (which don't even begin to do it justice) do the talking.

Cult Nails Clairvoyant

Cult Nails Clairvoyant

Cult Nails Clairvoyant

Cult Nails Clairvoyant

Cult Nails Clairvoyant

This one is pretty special you guys!  The creator of Cult Nails (an indie nail polish brand started by Nail blogger Maria Morrison from R3 Daily) wanted to make a polish as special as Clarins 230 (also known as Unicorn Pee).  A polish as rare as Unicorns and the excrement.

Well done Maria, well done.

I like the bottle, brush, and love the color.  The formula was a little thick, but pretty much on par with my other flakie polishes.  I guess to suspend all those flakies you gotta have some substance.  Unfortunately Clairvoyant is sold out at CultNails.com.  It would normally set you back $10, and while it's supposed to come back in stock soon, word of the street is they may have run out of Unicorn Puke supplies.  This one may be tough to find, so if I were you I'd start praying to the unicorn gods!

Red Obsession: Butter London Pillar Box Red (and Comparisons)

Finally.  FINALLY!  We've made it to the last of the "Red Obsession" reds!  If you've been sticking with me, we've been through Essie Limited Addiction, Rescue Beauty Lounge Chinoise, Butter London Come to Bed Red, and OPI Keys to My Karma.  I now present to you the final installment in the series - Butter London Pillar Box Red.

Can't describe this one too much better than what you see here in the photos.  It's a bright, fire engine (or for you British girls - Pillar Box!) red.  Similar to RBL Chinoise, but we'll get to that later.  It's got a great formula, and applies perfectly in two coats.  I wouldn't say it applies like as much of a dream as its sister Come to Bed Red, but it's pretty darn close.

 (click to enlarge)

 (click to enlarge)

A lovely red.  It looks almost identical to RBL Chinoise in the bottle (and suuuuuper close on the nail), but I promise you it really is a smidge cooler-toned than Chinoise.  For that reason, most folks may find it to be a bit easier to wear.  My skin tone (as wacky as it is) seems to lean a bit warm, so I actually prefer Chinoise, which I fell IN LOVE with.  Pillar Box Red falls a little flat for me.

Now, time for comparisons!  I apologize for two things here:

1) I had to use a "claw" pose.  It's just the only way I could get all five colors in one photo.

2) It's really MUCH easier to tell these colors apart in real life.  I just could NOT get the camera to differentiate any better.  Huge sad.

Thumb to Pinky:  Essie Limited Addiction, BL Come to Bed Red, OPI Keys to My Karma, BL Pillar Box Red, RBL Chinoise

 And, up close of the four closest alike (I swear, there IS a difference between Pillar Box Red and Chinoise!):

(L) to (R):  BL Come to Bed Red, OPI Keys to My Karma, BL Pillar Box Red, RBL Chinoise

So, now that I've hit you with all five at once, here are my overall thoughts:

• Limited Addiction:  Great deep "va-va-voom" red.  A little on the streaky side, but a MUST have in my book.
• Come to Bed Red:  In one word:  AMAZING.  The formula on this one straight up knocked my socks off.  I think it's the best formula polish I've ever used.  Seriously.  Totally worth the $14.  You need this one.
• Keys to My Karma:  I love red jellies, but this one almost leans a little too pink for me.  You can also tell by my cuticles that it doesn't clean up super nicely.  If you're a red jelly hoor (like me), snag it, but otherwise I think you can pass.
• Pillar Box Red:  I think I'm gonna have to say pass on this one.  It's lovely, but for just the color, I prefer Chinoise (even at the higher price tag), and for Butter London, I'd suggest Come to Bed Red over this one any day.
• Chinoise:  If you haven't guessed by now, I LOVE this one.  Great formula, super pigmented.  Totally worth it for me.  I'd buy this one 100 times over.

Well, there ya have it, folks!  Red Obsessions comes to a close, just in time for the imminent release of Spring collections (OMG.OPI.HOLLAND.I.DIE!).  So what do you guys think?  Do you own any of these reds?  What are your favorites?  I'd love to hear your opinions on these!

butter LONDON Slapper

Last up in my new butter LONDON adds is Slapper.  This bright bright turquoise borders on neon and is full of awesome.  I did a quick check and I don't have anything even close to it.  This was two coats because of a few bald spots, but for a dead on creme this went on wonderfully.  Now I know why Courtney loves the butter LONDON formula so much.

I had the WORST time trying to capture this color.  Whats funny is these pictures on Blogger look a little better than the raw ones, but this still isn't close.  So please don't judge on this.  I'd say it's a tiny more green and definitely brighter.  I have a pretty hard time describing this one.  It does remind me of OPI Fly from the Nicki Minaj collection that I saw at my local salon this week.  Not sure if they are dead on dupes or not though.  Unfortunately with this one, if you need to know the exact color you might need to go see it in person.  I took pictures in different lights to try to help you see the truth.

butter LONDON Slapper
direct sunlight, probably the closest to true color
SLR camera

butter LONDON Slapper
light box with SLR camera

butter LONDON Slapper
direct sun, point and shoot camera

butter LONDON Slapper
direct sun, point and shoot camera

butter LONDON Slapper
light box, point and shoot camera

Slapper basically means whore :) which cracks me up.  See?

Slapper   |   slap- er   |  
Brit-speak for ”slut”.


Pretty hilarious.  This slutty polish will cost you $14 at Ulta or Nordstroms!

butter LONDON Knackered

Up next from the butter LONDON Spring 2012 collection is Knackered, which has been described as sheer twinkling oyster shade flecked with micro-glitter particles by creative director Nonie Creme.  Well it's definitely sheer.  This is 4 coats.  The first coat is super sheer, so this would probably be great for layering.  It's a multi-chrome that flashes between lavender, green, and silver.  On top of that, we've got holographic flecks of shimmer.  This polish is so pretty.  I've got OPI's Not Like the Movies, which is similar.  I haven't tried it yet though, so I'll have to compare them.  They definitely aren't dupes, but the question will be do you need both.

butter LONDON Knackered

butter LONDON Knackered

butter LONDON Knackered

Some pictures to highlight those holographic flecks.

butter LONDON Knackered

butter LONDON Knackered

And now moving around to try to show off the multi-chrome.

butter LONDON Knackered

butter LONDON Knackered

So why the name Knackered?  Let's go to our trusty butter LONDON dictionary! So this polish is named after being exhausted?  Hmm...

Knackered   |   nak-erd  |  
To be tired or exhausted. “Wow, you look knackered. What did you get up to last night?!”

Interesting name choice.  This polish certainly doesn't make me feel sleepy, or remind me of a hung-over morning.  Oh well.  It's beautiful and special and I'm happy to have it in my collection.  And you can add it to yours for $14.  Find it at Nordstroms or Ulta today!!!

butter LONDON Disco Biscuit

So butter LONDON's Spring 2012 collection just came out and I happened to be at Nordstrom's Saturday night so I picked up 3 out of the 5.  First up to show you is Disco Biscuit, which is a hilariously fun name, and an equally fun color.  

Let's start with the name.  The handy dandy butter LONDON dictionary tells us:

Disco Biscuit   |   ˈdiskō ˈbiskit  |  
A club term from the rave days of the early 90’s for a tablet of Ecstasy.

Now the color - it's full on party, so the name is appropriate.  It's a bright pink jelly with gorgeous blue shimmer that does not hide at all.  This is SO SO SO fun.  And girly.  This would be a great girls martini night polish.  The formula is pretty great, as jellies usually are.  It flowed perfectly.  On the other hand, cause it's a jelly it's pretty sheer.  This was 4 thin coats.  It dries a little matte, so it dries pretty quickly.  The first set of pictures are without a top coat, so you can see the texture and sparkle.  The sparkly looks totally different when it's got top coat on it.  Make sure you click to enlarge!

butter LONDON Disco Biscuit

butter LONDON Disco Biscuit

butter LONDON Disco Biscuit

Now for some top coat.  I loved this before, but with top coat it is something else entirely.  It's a subtle transformation, but it totally puts this polish on steroids.  Between the shine, the squishy texture, and the way the blue shimmer comes alive and seems to float in the pink lacquer.  Swoon!

butter LONDON Disco Biscuit with top coat

butter LONDON Disco Biscuit with top coat

butter LONDON Disco Biscuit with top coat

Disco Biscuit just came out so there won't be any worries on snatching this up.  You can find it today at Ulta or Nordstroms for $14 a bottle.  I also picked up Knackered and Slapper.  Which do you want to see tomorrow?

OPI Designer... De Better

So when OPI announced they were doing a Muppets collection for Holiday 2011, I kind of freaked out.  I love the Muppets and immediately knew I wanted the whole collection.  Even when the (disappointing to some nail polish enthusiasts) promo pictures came out, I still wanted them.  It wasn't until the real nail polish swatches came out from the blogging community that I realized I did not need to spend $100 on an entire collection that I had finally decided I wasn't that crazy about.

So I settled on a select few I had to have and here is one of them.  Designer...De Better.  I actually don't get how this name references Muppets, and my internet searching failed me.  So if you know please leave me a comment below cause it's driving me crazy!  This foil is definitely special.  It's a champagne toned silver with orange flecks.  I could have honestly done one coat but something about it made me wonder if more coats would affect the color (similar to OPI It's My Year from the Miss Universe Collection).  I did 3 thin coats here and it looked the same each time.  I wasn't actually sure I liked it, but it grew on me fast and I got a lot of compliments on this one.

I tried really hard to capture the unique finish of this polish, but I'm still having problems working the SLR.  I think I'm just going to go back to the good old point and shoot.  It seems pretty ridiculous, but right now it just takes better pictures.  With the SLR the lighting and focus always seems to be off even though I'm using an automatic mode.  It's just not showing the polishes in the right light.  If anyone has any tips there, that would be great too!

OPI Designer...De Better

OPI Designer...De Better

OPI Designer...De Better

OPI Designer...De Better

OPI Designer...De Better

Pretty cool huh?  You can still find this polish in most stores like Ulta and online for $8.50 a piece.  I've been pretty impressed with OPI's recently non-traditional polishes.  This and Warm and Fozzie are big wins in my book!