Rescue Beauty Lounge IKB:2012

Hi guys!

Today's polish is a little bit of a throwback. This is Rescue Beauty Lounge IKB:2012, from Rescue Beauty Lounge's first fan-generated collection, which I believe was released late spring/early summer of last year. 

All pictures are under an Ott-Lite, no flash. 

IKB:2012 is a deep but vivid cobalt blue jelly-creme. It came out pretty bright on camera, but in real life, it's darker. 

This one is a bit more accurate, even though I think it may still be a bit too bright. 

So I have mixed feelings on this one. The color is beautiful and I love the slightly squishy texture in the finish, but I'm a bit disappointed too. I think I was expecting a true International Klein Blue on my nails, and unfortunately, IKB:2012 just lacks a little bit of the punch necessary for it to be on par with its inspiration. 

Add in the fact that it was $20 + $7 shipping, the formula is pretty annoying to work with (stringy, gloopy, non-self leveling etc.) and the wear is not so good (chips after one day) and I find myself quite the sad panda over this one. 

IKB:2012 is no longer available on RBL's website, but if it was, I'm not sure that I would recommend it, just because it is so expensive and isn't reallyyy what it's supposed to be. Pointless Cafe posted a really helpful comparison between other shades, so I would probably say to look into one of those to satisfy your blue creme lemmings. 

I do have an insanely gorgeous eyeshadow (Glamour Doll Eyes Mingles)  that I want to try to mix with clear polish to see if that will give me what I'm looking for, so I will try that and report back. 

And that's about it from me today.

Hope everyone is well, and thanks for reading! 

Who Likes Orange Polish?

  Chi-Chi doesn't like orange polish. I don't, I don't, I doooooooon'tttt. I don't like orange things in general. Except for orange foods, but that's just because I'm greedy and do not discriminate against food. But with the warmer weather we've been having lately, I've been in the mood for it. Orange polish, I mean. So last week, I wore a couple and was pleasantly surprised. Maybe I like orange polish after all lol.

First, I wore Barielle Joytini. 

All pictures are with an Ottlite, no flash. 

Joytini is a bright, but kind of light cantaloupe jelly-creme hybrid. 

    Joytini is a great color for spring...it just has that soft, milkiness that goes well with the feeling of the season. I also thought it was very flattering on my skin and loved the shiny, slightly jelly finish. What I didn't like was applying Joytini. The formula was very sheer and needed about four or five coats to be opaque. Of course, my nails got all thick and unattractive because of all the coats, which ruined the softness of the color somewhat. In the future, I'll have to use underwear with it.

And then I wore China Glaze Papaya Punch.

These pictures are in sunlight, with no flash.

Papaya Punch is a bold yellow-orange creme.

   Papaya Punch is a fun one! It's bright and tropical-looking, without being neon, and makes me feel like I should be laying somewhere on the beach. Wearing it, I am reminded of Sunny Delight, which is disgusting to the taste, but quite pleasing to the eyes. And while I liked it on my hands and even got a few compliments on it, but I think I might even like it more on my toes in the summertime. It's just one of those colors, you know? Formula-wise, it was also pretty agreeable. It was kind of thick, so I only needed two coats, and they went on fairly easily. The wear on Papaya Punch was not so good though. I wore it for about three or four days and while there were no chips, every single nail had cracks running through the polish. It was horrific, and I found myself actually wishing for chips so I would have a real excuse to remove it lol. 

But that's all from me today!! Thanks for reading, and have an awesome Monday!

St. Patrick Day Greens!!

Hi guys! So tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day, and I have been wearing greens all week to celebrate. Like I've said in the past, the holiday doesn't mean anything to me personally, but I just like to indulge in it. So to get everyone in the spirit, I thought it would be fun to make some green spam.


First one is Diamond Cosmetics Never so Evergreen.

Ottlite, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

    Never so Evergreen is a smoky, faded hunter green, with lots of golden shimmer in it. It's really beautiful and unique, and I love how it looks on my nails. The application was also super easy...two coats of color and a layer of topcoat was all I needed for it to look perfect. 

Next is Zoya Yara.

Ottlite, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

Artificial light, with flash.

    Yara was a weird one to capture. It's a dirty olive green with lots of grey in it, and my camera had a hard time balancing those. I guess the true color is right between the ottlite ones and the flash one. But anyway, I wasn't expecting to like Yara very much and really only bought it because it reminded me of one of my favorite queens from RuPaul's Drag Race, Yara Sofia. But when I put it on, I really did like it. The shimmer is really visible and looks great against the base, and the shade of olive itself is fairly flattering, because it doesn't have too much yellow. Formula was also really easy...I only needed two coats of color and one of topcoat. 

Next is Nina Ultra Pro Salsa!

Ottlite, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash

   Salsa is a bold and slightly deep kelly green semi-jelly. The shade of green is really fun and punchy but I think my favorite part of this polish is the finish. It has the opacity and ease of application of a creme, but the jiggly quality and shine of a jelly, and with the shade of green, it makes me happy lol. It just reminds me of springtime and makes me want to skip and dance. I used three coats of polish and a layer of topcoat for the pictures, and Salsa went on pretty smoothly and easily. 

Next is OPI Damone Roberts 1968.

Artificial light, with flash.

Artificial light, with flash.

    Damone Roberts 1968 is a really smooth and creamy mint green creme. It has a good bit of grey, some brown, and a hint of yellow in there too, all of which soften it up and make it much easier to wear with my skin tone. I love how it looks kind of vintage-y but still really modern, and am so glad that I snagged a bottle when it was still available. However, application was tough on this one...I needed four layers of color to get it even and streak-free, and I had to be really careful to apply with a light hand, or there were these annoying divots. So it wasn't fun, but definitely worth all the pain in the end. 

And last, but definitely not least, is Nfu-Oh 569. 

Ottlite, no flash.

Artificial light, with flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

    Nfu-Oh 569 is a blackened forest green jelly. It's known as being a dupe for NARS Zulu, which I guess is accurate, and as such, I lurvee it. It's so sexy and rich, and I love the way that it shines. Wearing it, I feel wicked, but in a good way lol. Application was also pretty easy. I used three layers of polish and a layer of topcoat, and although it kind of took a long time to dry, the polish itself went on fairly well. A little streaky on the first coat, but the next two fixed it. Incidentally, if you are in the market for Zulu, I would actually recommend picking up this one instead. You get more product for less, and Fabulous Street's shipping is much better than NARS'. 

And those are all the greens I have for ya'll today! 

Thanks for reading, and I hope everyone has an amazing St. Patrick's Day!! ^_^

Revlon Starry Pink

    For today, I have another pink for breast cancer awareness month. This time, it's Revlon Starry Pink from their fall Expressionist Collection.  

Starry Pink is a super pale baby pink jelly base with lots of large and small silver hex glitter.

Sunlight, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

   Starry Pink is really cute, dreamy, and soft. It reminds me of when I was a kid and used to pretend to be a princess in a castle in the sky. Yeah...I've kind of been a loser since birth, but that's okay. The only bad thing about Starry Pink is that it only really looks good at one or two coats. Anything more started looking kind of gross and lumpy, so going forward, I'll just save this one for layering. 

   Formula-wise, it's the same thing. Starry Pink went on fine for the first two coats, but around the third and fourth, it started feeling goopy and draggy on the nail. I waited between coats, but it was still like that...maybe I should have waited longer? Idk. But anyway, the pictures are with four coats of polish and two of topcoat.

And that's all from me today! Thanks for reading, and have a great Tuesday! 

 (Icon courtesy of  lizbot)

BB Couture Man Bug

      Hi folks!! So life has been kicking the shit out of me lately, and I needed a polish that would cheer me up and make me happay.  So I chose to wear BB Couture Man Bug, from their Ladybug Collection. 

Man Bug is a bright but soft seafoam green jelly base, stuffed with BB Couture's signature microglitter. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Ottlite (yeah, I finally got one!), no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

    Man Bug is a ball of cuteness upon my hands. The base color is bright and cheery, while still being soft and flattering to my skin tone, and the squishy jelliness of the finish is adorable. The glitter is also visible in all lights, and looks especially fabulous in the sun. You know, I kind of want to have a child now and name him Man Bug and pinch his cheeks, even though that would kind of make me a bad mom. Because no good can come of naming your child Man Bug. 

    Formula-wise, Man Bug was okay. It was a bit sheer and took four coats to eliminate all VNL and be perfectly even. But the coats went on pretty smoothly and dry time was surprisingly good.

 And unrelated to this color, my 400 Follower Giveaway is ending in a week, so don't forget to enter! I'm adding Wet n Wild Behind Closed Doors (their version of Lippmann Ruby Red Slippers) to it as well, so don't miss out!

But that's all from me today!! Thanks for reading, and have an awesome Sunday! ^_^

Barielle Elle's Spell

    For today, I have Elle's Spell from last year's Holiday Hustle Collection.

Elle's Spell is a wine red jelly base with tons of multi-sized and duochrome flakes in it. The flakes are the same kind as the ones in say, Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

      Elle's Spell is beautiful and totally reminds me of the holiday season. Thanks to the rich color and jelly finish, my nails look like little radioactive cherries, and I just want to nibble them off. My only gripe is that the flakies don't change color on the nail as well as they do in the bottle, but maybe layered over a darker color, one could get more colors out of them. I don't know yet, but if I do that, I'll update with pictures and stuff. 

     In terms of formula, Elle's Spell was fine but for one terrible flaw. It was really really really sheer. This was like four coats over one layer of Essie Limo-Scene (five coats on my index and middle fingers), and I'm still not quite satisfied with the depth of the color on the four coat fingers. So this is one definitely best saved for layering.

And that's all from me today! Thanks for reading, and I hope everyone is enjoying their Saturday! ^_^

BB Couture Catalina Cutie

       For today, I have BB Couture Catalina Cutie from the California Beaches Collection. 

Catalina Cutie is a peachy-coral jelly base, packed with gold microshimmer, as well as tiny gold and green opalescent glitter.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash. 

        As a color, I think Catalina Cutie is okay. The base shade won't flatter everyone, but I do think it's cute and quite appropriate for a summer day. Of course though, my favorite part of the polish would definitely have to be the microshimmer and BB Couture's signature glitter. In sunlight, they both come to life and give the polish this warmer, more orange-y look. They aren't as visible in lower light though, which is unfortunate.

      Catalina Cutie's formula was not so good. It was overly sheer and had a weird, kind of gluey texture. It also went on pretty streaky and didn't level so nicely. After trying it a few times, I ended up with three coats of color over one layer of Essie Limo-Scene, and that turned out fairly well, although some jelliness was lost in the process. Anyway, I think I'm actually gonna put this one in the purge pile. It's nice, but I'm not...that into it, I guess.

And that's all from me today! Thanks for reading, and have a great day!! n_n