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! 

Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm

    I've been having serious holo cravings lately. I don't even know why, but I want to see rainbows goddamnit. But anyway, I decided to take Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm out for a drive and see if it would satisfy my desire.

Spoiler alert: It didn't. 

Chainmail Charm is a charcoal black - brown with a mild holographic effect. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

This was the most holo I could get it. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

Look at them lies. 

Sunlight, no flash.

      Oh Chainmail Charm. I bought it a while back from a blog sale, and it was one of those things that I wanted to save for a special occasion.  Thank God I didn't go through with that plan, because this polish is such a dud. You get some holo at random times, but most of the time, there wasn't really much of anything. There was some, which my camera removed mostly (you can get a glimpse of it on some fingers), but it wasn't much. It's really painful too, because it looks great in the bottle. And then the brownish-black color is kind of weird. Ugh...my desire is so not sated right now. 

    Formula was really agreeable though. It was opaque in two coats and dried pretty quickly, so I was pleased about that. I'll probably get rid of it though...can't have a holo that won't work for its keep.

If you have Chainmail Charm, do you like it? Or is it lame for you too? 

And that's all from me today!

Thanks for reading, and I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Sally Hansen Night Lights

    Today, I have Sally Hansen Night Lights, which was a polish that I hunted a long time for. After buying a dud (it wasn't holo at all) I finally found a nicely priced holographic bottle on ebay, and snapped it up.

Night Lights is a bunch of square silver and holographic glitter in a charcoal grey jelly base. I applied it over two layers of China Glaze Liquid Leather, because I was too lazy to build it up.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Blurred for sparkliness.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

      You know, I'm actually pretty disappointed with Night Lights. It looked so spectacular in every picture I saw and in the bottle, but on my nails, I'm just not really feeling the love. It's not as holo as I imagined it would be, and the color of the base kind of limits the layering capabilities of the polish for me. All of this would be forgivable if the holo effect was linear instead of scattered, but it is very scattered. And since I feel there are more versatile and more holographic glitter topcoats out there, Night Lights has to go. 

     As far as application goes, Night Lights was easy. It went on nicely, dried quickly, and only needed one layer of topcoat to be smooth. However, the base is really thin and I find the color of it rather unappealing, so I would never wear this alone. In the pictures, I have on two layers of Night Lights on top of two layers of China Glaze Liquid Leather. 

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

Color Club Revealed

     For today, I've got Color Club Revealed, from the Alter Ego Collection. 

Revealed is a peachy-pink creme base with super secret rose pink microshimmer. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

    Lately, I've been craving these more demure shades, and Revealed is a cute one. It's soft and pretty, and pastel without being chalky or stark. I also liked how it made my nails look perfect...they seemed longer and squarer with this polish on. But I did not like how I could barely see Revealed's shimmer. It shows up fine in the bottle, and I expected it to be subtle on the nail, but it ended up being invisible, which sucks. It's such a lovely color of shimmer in its own right, and looks particularly nice with the base color. Why would they not want people to see it? o_O

   I also hated Revealed's formula. It has that weird sticky-thick syndrome and went on in streaky patches. The pigmentation wasn't that bad, because it was opaque in three coats, but I ended up having to dab polish into the bald spots, and then applying one more thick coat to try to even up the streaks. Luckily, with the help of topcoat, Revealed dried to a fairly smooth and creamy finish, but that doesn't negate the nightmare of applying it.  

   Even though Revealed is inexpensive and I love me some Color Club, I have to say that this one was a bit of a fail. If I could do it again knowing what I know now, I'd definitely put that $2.50 towards something else.  Like a sammich.  n_n

And that's all I've got for today. Thanks for reading, and have a beautiful Friday! 

Rescue Beauty Lounge Under the Stars (Take Two)

          Okay, so today, I'm reposting Rescue Beauty Lounge Under the Stars. I've written something on this color before, but I kind of hate the pictures on that one, so I decided to take another crack at it. These ones are not the best either, but they look better, I think. Oh yeah, and there will probably be more of these types of posts coming...I noticed that lots of my older pictures suck more than what is normal for me. So sorry if that displeases you. I'll space them out with newer stuff.  

Under the Stars is a deep and slightly dusty navy blue creme base with blue shimmer and small teal glitter scattered throughout.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

     Under the Stars looks much better in the bottle than on the nail. In the bottle, the shimmer and glitter are so intense that it's like holding the Milky Way in the palm of your hand. You can still see a bit of that on the nail, particularly if you wear this polish in bright sunlight, but it isn't nearly as prominent, which is a bummer.That aside, Under the Stars is a good color. The base is not the usual type of navy that you see in most night sky interpretations...it's a bit smoky and leans a smidge teal, which makes it look (in my opinion) more realistic and sets it apart from other shimmery dark blues. I think these pictures make it look a bit more typical, but if you look at the third picture, that one shows the base color best. It's really pretty, and bonus: it doesn't look black in lower light. 

    I also enjoyed Under the Stars' formula. It was excellently pigmented, and looked perfect in two thin coats. You would be able to get away with one thick one, if you were careful. Also, Under the Stars applied beautifully, with no streaking or dragging. 

    Although Under the Stars is definitely a high quality polish, I probably would not pay $18 for it. I got it at half price, which was quite fair. I'd probably even pay up to $12 for it, just because it is unusual, and the formula is so wonderful. But for me, $18 is a bit too much for this polish. 

And with that, I am all done for today. Thanks for reading, and have a great day! ^_^

L.A. Girl Rock Star Punk

           I feel like I haven't shown a blue polish here in kind of a long time, so for today, I have a blue polish! It's Punk, from L.A. Girl's Rock Star line. 

Punk is small blue shimmer in a navy blue jelly base. The shimmer is faintly duochrome and flashes purple, which you can see at the bottom of the nail if you look reallll close. :D

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

    I think the Rock Star line is a little hit or miss, but Punk definitely ranks as a hit. The jelly base is dark enough to provide adequate contrast for the shimmer, while being thin enough to let the shimmer catch the light and sparkle. In lower lighting situations, the shimmer is much less noticeable, but when I move my hand, it glitters and gives this cool night sky effect. My only complaint is that I would have liked more duochrome. In the bottle, the shimmer is wildly duochrome-y, but not so much on the nail. 

   Punk's formula was okay...it was thin, so I needed four thin coats to get the opacity and depth that I was looking for. However, applying the polish itself was easy. There was no dragging or bubbling, and it dried pretty quick. Actually, it was a little like applying liquid gelatin.

  All in all, not bad for $2. ^_^

But that's all I've got for today! Have a beautiful day, guys!

MAC Bad Fairy

     I can't stay long for today because I have to study. But I wanted to quickly pop in and spam the blogosphere with a behemoth post,  full of pictures and words. Ohohoho...is evil, no? ^_^ 

I must be feeling the effects of my current mani, MAC Bad Fairy from the Venomous Villains Collection.

More pictures after the jump!

Zoya Charla

           Since today was sunny, and according to the news man, the sun won't last long, I decided to swatch my sparkly Zoyas this afternoon. I'll be posting them individually, because I went a little too far with the pictures to put them all in one post. So this post will be dedicated to the lovely Charla, from Zoya's Sparkle Collection!

Charla is an aqua, vaguely metallic base, packed with small iridescent blue glitter. The glitter also faintly flashes green at times, although the effect is much more pronounced in the bottle than on the nail. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash. 

Bottle Charla is so beautiful, but she exaggerates just a tad.

      I'm in all types of love with Miss Charla. It's such a fun and flattering polish, and I love the glitter. Although it was sparkly and eye-catching, it was still fine and delicate, reminding me of the scales on a beautiful fish. My beautiful fish, in fact. His name was Neptune, and even though he was a fighting fish, he was so good and friendly. He didn't jump out of his tank (like some fish do) and was never finicky. And he used to play with me. I had a penlight, and he used to chase it around when I shone it into his bowl. And on top of that, Neptune was freaking gorgeous. 

    If it was sunny outside and I was doing my homework on the dorm balcony, I'd take him with me. Although he was nice to look at indoors, the sun really made him a star. It would reflect off his scales and filter through his fins, and he would look so hot. I'm sad I don't have any pictures of him. He was a really nice fish and I miss him often. Charla looks like him, which probably has something to do with why I love her.  

   Charla also boasts a perfect formula. It applied so smoothly and easily, and was opaque in three coats. I could have gone for a fourth, but it was fine in three, so that's where I left it. It also dried nice and smooth, so topcoat was only needed to enhance the sparkle factor. And removing it was so easy. I just used some Cutex Acetone remover and it came right off. No elbow grease required. ^_^

P.S. Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Charla gave me a stain. I'm surprised, because it doesn't seem the type to stain, but it did. So I guess I recommend using a good base coat with it. The one I used (Borghese Hydrati Treatment) isn't really much of a base coat, but I like to use it when I swatch.