Honest Babes

My heart goes out to those of you in Norway and anyone affected by the shooting on Utoya and bombing in Oslo.  As an American, I am shocked and surprised that a country like Norway would be attacked.  The United States sticks our nose in the business of a lot of other countries, but I didn't get the feeling that Norway did the same.  If it does turn out to be a terror attack, what has them so upset?  Do the terrorists "win" if we're fearful?  When does careful turn into fearful?  Heavy thoughts going into the weekend.  I now give you a regularly irregular blog posting written over a week ago...

Rescue Beauty Lounge's Orbis Non Sufficit is a lovely darker medium green crème.  RBL describes it as "moody grayed-out combat green crème," but either I'm way moodier than it is, or it's not so moody.  It was created back in 2009 by The Polish Addict (head there to find out more!) but was discontinued.  It's such a great core green color and, if you're careful, it's a one coater.  I did two since I had a little bit of sheerness around the edges of my nails with only one coat.  It's super, super glossy if you slap topcoat on it and it's a good green to own if you're a green fan.  About the only thing I'm not loving about this polish is the brush since it was a little hard to control by my cuticles.  (To say the least, ugh!  But feel free to blame me, not the brush. )

ONS tied with Killa Red for third place in the last "Bring It Back" vote on RBL's blog, so if you want to order it, start looking next year per the comments on that post.  Orbis Non Sufficit will probably retail for the usual RBL price (US$18.)  Here's two coats plus topcoat inside my lightbox:

I was itching to try out Sephora by OPI's Blasted Gold (SE 301) polish, so I topped ONS with Blasted Gold.  Blasted Gold is described by Sephora as "blasted effect opaque gold with fine iridescent glitter."  It's a yellow-y gold, so it's not exactly perfect for my cool skintone.  But gold is the only color that OPI didn't release in their own Shatter line (perhaps saving it for the SOPI collection for the time being) so I had to have it.  It was a little goopy in the neck of the bottle, but not as bad as some of the Shatters I've used.  It has a satin finish when dried, which I liked with the super glossy ONS peeking out in the cracks.  But Blasted Gold really comes alive with topcoat, so I definitely suggest that if you like it blingy!

Here's my thumbnail sans topcoat, with topcoat on every other finger:

Blasted Gold is available at Sephora for $9.50.

Rescue Beauty Lounge's Killa Red is described as "cool blue-toned red" on RBL's website, but I swear I see different colors depending on the lighting.  Sometimes it looks cherry red, sometimes it looks like a dark cherry red, and every once in a while... it looks a bit brownish and blood-like, like when blood starts to dry.   My bottle of KR is not a one coater.  But I can't honestly say that I see much of a difference between using two or three coats- maybe three is a little more dark and vibrant and two is still a little sheer?- so conserve polish and just do two coats and see how you like it.  You can always add more coats.  KR is also amazingly glossy, even without topcoat.  Put topcoat on and it turns unbelievably shiny, which I l-o-v-e!

In each picture, I used two coats of polish on my thumb and three on every other finger.  First, outside at dusk:You're gonna want to see these pictures if you love red polish...

I called my usual polish place and was told that they can't sell the Katy Perry and Serena Williams polishes until the first week in February.  Whaaat?! I may drop by in person because I didn't catch the exact date- it was maybe the 2nd or 3rd?  If Ulta sets these polishes out nationwide this Sunday, I'd imagine a lot of people are just going to get their polish then.

I wore RBL Locavore for New Year's Eve.  Whenever I need something that sparkles for a holiday, it seems to be the first polish I turn to.  I think I did this manicure the day before NYE, and then wore it for over a week.  I can't believe the mani lasted that long!  Glitter definitely did help- it was like glue!  So understandably the removal process was not joyful.  And strangely, while I received a lot of compliments on it, I really was not feelin' this manicure at all.  Yet I left it on until it chipped...

I used multiple coats of Locavore on my left hand thumb.  I then used two coats of Icing's Bad Apple (three would have been better/more opaque) as a base on every other nail, topping it with one coat of Locavore.  I then used two coats of INM's Out the Door gold holographic topcoat, with a coat of topcoat between them, but the holo never showed up.  It was just too delicate for RBL's glittahfest.

Bottle picture:

Manicure pictures:

The reason I went with sparkles and green is (NSFW!) here.  A coworker of mine told us about how the color of your underwear on NYE shaped how your next year was going to be, which I thought was fun.  Green means luck, but since the name of the polish was Bad Apple, I decided that it meant that 2010 was a bad apple, so I was covering it with green, blue (good health) and kind of pink (luck in love) glitter.   Sadly we did not do Bleigiessen this year, so at least I had one tradition happening.

Let's get right into it, shall we?

The Shimmers:

Rising Star (HL B09) - "Lustrous glimmering gold."  This is more of a shimmering orange gold.  Not the best choice for cool-toned skin, but it's not too warm to pull off.  It may be a little less shimmery on the nail than in the bottle, but thankfully doesn't end up with brushstrokes.

Take the Stage (HL B10) - "A warm orange spotlight shimmer."  Shimmery copper color.  This is a little bit closer to the bottle than Rising Star, and the threads of shimmer can look slightly brushstroke-y.

The Show Must Go On! (HL B11) - "With this deep pink shimmer on your nails!"  Definitely a shimmery dark pink tending towards red.  The shimmer may be slightly lighter pink with occasional light copper shimmer.  The big question: is it duochrome?  I see pink with a dark orange around the sides when I look at the swatch.  I also have this on my toes, and if the duochrome effect is there, it's pretty faint most of the time.  But I'm not ready to say it doesn't come out at all.

Let Me Entertain You (HL B12) - "Multi-talented fuchsia glimmer."  Magenta or red base with lighter hot pink or fuchsia shimmer on the swatch wheel.  I can't make up my mind.  Fuchsia in the bottle with red on the edges in the bottle.  I swear I see purple shimmer in the bottle, but is it getting lost of the nail?  Or are my eyes getting tired, spending time trying to find nuances that possibly only I care about?

Ali's Big Break (HL B13) - "This glowing red shimmer breaks through in style."  Red with red shimmer and some fuchsia shimmer, maybe occasional gold shimmer in the bottle.  On the swatch wheel, I'd probably just call it red with red shimmer.  Kind of boring, but these types of shades tend to sell well to the Christmas crowd.

Tease-y Does It (HL B14) - "In this tempting burgundy shimmer."  The base is hard to describe on this one, since it's not very red like the word burgundy in the description would imply.  Is it purple?  Is it slightly browned?  It looks kind of charcoal with the first stroke of polish, so your guess is as good as mine.  The shimmer is darker pink and copper depending on the light angle.  When you tilt the bottle, you do see a green-gold duochrome, but I haven't yet seen that on the nail.  For me, this one was better on the nail than in the bottle.  I didn't have high hopes for the duochrome, but the murky base darkened nicely for me and I'm glad the shimmer is as visible as it is.

The Glitters:

Depending on how much work you want to do, you could build these up to opaque with 3-4 coats of polish.

Bring on the Bling (HL B03) - "A gold glitter that's beyond dazzling."  Light gold glitter with fuchsia and blue glitter mixed in.  The color you see in the bottle is close to the color you'll see on the nail.

Glow Up Already! (HL B04) - "You're ready for this glittering green."  Yellow green glitter with fuchsia and blue glitter mixed in.  RBL's Locavore is more noticeably green with similar but more vibrantly colored glitter.  I don't know if I'd say the RBL's glitter is finer, though it feels slightly finer to the touch.  GUA! is a little less green on the nail than it appears to be in the bottle.

Extra-va-vaganza! (HL B05) - "This orange shimmer is not for the shy."  I like this one a lot more than I thought I would.  Coordinating beautifully with Take the Stage, it's a similar copper-colored base with gold, blue and fuchsia glitter.  What you see in the bottle is pretty close to what you'll see on the nail.

Simmer & Shimmer (NL B06) - "In this glitter bit of blue."  Blue, gold and fuchsia glitter that's maybe a little less vibrantly blue on the nail.  OPI's Absolutely Alice is a finer mix of blue and gold glitter, so it's definitely not a dupe.

Show It & Glow It! (HL B07) - "If you've got this fuchsia glitter, flaunt it!"  Fuchsia, gold, blue and occasional red glitter.  Maybe even some silver glitter, too.  This is more multi-colored than the next polish, if you ask me!  OPI's Season's Sparklings, which was in an Ulta mini holiday set two years ago, is similar, but it has a more even mix of all colors and has better coverage, too.

Sparkle-icious (HL B08) - "Multi-color glitter-iciousness!"  Yellow gold, fuschia and blue glitter both on the nail and in the bottle.

The collection swatch pictures:SERIOUSLY LARGE PICTURES! ACK!

We've had a ton of storms move into the area, and they say there's a potential for a tornado or three later today.  That means no reliable sun in the forecast, so I pulled out ye olde lightbox.  I took a bunch of Burlesque pictures, which I'll have to post later, but here's one for the time being.  Hope it's as good for you as it is for me. 

1) OPI Sparkle-icious	10) OPI Extra-va-vaganza!
2) OPI Mad As A Hatter	11) OPI Take The Stage
3) OPI Season's Sparklings	12) OPI Legs Celebrate!
4) OPI Show It and Glow It!	13) OPI Rising Star
5) OPI Absolutely Alice	14) OPI The Show Must Go On!
6) OPI Simmer and Shimmer	15) OPI Let Me Entertain You
7) RBL Locavore	16) OPI Ali's Big Break
8) OPI Glow Up Already	17) OPI Tease-y Does It
9) OPI Bring On The Bling	blank

If you're curious... click me!

A long time ago, in a land not so far away, a young company named butter LONDON offered their polish for almost free.  Plenty of us availed ourselves of that deal.  But complaints were not few.  The cost of the polish, at full price, was not cheap.  The bottles themselves were relatively small.  The polish tended to dry out because it was hard to twist the cap onto the bottle all the way.

Clearly BL listened to the complaints.  While the polish is still a wee bit expensive at US$14, the bottle size has increased from 0.3 fl oz to 0.4 fl oz.  (A bottle of OPI is 0.5 fl oz. for US$8.50.)  The caps are much, much easier to remove, revealing a smaller plastic nub to hold while polishing.  Of course, the caps have always been removable, but it practically took a bodybuilder to wrestle the older caps off.

When I caught a "buy one, get one free" offer from Beauty.com, I caved and bought another BL polish.  I'm not sorry I did, either!  The free polish was Portobello Pink, and since it was in the 0.3 fl oz bottle, it must've been old stock.  But I didn't think the cap was as hard to remove from it, so I doubt it was that old.  The polish I decided to purchase for the deal is British Racing Green, one of the more recent BL colors.  It came in the 0.4 fl oz bottle, and the cap was easy to remove.  The cap even had a cute sticker on the side, letting me know to "lift to open."  Good idea, BL!

And now we get to the pictures part...

Happy holidays to you and your loved ones.

I think MAC's Style Black collection is out today in freestanding and pro stores, and will be on counter on Thursday.  I swatched some of the products, so here are my pictures!Large pics ahead!