RBL Haulage: Merry Christmas to ME!!

Yay, there is a Santy Claus! My Rescue Beauty Lounge order arrived Christmas Eve morning. Yay!

Two items were on back order: "Teal" and "Dead Calm." Ironically, Teal is the color about which I was the most excited. "No More War" was the main color I wanted, but I fell hard for Teal when looking through the colors on the RBL site. I mean, a REAL teal!! So stoked for that one.

Arrived and in my possession:

Multicolored glitters!
Locavore
"Look Rich Be Cheap"

Rich greens!
Recycle
No More War
Orbis Non Sufficit

And more rich creams!
Atame
Drifter
Underware - stark white?

Bloggers!
Scrangie
Orbis Non Sufficit (cross-listed, it's also a rich green, obviously)

Even at 50% off, they carried a price of $9 apiece. Still quite a splurge! I have heard so much about the wonderful quality and great application, I am looking forward to exploring my new RBL collection. I will savor this Rescue Beauty Binge by featuring the colors one at a time!!

Fingerpaints Winter/Holiday 2009 Collection

I had noticed there were other nail polish brands besides China Glaze and Orly's at Sally's but had just ignored them since I didn't know anything about them. I read about the Fingerpaints winter 2009 collection, available at Sally's, on Scrangie's blog, and decided that I needed to check out this collection for myself! It's pretty awesome. 

The collection contains six colors, two of which are red. I have a really hard time photographing red for some reason, so I don't have many pictures of those two bottles of polish. 

One of the reds is tomato-colored, smooth, and full of fine gold shimmer (above, left). Very pretty, see picture of the bottle below for glimpses of gold shimmery streaks. The other red is pink-toned and glittery. Again, pretty. But, well, I am not really into reds. These are nice reds, though, if you are in the market.

For me the two standouts in the collection are the gorgeous shimmery dark green ("Evergreen Dream") and the gorgeous shimmery dark purple ("Icy Iris").

Evergreen Dream is on a par with the lovely China Glaze Emerald Sparkle. The sparkle from Evergreen Dream comes from shimmer as opposed to glitter.

Icy Iris is a dark, shimmery version of Evergreen Dream. 

The last two colors are a shimmery pink and a shimmery silver. Hmm, how many times can I repeat the word "Shimmer" in this post? The silver is my third favorite of the six. It goes on very smooth and sparkly, similar to China Glaze Tinsel but smoother. (for me, China Glaze Tinsel was pretty smooth due to my slopping glossy topcoat over the slight roughness of the fine silver glitter in that polish). 

The silver, "Sparkling Snow," is below:

Below, pictures of Decked with Dazzle.

Above, an action shot shows the sparkle effect. Okay, it's blurry, not on purpose, but those are the shots that can show sparkles, what can I say?

Another snapshot of the non-reds, above. I thought the application worked really well for me, and I look forward to trying more of Fingerpaints brand nail lacquer in the future, perhaps any distinctive colors that are not duplicated in the other brands in my collection.

Euridice rating for the collection of 6 colors: 4 out of 5. Excellent!

Summary: Applies nicely, it is not the perfect concise collection like the China Glaze, but the inclusion of the dark purple and pink give some variety to the usual Christmas colors. The dark green and silver are outstanding. I just don't see the point, with six polishes, of two reds, which makes it the 4 instead of  5 in my eyes. Both reds are lovely, though. 

Rescue Beauty Lounge to the Rescue!

So, last Tuesday I took part in a super exciting shopping event: a 50% off sale at Rescue Beauty Lounge!! I have a moratorium on new polish purchases right now because a) I have no cash, b) I have too much polish and need to use it before buying yet more, and c) I wanted to blow it out on the RBL sale! And I did, ordering 11 bottles of polish!

I haven't heard anything since ordering until this morning: a cryptic message saying simple that my order number was changed to back order. Huh?

Well, I wondered how 11 polishes could be back ordered, but just this evening I got a message saying the order was shipped!! It's still in those early stages, not quite yet "in transit," but it's giving Dec. 24 as the delivery date!!

Yay! Merry Christmas to me! I do hope they arrive on the 24th since I am shipping them to my mother's (and my childhood) home in Georgia, where I am spending Christmas resting and working on the house, and just finding some peace and quiet after a super busy and stressful workplace recently. If there is a delay, I might miss them and that would be a disaster to have my precious RBL polish stuck in Georgia after I return to the mid Atlantic, eek! Holiday suspense!

OPI Holiday!! Smitten With Mittens

Cute name! "Smitten with Mittens" is a glittery red polish that is a darker red than China Glaze Ruby Pumps---and therefore fills a need in the holiday subset of my burgeoning polish wardrobe. Smitten with Mittens is a very pretty red, indeed. The bottle shows a lovely vein of gorgeous gold glitter....oooh, red and gold, the best combination!!


The interesting thing I noticed when putting on the first coat, is that it brushes on so glossy with the lovely glitter just, well, glittering away. When it dries, the coat is almost matte on the surface (not matte in the way of a truly matte polish, of course). Basically, it seems to fall a bit flat while the color remains pretty.

I noticed the same effect when I put on the second coat. This polish will need a nice topcoat to gloss it back up and make the glitter come through more.

I also noticed when looking over my pictures that maybe a third coat would have been a good idea to get opaque coverage, instead of my two coats.

Let's head outdoors to take a look in the late afternoon December sun.



The OPI Holiday 2009 collection contains a large percentage of reds, so if you are looking for a nice holiday red polish, OPI should have a red for you. I am pleased overall with Smitten With Mittens; I just would like to see more glitter coming through!

OPI Holiday! Holiday Glow!!!

Holiday Glow is pretty if not necessarily the stand-out of the OPI Holiday 2009 collection. It appears to me to be a chocolate brown containing tons of tiny silvery glitter. You won't get the bling of bright colors and large flashy glitter, but instead a sophisticated dark polish that has a ton of sparkle. Perfect for winter!

Outdoors:
Indoors:

The first coat goes on really sheer, and you can see the silvery glitter.


Holiday Glow reaches it true potential once you get the second coat on. It's got a nice glossy dark coverage, and you can still see the little silvery sparkle. Another coat can improve the coverage but may not be completely necessary. I put a third coat on my ring and pinky fingers to see how much difference it would make.


Outdoors in the late afternoon sun:



In shade, you can see the glitter reflecting, below:


Back indoors with overhead plus natural light, with my new favorite prop, the Santy Claus ornament!


Again, this is a pretty polish and fills a need in the winter dark polish wardrobe. If you want to wear dark drown polish, and want a bit of shimmer and sparkle, Holiday Glow is a great choice. Is it unique? I don't have a lot of expertise, but it does seem quite similar to one of my limited edition mini-polishes in my Borghese holiday set (review to come!).

OPI Holiday! Ginger Bells, Ginger Bells...

....Ginger all the way! This entry in the OPI holiday 2009 collection seems more in line with Thanksgiving? It does answer my need for a gingery, pumpkin-y color in my fall color stash. I was determined to wear this polish for Thanksgiving Day. Unfortunately, I gave into my glitter ("ooh shiny!") weakness and put China Glaze "Ginger" on instead. At least, I applied it on Wednesday thinking I would switch for Thursday, and I just couldn't let the CG Ginger go.

So, this past weekend I tried Ginger Bells on to see how I like it. I do like this color. It represents the pumpkin side of the holidays, and I can see wearing it next fall, definitely. I am not sure if it's the perfect pumpkin-y color, but it comes close enough.




The pics in front of the holly tree were taken outdoors in the late afternoon sun on Sunday, Dec. 6, while I am clutching a more subtle Santa ornament in my dining room with overhead lighting and some natural light from the windows.

OPI Ginger Bells does not have the bling of other OPI holiday 2009 polishes, with all their glittery, festive goodness, but it does fit an important need. If you need a pumpkin-y polish in your own collection, this one is a plain creme that should stand you in good stead, even if it is not going to rock anyone's socks off.

In the meantime, oh what fun it is to ride in the OPI holiday sleigh! Hey!

OPI Holiday! Grapes in the Snow!

I know, I know, it's "Blueberries in the Snow," one of the polishes from the OPI Holiday 2009 collection, not GRAPES in the snow. Well, I'll have you know that I have snow in the yard, and when photographing OPI "Glove You So Much" I literally had grapes in the snow in the above shot. This polish, from the same 2009 holiday offering, is a gorgeous, glossy grape-burgundy. I cannot WAIT to do a proper mani and wear it for reals.

That's right, it's time to examine the OPI Holiday Collection, a large assortment of polish that promises something for everyone. If you want to go beyond the basic, perfect holiday collection from China Glaze, then shop this collection.

So far I've purchased "Shimmery Chic," "Merry Midnight," "Smitten With Mittens," and "Ginger Bells" along with Grapes in the Snow---I mean, Glove You so Much. I also threw in two more of the red polishes to try to get a sense of why someone would want so many similar reds. More on that in a later post.

Here are some shots of Glove You So Much in my dining room with overhead lighting and natural light coming through the window.


Here are some pictures in the sunlight on a late winter afternoon (yesterday, Sunday Dec. 6).


I adore this pretty, glossy polish! I will be slopping the topcoat on it for the maximum glossiness. And, I need to get out my two grape leather handbags, my Belen Echandia Hug Me large and my Rebecca Minkoff Nikki in grape, which are slightly different colors (I carried my BE to the RM sample sale so was able to compare in person before buying!). I digress: one of these bags should match this lovely polish.


I have to say, the practice of waiting for sunlight to photograph swatch pics is a good one! You can see shimmer in the above pic that is not visible indoors.

I have reasoned that I spend most of my time indoors, so outdoor pics aren't as essential for my purposes. Well, I have been very happy with my sunlight efforts, including earlier pics of the many aspects of Zoya "Ki," the chameleon of nail polishes. I am hoping to get some weekend sun from now on, and do enough swatching to last through the coming week. See, I work full time, and it's totally dark looonnngg before I can leave. Hmm, maybe I can run outside and take pictures. My co-workers will wonder what the heck I am doing! Mysterious!

China Glaze Holiday 2009!!

If you haven't gotten China Glaze's holiday collection yet, then what are you waiting for?? Well, maybe you've already exhausted your nail polish allowance on all the fabulous glitters China Glaze has released this fall!

China Glaze "Loves You Snow Much" collection features the famous "Ruby Pumps," a red glitter; a re-release of the popular "Emerald Sparkle," a gorgeous dark green glitter; "Tinsel," a lovely very fine silver glitter also from last year, and "Five Golden Rings," a new gold version similar to Tinsel. It's more China Glaze glitter fabulousness!! I already had Ruby Slippers, which has been available on regular CG display racks. I got the others from Sally Beauty and Victoria Nail Supply (I've ordered from VNS twice, and I can highly recommend them so far.)

All four polishes are glitter polishes. The gold and silver have very, very fine glitter for a very elegant look. The red and green are both polishes that apply smoothly and contain glitter of the same color. Gorgeous!


The 5 Golden Rings is the new entry this year.


To me, this picture (below) looks almost like applesauce---that's how fine the glitter is. It makes for a delicate and ethereal look, as opposed to some of the bigger, blingier glitters this season. The polish is festive and appropriate for a nice holiday party, but still brings a shiny gold sparkle.




"Tinsel" is a fine glitter version of the "5 Golden Rings." It is so pretty and has the same elegant look.



Emerald Sparkle had apparently been a limited edition, as I had heard it mentioned in nail blogs in almost hushed tones. I am very psyched for the re-release, as it is a gorgeous dark green glittery polish par excellence. I wasn't able to capture the sparkle very well, but I will definitely be doing a mani with this soon and will try again.


What can I say about Ruby Pumps? It's a classic, perfect red containing wonderful red glitteriness. It has been available this fall, and now in this holiday collection AND in the re-release of the Wizard of OohAhz from China Glaze. This polish captures Dorothy's ruby shoes perfectly, and I imagine this polish is the standard by which red/red glitter polishes are judged.



This is a catnip pillow (below) that my cats got the last time they boarded at the vets. It's a chocolate chip cookie!! How wild is that.


Ah! Not the best pictures in the world, but I think the cat toy pic does capture the beauty and perfection of this collection. I have indeed deemed this collection to be perfect: the four basic colors of Christmas perfectly done, all with lovely glitter that is just the right amount, and the application worked very well for me, the ultimate nail polish novice. With these four polishes, you simply don't need any other holiday polish.

Euridice Scores:

Originality: 5 (the colors are not original, obviously, but perfectly done)
True to its brand: 5
Application for newbies: 5 (that green gave me some issues!)
Beauty: 5

Overall Score: 5 (a "Euridice YAY!")