Rescue Beauty Lounge Fan Collection IKB:2012 Comparison Post

Today's manicure is a giant comparison post of doom!  I got my new Rescue Beauty Lounge Fan Collection package (I ordered three out of the four).  Great bloggers have already photographed their manicures with these polishes, and blue is so friggin' hard to photograph accurately, but I decided to take all of the polishes that pundits had mentioned as possible dupes and throw them on for y'all.

I did discover that Wet n Wild Craze in Tagger (an HTF LE East Coast only Wet n Wild) and Nails Inc Baker Street are dead dupes, for what that's worth.

I don't believe that IKB:2012 has an exact dupe.  Royal Navy is close, but a bit more saturated and with the teal shimmer.  Barry M Indigo is noticeably deeper.  WnW Tagger and Nails Inc Baker Street are a shade lighter.  MAC Breezy Blue is pretty close, but is not a jelly and has more purple.  Nubar Blueberry is way more smurf-colored than any of these others (It made me think of the OCC Rx I once swatched, but didn't buy and thus can't compare).  But see for yourself:

All of these swatches are one coat of SpaRitual Lacquer Lock bc, one coat of CND Stickey bc, two coats of polish, and one coat of Seche Vite.

Photos taken outdoors in full sun:

Photo taken indoors in artificial light:

Photos taken outdoors in full sun:

Photo taken indoors in artificial light:

Dior Garden Party Spring 2012 Forget-Me-Not

This manicure is Dior Forget-Me-Not. Forget-Me-Not is a slightly brownish purple creme(plummy). There is a tiny/microscopic bit of shimmer in the bottle, but I don't really see it on the nail.
I have 250 purples and the closest thing I had in my collection was Illamasqua Velocity (though it is noticeably lighter).
This mani is one coat Spa Ritual Lacquer Lock bc, one coat CND Stickey bc, two coats of Dior Forget-Me-Not, and one coat of Seche Vite.
Pictures taken outdoors in natural sunlight.


Comparison pics with Illamasqua Velocity (one coat on pointer and ring fingernails):

Butter London Spring/Summer 2012 Bossy Boots + Knackered over black

Today's manicure is Butter London Bossy Boots. Bossy Boots is a slightly yellow toned pastel mint green - a pistachio color. The formula is decent, but a little thick and not perfectly self leveling. The coverage is excellent, only the formula defects required a second coat.
I have almost 350 greens, and I actually couldn't find a dupe. It's a very white and yellow loaded pale green. I thought of the Pirates collection, but it's much whiter than Stranger TIdes and Mermaid's Tears. I don't have Skull & Glossbones to compare though, so I can't speak for that one.
This mani is one coat Spa Ritual Lacquer Lock bc, one coat CND Stickey bc, two coats of Bossy Boots, and one coat of Seche Vite.

Photos taken indoors in artifical light:

This pic captures the whiteness, but it's a bit more yellow IRL.

Photos taken outside in natural sunlight:




I had more than one reader comment on the opacity issues with Knackered in this post:

Butter London Spring/Summer 2012 Knackered
and Liz actually requested I swatch over black, so here it is:

Indoors in artificial light:


Outdoors in natural sunlight:





When it's sheer it flashes purple, light blue, and green in some lights, but the black underneath makes it pretty strongly purple or teal. It also seems to make the holo less noticeable when the base is more saturated.
This mani is one coat Spa Ritual Lacquer Lock bc, one coat CND Stickey bc, one coat of Illamasqua Boosh (black creme), two coats of Knackered, and one coat of Seche Vite.

Taste the Rainbow!

When I saw promo photos of the recent Wet n Wild craze summer collection of rainbow colored cremes called Inked. I couldn't wait to buy them. The problem? Wet n Wild limited edition collection releases have been spotty here in southern CA lately. There was a beautiful island-themed collection last summer that simply never materialized here, despite being available in other US markets. Wet n wild has such a low price point that scalpers don't even bother putting these collections on eBay. The toughest part about nail polish information being available at your fingertips with the internet is that you hear about something great and affordable that you simply can't get. It's one thing if it's overseas or no longer in production (which happens a lot with nail polish), and another if it theoretically SHOULD be available to you, but isn't for reasons unknown. I'd like to ask Wet n Wild to make these polishes available for consumers to buy online so that they don't miss out on so many potential customers.
I was resigned never to see these until my wonderful stepmom agreed to look out for me while visiting Michigan. She brought them all home with her. Thank you!
They may not be the most unique, but they apply well and complement each other beautifully. For those who live in places where Wet n Wild l.e. collections do show up, these are 5 of the 9 colors available in the collection (the other four being pink, purple, black, and white). The red is called Writings on the Wall, the orange is called Scratchiti, the yellow is called Art Crime, the green is called Undercover Grafitti, the blue is called Tagger. Here is my fourth of July weekend rainbow skittle manicure.
This mani is one coat SpaRitual Lacquer Lock, one coat CND stickey, two coats of polish, and one coat of Seche Vite top coat.
These pictures were taken indoors with artificial lighting.

RBL Spring 2011: The Quick and the Dirty

I ordered from RBL on Saturday and to my surprise and delight, my package of new spring colors from the 2011 Iconic/Ironic collection was on my doorstep when I got home from work today. My cuticles are a disaster, but I did quick 2-coat (no base or top coat) swatches to share with you. These are all so lovely. I am the most ambivalent about Recherche because of it's simplicity, but I look forward to doing full manis with all of these interesting colors.
These pictures were taken indoors with artificial lighting.

l to r: Recherche, Iconoclast, Decorous, Insouciant


Recherche
a plummy, brownish, blackened purple super-vampy creme
The closest thing I have in my stash is Hard Candy Normal and a Strange Beautiful brown, but neither is a match.
\ ruh-sher-SHAY \ , adjective;
1.Uncommon; exotic; rare.
2.Exquisite; choice.
3.Excessively refined; affected.
4.Pretentious; overblown.


Iconoclast
black with multicolor flashes of microshimmer
I have nothing like this in my collection.
[ahy-kon-uh-klast]
–noun
1.a breaker or destroyer of images, especially those set up for religious veneration.
2.a person who attacks cherished beliefs, traditional institutions, etc., as being based on error or superstition.


Decorous
milk chocolate with a flash of purplish shimmer
The closest thing in my stash to this is Chanel Particulare and that has no shimmer.
[dek-er-uhs, dih-kawr-uhs, -kohr-]
–adjective
characterized by dignified propriety in conduct, manners, appearance, character, etc.


Insouciant
soft lilac with a flash of blue shimmer
I have nothing like this in my stash.
[in-soo-see-uhnt; Fr. an-soo-syahn]
–adjective
free from concern, worry, or anxiety; carefree; nonchalant.

MAC Style Clan AKA Magic Poo

Today's manicure is the new MAC Style Clan from their Holiday 2010 A Tartan Tale collection launching this Thursday, October 28. I picked this up from the local PRO Store, which gets collections early. Style Clan is a muddy taupe brown color with subtle copper glitter. This mani is one coat Nubar Nu Nails, two coats polish, and one coat Nubar Diamont topped with Seche Vite. As you can see, these t/c did not play well with the MAC and I ended up with gross bubbling. The formula is typical MAC, thick and still somehow patchy. The copper accent is just too subtle in this polish. It looks nice in bright light, but in anything else it barely shows and the base ends up looking like a creme identical to OPI You Don't Know Jacques.



Comparison:


All photos were taken indoors using an artificial light source.

Essie Going Incognito

Today's manicure is Essie Going Incognito from the new Holiday 2010 release The Winter Collection. The tagline: "Intriguing Color Is The New Sexy" *barfs in mouth*.
Anywho, most of the colors were boring. EW was all, "hey guys, how's about we take the fall collection and make it a little darker." I wasn't really interested in any of the other colors, but I always fall for the greens.
Going Incognito is a slightly blue toned/a little jelly-ish green creme. It's very nice, though the formula is kinda meh - runny/streaky syndrome. Plus, I had a few dupe-y greens in the collex.
This mani is one coat of Nubar Nu Nails, two coats of polish, and one coat of Nubar Diamont topped with one coat Seche Vite.
These photos were taken indoors using an artificial light source.



Comparisons:
All of these swatches are two coats with no top coat.
Sorry about my cuticles...

I messed this one up. Accidentally swatched pa A9 instead of the darker A32 I intended...
Thumb to Pinky: LA Girl Flare Envy?, Nubar Forest, Essie Going Incognito, Rescue Beauty Lounge Recycle, pa A96
I am guessing on Envy because I bought it from Urban Outfitters and it has no label (I think purposefully, which is frustrating).


Thumb to Pinky: BB Couture Poison Ivy, Ciate Stiletto, Essie Going Incognito, Finger Paints Scenery Greenery, Cosline 708


Here are the two shades closest imo:
Finger Paints Scenery Greenery (which is a tad darker with less blue tone) and LA Girl Flare in what I believe is Envy (see explanation above) which seems like a dead dupe to me. I think Envy, or whatever it is, is hard to find. I'm not sure LA Girl makes the Flare line anymore. Scenery Greenery is part of Sally's FP Core Line.

Strange Beautiful Volume 4 Series. Inspiration: Yeat's Lapis Lazuli

Today's manicure is the blue one from StrangeBeautiful Color Volume 4.
Jane's Inspiration:
the poem Lapis Lazuli by William Butler Yeats

The Stone:

The Poem:
William Butler Yeats
Lapis Lazuli
---------------------------------------
I have heard that hysterical women say
They are sick of the palette and fiddle-bow.
Of poets that are always gay,
For everybody knows or else should know
That if nothing drastic is done
Aeroplane and Zeppelin will come out.
Pitch like King Billy bomb-balls in
Until the town lie beaten flat.

All perform their tragic play,
There struts Hamlet, there is Lear,
That's Ophelia, that Cordelia;
Yet they, should the last scene be there,
The great stage curtain about to drop,
If worthy their prominent part in the play,
Do not break up their lines to weep.
They know that Hamlet and Lear are gay;
Gaiety transfiguring all that dread.
All men have aimed at, found and lost;
Black out; Heaven blazing into the head:
Tragedy wrought to its uttermost.
Though Hamlet rambles and Lear rages,
And all the drop-scenes drop at once
Upon a hundred thousand stages,
It cannot grow by an inch or an ounce.

On their own feet they came, or On shipboard,
Camel-back; horse-back, ass-back, mule-back,
Old civilisations put to the sword.
Then they and their wisdom went to rack:
No handiwork of Callimachus,
Who handled marble as if it were bronze,
Made draperies that seemed to rise
When sea-wind swept the corner, stands;
His long lamp-chimney shaped like the stem
Of a slender palm, stood but a day;
All things fall and are built again,
And those that build them again are gay.

Two Chinamen, behind them a third,
Are carved in Lapis Lazuli,
Over them flies a long-legged bird,
A symbol of longevity;
The third, doubtless a serving-man,
Carries a musical instrument.

Every discoloration of the stone,
Every accidental crack or dent,
Seems a water-course or an avalanche,
Or lofty slope where it still snows
Though doubtless plum or cherry-branch
Sweetens the little half-way house
Those Chinamen climb towards, and I
Delight to imagine them seated there;
There, on the mountain and the sky,
On all the tragic scene they stare.
One asks for mournful melodies;
Accomplished fingers begin to play.
Their eyes mid many wrinkles, their eyes,
Their ancient, glittering eyes, are gay.

Background for those interested:
Yeats wrote this poem in 1938 at the beginning of WWII. The aeroplane and zeppelin line is referencing fear of air raids in London.

This is a nicely pigmented one coat creme, but is a pretty close match to Essie Mesmerize (so not terribly unique).
This manicure is one coat Nubar Nu Nails base coat, two coats of polish, and one coat of Nubar Diamont topcoat.
These photos were taken ndoors in a light box with artificial light:


This photo was taken outdoors in direct sunlight:

We've come to the end of my StrangeBeautiful Volume Four box. Once again, this set can be purachsed here:
Lucky Scent
Their brick and mortar location is Scent Bar on Beverly halfway between La Cienega and Crescent Heights in Los Angeles.