Rescue Beauty Lounge Purple Haze

Purple Haze all in my brain
lately things don't seem the same.
Acting funny and I don't know why
Excuse me while I kiss this guy.

A few weeks back I ordered a few polishes from Rescue Beauty Lounge's Bring It Back order. One of the polishes I ordered was Purple Haze. This is described as a vivid violet creme, and I'm a sucker for purples.

I love the color, a slightly dusty lavender. I also love the formula, not too thick, not too thin and perfectly opaque and shiny in two coats.

I do have one complaint about the polish, and it's not about the polish, per se. I don't like the brushes used in RBL bottles. It's sparse, thin and slightly stiff. It makes for a tougher time applying polish. I found that with the exception of my pinky nail, I could only wipe a tiny amount off the brush or else it would be streaky and require many dippings.

Aside from the brush issues, I do love both of the polishes that I have tried from this order so far. I have two more left and I look forward to trying them as well.

Nfu-Oh 64

Ahhh, my trusty holos. Whenever I'm bored with my stash (which shouldn't be, considering I have well over 200 polishes) I pull out one of my trusty holos and all is right in the universe.

No flash (and funny orange skin)

With flash to capture the rainbow of colors

Anyone who has read this blog knows my love for holos. I love the way it dances in the light and throws off a rainbow of colors. I do tend to prefer the fine-grained linear holographics, meaning that it forms a line of color along the nail. If you look in the flash picture above, you can see the distinct lines of rainbow colors from the holographic glitter. A scattered holo is just that, it forms a scattered effect. 

The other thing I have noticed about this particular brand is that it does not look very holographic in the bottle. Many of the older OPIs and the China Glaze OMG collections show a very visible linear holo effect while still in the bottle. Looking at the Nfu-Ohs it may seem that they would end up being scattered or *gulp* duds. However, that is absolutely not the case as they form some of the best holos around.

No flash - and freaky orange skin is back

Flash

The Nfu-Oh holos aren't without their problems. They are on the thick side, and application isn't the smoothest. If you're not careful it will form some massive bald spots. Using Nfu-Oh's Aqua Base does help a bit for that. I only used two coats for this one, but I did go slower than usual and really took my time. I actually had to re-do a few nails because my application was horrendous. In the end, it was all worth it. I love looking at my nails out in the sunlight.

OPI Black Shatter with Northern Lights topcoat

Yeah, you knew I had to put a shatter coat on top of it! They look so good on top of holos!

NARS Pokerface

I'm going to warn you, if you're aware of the Lady Gaga song of the same name, this polish will create an earworm that wiggles its way through your brain every time you look at this manicure. Or maybe it's just me. Oh, well - I'll just suck it up because I love this color.

P-P-P-Pokerface P-P-Pokerface (muh muh muh muh) 

This was my first foray into NARS nail colors. I have frequently had the Orgasm nail polish in my basket, but always put it back for some reason. I adore the Orgasm blush (oh, I can't wait to see what kind of Google hits this post will get), but never pulled the trigger on the nail polish. This one jumped at me right away. It could be my weakness for all shades of purple polish.

I had just applied peppermint cuticle oil, that's why my fingers are so shiny.

The color is a pastel lavender with a very subtle blue-white microshimmer. The shimmer is only visible in the proper lighting. I had no real problems with the formula, although it was a bit on the thick side. It applied nearly opaque in the first coat, but the second coat evened it out beautifully. Although I did have to be careful because it seemed like if I used too many brushstrokes, it could get clumpy. I don't know if I'm still stuffy, but I didn't notice as much of a smell as I do with other polishes. I really liked that.

The one complaint I do have about this polish is the bottle. Well, more precisely, the cap. It's a square cap, and unlike Chanel, Dior and Illamasqua (which also have square caps) this one does not slide off to reveal a cylindrical cap underneath. The square cap make is a bit uncomfortable to paint my nails. As long as I was careful and polished slowly, it looked fine but it was uncomfortable. This is definitely not a polish to pick if you need to be out the door in 15 minutes as you will need to take your time.

After wearing this manicure for a day, I decided to do something that is VERY unlike me. I decided to add an accent nail.

Revlon Galaxy with a coat of Northern Lights

Now, I know I've said before, I'm a little bit OCD. Nothing too bad, but there are little things that bug me. Asymmetrical things bug me. I hate different color accent walls in rooms. If there's a pillow on the right side of a couch, the must be a matching one on the left side of a couch, things like that. So, an accent nail is actually pretty far out of my normal. I wanted to try and break out of that mold, though, so I tried it. I added a coat of Revlon Galaxy (clear jelly base with regular and hex glitter) topped by a coat of Northern Lights (all shaken up, of course).

I'm not sure how I feel about it. I want to keep it, but I have a feeling that I may need to remove it tomorrow. It depends on how much I stare at my nails. It does look cute, though.

Hey, we all have our thing, right?

Illamasqua Baptiste

Goodness, has it really been almost a week since the last post? Between sickness and trying to re-do a powder room, my time seems to go *poof*

However, I do have something for you dear readers today. Illamasqua Baptiste. I picked this one up at Sephora a few weeks back because I just love the Illamasqua formula, and this one absolutely did not disappoint. The color is a very deep purple with a generous amount of purple and dark magenta shimmer. Inside it just looks like a deep dark purple, but in any kind of light it shimmers like crazy.

Baptiste in the direct sunlight

I applied this on Friday and now, on Monday, it is still looking great with one minor chip on my thumb (from lifting a sticker). This one is definitely in the win column.

Baptiste indoors with flash

Indoors with flash

I am really loving the Illamasqua polishes. They are quickly becoming my favorite formula.

Have a good week, everyone!

Sephora by OPI - Hell To The No

Ok, I have a confession. I don't watch Glee. I have never watched a single second of it, which is surprising, because I adore Jane Lynch. However, it just doesn't interest me. So, when SOPI announced they were coming out with their Glee line, I thought - meh.

Well, I actually saw the line in Sephora the other day, and my initial conclusion of "meh" still stands. However, one did stand out to me as unique, so I grabbed it. The color is called Hell To The No (no idea how that fits into the show) and it's a great bright purple color with a nice amount of fine golden/copper shimmer all throughout.

Hell To The No - no flash

The color is a little deeper than in the picture, but not too much. I love the shimmer, how the gold is a little unexpected in a purple polish. What I didn't like? The formula. It was a bit thick and gloppy. I wasn't very happy with how it went on my nails. These pictures are two very thick coats with a topcoat of Seche Vite. Even after it dried, it felt thick, almost like I had applied many many coats and let them dry. I have another SOPI color - 212 - and it's not nearly as thick as this one.

no flash

I really like the color, so I think I will keep this one. However, if you're not completely sold on the color, I'd just move on.