Rescue Beauty Lounge - Black Russian - Take II

Diffused Light

 With Flash

Continuing my series of 'Wow, that was one ghetto manicure, let's try that again', here is my Take II of Rescue Beauty Lounge's Black Russian.  If you want to see my previous swatch, just google 'nail travesty' and I'm sure it will come up.

These photos really show how it can be super subtle (in diffused light), super sparkly (with flash) and ALWAYS HOT.

I think this might be my favourite lacquer of all time.  Big call, I know, and I'm sober so it's not like the drink talking. Yeah, it's my favourite.  Oh, wait......

Rescue Beauty Lounge - Scrangie - Take II

My lacquer collection is large.  Think 800+ lacquers and growing at an exponential rate.

But there is one lacquer in my collection that I find to be utterly unique and truly extraordinary - Rescue Beauty Lounge's Scrangie.  It's also the lacquer I get the most questions about and the one lacquer where I will get emails asking if I'm prepared to sell it.

The first swatch I did of Scrangie was so insanely diabolical that I decided to redo it here.  I'm not even going to link to the first swatch.  If you guys want to see a nail wreck, you can go searching for it. 

As you can see, this lacquer is sublime.  Purple mixed with green mixed with some kind of magical freaking fairy dust.

There is no flaw with this lacquer.  Two coats to opaque.  Beautifully creamy without being difficult and thick.  Dries to a high shine.  It's perfection.

I've got a couple more photos after the jump, including a close up shot.  Now, I'm not sure if my cuticles can bear close inspection so.... I don't know........... cross your eyes a couple of times before you look and it might blur them out a little.

YGN Stop Press! RBL Sale - 7 Lacquers for $50

This just dropped into my Inbox so I had to share.

Rescue Beauty Lounge are discontinuing seven of their lacquers.  You can pick up all seven for just $50.  That's right.  Seven RBLs for just $50.  These normally retail for $18 each so this really is a bargain basement price.

And just in case anyone hasn't noticed, the magnificent Square Pants is included in the seven.  If you haven't seen the gloriousness that is Square Pants, the Nail Fanatic has a great swatch of it.

For those of you who have never tried RBL before, now is the time!

Happy Australia Day!

Australia is a pretty good place to live.

We have great weather, Vegemite, Tim Tams, Hugh Jackman and, of course, the Gum Leaf Mafia.

But possibly the best thing to ever come out of Australia is Haigh's Chocolates.  My work building is right across the road from Haigh's. This is a very bad thing because, on a daily basis, I am haunting the shop, prowling for new flavours and thrills. 

Today, I bought some handmade dark chocolates.  And promptly ate them all.  My favourites were the Rose Cream, Strawberry Cream and the Lemon Myrtle Cream. They were just so cute and delicious that I decided to create a nail art tribute to celebrate a classic Australian brand and to celebrate Australia Day.

To create this, I used RBL's Au Chocolat as the base. Of course.

For the flower, I used Mecca Cosmetica's Luciana and Helen with Sportgirl's Nail It! Apple. To create the flower, I used the end of my nail art brush as a dotting tool and then brushed the leaf on.  It's not the Mona Lisa, but it's definitely not a train wreck.  So I'm happy.

To all of the Gum Leaf Mafia, have a wonderful Australia Day.  To all my international readers, there's nothing in the Australia Day rule book that says that internationals can't celebrate also.   So lift your glasses and toast a great country that provides the world with a plethora of great food, hot men and superfly nail bloggers.

Rescue Beauty Lounge - Black Russian

Yeah, so I saved my favourite lacquer for last.  Of course.  It's like saving the icing of the cake until the end and then basking in its sugar-rush glow.

Black Russian (or Zee Black Russian as it's called in this house), is one of the most spectacular lacquers I've ever seen.

It's a black lacquer with tiny red particles through it.  Definitely click on the larger image to see this in all its glory.

The key with Zee Black Russian is its subtlety.  The black cream is perfect on its own and is stunning.  The red just adds a hint of mystery and interest.

Ji Baeck calls this 'goth, all grown-up and very sophisticated' and I couldn't agree more.  I feel like I'm super-chic and cool wearing this.

If you don't want to wait until the next RBL 50% off sale, or don't want to spend the money (and this is an expensive lacquer), then there are cheap dupes that are readily available.

On the left I have Black Russian, China Glaze's Lubu Heels and Milani's Garnet Gems.  Lubu Heels and Garnet Gems are both available for under $5.

If you have a look at the swatches on the left, Black Russian is very subtle.  Garnet Gems is totally in your face (it's the hotness).  Lubu Heels seems to sit comfortably between the two.

For me, Black Russian is my preferred lacquer.  I love the subtlety and elegance of the understated red.  And the formula is out of this world.  Much smoother than the other two and far glosser when it dries.

So, what do you think.  Do you love Zee Black Russian as much as I do?  It makes me want to watch Dr Zhivago all over again.

Rescue Beauty Lounge - Scrangie

Scrangie is named after the one and only Scrangie.  This lacquer came out as part of a Blogger collection involving Michelle of All Lacquered Up and and The Polish Addict.  All three lacquers are amazing, but it was Scrangie - with its hypnotic mix of green and purple- that caught my eye and never let go.

You can see why.  Scrangie is a lacquer that never looks the same way twice. One moment, it's a deep and alluring purple.  The next minute, the green bursts through like sunlight in the morning.

The complexity of this lacquer made it so difficult to photograph but I think I've captured both the green and purple here.  The purple more so on the index and middle finger, whilst the green shines through on the ring and little finger.

This is a glorious lacquer.  Scrangie pulled together a colour that is true to herself, but oh so wearable for the rest of us.

What do you guys think?  Did you buy any of the other lacquers from the Blogger collection?  How did you find them?

Rescue Beauty Lounge - Au Chocolat

Don't forget that my January Giveaway ends this Friday!

I've also added a FAQ section for some of your... well.... frequently asked questions!

*****

It's darn near impossible to find true brown lacquers. Sure you get reddish browns but to find a milk chocolate brown is so so rare.

So you can understand, then, why I snatched up Au Chocolat as soon as I saw it in the recent RBL sale.

This is an absolute dream to work with.  Opaque in one coat, although I did two for the swatch here.  This dried to a high shine and just looks like liquid chocolate on the nail.

So far, I've fallen in love with RBL lacquers.  They really are the Ferraris of the nail world.  Now I just need to wait for another 50% sale so that I can afford to buy more of them!

Rescue Beauty Lounge - Sheer White

The first of the RBL lacquers I want to show you is Sheer White.

Now, you guys may remember that I had some initial issues with this lacquer.  When I first applied this, I applied it over a nude nail.  For the first two coats, it looked AMAZING.  But then I decided to tempt fate and apply a third and fourth coat.  Disaster.  My tips looked yellowed and aged.

I now realise that this lacquer is meant to be worn over a French tip.  Once I did that, all my issues were resolved. 

I think it looks gorgeous.  It gives my nails a milky appearance, negates the harshness of the white tip (is it just me or does anyone else HATE french tips without a cream / pink overlay), and is just pure sophistication and elegance.  If you're a French manicure fan, I don't really think you can do without this topcoat.

If you're also someone with stained nails (and don't we all have that problem at some point), this is a great lacquer to hide the yellowing, whilst not continuing to damage and/or stain your nails.  

Finally, just to prove that my initial issues were operator error, and nothing to do with the lacquer, the swatch on the right is Sheer Milk with four coats (and a French tip).

I think it looks even more awesome than two coats - if that's possible - but let me know what you think in the comments.

Sunday Sneak Peak

You may remember a little while back that I did a swap with the Lovely Leanne.

Leanne sent me a HUGE amount of polishes including my very first Barry M's and GOSH.  But I had a problem with these.  I just couldn't pick which ones to wear.  They're all gorgeous.  So I enlisted the help of my two little ones to pick five colours for me out of a hat and, as such, this week I've named Lovely Leanne's Lacquer Lottery!  5 random colours for you, including one mash-up that is a must see.

I've also had some major haulage over the last few weeks, which I'll be showing to you all week.  I'm kinda embarrassed by how much I've bought, but I comfort myself with the knowledge that most of them were reduced price and some were only $2 each.  And that it was Christmas. And I've been good.

To kick off, here's my recent haulage from the RBL 50% Off Sale.  From left to right: Sheer White, Black Russian, Au Chocolat and *sigh*  *gasp*  *faint* Scrangie.  They are all beautiful but it's Scrangie that, for me, is one of the most memorable lacquers ever made.  It's utter perfection in a bottle.

I will get around to swatching and posting these shortly.  I'm still trialling them to see how well they last on the nail.

I hope you are all well!  Have a kick-a** week!