Rescue Beauty Lounge Look Rich, Be Cheap

Due to some recent nail growth, I am trying to keep my nails polished, which means that I am polishing my nails everyday (I have the attention span of a gnat).  I've been mainly sticking to new releases, as that's what I've had on my desk, but tonight, I brought this one out of the depths of my storage container, and oh how happy it's made me.

RBL's Look Rich, Be Cheap was from the 2009 Spring glitter bomb collection, which in my mind was the catalyst for all the full-coverage glitters we've seen over the past 2 years.  I remember when I first saw swatches of this glitter and her sisters, Locavore and Frugalista.  I fell instantly in love, but still being a newb and balking at an $18 polish, I resisted until the half off sale in the fall of 2009, where I picked them up.  And my love for them has not waned, considering that the glitters and a couple of other colors were the only things I kept when I decided to part ways with my RBL collection (the formula just doesn't play nice with me).   Unfortunately, I just haven't worn them as much as I should have.  Well, lemme tell ya... that's gotta stop.  :P

This one is absolutely amazing.  It's varying shades of gold glitter with pops of bright, purple glitter, and as yellow and purple are opposites on the color wheel, the color combo is gorgeous.  The base is clear, and though it looks like there are bald/thin spots in my swatch, the coverage on the nail is actually quite good.  Any thin spots that are on there, don't show up to the naked eye.

This is 3 coats of Look Rich Be Cheap over a coat of CND Stickey.  I also had to apply 3 (!) coats of TC as it still seemed really textured at just 1, or even 2, coats.  Honestly, even with the 3 coats of TC, it's still not smooth, but that's pretty much par for the course with a dense glitter.

Also, I realize I have reviewed Look Rich, Be Cheap already in the past, but as that way back when my nails were recovering nubs and my camera was crap (and perhaps a lot of user error), I figured I'd give this one another showing. 

Look Rich, Be Cheap is the only glitter bomb still remaining in stock on RBL's website (though I think Locavore is coming back).  Price is $18.

this was purchased by me during RBL's half-off sale

RBL Dead Calm

Wanna hear something funny?  I didn't purchase this in this year's RBL sale.  Nope.  I got Dead Calm in last year's sale.  You know... the one where I bought TEN (again, with the "I hate moderation" thing).  Why am I telling you this?  So you can call me stupid for keeping this in my untrieds for a year.  :O  LOL.

Now, I know the finish on this polish in the picture isn't the best.  RBLs and I sometimes don't play nice.  I think it's a body chemistry issue as I know just about everyone else and their mom has no problems w/ RBL's formula.  I usually have bubbles even before I add a TC.  Plus, my bottle of SH Insta-Dri is a thick mess, so I had to use Out the Door, which doesn't really get along with RBL, either.  Although, with my Qtica drops, I strong-armed it into dryness in about 5 minutes.  Love those drops.  :)  Aaaaand to add to the issues, when I took it off last night (I did some nail art on it that got old quickly) it gave me horrid Smurf hands.  Seriously.  It looked like I'd just killed one.

However, I can look past all of the yucky stuff because the color is so amazing.  It's a beautiful, almost jelly-ish, navy blue creme, meaning it has the squishy-ness of a jelly, but the color is completely opaque.  Also, it's a one-coater.  Woohoo!  Also, outside of the issues I have with my specific nails, application was great.  It practically flows on the nail.  That said, in terms of "awesome-formula" polishes, I think I prefer Illamasqua simply because I don't have the issues I can have with RBL.  Doesn't stop me from buying them though.  :P

RBL is available at rescuebeauty.com and also at online boutiques like Beauty Sak.  They are $18 each.

RBL Ani

Apologies for the crappy picture.  My index finger cuticle was being a complete PITA, so I did some creative picture-taking.  :P

Okay, I don't know what has gotten into me?  First I like Zoya Megan and now I'm liking another skin-tone neutral, RBL Ani.  Maybe my husband should start looking for the pod.  :P

For some reason, Ani was one of the 3 RBLs I was lemming the most when the sale rolled around.  Ani is a warm pearlescent beige, that looks slightly darker in the bottle than it does on the nail.  I was a little nervous when I pulled it out of the box, but on the nail, I liked it much, much more.  This is one coat of Ani, and it's still a bit sheer.  It covers the nail nicely, but you can still see nail lines.  This isn't something that bothers me with Ani, because the goal all along in purchasing it was to get a sheer-ish neutral.  And in that regard, Ani is a success.  If you are someone that can't stand the look of sheers and nail lines, and applies many coats of Ani to reach opacity, you may be disappointed, as due the heavily pearlescent finish, Ani can look very frosty past one coat.  That said, I really like this worn slightly sheer.  I don't love it, but I do like it.

I know in the past, Ji has mentioned on FB that Ani was being discontinued, and in fact, Ani was one of the polishes included in the "clearance" sale earlier in the year.  However, I get the feeling that it's being kept around for good.  Ani seems to have quite the following.

Ani is available at rescuebeauty.com for $18.  You can also find it at Beauty Sak.  It's the same price as on Rescue Beauty Lounge's website, but Beauty Sak offers free shipping at $50, rather than at $100.

RBL Purple Haze Comps

As I mentioned in my NOTD post from yesterday, I was interested in comparing RBL Purple Haze to OPI Parlez-Vous OPI.  Here are the results.  I also threw in OPI Done out in Deco for good measure. 

Done out in Deco on index, RBL on middle and pinky, and Parlez-Vous OPI on ring.  BTW, I apologize for the skin around my index finger.  I can't keep my index fingers or my thumbs from peeling and it's driving me bonkers.

As you can tell, neither DoiD or PVO are dupes for PH.  Even though PH has a hazy-ness to it, PVO is just too smoky to be dupey for RBL.  It's also no where near the same color of purple.  PVO has more red in it.  As for DoiD, the colors aren't close, but they look like they could be related.  It looks like if you added a bunch of white to PH, you'd have DoiD.  It is dusty/hazy, but not to the same degree as PH.

All in all, I think if you are lemming Purple Haze, you aren't going to find a dupe in either of these.  I know Ji said it will be OOS soon, but I don't know it it will be d/c'd or just backordered for awhile. 

NOTD: RBL Purple Haze

I chose this one as my NOTD because I remembered a recent FB post in which Ji mentioned Purple Haze was on it's way to selling out.  I bought it back in the fall as part of my 50% off order, but I had yet to try it.  I was a little wary to try it, given my past issues with RBL's formula, but I used one coat of Amour Sticky Base Coat and one coat of SH Insta-Dri TC and it dried within 30 minutes w/ no issues.  This is 2 coats and there were no issues with application.  The formula was perfect.

As for the color, this one was a bit of a surprise.  I added this one on a whim to my order last fall.  I thought the color was going to be a softer version of vibrant purple creme, like RBL Mismas or ChG Grape Pop.  While it's true that it's a medium purple creme, there is also a smokyness to it that I didn't expect.  It really does have a hazy quality to it... hence the name.  LOL.  She's a clever one, that Ji Baek.  It reminds me of OPI Parlez-Vous OPI, though I think PH is a bit more vibrant.  I plan on doing a comp post with P-VO and PH in the near future.

If you are interested, Purple Haze is still available at rescuebeauty.com.  It's $18 and $7.50 which I know is nuts, but it's an amazing color with an amazing formula, but I'm going to hold off a "you have to get it" rec until I comp it w/ PVO.  BTW, Ji is now offering free shipping on $100 orders in the US and on $200 for international orders.