Rescue Beauty Lounge - IKB:2012 and Comparison

Can you believe it's nearly October!? I know I say that every single time the month changes, but I'm still gobsmacked.

Today I have a lot of preparation to do! Craig and I are taking a long weekend to Portland, Oregon for a wedding, and I am super excited! I love the west coast and cannot wait to go back, and we leave tomorrow!
ahhh....it's now 3PM and I haven't gotten anything done :/ Oh Pinterest, I blame you.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have nothing on my nails right now. Zilch. The pictures below of Rescue Beauty Lounge's IKB:2012 were taken a few days ago:





How GORGEOUS.
I swatched these without a top coat because I wanted to show you the texture of the polish itself. It does not dry shiny but has an odd, suede finish. The formula is workable, but not what I've come to expect from RBL unfortunately. I think this has something to do with the fact that the polish is almost pure pigment.

This post is really painful to write. IKB:2012 is unfortunately no longer available from Rescue Beauty, and I feel horrible for posting about a polish you can no longer get (unless you were to succumb to Ebay scalpers).
I not only regret that, but also because this color brings up evocative memories of a certain special mad man and his little blue box. And I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Because yes, IKB:2012 is TARDIS blue perfection.

HOWEVER I have an alternative!

Revlon's Royal is not (in my books) remotely close to IKB:2012, but I think for the price, the differences can be negated. ($6 vs $20? I think so)


Royal on index and ring, IKB:2012 on middle and pinkie

At any rate, Royal is much more jelly-like, darker and deeper, and more purple to my eye. I almost regretted buying IKB:2012 when I purchased Royal because the formula is miles better, and the color is so much richer. I think that for some, Royal might be an acceptable alternative.

Dupe? I would say not a chance in hell, but an alternative certainly.

See you guys on Friday! I'll be trying to update while in Portland, but I can't make any promises. I'm notoriously bad at blogging while away from my desktop!

Revlon Electric

You know what gets me in a summer mood? BRIGHT yellow. I love it, but can't wear it. If I do I look sickly and gross. So how do you go about getting your yellow fix during summer? (or whenever really) Enter the solution: Revlon Top Speed Electric, a supposed dupe for Chanel Mimosa. I threw this in the grocery bag when I was shopping last because I knew I wanted it, but then it sat on my bathroom counter for days! When I finally whipped it out, I knew we had a winner.

Its a fantastic lemon yellow with shimmer laced throughout. No streaking, which is amazing for a yellow polish. This is two coats, two!! Also, I apologize if there is some tip wear, these photos are two days after swatching. 

So what do you think of Electric? Do you have the Chanel, and if so, what did you think of it? 

Revlon Carbonite

The fall semester is officially over, yet some of my grades still aren't available. I just got my final back in the class I was most worried about and most thankfully I scraped by with a passing grade! I'm back home with my family which is really nice and relaxing. I sleep in super late most days which is a nice break from my constant schedule of early mornings and late nights during the semester.

I found this little cool puppy in Rite Aid last month, but hadn't tried it out until last week. Carbonite is supposed to be the Revlon equivalent to Chanel's Graphite. It's a silver foil with a grungy, gritty feel to it. (but it dries relatively smooth). Looking at photos of the Chanel online, it's clear that this isn't as great of a copy as Perplex was for Chanel's Paradoxal, but I think it's a good attempt. (By the way, could Revlon get any more obvious with the names?? Doubt it)

I was pretty pleased with this. I tend to avoid Revlon because I dislike the bottle design, but they've been coming out with some great colors lately (Blue Lagoon anyone?) and the formula seems to have improved. This is two coats and Seche Vite top coat. I did have problems with chipping about 5 hours after I did my nails, but it was easy to fix with a touch up and another coat of SV. 

I've become obsessed with Chanel's Morning Rose. I don't think it's available now though, which makes me super depressed. Here's hoping a good substitute comes out some time in the future. I'm usually not a pink person and Morning Rose is the epitome of girly pink to me. It's not too bright, has little gold flecks of glitter, just girly! But I think I'm in love. There's a great photo from Michelle at All Lacquered Up.

It's just gorgeous and I really wish I could get it without spending ridiculous amounts of money.

Are you excited for the holidays, or do you have special plans? I plan on curling up on the couch most days with my family and drinking eggnog until I'm sick :D

Revlon Emerald City

Today's nail post is over Revlon's Emerald City. The bottle says "Matte Suede" but don't believe it. There isn't anything matte about it. I didn't get a picture of it dry without a top coat because I just couldn't stand looking at it. When it dried it almost looked like leather. Not glossy or matte, just a weird in-between that I wasn't fond of. so I put a coat of Seche Vite on top and voila! This is one beautiful polish.

In the bottle it looks almost blue-green, but on the nail it changes in the light. As I'm typing I'm sitting in low light shade, and it looks like a deep emerald, but if I get out in the sun, it turns into a glowy-green fire. The first day I wore this I thought, "Hmm, this is awfully pretty and I never wear green!". After the 4th day, I've decided that this is one of my absolute favorites. I really don't want to take it off.

WARNING: Photo of spider below!

Friday afternoon I was sitting in my room and I look out the window and see this little guy has made a web right on my window pane. I am completely freaked out by spiders, but this one didn't bother me that much. I wanted to name him Herbert, but the BF nicknamed him "Fang" and now that's stuck hahaha. He seems rather peaceful. 

Right now I'm on a plane travelling to Ohio, where my extended family lives. I'm very excited to see them again, and it's always a lot of fun so I'll try to take a lot of photos :) Of course I'm auto-posting this entry, so I'm technically writing this the day before! Have a great Tuesday everyone :)