Nails and Noms

* The product(s) in this post were sent to me for unbiased review consideration.

Morning Everyone!!

I hope you’re all doing well this fine Thursday afternoon! Work has been keeping me plenty busy this month, as I’m averaging about 50-55 hours per week lately! But I managed to find time to play with the new Rescue Beauty Lounge Emoting Me collection that Ji sent me for review!

Ji of Rescue Beauty Lounge had this to say about her newest collection:

“May my goods come out greater than my own, every time I walk
towards your path. Please usher my footfalls, guide me to be where
to be, what to do, what to say, what to write, and to whom. Let me
embrace every moment you’ve given to me with clear vision,
strength, peace, love and grace. Let me be with you every moment
to moment in your magical kingdom. Let me be at your service, my
heart is open to you and use me for something greater than my own.
Thank you for your abundance, blessings, and your love. Thank you
for this beautiful gift of today.”

This is my daily mantra and how I greet each day. I subconsciously
and consciously recite it from that exquisite place sandwiched
between my sleepy-dreamy blur and the lustering lights of a brand
new morning. It took me many years of seeking, practicing, and
learning to reach this point in my life. I feel stripped naked, revealing

and sharing my private daily mantra, but this is my story and also the
story that is within all of us: we are all emoting.

I’m convinced that if one is ready to truly learn, this generous
universe paves the road in front of us. The trick is knowing when to
admit the desire to take that first baby step.

Sadly for me, my desire to take this first step came five years ago,
when my beloved mother-in-law suddenly left this earth. Our sunny,
delightful home came under a dark gray rolling fog that thickened
with our gloom. Lingering questions struck me during this time: Can
emotional darkness be contagious? Are we enjoying this sorrowful
place just a tad too much? It was time for me to open my own eyes
and to start my first step toward my own path and to seek my true
self. I became an observer of my own life.

I read self-help books and came across many sparklingly wise words
and phrases that we’re told should accompany our daily lives. But by
painfully peeling the layers off of my own ego, I learned that I’m
responsible for my own emotions and the energy I give out.

My everyday practice is simple: I’ve stopped labeling myself. I’m not
so evolved that I levitate in the lotus position in the snowy mountains
wearing my flowing pair of tai chi pants. I process and feel every
emotion, just like everyone on this earth, but I keep my daily ego in
check by knowing that I’m responsible for what I give out and what I
receive.

No matter what the circumstances, these are the seven words I
repeat persistently:

The seven words she mentions are the seven nail polishes that made up the Emoting Me Collection. I used the RBL base coat and top coat for all my swatches shown here today. Let’s more on the lovely lacquers, shall we?

Thank You

Because I’m my own worst critic, I first thank myself, then I thank
others, and lastly, I thank the universe. I know that I am loved and,
even in negative circumstances, in order to grow, lessons must be
learned. It may be tough in the beginning, but when I close my eyes
in gratitude and start with a bare, neutral nude, a cast of beatific

Opalescent pink shimmers radiates with thankfulness.

The shimmer in Thank You is so pretty! At first I initially thought it was just a golden shimmer, but in different lighting it shifts to a pink and then green! I have never been disappointed by a RBL nude shade and Thank You is no exception. I used 3 thin coats here to achieve the level of opacity I prefer.

I tried my best to capture the subtle shimmer in Thank You. In this photo you see a mostly gold shimmer and at the curves of my nail you can just make out the shift to pink. The green shift didn’t want to come out and play for my camera, haha!

Be Humble

I know that I can’t be too self-congratulatory or judge others. I always
remind myself to stay modest. I try to grey out my ego with this taupe
lightness and allow hope to float in pink, blue, and lavender
shimmers.

Be Humble is so stinkin’ pretty!! This light taupe has a lot of lavender undertones and the hidden shimmer is a great addition. I couldn’t stop staring at my nails when I had it on. This would be a great work appropriate shade with a nice little punch from the subtle shimmer to kick it up a bit. The formula for Be Humble was slightly thicker than the others in this collection, but not so thick that it caused too many issues with application. 2 careful coats is all you need, maybe 3 if you don’t wait long enough between coats for it to dry.

The subtle shimmer comes out to play a bit in this macro shot of Be Humble. ^_^

Forgiveness

To forgive and to ask for forgiveness is the ultimate emotional
cleanser, but why is it so difficult for me to open my heart and admit
that I’m wrong? Guilt and regret are useless emotions. When I forgive
someone, or even when I forgive myself, I step into the serene
opaqueness of this dove-lavender color and then I am able to let go
and move on.

I definitely agree with Ji on this one. I have no room in my life for regret, I take everything as a learning experience. ^_^

Forgiveness is a gorgeous muted lavender creme, 3 thin coats here. And WOW is it ever glossy, even before top coat! This one got the BSOA (Boyfriend Seal Of Approval) and was dubbed as a “really cool shade of purple”. Lavender my dear, lavender. Application was a breeze and the formula was thin and easy to work with.

Smile

First, I always smile at the sky at least once a day. It is a privilege to
be in this universe. When I lift my face to the sun and bask in its
gloriousness, I blink my eyes and see this dazzling red light, a neutral
red, and full of sunny, shimmery goodness. Like a smile, this color is
contagious.

OMGGGGGGG Smile is a faaaabulous nail polish! This little beauty is a vibrant shade of coral-red with pink undertones that is filled with orange micro-shimmer. I’ve power-marathoned through seasons 2-5 of Mad Men over the past weekend to catch up to the season 6 premiere. And everyone had such gorgeous manicures on that show, it had me craving a red shade to wear on my digits. Smile landing in my lap on Monday afternoon was a sign from the heavens.

I used 3 coats here but you could probably get away with 2 coats on shorter nails.

Macro shot to try to capture the shimmer in Smile. It’s extremely subtle but it can be seen in indoor and outdoor lighting.

Pause

Violet is the color of the chakra that marks the union of the soul with
the body, mind, and divine consciousness. With this come bliss,
satisfaction, and rest. Being in the present moment is probably the
hardest challenge I have. When I stare at the depth of this multi-
faceted mid-violet silky shimmer and be at one with this color and
nothing else, then I know I am in my present moment.

Because my digital camera gets blue and purples confused regularly, I thought I was going to have issues capturing the true royal purple color of Pause. But this is quite accurate hue-wise to how it appears in person. The shimmer is much more prominent in real life though and my camera did take issue with the glowy fuchsia and pink micro shimmer. I just could not get it to play nice for my camera!

Pause has great coverage and a superb formula. All I needed was 2 coats here.

This is as good a shot of the micro-shimmer as I could get of Pause. Pictures really do not do this one justice, you just have to see it in person. ^_^

Become One

I imagine that one brilliantly sunny day in April when I looked up to
see the sun flickering through a cascade of innocent leaves. This

Opaque green takes me to those young; verdant leaves in the spring
and reminds me that nature is our best teacher of life cycles.

Become One is a bright grassy green creme. I think everyone needs this shade of green in their collection! But I’m a sucker for anything green so I might be ever so slightly biased. I actually have 2 other nail polishes in my collection that in my mind seem quite similar to this one, I’ll post a comparison between them soon!  Application was great, I did 3 thin coats here for full opacity.

Turn It Around

Once I understood the universe’s law of polarity, everything made
perfect sense. Negatives can’t exist without positives. If I never allow
pain to wash over me, then joy becomes meaningless. From this
color’s dark mossy green pond, a vivid, glittering cast of copper
shimmer welcomes me back to joy.

Turn It Around… Oh my… Remember like, 2 seconds ago when I said I was a sucker for anything green? Because HOLY SHIZZZZ I flipped out when I opened the box for this one!! Earthy forest green mixed with chunky flecks of golden-yellow, copper and bronze!

What is this?! I can’t even…!! Mama likes! Turn It Around simultaneously reminds me of Spring and Fall mixed together into liquid nirvana for my nails. I used 2 coats here and the formula was nice and smooth.

Just… Look… At… That… SHIMMERRRR!! I was not expecting a shade like this for a Spring collection, and I am SO here for this right now.

Be Humble vs. Insouciant vs. Forgiveness

I did do a quickie comparison of RBL Be Humble, Insouciant, and Forgiveness for y’all since I had all three sitting on my swatching [coffee] table. Definitely not dupes, but it’s nice to see a side-by-side every now and then when your memory of the colors gets hazy. ^_^

#1 is Be Humble, #2 is Insouciant and #3 is Forgiveness (3 coats each). All great colors.

☻

Final Thoughts:

The Emoting Me collection is another great addition to the Rescue Beauty Lounge family. Each shade has an elegant story behind it and I can completely understand Ji’s vision for each color and what she had in mind as she created each nail polish. My stand-out favorites in this collection are Smile and Turn It Around. Honorable mentions go to Forgiveness, Be Humble and Pause being faves for my boyfriend. Thank You, Forgiveness and Be Humble are great neutral office friendly choices for those that have tone it down for work or if you just prefer softer shades. And while I do love Become One, I’m not entirely sure if it’s a must-have if you already own another grass green creme like it. Though the ones I plan to compare it to may not be readily assessable, so in that case… Become One is a possible must as well!

Which ones do you like the most?

Purchase Info:

Rescue Beauty Lounge nail polishes are exclusively available at www.rescuebeauty.com for $20 per bottle. The 48 hour Pre-Order starts 4/12/13, so make sure you’re signed up for the newsletter email blast to take advantage of the pre-order! The Emoting Me collection will be available to the public at the end of April.

Rescue Beauty Lounge nail polishes are created with resin and high molecular polymers to improve flexibility, durability, and high shine. They contain no harmful Toluene, Formaldehyde, DBP, and Formaldehyde Resin. They do not test on animals.

* The product(s) in this post were sent to me for unbiased review consideration.