Milani Disco Lights

Happy Black Friday! I did a little online shopping but I personally hate crowds so no brick-and-mortar stores for me today! The BF and I have gotten almost all our holiday shopping done online as well so hopefully we won't have to shop too much during the holiday season.

Anyway, I wanted to wear something a little special for Thanksgiving yesterday, so why not a glitter?

Blurred to show the sparkly goodness:

This is Milani Disco Lights, four coats with top coat. I love, love this color! I told myself that I wouldn't be buying any more new polishes for a while, but I saw this at the drugstore and couldn't resist. I'm so glad I picked it up! It's a really gorgeous champagne pink glitter. It's still very sparkly and shiny of course, but the face that it's pink lets it blend into my skin a little so it's a bit more subtle than some other glitters. The amount of glitter was pretty average, four coats to cover. Each layer took about five minutes to dry which is on the slow side, but I think this helps to prevent the bottle from getting crusty and makes the glitter easier to work with. You can find Milani polish at CVS and some Walgreens stores.

Hope everyone is getting some good deals, but remember to take care of yourselves!

Rescue Beauty Lounge Teal and Sally Hansen Age Correct

Hi everyone, sorry for the lack of updates! I've been trying out a new topcoat and really wanted to see how it lasted before posting. First, though, the color:

This one was a bit of a surprise. It's really a true teal, a mix of blue and green, a bit on the darker side. Very pretty color, unexpected but understated. This is one coat, but as you can see, I should have added another. The flaws are highlighted because of the flash, though.

As I've mentioned before, I've been having a lot of problems with RBL polishes. I usually get a lot of wear out of nail polish, but with RBL I had been getting sizable chips literally within 12 hours of application. I looked up reviews on MUA and saw that one of the highest-rated base coats is Sally Hansen Age Correct No Chip Base and Top Coat (quite a mouthful). It has been discontinued, but don't worry, it's easily available on ebay and Amazon for around $5 shipped. As a base coat, it dried quickly. As a top coat, it took a bit of time (probably 10-15 minutes or so to dry completely) and although it does have shine, it applies thinly and doesn't give you that glassy finish like Seche Vite. Despite this, it held up well! I took the picture after four days, I think. It's my non-dominant hand, but my other hand looked about the same, maybe slightly more wear. This is only with one coat of polish, and for me less coats usually means more chipping. Overall, I highly recommend this product! I think next time I might try it as a base coat only, or add a coat of Seche Vite on top.

Why do they stop making such great products?!

Rescue Beauty Lounge Look Rich Be Cheap

RBL number three! This one is a glitter so hopefully it doesn't chip as quickly. I first fell in love with this color when I saw it on Sara at a meetup. It was so sparkly!


This is a very shiny gold glitter with bits of purple. It mostly looks gold but the purple makes it more interesting and sophisticated somehow. Great for Lakers fans, too! This is four thin coats in the picture, but there are still some bare areas. The glitter reflects so much light, though, that you can hardly tell. Really gorgeous color, much better on the nail than in the bottle. I can never tire of glitters, I've been looking at my nails all day!

Definitely looking forward to the other RBL glitters!

Rescue Beauty Lounge Scrangie

Happy Friday everyone!

I wanted to wear something special for the weekend and I picked Scrangie!


Very pretty color! The base is a red-based purple and when the light hits it there's an aqua shimmer. There's a fine shimmer and also some sparkle (microglitter? glass fleck?), so it's much prettier and more complex than a plain frost. Application was okay, this is three thin coats and there are still some bare spots. I have to say that although I am loving the RBL colors, I am not impressed with the formula or wear. They're fine, but not as amazing as I had hoped, certainly not as buttery-smooth as the Chanels I have tried. They show tip wear very quickly. Still, I'm hoping the other colors will be more impressive; we will see. Maybe it's because I am using Seche Vite, which is not 3 free. I have heard that when you use a 3-free polish it doesn't mix well with a top coat that is not. I'll try to look for a 3-free top coat this weekend.

Have a great weekend!

Rescue Beauty Lounge Anne

I was so excited to try my new Rescue Beauty Lounge polishes I could hardly pick! I decided on Anne (from the Tudor collection) because it looks like a great fall color.

It's kind of an grayish, olive-ish brown with bronzy shimmer, and there's also purple microglitter that looks more pink on the nail. I really love these colors that can be listed under multiple color families. Application was easy, the formula was easy to work with. The first coat was pretty streaky, but it evened out nicely with the second. Still, be careful of bald spots!

More RBL swatches to come!

Foil Method

I've been asked about this a few times, so I thought I'd do a tutorial. This is a great way to easily remove glitter polish or designs that require many layers of polish and topcoat, or even just a plain mani. Also, this is a great method for removing soak-off gels, just soak your fingers for a longer amount of time (and you may want to use pure acetone instead of regular polish remover). The idea is basically to place the nail polish remover against your nail for a few minutes to break down the polish so that it is easier to remove. The foil (or plastic wrap) prevents the acetone from evaporating too quickly.

First, get your supplies ready. Use your favorite nail polish remover, preferably one that's nourishing/conditioning so it's not as drying as pure acetone. Make sure you have some cotton pads ready, too. I like to use Swisspers and cut them into quarters. I used to use some from Target, but they were much lower quality. I cut them in half and folded them b/c even though they were the same size, they were so full of air that one layer was not enough. Lastly, make sure you have five (or ten, depending on whether you want to reuse or not) small pieces of foil, squares that are about 2.5 inches on each side are sufficient.


Soak the piece of cotton with remover and place on the nail.


Take the piece of foil and wrap it around the finger and cotton, then fold the end over the finger.




Repeat this with the other fingers on the same hand. Best to do this one hand at a time, as it is not all that easy to work with foil-wrapped fingers!


Leave it on for three to five minutes, then, one nail at a time, remove the foil and use the cotton to swipe off the polish. Almost all the polish should be gone, but use the cotton to rub off little bits left behind.

This is the remains of my masquerade mani. I needed to scrub off the polish under the stones, but it was very easy overall. This was base coat, three coats of polish, three coats of glow-in-the-dark polish, and a thick layer of top coat.

Be sure to moisturize your nails and cuticles thoroughly afterward.

Hope this helps!

Rescue Beauty Lounge Sale Haul!

I have been waiting for this sale for months, and it finally happened! Not only that, but two days later, my package is here!

I love the boxes! I am a sucker for packaging.

Here's my entire RBL collection (for now!):

From top, clockwise: Anne (not on sale), Locavore (tracked this down in a store), Look Rich Be Cheap, Frugalista, Bangin, Teal, Scrangie
I bought Teal and an extra Scrangie as gifts, but I'm kind of having a hard time parting with Teal! Can't wait to try these.