Alright, I have to post faster if we’re going to get through all 20 polishes in a timely manner. I present to you, #18 Sephora by OPI (affectionately dubbed ‘$OPI’) Metro Chic:

Bet you guys didn’t see that one coming. I do love this color, but it’s on this list because of the impact it had when it hit the market. Metro Chic was a polish phenomenon. I have hopes that Metro Chic will have revolutionary implications. Is the existence of Metro Chic an indication that the nail polish industry is going to become more innovative? That is my hope. So many people pursued this polish in a ridiculous frenzy, it proves, once again, that there is a viable market for out-of-the-ordinary colors. (Although, the frenzy was probably exacerbated by scalpers buying available bottles to flip them on ebay.) There is such a thing as innovation in this industry and it seems like polish companies often forget that. Consumers are obviously hungry for something different, it’s time that something different is given to us! In any case, it’s a fairly rare occurrence when the general population frenzies over a shade. Nail polish collectors frenzy constantly but it’s extraordinary to see a color that is so universally appealing that it actually moves non-collectors into action. That is why Metro Chic is on this list.

I’m happy to be sharing my top 20 with you guys, mostly because I decided to make this a tradition. Once a year I will pick out my top 20 favorite colors and actually wear them. I’m disgusted to say that my collection has reached such a ridiculous size that I don’t get the chance to re-wear colors very often, this way, I have an excuse to return to my favorites.

OPI Got the Blues for Red was released in Fall 2005 with the Chicago collection. It was one of the first OPI reds I ever bought so it has a very special spot in my heart. (Oh… memories from when I had a manageable collection.) I only chose one red for the countdown because reds have a tendency to look like each other in way that other colors do not. I decided on this red in place of other much loved reds (like OPI Thrill of Brazil and OPI Vodka & Caviar) because Got the Blues for Red is the perfect balance of chic classic red and high drama depth of color. As the name suggests, this is a darkened red, so it’s stunning without being ‘too much’¹. This color, despite its simplicity, is a bonafide show stopper. Even my Mother, who has no real interest in nail polish, passionately loves this color. We both recently purchased back-up bottles since this color has sadly been discontinued. Also, it goes without saying, the application is smooth like butter, absolutely perfect in two coats.

Twice a year, the girls on the Nail Board vote for their top 20 polishes. I’ve been promising you guys my personal top 20 for a while and I’m finally getting around to it. My top 20 has some classics in it but there are also a few colors that people might not expect. First up is # 20, this year’s OPI Tickle My France-y.

This color is so subtle, so chic, just perfect.  As completely ridiculous as this may sound, I rarely wear colors more than once but I’ve worn OPI Tickle My France-y a whopping 3 times. This color has become my go-to ‘professional’ color. As some of you may know, I’m applying for a position as an Assistant State Attorney. It’s a 3 round interview process. I’ve worn TMFy to two of the interviews already and plan to wear it one more time this Monday for my final interview. I almost feel like this color gives me confidence, maybe even a little bit of luck. If I get the job on Monday, I guess we’ll know for sure. Even if TMF-y isn’t bestowed with magical job granting powers, it’s still an excellent color. It definitely belongs in everyone’s collection. (You can read my original post about TMF here.)

I’m back-tracking a bit to show you guys the collections of yesteryear. Color Club released the Haute Browns collection a few seasons ago. In my eternal search for wearable browns, acquiring this collection was a no-brainer. The collection is composed of what I would consider three professional work appropriate colors and three colors with a little more pizzazz.

Color Club Urban Edge is a pinkish tan. It’s not hard to apply but it has a chalky consistency and it’s definitely a thee to four coater. Three of the six colors in this collection are pink toned tans that get incrementally darker and less pink. When I saw the three colors (the other two are pictured below) I immediately thought of OPI Dulce De Leche. The difference between these tans and Dulce de Leche is the pink tone, which Dulce de Leche does not have.

Color Club Diva in Brown is slightly darker and deeper than Urban Edge. The application was better than Urban Edge but it took four coats to reach opacity.

Color Club Out and About is slightly darker and deeper than Diva in Brown. This one had excellent application, it’s a two to three coater.

Color Club Golden Girl is probably my favorite from this collection. It’s a gorgeous tannish gold with a slight pink undertone and very complex shimmer that flashes mostly gold and green but you can see bronze as well. I think this color would work really well for people who feel that they can’t wear true golds. It’s very flattering. This is three coats.

Color Club Black-ish is a deep plummy reddish brown with the same complex shimmer found in Golden Girl. This is three coats but it applies very well, I think most people could get away with two coats.

Finally, Color Club Haute Couture is a vampy plummish brown. Gorgeous. This is a 2 to 3 coater, this swatch is 3 coats.

Since the consensus seems to be that dark chocolaty browns are much loved, here are the two dark browns that were recently released with the new fall colors by Adorée.

Adoree 247, a darkish milk chocolate creme, is the lighter of two dark browns. Excellent application. This is 2 coats.

Adoree 248¹ , my current NOTD, is a dark chocolate brown. 248 is as dark as Misa Passion for Fashion, the difference is that Passion for Fashion is a redder dark brown. For this mani, I used Barielle Camo as the base, 2 coats of color, and 1 coat of Seche Vite. I usually only use Camo for polishes with problematic application but this time I’m using it because I started a nail whitening treatment, Dr. G’s, recommended by Scrangie. It’s working, but now I’m afraid of wearing dark colors and setting my progress back. Camo is supposed to prevent yellowing so I’m using it in conjunction with the whitening treatment. I’ll post about Dr. G’s whitening product soon.

Adoree is available from Esther’s Nail Center in the U.S. and Pro Nail Store in Europe, specifically Sweden.

I *love* Color Club Fast Woman. Normally, I’d classify this color as a straight up vampy but it’s actually a really deep brilliant red. I suppose the distinction is irrelevant because this color is obviously well within the vampy realm. Colors like this can only be described as disgustingly gorgeous, period. For this mani, I used one coat of Color Club Stuck on You, 3 coats of Fast Woman, 1 coat of Seche Vite. It applied well, no complaints. Fast Woman is from the Color Club In the Fast Lane Collection which also includes another great vampy, Color Club Killer Curves. I plan to swatch the entire collection soon, so stay tuned.

I guess it’s somewhat ironic that I’m posting the OPI Holiday in Toyland collection reds during the Presidential debate. Don’t take it the wrong way – this blog is *all* blue for Barack. In any case, here are the swatches, 3 shimmery reds and 3 red cremes. You guys know I’m not a huge fan of shimmery reds so in recognition of the fact that I am in the vast minority, I’m going to keep most of my comments restricted to descriptions and observations.

OPI Rosy Mistletoe-sies is a frosty, shimmery magenta toned red. My image does not reflect the true shimmeriness of this polish.

OPI A Ruby For Rudolph is a very *very* shimmery, dare I say… sparkly red. The shimmer in this color is actually fairly unique in the sense that it has a strange chunky quality.

OPI Don’t Toy With Me, a burgundy with magenta toned shimmer, is definitely my favorite from the shimmery red set. I needed 3 coats for this color, all the other colors in this collection looked very good with two coats.

OPI Girls Just Want To Play is the lightest red in the bunch. It’s a coral red that in my opinion leans towards an orange tone but I wouldn’t call it orange-y. The cremes in this collection did not have the high gloss finish that usually pretty standard for OPI cremes.

OPI Little Red Wagon is the darkest (and bluest) red creme in the set. This is a traditional red – very pretty.

OPI Red Hot Gift is the medium toned red in the creme set. There are some very subtle blue undertones. I’d say this color is a shade or so darker than OPI Thrill of Brazil.

When I initially heard that China Glaze was putting out a whole collection of blues I just about died on the spot. Of course, I’m not completely satisfied – well I mean I am I with this collection… but now that I know China Glaze is open to a whole collection of one color, I want a whole collection of greens!! Ooh, I can dream, can’t I?

Now on to the commentary:

Scrangie has posted about issues with China Glaze’s application lately. I can honestly say that I didn’t have the same application problems with Rodeo Diva and Operation Colour. I did however encounter some application issues in this collection. Since the application issues aren’t occurring consistently, I don’t think it’s China Glaze’s formula that is the culprit. I can only imagine that there is some other explanation, although I’m not sure what that explanation would be.

Unfortunately, none of the new dark blues are exact dupes to other dark blues that might already be in your collection. The girls on the nail board believe that Calypso Blue might be dupish to NARS Midnight Express. I don’t own that one, but from the images I’ve seen, it looks much much darker than Calypso Blue. Nars Midnight Express seems closer to something like Color Club Naughtycal Navy.

As you can see above, China Glaze Calypso Blue is dark but visibly and obviously blue, as opposed to being ‘almost black’. This shade had great application, no issues. This one is my absolute favorite color from this collection, hands down.

China Glaze Bermuda Breakaway is my second favorite color from this collection. Oh man, it’s just flat-out gorgeous. It has the same jelly-like quality of OPI Dating a Royal. Actually, I would say it’s the darker cousin of OPI Dating a Royal. I also didn’t have any application issues with this one.

This is a pretty true to life representation of China Glaze Bahamian Escape. However, it’s not as close to Color Club Blue Light as it looks in this image. They are similar but Bahamian Escape has a greener tinge to it. One of the girls on the Nail Board asked me whether Bahamian Escape is dupish to China Glaze For Audrey – not at all similar. Which can be either good or bad news depending on who you ask.

China Glaze Bahamian Escape was impossible to capture accurately. I’ve decided to start photoshopping colors that my camera fails to capture accurately. This is the closest to true life color that I could get it but it’s not grayed out in real life. As I’m sure you can tell, the image above is very different from bottle picture. That’s because the color dries several shades darker on the nail than the actual bottle color. The formula was chalky and a little thick. I got nearly full coverage with one coat. One coat coverage can be a double edged sword because most of the time it can also cause bubbling. I did get a few bubbles so I used 3 drops of thinner. The application was perfect after thinning.

China Glaze Caribbean Blue is a sky blue with flaky sugar glitter. Anti-glitter girls, don’t be alarmed. The glitter gives more of a subtle shimmer than full on bling. It’s definitely not ‘too much’.

China Glaze Blue Paradise is a frosty dark blue. This one was really thick and bubbly but, again, 3 drops of thinner made it perfect. My bottle may very well be a fluke, it’s possible that it might not be representative of all the bottles of this color. Let me know if you have similar application issues with Blue Paradise, but I don’t think anyone will.

China Glaze Blue Island Iced Tea is probably my third favorite from this collection. I’m really into these foil-y finish colors like Zoya Rea and Zoya Trixie. This foil-y light blue was fairly sheer. This swatch was 3 coats. This one has major bling potential as you can see below.

This swatch is Blue Island Iced Tea in full on sunlight – very pretty, very blingy.

We didn’t expect this Collection to be out until October but it’s actually available as of today on head2toebeauty.com.

I’m a little late to the party (check out Scrangie’s swatches) but, of course, I have to give you guys my take on one of the biggest collections to hit us this Fall. I wasn’t all that excited for OPI France when I initially saw the promotional images. OPI has a proclivity for releasing several reds and ‘almost blacks’ in just about every collection and, frankly, it gets old. The promos of France made it seem like more of the same. Consequently, I wasn’t expecting to like these. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this collection is actually pretty cool.

Sure, a few of the colors were fairly run of the mill OPI type stuff. I’m not doing back flips for OPI Louvre me Louvre Me Not (ducks to avoid thrown stones, tomatoes, assorted rotting vegetables), but there are several solid gorgeous, unique colors in this collection. There have been a few complaints about colors in the France collection being thick and difficult to apply but I didn’t have any real trouble with them.

As a side note, I really feel like OPI did a good job of designing colors that are representative of French culture and fashion. I say that because I felt like they could have done more with the Indian collection, it’s good to see that they were spot on with France.

*Dies* OPI You Don’t Know Jacques is my absolute favorite color from this collection. Seriously, every once a while an amazing color like this comes out and renews my passion for nail polish. The color is tough to describe, grayish, brownish, dirty, mushroomy? This is my current NOTD, 2 coats, love it. I’ve said it a million times and I’ll say it again, love these grayed out mushroomy colors. I just can’t get enough.

OPI Yes… I Can-Can! is a shimmery eggplant type color. The base color seems similar to OPI Lincoln Park After Dark. The shimmer seems multi-colored, I see flashes of green, silver, and violet in the bottle. On the nail, it’s silvery and serves to give Yes… I Can-Can! depth. This swatch is 3 coats but with careful application good coverage is possible at 2 coats.

OPI Tickle My France-y is my second favorite color from this collection. It’s a grayed out subtle nude pink – it is chic and sophisticated perfection. Earlier last week, when I went back into the professional nail color purgatory, Tickle My France-y was the first color I chose for the big switch. This color was so beautiful, so flattering that I didn’t even care about being forced to wear professional colors. This mani was 3 coats.

OPI Parlez-vous OPI?, another stand out color, is a grayed-out (or smokey as OPI puts it) plum. The application was slightly troublesome, my bottle was chalky and thick but it’s workable. This is 2 coats.

OPI Louvre Me Lourve Me Not is my least favorite color from this collection. Sorry guys, I know I’m completely alone, everyone else loves this one. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this color but I have a predisposition to disliking shimmers and I’ve just had my fill of shimmery mid-range purples this fall. You can’t really see it in my image but Louvre Me Lourve Me Not has blurple and violet shimmer. This swatch is 3 coats.

OPI I’m Fondue of You is a reddish light chocolaty brown with reddish brown shimmer. I don’t love this one. It’s pretty but not special. This swatch is 2 coats, I think the color would look better with 3.

OPI Eiffel for this Color is an ‘almost black’. OPI says it’s wine but it looks dark purple with violet shimmer to me. It’s similar to Yes… I Can-Can! but they’re different enough to warrant owning both if one is so inclined to do so. Normally, I would say boo to an almost black but I, surprisingly, like this color. This swatch is 2 coats.

Scrangie called OPI Crepes Suzi-ette a ‘mom’ color… it is – but – it’s hot. I think this one ventures into the realm of work appropriate. I’m actually surprised that I like this color too. I probably wouldn’t have batted an eye at this creamy reddish caramel in a store, but it’s actually very flattering on the nail. I would even dare say that it’s unique. This swatch is 2 coats.

There will always be reds in an OPI collection, shockingly there were only two in the France Collection. One of which, OPI Bastille My Heart, is a deep burgandy with violet shimmer throughout. Pretty, but standard.

OPI Baguette Me Not, a creamy salmon, is another shocker. Totally didn’t expect to like this ‘mom’ (haha) color but I love it. Very chic, very work appropriate. This swatch is 2 coats.

OPI A Oui Bit of Red, the other red in the France Collection, is a mid-range bright red. I love reds and I would have loved this one too, but for the shimmer. The saving grace is that the fuschia shimmer is very subtle, hardly noticeable. This swatch is 2 coats.

Finally, OPI We’ll Always Have Paris. Love. It. This is the color that I wanted the annoyingly almost black OPI Lincoln Park After Dark to be. I love LPAD but I always wanted it to be more noticeably purple and vampy. OPI granted my wish with We’ll Always Have Paris. Strangely, OPI says this color is dark coffee… definitely looks dark reddish purple to me.

Special thanks to OPI.

I’m so happy that you guys actually enjoy these work appropriate posts. The work appropriate theme is going to comprise a huge portion of a my posts for a while since I mostly write about the colors I’m currently wearing. : )

In any case, close to 1/4 of my collection are ‘work appropriate’ colors. You’d be surprised at how much variation there are in the classic professional looking colors. Nudes, taupes, pinks, and soft shades don’t have to be boring. I’m going to start a series of articles showcasing 3 of my favorite work appropriate colors from all my favorite brands. First up, Rescue Beauty Lounge.

I’m sure that no one will be shocked that Scrangie was the source of my lemmings for the following 3 colors.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Om is a strangely calming color, making the name very appropriate. Even so, it’s probably the most ’serious’ muted pink in my collection. This swatch is 3 coats of Om, 1 coat of Seche Vite.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Grunge is my stick-it-to-the-man color (Ohh hoo hoo I’m sitting in your meeting wearing a color called Grunge, ha!). It’s a serious business appropriate color but at the same time it’s very moody and edgy. This color came out a while ago but it fits perfectly into the current mushroomy grayed-out color trend.  Grunge looks creme 99.9% of the time but it actually has a whitish shimmer throughout. The shimmer is not highly light refractive which is why no one will ever see it. The danger of Grunge (and all similar mushroomy grayed-out colors like it) is that it may be a tough color to pull of successfully. Mushroomies seem to not flatter very pale skin tones and are seemingly more suitable to skin tones like my own. This swatch is 3 coats, 1 coat of Seche Vite.

Finally, Rescue Beauty Lounge Opaque Nude. Scrangie’s swatch (linked above) is a more accurate depiction of Opaque Nude’s bottle color. My swatch is darker due to lighting and my skin tone which brings out the ‘nudeness’ of this color. In my opinion, Opaque Nude is border-line business appropriate, perfectly okay for a less conservative office. I say this only because it might be too obvious. I feel like business appropriate colors have to be subtle, pretty but not necessarily noticeable and for most people this color will be very noticeable.

I’m starting a new clinical internship this week. This past weekend, I longingly looked through my collection which is sorted into two groups, professional-looking colors and unprofessional/out of the ordinary colors. As my ‘last hurrah’ I wanted a color that was summery, bright, and cheery. I chose Rescue Beauty Lounge Coral.

I know what everyone is thinking, “don’t sweat having to wear professional-looking colors during the week, you have the weekends!” The bittersweet aspect of nail polish blogging is that I spend my weekends swatching so I can’t do fun weekend manicures. Boo.

Now let’s talk color.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Coral is g o r g e o u s. I began lemming this one because of the bottle image on the Rescue Beauty Lounge site. I don’t know why but I was immediately drawn to it.

It’s very chameleon-like in the sense that color varies in different lighting. It can be described as a bright pink, sometimes coral, sometimes orange-y. Tink over at Casual Lavish also swatched Coral; her skin tone is different than mine so it will give you an idea of how the look of this color can vary.

It’s not the same shade as Color Club Sexsea but the transient quality of Coral was reminiscent of the same quality in Sexsea. Tough to describe but really, really hot. I suppose it’s telling that the last time I wore Sexsea was after a long spat of compulsory professional color manicures. It was liberating wearing such a bright strange sexy color. That’s the feeling I was trying to duplicate by choosing Rescue Beauty Lounge Coral and that’s exactly how it made me feel. Sadly, I removed this color on Sunday after only 3 days of wear. As expected from Rescue Beauty Lounge’s voodoo wear, it still looked amazing. I chose OPI Tickle My France-y for my first day of work. *sobs quietly*

As a side note: I recently started experimenting with different base coats. For this manicure, I used the Rescue Beauty Lounge base coat, 3 coats of Rescue Beauty Lounge Coral (3 was necessary to cover VPL), and 1 coat of Seche Vite. I don’t have a final opinion yet but I can share some purely qualitative observations. The RBL base coat isn’t billed as a ridge filler but that’s actually what it is. It’s milky but not as thick as a ridge filler like Barielle Camouflage. Like all ridge fillers, it makes applying some colors really easy but can make other colors more difficult to apply. So far, I like it.

Please read the bold disclaimers under Agent Lavender & Secret Peri-wink-le.

China Glaze has really gone above and beyond this Fall – all three of their new collections are mostly composed of what I consider to be unique colors. Operation Colour is particularly special because these colors are not typically reminiscent of Fall. It’s like China Glaze is saying, hey, you don’t have to spend the entire fall in muted, dark colors – extend the summer just a bit (which to me, as a Floridian, makes perfect sense). Rumor has it that this collection will be available online in about a week or so.

I know I say this in just about every post and sadly I will have to continue to do so until I’m no longer an impoverished student that cannot afford a better camera: this color is not blue in real life, China Glaze Agent Lavender is very visibly a light lavender. The consistency of the polish reminded me of China Glaze Second-hand Silk – it’s a chalky 3 coater. My bottle was a bit on the thick side but I don’t think that is going to be representative of the polish as a rule. Every blog that has covered China Glaze this season has complained about application issues, always in reference to different colors. If you happen to unluckily chance upon a thick bottle of polish, from any brand, a few drops of generic nail polish thinner will do the trick – do not use nail polish remover for this purpose. (In real life Agent Lavender is much lighter than it appears in this photo, I’m really sorry guys I know how annoying this is – swatches are supposed to be accurate.)

China Glaze Code Orange is pumpkin with pinkish shimmer. The shimmer is very obvious outdoors although not as pink as it looks in the bottle. In doors, not surprisingly, it looks like a creme. The color is a slightly darker orange than it appears in the image above. There were no application issues with this color – I think it looks better with 3 coats but it’s definitely wearable at 2.

China Glaze Golden Opportunity is a shimmery mustard yellow. I had some major cuticle drag with this color, but it’s workable at 3 coats.

China Glaze Pink Underground is a Barbie pink laced with magenta toned shimmer. It, too, was chalky and a bit on the thick side. The base color is 2 or 3 shades darker than China Glaze Second-hand Silk.

China Glaze Revolution is an ultra glossy bright orangey-red. It had the best application of the bunch, easy, smooth, perfect in 2 coats. No matter how often I see them, I never ever *ever* get tired of these bright reds. Gorgeous.

And finally, China Glaze Secret Peri-wink-le. Geez. I’m almost ashamed to post this picture – unlike my depiction of this color, it is not blue at all, it actually is periwinkle. This is the standout color from the collection as far as I’m concerned. I absolutely love out of the ordinary colors with a creme finish. To me the absence of shimmer is synonymous with chic sophistication, no offense to shimmer lovers. For as long as I can remember unique colors are almost always also shimmery. It happens so often that I associate shimmer with commonness. Don’t get me wrong. I wear shimmers, most of the time begrudgingly. I mean, I don’t hate them per se. I just prefer cremes and it’s just great to see some variation in finish choice. (In real life Secret Peri-wink-le is lighter and not as bright blue as it appears in this photo, again I am SO sorry, this really is unacceptable but despite trying different settings, my camera always takes inaccurate images when it comes to blues and purples. The best I can do for now is try to accurately describe these for you.)

Special thanks to China Glaze.

As I said in the previous post, I like simple red or vampy cremes – they’re classy, sophisticated, and almost always appropriate for any occasion. No, they aren’t unique, and yes, we’ve seen these colors before but as far as I’m concerned polish companies can continue to make as many vampies as they want with no criticism from me. I suppose the problem is most people, Scrangie for example, don’t feel the same way, which is why Zoya Vibe hasn’t gotten as much love as its shimmery sister collection Pulse. I prefer Vibe over Pulse a million times over, but I think might just be the only person on earth that feels that way. I didn’t have any application issues with Vibe, except where noted. Almost all these colors applied perfectly with 2 coats.

Zoya Sam and Zoya Nina look deceptively similar but that’s due to my inadequacy as a photographer. In person, they are noticeably different with Sam being more berry toned and Nina being very visibly brown. This swatch is 3 coats. Zoya Sam gave me some cuticle drag, so a third coat was necessary to even the application out. I think good coverage with 2 coats is possible, I was just being impatient with my swatches. I think Sam will always be slightly darker on the nail than the bottle color because it darkens as it dries.

If you read my blog often, you’ll know that brown is one of my white whales. Even though I passionately love all browns, I have a tough time finding browns that flatter my skin tone. I’m finding that darker browns like Nina and Essie Chocolate Kisses suit my skin tone pretty well. As stated above, Zoya Nina is visibly brown despite it’s darkness in my image. This is two coats – I didn’t have any issues with the application.

Zoya Riley is a magenta based deep vampy red. This is 2 coats.

The difference between Dakota and Riley, for those who are wondering, is that Dakota doesn’t have the magenta undertones. They look very similar in the bottle but they actually are different colors. This swatch is two coats.

I don’t know what it is with this collection but there are 3 pairs of colors that look similar to each other in the bottle but not on the nail. Two pairs I’ve already addressed, the last pair is Zoya Asia and Alix. They look pretty similar in the bottle, but Asia is brighter. Both are true reds. This swatch is 2 coats.

And finally, Zoya Alix, I did have some issues with this one. I had a wonky brush, which was shocking because I love Zoya brushes. I’ve never had a wonky Zoya before. Even when I passionately hated Zoya, I was still a fan of their brushes which are the perfect shape and size for my nails. The brush I got in Alix had a crooked bristle, ultimately it wasn’t a big deal. The wonkiness was easily fixed by just trimming the rogue bristle. The other issue was that Zoya Alix was a little tougher to apply than the other colors in this collection. I didn’t get full coverage at 2 coats and I had a significant amount of cuticle drag. However, a third coat fixed everything to my satisfaction.

Special thanks to Zoya.

Oh the horror (… dun… dun… dunnnnn). This was my 2nd or 3rd mani after the Tragic Nail Breaking Incident of 2008. I decided to revisit it today because, well, my index nail broke again. I’ve dubbed this break the “Tragic Nail Breaking During Swatching Incident of 2008″, the whole sordid tale will be disclosed at a later date. In any case, I began waxing poetic about the deeper meaning behind a broken tip. It’s like the time I fell off the treadmill at the gym and had an existential crisis, there are existential implications here too. My nails break, therefore I am? Descartes just turned in his grave, I’m sure.

I never posted this swatch because I really fudged the application and I was so defeated by the break that I just didn’t have the strength of will to clean it up. So, that’s my big secret, sometimes I just paint my nails however and wash off the excess in the shower. In fact, the only time I ever do real clean up with a little orange wood stick, remover, and cotton, is when I’m swatching for you guys. For regular manis, if I mess it up, which I do sometimes, I just let it ride.

Ji Baek did it again. I am not a fan of creme sheers and I am completely and totally taken with this collection. Of course, I expected nothing less than perfection from Rescue Beauty Lounge – Ji and company consistently design colors that are in a league all of their own. Ji conjured up the Spongebob Squarepants Collection after hearing that Marc Jacobs drew inspiration for his collections from the popular children’s TV show. I love that these delicate sophisticated colors were designed based on a TV show, the silliness of which is rivaled only by Ren & Stimpy.

If delicate isn’t your thing, Ji says these colors look positively amazing layered over Rescue Beauty Lounge Underwear, the brightest white on the market. The brightness of Underwear gives these sheer colors a back-lit effect. As soon as I get my hands on Underwear, I’ll hook you guys up with swatches. Until then, enjoy these polishes in their unadulterated form.

These swatches are 4 coats each, taken in artificial light. I prefer sunlight images but I got home too late from work and I just had to show these to the world tonight. Despite having been taken in artificial light, these swatches are true and accurate depictions of these colors. It goes without saying at this point that the application of these polishes was perfect, not a streak insight.

If my addiction to nail polish could be expressed in one color, Rescue Beauty Lounge Bikini Bottom would be that color. At first glance this blue looks dupish to Color Club Blue Light and China Glaze For Audrey, both of which I also love. Sorry guys, no such luck. Bikini Bottom is a very light watery blue, almost jelly like in its delicate finish. For Audrey is a greener blue creme, not jelly at all. Blue Light is a brighter light blue, also creme, no jelly. The only downside to this color is that I don’t think it can be pulled off at 2 coats – that and, this color should have been named Squidward. : P

Most people think that yellow is a difficult color to wear, Rescue Beauty Lounge Square Pants will prove those people wrong. I think there is a commonly accepted notion that yellow tends to run the risk of looking a bit garish, but Square Pants is soft and delicate. It’s visibly yellow, not pastel, but it’s not shocking on the nail. This color was put on earth for people who want to try yellow but fear it might be ‘too much’. Perfect.

Spongebob may be the star of the TV show, but for most people, Rescue Beauty Lounge Starfish Patrick is the star of this collection. Described as “wispy peach coral”, it’s definitely the most accessible of the 3 colors. Bikini Bottom is my personal favorite, but my NOTD right now is Starfish Patrick, primarily because it’s subtle enough for work.

I did take some swatches of Square Pants and Starfish Patrick at 2 coats for those of you who are not sheer polish adverse.

As you can see, these colors are wearable and streak-free even at 2 coats.

Special thanks to Ji Baek and Rescue Beauty Lounge.