Ji Baek's Rescue Your Nails - A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Perfect Fingers and Toes.

I just got Ji Baek's book, Rescue Your Nails: A Do-It-Yourself Guide To Perfect Fingers And Toes (Purple Haze, Underwear and Under The Stars came along for the ride as well).
As you know, Ji Baek is the founder of Rescue Beauty Lounge salon, and the amazing Rescue Beauty Lounge polishes that I'm currently obsessed with. Naturally, I had to get this book beacuse a) I love books, b) I love Rescue Beauty Lounge and c) There has to be some sort of amazing secret in this book that can help improve my nails.

I haven't actually read it yet, just kinda flipped through the pages a few times, so I can't properly review it. I can give a few first impressions:

1. Holy Crap, Ji Baek is HOT
2. Lots of nice photographs
3. Lots of text, not just pictures!
4. Doesn't seem to be an advertisement for Rescue Beauty Lounge
5. Looks like a perfect guide for beginners

I'm gonna take some time to sit down and actually read this thing from cover to cover so I can give my honest opinion. It looks like a good read with lots of tips and tricks, so I'll come and do a full review once I've had time to digest and evaluate the content of its pretty little paperback pages.

Rescue Beauty Lounge polish comparison.

Since the Rescue Beauty Lounge swatches I posted earlier seem so similar, I took a quick comparison picture to show the slight differences between the colors.

They are all dark, deep, vampy colors but they have distinctly different tones.


Pinkie to index: Film Noir, Moulin Rouge, Atame, Drifter. Bottle is Killa Red. This is taken in very bright direct sunlight, so it's a little washed out, but that really helps to show the differences.


Same order as before, but with ridiculously exaggerated flash. You can see how different the base colors are.

Again, I can't rave enough about how awesome the formula is on these. I just hope that one day they expand their color selection. I'd love to see a deep purple shimmer, or possibly a darker green shimmer, a deep green or purple creme, or even a metallic, like gold or silver.

MAC Neo Sci-Fi Polishes and Solar Field Solar Bits, more swatches.

The sun was out today, so I got some better pictures of the MAC Neo Sci-Fi polishes. I also did a little experimenting with the MAC Solar Bits.

First, the Solar Bits. I am having a lot of trouble with these. They don't behave like a traditional MAC Pigment. They are flaky, messy and weird. The good news is that they work amazingly well with MAC Water Based Mixing Medium.

As always, click to enlarge.


Black Ore. The first two notches indicate Too Faced Shadow Insurance and Urban Decay Primer potion. There was no difference at all between these, so they are only in this picture. The third section is Black Ore over Sharkskin Shadestick. Once again, not much of a difference, other than the Shadestick causing difficulty in blending. The last section is Black Ore with a little bit of MAC Water Based Mixing Medium. When the mixing medium is added it transforms this product into a smooth, shiny metallic liquid that applies like a dream. It causes the pigment and shimmer to mix together, creating a uniform and well-behaved product.



This is Sunpower. The top is Sunpower over Sharkskin Shadestick. It has the undesirable effect of clumping up into a weird metallic mess when applied over Shadestick. The bottom is Sunpower mixed with a drop of mixing medium. See how smooth, fluid and shiny it is? It becomes a liquid resembling molten metal.


Bronzescape, over Sharkskin and with mixing medium. Notice the weird clumping that occurs when applied over the shadestick.


Scatterays, over Sharkskin and with mixing medium. I used a little more mixing medium and a little less pigment this time and it creates a sheerer, less dense metallic effect.

In conclusion, these can easily be worn without mess and fallout with just a touch of MAC Water Based Mixing Medium or similar product.

Here are the Neo Sci-Fi polishes again, this time in bright sunlight. Notice how they look like they're glowing.




Neon 8


Plasma Blu


Phosphor

I think I may get Metalist, but I'm undecided. I will have swatches as soon as I make up my mind.

Overall, I think these three are some of the best and most unique polishes MAC has released in quite some time.

MAC Neo Sci-Fi and Solar Field Collection Swatches.

This entire collection is very wearable. I'm not really sure what's so "Sci-Fi" about it, but I love it anyway. It's all soft bronzes, coppers, metallics and a touch of orange. The packaging, which I expected to be just plain old orange, is actually BRIGHT neon orange! It's killer, I love it so much. It's like hunting vest orange... OSHA orange? Enough babble, on to the swatches.

Solar Field

Solar Bits - Black Ore


Solar Bits - Bronzescape


Solar Bits - Sunpower



Solar Bits - Scatterays



Black Ore, Bronzescape, Sunpower, Scatterays

The Solar Bits are kind of confusing. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to use them. They're extremely flaky and shimmery and don't apply very well. When you smooth them down with your fingers it gives a strong, bold metallic look, but only on my finger. The jars are also not completely full- this is normal.

Neo Sci-Fi

Magnetic Fields


Time and Space



Evening Aura


Femme-Fi


Magnetic Fields, Time and Space, Evening Aura, Femme-Fi

The eyeshadows have a fantastic silky texture because most of them are Veluxe Pearl. Veluxe Pearl is the best thing ever. I didn't swatch Expensive Pink because it's a permanent and not that exciting. Pretty, but everyone knows what it looks like.



Sci-Fi-Delity


Electro


Sunsonic

I haven't tried the lipsticks on yet, but I love the colors. Electro is not as bright as Vegas Volt.

Last but not least, the polishes...


Phosphor. This is a really unique yellow. It's glowy, almost golden, with subtle shimmer and heavy frost.


Plasma Blu. It has that lit-from-within look that I just adore.


Neon 8. Gorgeous coral orange shade with pinkish duochrome. Reminds me of Misa Bojangles.

More Rescue Beauty Lounge swatches.

I really hate to say this, but Rescue Beauty Lounge has the best formula of any nail polish I own. It's so smooth and even and it's the perfect texture. Not runny, not too thick, smooth as glass. If only they had a better color selection.

Here are a few more swatches.



Atame. It looks patchy in this shot, but I assure you it's just a reflection. See how shiny it is? I'm not even wearing topcoat.



Drifter



Moulin Rouge



Yellow Fever. This one has very subtle shimmer. The is also the only one I had a hard time applying- it was streaky enough to need three coats and it was pretty thick.



Film Noir



Killa Red

And just for fun, the ones I've posted before:




Black Russian aka Revamp




Dead Calm (Dead Clam)




Recycle

OPI Designer Series, part 2.

Just a quick post today. Earlier this week I posted some swatches of OPI Designer Series Polishes. I'd like to eventually post all of the colors, but the names are all so similar I can never remember which ones I've done and which I haven't. Design... Desire... Divine... It's enough to make my head hurt.

Anyway, here are a few more.

Once again, you may click the pictures to see more detail.


Couture



Dazzle




Desire


Elegance



Sapphire



Sensation

And it's not part of the Designer Series, but it's still holographic goodness,


Opening Night Gold.

That's it for now. Have a safe and fun weekend, everyone!

Lekha Washington

Lekha Washington is a VJ turned actress based in Chennai, india. She started her career as theater artist and made her film debut with Tamil film Kettavan. She is a qualified film-maker from NID, Ahmedabad, India. Her father is a Burmese-Italian-Punjabi and her mother is a Maharashtrian.

She is also a sculptor, having held her first solo exhibition at the age of 18.

She played a leading role in the English film Framed directed by independent director Chetan Shah.

Lekha is currently the host of IPL 2008 cricket tournament with co-commentator Ajay Jadeja which telecasts on Set Max India. She is also shooting for Tamil movie Jayamkondaan opposite south superstar Vinay Rai which is scheduled to be released on June 14.

Lippmann Collection

Did you know that Lippmann Collection polishes contain green tea and biotin? I didn't know that... until I read the box.

Normally I read every bit of text on every single box I can get my hands on, but I was so excited about what was inside the Lippmann boxes, I hurriedly removed the contents and tossed aside the boxes. I am ashamed. I promise to read the box from now on.

So, yes, Lippmann Collection polishes contain green tea and biotin. That's pretty sweet.

I really like the Lippmann formula, but I've gotten two messed up brushes. That's just not right. I'm going to write a letter, but until then, here is my Lippmann Collection collection.



Believe, created with Cher.






Bitches Brew, in shade and indirect sunlight.




Makin' Whoopee



Stardust




The Lady Is A Tramp






Amazing Grace (tips) and Prelude To A Kiss, shade and full sunlight.



Nefertiti




Diamonds and Pearls



Just Walk Away Renee, created with Renee Zellweger




Hit Me With Your Best Shot, created with Pat Benetar.

Not pictured (but will be shortly) Brown-Eyed Girl, Rehab and Dark Side of the Moon.