Some RGB swatches: Haze (with a dupe comparison!), Punch and Doll

RGB is a lot of money for basic, staple color polishes. And yet I love them so. Barring their white polish -- which was such a streaktastic nightmare that I didn't bother posting it -- their polishes are so smooth, pigmented and easy to apply. And they dry super quick! By the time I'm done taking photos of a swatch, it actually takes some effort to remove... and that's without topcoat!

Warning: I did these swatches a few days after I got home from Chicago. Dry cuticles, a bad case of the peelies, general nail-area unrest. Not the prettiest I've ever done. And I think I forgot how to use my lightbox. But I have the swatches, I may as well post them, right? (Wrong? No? Oh well.)

RGB Punch

Peach pink creme. Good to go with two coats. Applied so smoothly and well. If only the brushes weren't so short and stubby... I hate long brushes but short brushes aren't that comfortable either. Probably not special enough to be worth $14? But I still like it. (Helps that I bought most of my RGB polishes during their BOGO sale awhile back.)

RGB Doll

This polish I absolutely loved. I think it's such a nice clean color for me, even a little bit on the stark side. It's literally the color of calamine lotion. But the application was fabulous. Except for one problem nail, it only took two coats to get opaque! (The problem nail needed three coats.)

RGB Haze (with 10 Professional Showtime on one finger)

Purple taupe creme. There has got to be a better way to describe this color. Like I said, RGB doesn't have horribly original colors so finding some dupes in my collection was inevitable. The formula, however, was not dupey at all. The RGB polish dried extremely fast and was hard to remove after doing a swatch while the 10 Professional polish wiped off very easily. Also, Showtime -- with an obnoxiously long brush that retains a TON of polish and then deposits that ton of polish onto your finger -- took three coats, whereas Haze took only two. 10 Professional can be found in CVS stores for, I believe, $3.99. A $10 difference is hard to argue with... but I still like the RGB better. These days, I value easy application. I've become sort of spoiled in that way.

OK... so I have a secret about Polish or Perish. I'm positively bursting with excitement about it. Should I say, should I say?? *squeeeee!* We're adding a new blogger!! AND SHE'S AWESOME.

Who is it, you ask? ...well, any guesses anyone? Let me give you a hint: you will be glad to see her posting again somewhere out here on the nail blogosphere. A free nail polish to whomever guesses correctly first! (Include your email address when posting!)

And the monthly count-up starts again: September 1st (30m cardio), September 2nd (another 40m fitness walk through the woods with my advisor, though we did discuss my research for the coming quarter: we plotted my Exps 1, 2 and 3!)

Only a couple of days into September and I've already bought a few polishes (from my workout polish allotment for the month). To review, I get 20 polishes of varying values this month from the amount I worked out last month. So far, I got the three ChG BCA polishes (hate pinks but they looked so good), OPI DS Magic and two Butter LONDONs (All Hail McQueen and Cheeky Chops). 14 polishes left to buy and many days left in September...

Random swatch: RGB Minty

Please excuse the glitter that's all over my nails! I was swatching glitter polishes before I swatched this one. 

RGB Minty

At $17 (with complimentary shipping -- it had better be complimentary at that price), a polish had better be fabulous for me to feel like I haven't totally wasted my money. Fortunately, RGB Minty qualifies. I have been a huuuuuuge fan of minty greens from the first moment I laid eyes on OPI Hey, Get in Lime several years ago. (I can't believe I missed out on Peppermint Patti and Chanel Jade, both of which I would kill to buy at their original retail price...) So when I saw RGB Minty, despite the sticker shock, I knew that I would eventually give in and buy it. I am SO glad I did. The application was superb: thick and pigmented, easy to control and apply... it made me sigh happily when I looked at my nails even though it was just a quick swatch. I have to do an NOTD with this sometime soon. 

I'd love to try more RGB polishes but at this price, that experience is going to have to wait for a sale. 

December Adoree swatches

This post was sponsored by... well, half me, half Esther's Nail Center. Whenever I receive Adoree polishes from Thresa at Esther's Nail Center, the package is always accompanied by a little sheet filled with dried dollops of Adoree polishes (a service available to all customers that Esther's NC calls "stroke samples"). When I saw this month's stroke samples, I immediately put in an actual order for four more polishes because they were more perfect for December than the ones I had originally chosen. December is a good month for glitter, especially ones I can put over white. :) I ended up only having enough time to swatch five of the eight this week.

Adoree Starlight White over Missha WH001

I don't know about you guys but I really liked this combo. Missha WH001 is a slightly jelly white creme (which applies like a bit of a nightmare) and Starlight White is a sheer topcoat with fine glitter and a slight white-purple duochrome that's more apparent in the bottle than on the nail. The glitter itself looks opalescent and flashes green and gold mostly. It does a nice job of softening a bright white. Reminds me of snow... :)

Close-up of Starlight White over Missha WH001

There's the purple duochrome... but it's only barely visible on the nail.

Adoree Wild Orchid

Bluish-lavender foil. I love the color A LOT but this is far too brushstroke-y for my taste.

Adoree Golden Star

Run of the mill gold polish. I can't tell if it's suspended in a yellow jelly or if it's a clear base: my nails are pretty stained so it's hard to tell if the yellow is the polish or my nails. :( Three coats above: definitely a layering polish, not a glitter polish.

Adoree Genuine Pink

Darkened mauve creme. It's more pink IRL. Two coats and super glossy. I can't make up my mind about this color: there's something about it that I really like. And then there's something about it that whispers "boring..."

Adoree Hamilton Blue

Multicolored glitter. Four coats on the index (left), three on the middle, two on the ring and one on the pinky (right). Reminds me a lot of Amour Rain Glitter (a favorite cheap steal of mine) but less dense. It looks tons better when layered over a creme, like so:

Adoree Hamilton Blue over RGB Minty

Mmm. Much better. Actually, looking at this picture, I think it'd be fun to try layering this over all colors of cremes. I wonder how different it would look if I layered it over a red polish, since this look probably always takes on the color of the base polish. (Worry not, I'll be showing Minty some other time.)

Close-up of Adoree Hamilton Blue over RGB Minty

I have to remember to try this out over other colors. Betcha it would make a funky skittles mani. Or horribly clashing. Or both.