Rescue Beauty Lounge IKB:2012

Rescue Beauty Lounge IKB 2012

This is a bit of an accidental post. I'd picked out this colour, a firm favourite of mine, as a base for a new glitter, but once it was on my nails it ended up staying there for a couple of days on its own before the glitter. I enjoyed it so much, and I don't want to swamp my next post (which is about the glitter topper I chose to go with this) with these pictures, so in the end I decided it was worth a post on its own!

Rescue Beauty Lounge IKB 2012 was from the RBL fan collection 2012. It was a limited edition and is sold out now. It's a wonderful, bright primary cobalt blue - one of the best blues I've ever owned - and the finish is a very richly pigmented jelly. The formula has gained a bit of a reputation for being difficult to work with; it's kind of goopy but thin at the same time but really you just need to hold your nerve because it does come out great in the end. This is two coats plus Seche Vite topcoat.

If you're one of those people who have this polish lying around unloved because of formula/application issues, here's how I applied it:

1. Apply base coat and let the basecoat dry thoroughly. If the basecoat is still tacky when you start to apply IKB it will get blobby and nasty.
2. Apply a thin coat of IKB. It will look very streaky, and matt (IKB doesn't dry to a shiny finish anyway, and it's a jelly, so the first coat isn't going to be opaque). Just ignore how horrible it looks at this stage and keep painting! The brush might start to dry out after a few nails. Just put it back in the bottle, wait a minute, gently shake the bottle and start again.
3. Apply a thicker second coat. This will go on even and dense and start to look good - although it won't dry shiny. If the brush gets dry and sticky, put the cap on and gently shake the bottle as before. 
4. Finish with SV. This will add high gloss and help the polish with its final levelling.

In indirect light it's a tad darker:

RBL IKB 2012 is a perfect cobalt blue - I'm holding a chunk of high quality lapis lazuli in this picture:

Rescue Beauty Lounge IKB 2012

And finally, just a blur of lovely blue!!  Other blues that I think come close to IKB 2012 are Nails Inc Baker Street, which is an opaque cream rather than a jelly, and Contrary Polish Santorini which has a glass fleck / flakie shimmer in it. Picture Polish Freya's Cats might be another contender; this one is a microglitter but I've just got my bottle and haven't worn it yet.

Rescue Beauty Lounge IKB 2012

And here's a teaser from my next post - you'll need to check back tomorrow to see what this glitter is, lol!