Rescue Beauty Dead Calm vs China Glaze First Mate

Rescue Beauty Lounge Dead Calm and China Glaze First Mate (looking less navy in the photo than in person)

I love a good navy blue cream. So peaceful and calm, and honestly appropriate for any time of year. My new favorite had been China Glaze's First Mate from the Anchors Away collection, but then I received Dead Calm in a swap and thought the two looked awfully similar. Did I need both, or would they look different on the nail than in the bottle? Would Rescue Beauty's consistently easy formula sway my love for First Mate? Find out after the jump!

Rescue Beauty Lounge Recherche

Hooray for fall! I have been itching to try out all these fall colors that have been sitting in my untrieds bin for so long. Here's a pretty one from Rescue Beauty that was part of the Iconic/Ironic Collection of 2011. This collection included some awesome colors, but I feel this one may be a little under appreciated so I am here to remind you all how great it is! 

Recherche is described as a "purplish dark brown—a smoky port for when you can't face another glass of pink champagne". I definitely think the description is accurate. In some lights, it's a deep dark brown and in others, it's a smoky dark purple. See for yourself - keep reading to see how this changes in different lights!

Rescue Beauty Lounge - Poco A Poco

This is the third and last polish I purchased from the Firebird Collection by Rescue Beauty Lounge - I am going to try to pick up Fortissimo later, though.

I don't have a lot of pinks, and the ones I do have tend to go on my toes rather than my tips. But this one was intriguing with its hint of orange shimmer. The pink and orange made me think of sunsets and mai tais - what a great combo! According to the website, Poco A Poco is "the stunning, sparkling pink of a fanning cloud when the red and orange rays of the sun are trying to burst through."

As you can see from my indoor swatches, the orange shimmer doesn't really translate inside (even less than in Piu Mosso), and the polish looks like a cool pink cream. You can just barely see any shimmer in it at all, and it doesn't look orange. Still a pretty shade, though.

Outside, in the sunlight, it's a whole different animal. These pics show the orange shimmer a little more, in my opinion. It makes me think of popsicles and summer time! Awesome!

The formula was good, a little streaky at two coats so I did three. I am surprised I like this one as much as I do, but I think Pizzicato is my fave from the collection so far. Enjoy!

Rescue Beauty Lounge - Bruised

I have had this polish sitting in my untrieds bin for a couple of months, waiting for fall before I dug it out. Well, the first day of fall came and went, and even though it doesn't feel like fall yet, I had to bust this polish out this weekend. It's so perfect for fall - a muted, browned, darker red shade. On the nails, it didn't disappoint. I love it from a distance, and up close!

The formula, for me, was good but not great. I probably should have done two coats, rather than three, but didn't have time. I also had some minor chipping after the first day. But it's a shade I really love and I don't have anything like it (I feel like I always say this), so I will definitely be wearing this again soon!

Rescue Beauty Lounge Firebird Collection - Piu Mosso

This one was a tough one to get good, accurate shots of for me, so bear with the messy arrangement of random pictures.

This was the polish I was most excited for from this collection! It's described as "an inky, blue-black that shoots through a flash of orange, the last glow of sunlight". This definitely comes through in the bottle - the fine, orange shimmer particles really glow. However, on my first application I must not have mixed the bottle enough because the only place I could see that pretty orange flash was in the direct sunlight! So, this morning I mixed the bottle really thoroughly and applied an additional coat, and the orange definitely showed up a bit more in other lights. In brighter lights, it almost mixes with the blue to give it a deep purply cast - truly gorgeous. Indoors, unless the lights are pretty powerful, it comes across as a dark, inky blue and the orange shimmer blends with it more to give it a warmer, brownish cast. I may try this again with all the coats being applied after a good mixing, but I do still like the polish a lot. I definitely don't have another color like it!

Onto the swatches...(excuse the tipwear)...

Rescue Beauty Lounge - Pizzicato

I received my preorder of the Firebirds collection this week! Here's the first polish I tried - it was raining here today, and this polish seemed to fit with the weather! It looks like raindrops on a pretty white/lavender surface:




This shade, Pizzicato, is a pretty pale lavender shade, semi-sheer, with flakes of silvery glitter. This is three coats.




The formula is good and really easy to work with as always! What do you think?

Rescue Beauty Lounge Teal

This polish was so easy to work with! Inky, dark, and very opaque. Could have gotten by with one coat probably, but this is two coats, topped with Seche Vite. It's a gorgeous, calm feeling dark blue/geen color. Love it!

Rescue Beauty Lounge - Bikini Bottom

This is a very, very sheer watery blue polish from Rescue Beauty Lounge. Since it's so sheer, I layered it over Essie Marshmellow - a polish I don't use much because it frustrates me - to keep the watery look going even with a more opaque background.

Please excuse the chip, my nail broke a little just before this was applied.

Rescue Beauty Lounge - Purple Haze

This was my first experience with Rescue Beauty Lounge. So far, I haven't ventured outside of China Glaze often, but I am happy I did! I purchased Stormy, Bruised, Bikini Bottom, and Purple Haze this past week and decided to try Purple Haze first. The formula was really easy to apply and work with on the nail. This is two coats, with a top coat of Poshe.