Rescue Beauty Lounge A Poem Collection

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Hey dolls! I know a lot of you have been waiting for this post. It’s finally time to reveal the Rescue Beauty Lounge A Poem Collection! This collection consists of seven shades based on the famous poem, Ghost House by Robert Frost. Here is the trailer and the official press release from RBL.

I’m wobbling on the icy sidewalks of Manhattan against the sharp, brutal wind, which is mockingly slicing my face into pieces. I feel like I’m five years old again trapped in my one-piece zip-up snowsuit unable to raise my arms, intently concentrating with knitted brows trying not to walk sideways and fall on my derrière. There are so many layers underneath my puffy coat that I feel immobile and stuck. I grip the railing as I descend down to the subway, my boots crunching the grayed crystal snow-salt beneath me as I slide down the stairs. At the subway platform we’re all children again waiting for the school bus on a wintry morning, puffing out our breaths through our cocooned scarves with only our eyes peering through a tiny space like ninjas.

A text notification vibrates, my girlfriend (an ex-New Yorker) now living on West Coast: “Augh! Another stupid sunny day here! I miss New York, the cold, my sweaters and coats *cat face with tears* emoji.”

I immediately reply with: “Three *angry red devil faces* emoji” while I mentally utter explosive curses at her—I picture her wearing flip-flops and shorts. Immaturely, at that moment, I hate her and pout like a child.

At the studio, I’m stirring the last shimmery touches on my mixing table, the almost completed color mixes for The Fan Collection 2.0 consume me. They are stunningly beautiful and simply lovely, yet, for my next round of mixing, I cannot fathom working with anything this pretty so soon. Instead, I start craving sensible soft cotton undies and my oldest sweats from college. That’s the outfit I’d wear as I picture myself munching on Doritos and washing it down with beer while watching horrific “Lifetime” movies—I crave dichotomy. That’s when I remember this quote from “The Age of Miracles” by Karen Thompson Walker: “Even beauty, in abundance, turns creepy.” I then call my girlfriend, I understand our finicky hearts.

My thirst to seek some kind of alluring forlornness leads me to words. Wordsmithing entrances me, I can marinate myself for days with its craft. Words are a magical and ancient medium. Great writers use words to depict the cinematic or to hint at nuances of imagination. Would I? Can I humbly dare to translate that into colors?

As soon as I read “Ghost House,” by Robert Frost (published on public domain), the colors revealed themselves. It was as if I was physically walking along the patch of earth from the poem. There are many layers in those verses that illuminate one’s soul; I’ve attempted to translate this into layers of colors. This entire collection was curated by a harmony of hues that go seamlessly hand in hand, including the glitters that can be layered with the opaque colors to give depth and texture depending on one’s mood.

It’s rare for me to make four opaque colors in one collection, but these earthy palettes ravished me, when I read the poem, these colors seduced me. The opaques themselves are all demurely quiet, neutral and wearable, yet sophisticatedly pensive for all occasions and seasons (my own version of the perfect little black dress). I know, I know, scandalously, there is only one color with that shimmery sensation and I’ve crushed on glitter again. That last time you’ve witnessed this was circa 2009.

Unfolding the ocean full of desires has completed this puzzle and it makes my hunger complete. I hope you’ll enjoy this journey as much as I did.

A Lonely House: The sleepy night sky swallows up the last of the dim sunlight. Like a black and white photograph from long ago, naked tree branches are covered in the snow that is falling on the ground and the ubiquitous snow wins with a smirk. A brown, weathered, broken wooden house remains, without any apparent light or life. Just there, content, scattered, and waiting. Out of this friendless and disparaged landscape dwells the perfect opaque brown. Like handsomely worn English saddle leather, a rich and lush one-coater.

A Lonely House is a deep milk chocolate brown creme. The formula was well-pigmented and very easy to use. It was almost a one coater, but I used two to even out a few patchy areas. I’m a fan of brown polish, so I like this one.

Forgotten Road: The snow has melted. A howling wind stamps, turns, and tangos with the broken brown house too many times. In the morning after they part, a charcoal road, faded over time, leads to the house yearning for companionship. In the slick asphalt road after the rain, I found a charcoal opaque gray. It is the color of a deep gray river rock that fits perfectly in your hand, the darkest shade of gray in the spectrum. A darker, moodier sister to Stormy.

Forgotten Road is a gray creme that has strong blue undertones. I really love this shade! The formula was a little thinner than the others in this collection, but it was still easy to manage. Two coats were used for opacity.

Footpath: After the incessant rain and flood, the yellowed-clay earth slowly recovers and hardens. Unhurriedly, the path heals, baked by the sun. The earth, for a short while, forgets and forgives its muddied past. The willow branches persistently swings, whispers, and sheds its confetti of mustard-colored pollen, which blend to celebrate a marriage between two earthy-yellow opaque hues. This earthened-yellow is truly mellow, wearable, and surpassingly neutral. If you’re on the fence about wearing a bright yellow, this is a perfect shade to ease into.

Footpath is a dusty mustard yellow creme, which contains just enough brown to be wearable by many. Yellow is my favorite color, so this shade makes me extremely happy. Yellow polish gets a bad rap most times for having a problematic formula, but Footpath does not belong in that group. The formula was well pigmented and applied easily in two coats.

The Mosses Mar: The small creek sings and chatters, conversing with the busy birds pecking away at nature’s supper. In between the brown house the wood has shed, there are sage-colored mosses bursting up for their new eager, erratic life. This is the color of the mosses in between stones or scattered deadwoods, parched and lightened by the sun, almost identical to the underside of Aspen leaves when they tremble in the wind. (This is a less yellow version of Diddy Mow 2.0.)

The Mosses Mar is a dusty sage green creme. This is a really flattering shade of green. The formula was similar to Forgotten Road in that it was thinner than the others, but not runny or problematic. Opacity was achieved with two coats.

Wild Raspberries Grow: One spring morning, a sparkling hint of brilliance appeared in the periphery where wild raspberry patches thrived. The ruby fruit twinkled. Like Dorothy, from The Wizard of Oz, the raspberries find their ruby slippers—turning the grayed world of black and white into a beautiful spring day. In the light of the sun of a new day, the micro leafy green glitters and sparkling fuchsia berries float. Combine this with any of the opaque colors in this collection or use three coats to see a kaboom of glitter!

Wild Raspberries Grow is a green microglitter with larger fuchsia glitters in a clear base. Yes, yes, and YES to this polish! You all already know my love for all things pink and green because of my sorority. Wild Raspberries Grow had a great formula. The glitter spread easily and was very dense. One coat was used over The Mosses Mar. It does dry to a satin finish, so RBL Top Coat was added to provide a glossy finish.

Small, Dim, Summer Stars: Lost in the woods on a moonless, un-illuminated night, they stumble through the darkness. Looking up at the sky amid the fragrant forest, the weeping willow tree branches recite a monologue in the distance. A whippoorwill sopranos—its cadenza joins to compete. Then they appeared, countless tiny stars embedded in the dark sky, it was always there to be found in every gentle, trusting heart. This sweltering silvery black base hammered with multifaceted and spectacular green, blue, pink, shimmery, glittery twinkling stars will bring you back to that summer night long ago, full of wonder and beauty.

Small, Dim, Summer Stars is a black jelly base filled with blue, green, and pink glass flecks. I immediately said wow out loud upon applying the first coat. You have got to click on the photo for the larger version to truly appreciate the depth in this polish! The formula built up very nicely and was opaque in two coats.

As Sweet Companions: In the end, it was the hardship and the beauty that all flourished together. The sonatas will always have the contrasting movement that settles what the perfect ending was meant to be. The silver-lavender and matte black glitter were meant to be playmates. This is not your typical screaming glitter, it’s more discreet, reserved, with muted tones. You can create a perfect polka-dot nail art overlay with any of the opaque colors from this collection as base. Or better yet, for those who want it real–layer it on for jeweled digits!

As Sweet Companions is a clear base filled with lavender and matte black hex glitter. The color combination makes this a very sophisticated glitter. It has a small bling factor, but will still appeal to those who aren’t into chunky glitters. The base was a little on the thick side, so I applied one coat and then dabbed on the glitter in sparse areas. As Sweet Companions is shown below over Forgotten Road.

Overall, I’m quite pleased with this collection. I was not expecting glitter at all, but they were a pleasant surprise. Additionally, I’ve never used any RBL cremes, so I was glad to try those out. While some of the cremes may not seem like the most unique shades, fans of the RBL formula will definitely appreciate them. Cremes rank extremely high on my list of polish finishes, so I’m glad to add a few more to my collection. It’s also really intriguing to learn more about how Ji was inspired by Ghost House through the press release. I felt as if I was in her head as I read each description.

It still feels unreal to be an RBL blogger! I’m honored to post this collection along with nine other amazing ladies (Scrangie, Kellie Gonzo, NailsandNoms, Polish Police, Fashion Polish, Peachy Polish, Makeup Withdrawal, Manicurator and vlogger Warm Vanilla Sugar), so be sure to check out their photos as well. The RBL A Poem collection 48 hour pre-order will begin on Friday, February 7, 2014 at noon EST and each polish is $20. Be sure to keep up with RBL on their blog, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for all of the latest updates.