Talking to a camera actually makes me incredibly nervous, but I figured the only way to improve was to actually do it… so I just uploaded two new videos.

There’s a lot of room for improvement — but I’m working on it!

Rescue Beauty Lounge’s spring collection (Ironic/Iconic) is all about the details, and for the umpteeth time, I find myself marveling at the subtlety and nuance of their shades.

Decorous is a soft, fawn brown — almost the color of a malted milkshake — that reflects white.

Insouciant is a grey-purple with these tiiiiny blue shimmers, so it reflects blue.

Recherche is incredible. Is it plum? Is it brown? It really changes in different lighting. I’d call it a deep, dark, dusty plum — the only cream of the group — and it’s like nothing else I own.

Iconoclast is black, with these tiny little pink and green sparkles. I don’t know pink and green add up to a white reflect, but in sunlight, it almost looks like charcoal. It’s such a new and happy take on chic black.

Look at those sparkles!  (Click the image for full size sparkliness.)

These were all really easy to apply, and while they haven’t been in my possession long enough for me to tell you about their wear time, I’ve never had any trouble with RBL.

Founder and creative genius Ji Baek described this collection as almost fractured. She felt that the spring/summer fashion shows ran the gamut from ladylike to studded black leather (a trend that mirrored her own day-to-day style). Her collection was intended to reflect the many facets of any woman’s “look.”

Rescue Beauty polishes are $18 each, and the only place I’ve ever purchased them has been their website. If you’re in New York, you could swing by Rescue Beauty Lounge (the salon) on Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District. All four of the spring shades are limited edition, and Ji said she hoped to hold the 48-hour pre-sale maybe by the end of January. Sign up for her newsletter to make sure you hear about that pre-sale (though I’ll announce it here, too).

Rescue Beauty Lounge nail polishes contain no Toluene, Formaldehyde, Formaldehyde Resin, or DBP, and they are not tested on animals.

Rescue Beauty provided these polishes for swatching purposes, which is incredibly lucky because I would have wanted to buy all four.

Rescue Beauty recently released their fall collection: Housewives of Tudor England. The collection includes Catherine, Catherine H. (confusing!), Jane, and Anne.

Catherine is royal purple with a fine pewter sheen and hints of blue and fuchsia shimmer. Catherine H. is a shimmering Wedgewood blue with a few gold and pink flecks. Jane is a pale gray pearl with sheer washes of pink and gold. Anne is olive green with pink-gold metallic iridescence.

This is 3 coats of Anne with 1 coat of Poshe. As is always the case with RBL polishes, Anne applied and wore very well.

RBL polishes are available from a few etailers and at rescuebeauty.com. They’re free of DBP, formaldehyde, and toluene, and they’re $18 each.

It’s also worth noting that November 1 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. EST, RBL will have their annual 5-hour, 50% off sale. The Tudors are regrettably excluded from this sale.

Tremendous thanks to Soaper1 for her swatches and review of one of their limited edition summer shades: 360.

360 is one of three shades in RBL’s Surfs Up summer collection. The other two surfing-inspired polishes are Bangin’ (red coral) and Diddy Mow (putty green) — all cremes. This collection first went on pre-sale in March — and sold out in three days! Thanks to overwhelming demand, another presale was offered in April. The Surfs Up collection is currently available at rescuebeauty.com; the polishes are $18 each.

RBL describes 360 as a deep-water aqua blue. It applied beautifully and this photo shows two coats, plus one coat of Seche Vite. I forgot to wrap the tips of my index & pinky fingers (painting polish over the edge of the nail, to prevent the polish from shrinking back). You can see some shrinkage on those two nails, but it was caused by the Seche Vite top coat, not the polish.

Rescue Beauty has a reputation for outstanding nail polishes and these definitely meet that standard. All RBL polishes are free of DBP, formaldehyde, and toluene.

There are a few things that keep me from recommending this polish wholeheartedly. For starters, it’s regularly $18 (unless you happen to catch one of RBL’s half-price sales). It’s also fairly high maintenance to apply. Drifter seems to take an uncommonly long time to dry (even with my speedy topcoat and quick drying drops), and is the smudgiest polish I’ve ever used. I know my application here wasn’t perfect, but it took me three tries to get it looking even this good. A nail-polish-loving friend confirmed my experience, but suggested that Drifter was not representative of the RBL experience.