Rescue Beauty Lounge Catherine, Jane, and Catherine H

If you’ve been following the news on Rescue Beauty Lounge, you would know that they are doing a pre-order of their latest collection, Georgia on My Mind, soon. The actual time is 12pm, EST, on 6 June (Wednesday).

I looked through my stash of swatch photos yet to be edited and blogged on, and found some of RBL shades. I thought it would be timely to share them, in case some of you are thinking of adding some of these shades to your order list. Do note that if your order contains older shades, they will still be shipped together with the pre-order ones.

For today’s post, I have three of the Tudor wives – Catherine, Jane, and Catherine H. (I’d already posted on Anne last year.)

RBL Catherine; Jane; Catherine H

I’m a bit of a Tudor geek, so this collection particularly interested me. In fact, I wished Ji Baek had made a polish for each of Henry VIII’s six wives! We’re missing Anne of Cleves and Catherine Parr.

Granted, King Henry didn’t stay married to Anne of Cleves for long, but it is said that they two developed a friendship in his later years. And while Catherine Parr was more of a companion is his final years, she was the one that was with him at the end of his long and eventful life.

Nevertheless, the four shades in this collection are all so beautiful, and more than make up for the incomplete line-up of Henry VIII’s wives! I love shimmery polish (surely that’s obvious from the name of my blog?) and love these particularly because the shimmer is of more than one colour!

The first of the three shades for today is Catherine, inspired by Catherine of Aragorn, Henry VIII’s first wife. She was first married to his older brother, Arthur. When he died of illness, young Catherine was left stranded in England, caught between two kings’ egos. Eventually, she was re-betrothed to Henry. He was married to her for the longest and she was mother to his first-born, Mary, whose determination to slay all ‘heretics’ inspired the nickname and cocktail, Bloody Mary.

Of all Henry VIII’s wives, Catherine of Aragorn had the most prestigious and royal background. As such, it is most befitting that Rescue Beauty Lounge’s Catherine is of a rich shade of royal purple. It is not a flamboyant purple, but a more smoky and deep shade. The shimmer is in blue, fuchsia, and pewter.

I used two coats with no top coat. The polish is well-pigmented and flowed easily.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Catherine

I’ll say this is a slightly more mature shade. It may be a dark purple but it is not a vampy shade. Rather, I find it a rather “serious” shade. I personally don’t think it will be particularly suitable for a young person, but this is subjective for sure.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Catherine

Next, we have Jane, for Jane Seymour. She was the only of Henry VIII’s wives to give birth to a living son, the sickly Edward. It is said that Henry loved her the most of his wives because of her sweet and easy demeanour. Sadly, she died shortly after childbirth and before her coronation as queen.

Rescue Beauty Lounge’s Jane is a subtle shade to match Jane’s quiet personality. It is a nude shade, which has been described as oyster-hued. Like the other three shades, it is also infused with shimmer of different colours, but it is more toned down. In the photos, the gold shimmer seems to stand out the most, but what I love about Jane is the subtle pink and green shimmer in it. An office-appropriate nude shade with a little sparkle to it. Jane made me look at nude polish with new interest.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Jane. The shimmer can be seen in the bottle even without flash.

On a side note, the RBL labels don’t stick well to the base, so I re-stick them on the back of the bottles.

The shy shimmer doesn’t show up clearly in photos. It is also not in-your-face in real life, but I really like looking at the soft prettiness of it.

I believe this was two coats, no top coat. I love it also because it applied so easily for a lightly coloured creamy polish.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Jane

In this close-up shot of the bottle, you can see the pink and green shimmer.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Jane

Finally, we have Catherine H, for Catherine Howard. She was a cousin of Anne Boleyn. Coincidentally, both of them were beheaded after being accused of adultery. Catherine Howard was a young, frivolous girl, whom King Henry married practically on a whim. She’s what I would describe as a silly bimbo, who was impressionable and easily misled by the scheming people in the court.

Rescue Beauty Lounge’s Catherine H has a wedgewood blue base. Together with the gold, blue, and pink shimmer, the polish reflects the youthfulness of Catherine Howard. Although the overall effect of a richly pigmented base with shimmer is similar to that of Catherine and Anne, the colours in Catherine H make this a much younger looking shade. Of the four Tudor wives shades, this is the one that would best suit a younger lady. It still won’t stop someone my age from wearing it though, because it is such a beautiful polish.

Again, this should be two coats without top coat.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Catherine H

A closer look at the shimmer.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Catherine H

The Tudor wives collection was first released (and sold out) back in 2010, before I got into nail polish, but were re-released in two Bring it Back collections last year. All four should still be available, but I believe that once they sell out, that’ll be it.

Do you own any of these Tudor wives shades from Rescue Beauty? Which is your favourite? I know I have great difficulties picking one!

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