Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Rimmel Part 1

I thought now would be a great time to post about my love of Rimmel polish. The other day I was out shopping, and noticed that the Rimmel Underground Play Fast polish displays at every store were completely empty! This can only mean one horrible, horrible thing: They're being discontinued.

On the bright side, a few of the colors (Camouflage, Hard Edged are two that I saw) seem to have been repackaged in the 'regular' 60 Second bottles, and they have a new display.

A few of the stores I went to still had a couple lonely Play Fasts on their displays, so if you've been thinking about buying a particular Rimmel color but haven't yet, now would be the time to do so. I've had my eye on a few shades but haven't bought them because I assumed that they were permanent and were never going to be discontinued. Now I might be too late!

Anyway, the intention of this post is not to make you go out and buy Rimmels, but to share may love of this particular polish line. I just thought it would be worth mentioning that these will soon disappear.

I will do another two or three parts to this post when I'm done photographing my Rimmel collection. So, you may consider this part one :)


Rimmel Underground Play Fasts:


Hard Edged. One of the most beautiful polishes ever to see a drugstore shelf. It's a vampy brown shimmer with pretty strong duochrome. As you can see in the left hand side of the photo, there's some green/gold iridescence visible in the bottle. This is visible on the nail, but it's very subtle. Hard Edged seems to change from brown to purple in some lights. This picture doesn't capture the true beauty of this polish at all. It has a lot of tonal similarities to OPI Black Tie Optional.


Camouflage. A gorgeous, gorgeous quick-drying golden green shimmer. What I like the most about this shade is that it's more green than gold. A lot of drugstore greens in the past have been too light, too gold, and not green enough for my liking (Maybelline Go Go Green, L'Oreal Bijou Gems B. Strong.) but Rimmel Camouflage is nice and rich. It's a St. Patrick's Day green.
Perfect in every way.


Night Life. An edgy mushroomy taupe-brown with golden bordering on copper shimmer. Rimmel may have been ahead of its time with this color! This was released years ago, and just this past year mousy taupe-browns and purples started to become extremely popular. This is a very unique shade, I can think of only one similar shade- CND Family Secret. While they're not exact matches, the taupe/brown/grey with reddish shimmer makes them cousins.



Street Wear. Another edgy, sexy muted shade. This time it's a grey putty with subtle gold shimmer. Extremely hot. It reminds me of mushrooms. I think this picture makes it appear a little more warm-toned than it actually is, but it shows the shimmer well.

About half of the shades in the Rimmel Underground Play Fast line are these fabulous sheer, flaky shimmer colors that are really amazing.


Out Of Control. This is a really old picture! I haven't taken a new picture because this one is just about perfect. Out of Control is a pinkish-red color, more of a coral really, that has outrageous gold shimmer. It truly is out of control! The polish is made of little flakes, so it takes three coats to reach bottle color.


Pop Quiz. Light, peachy orange flakes mixed in with silvery white flakes. Another very unique shade from Rimmel. I'd be hard pressed to find a match for this polish. The different colored pearly flakes all combine to make this pretty light orange color. It's very sparkly, and I have a feeling that it would be great layered on top of one of the other more opaque Play Fast shades like Mouthy.



Scene Stealer. Mesmerizing gold/taupe/bronze/grey shimmer flakes with a slight duochrome effect. This is a very beautiful polish, I've never seen anything like it. It is very sheer but still packs a punch! This picture is three coats and you can still see through it a bit, I'm sure four coats would make it 100% opaque, but I like the sheer look of this. It sparkles and changes in the sun, and even looks good in dark indoor lighting. Another polish with layering potential, would probably go well with Night Life.


And a couple "regular" Rimmels...


Green With Envy. Not exactly what I would ever consider green, but pretty anyway. A bright metallic blue/aqua type of color. You may notice that the bottle is absent from this picture. That it because somehow I accidentally threw it across my kitchen and it shattered all over my ceramic tile floor. Swatching is dangerous... >.<
Torrid. This color has been repackaged, so this is the 'old' version. The new version appears to be exactly the same, but I won't know until I apply them both. Sometimes companies do that. No idea why. Anyway, Torrid is a rich plum-brown shimmer. I can't decide if it's more reddish or brownish. I guess it doesn't matter if it's as beautiful as this!



Dazzle. A very unusual drugstore find! A festive light gold metallic packed with fine medium-gold glitter! As much as I adore this color, this one is a victim of "good idea, bad execution". When you mix light-colored and light-textured metallics with glitter, instead of looking like a nail covered in delicate, sparkling glitter, you get a nail with weird speckles and lumps. Glitter and thin-formula metallics rarely work. Another example of a metallic with glitter that doesn't work: L'Oreal Bijou Crystals B. Shocking. Instead of a nice glitter look, you get chunks. But, for every few failures, there is one success... One of the best light metallics with glitter is the ancient OPI Mystic Moonshine. So, it can work, but it rarely does.


I really love Rimmel polishes. The formula on them is always perfect, they dry quicker than any non-holographic or neon polish I can think of, and they have a variety of incredible unique shades. I have seen UK-only shaded that are even more spectacular than the ones they sell here!

I wish people would start to love drugstore polishes instead of shunning them because they're 'low-end.' You all know I love my OPI, my Rescue Beauty Lounge, Dior, Lippmann Collection, Essie, all of the more expensive and popular brands. Drugstore polishes can be just as good! If I put a Rimmel in a Chanel bottle and told you to use it, you'd probably think that Chanel had improved their formula. I encourage you to look past the name and packaging and love the polish inside.

The odd thing about drugstore polishes is that they're not always inexpensive. I almost bought a Revlon the other day that would have cost me $7.50! I'll talk more about this in another post, but the idea that drugstore polish is cheaper is quickly becoming inaccurate.

38 comments:

  1. Rock on Scrangie!! 2nd you totally on this one, I LOVE Rimmel too. So many cool colours which unfortunately for me many are country specific :O We don't get the Play Fasts in the UK. Is Green With Envy from the new 60sec range btw? If so, I have that one, it's AWESOME. My fave tho is till Camouflage. My preciousss... :)

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  2. Wow, they look lovely! I think I need to find them... Does CVS carry them or Target? Those stores are just up the street! Thanks for sharing - the pictures are great!

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  3. I love my Rimmels too! Mania, Green with Envy and Forest are my three favourites. And Camoflage of course!

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  4. One of my top ten faves is Rimmel Sunny Side. I also have Torrid (i'm currently wearing it)a couple of gorgeous reds and a black cream. I love my Rimmels.

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  5. I love Rimmel Play Fast polishes! So sad to hear they're going to discontinue them :(

    Thanks for featuring more easy-to-find drugstore polishes! And you're right, just because you can buy them at a drugstore doesn't mean they'll cost you less these days!

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  6. Hey Scrangie-
    For those who can't justify spending $9 on $OPI Metro Chic, I've found Rimmel Night Life to have the same base color, almost exactly, with a little shimmer thrown in for good measure.

    It's a nice alternative and up to a quarter of the cost...
    HTH
    =P

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  7. I have all but two of the Rimmel Underground polishes (for east coast usa) and I thought they'd been discontinued early early last year if not in 2007. Mainly because when I do see them on the shelf, it's the same old colors. I'm currently stocking up my 60 second dry ones (which don't last as long.) Thank you for posting these, I am a huge Rimmel fan.

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  8. Wow, night life and street wear are so hot!! I have never tried rimmel but will definitely look for them later today when I am out and about. Thanks!

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  9. these are GORGEOUS, i def am gonna go pick some up after work today lol, as always, ty for sharing :)

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  10. Since you threw the one and it broke in your kitchen - how did you clean it up?

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  11. Ok I'm not much of a brown person, but wow that Night Life color is gorgeous with the copper shimmer.
    I like Out of Control, too. I was going to ask you if you knew of any good bright coral colors, because I've got a great coral eye shadow that just screams for matching nails.

    I actually rarely buy drugstore nail polish these days for exactly the reason you mention. I can buy China Glaze, Orly or Finger Paints for $2-$4 with my Sally card when they're on sale, so why would I pay $5-$7 for a drug store polish?

    Though I do love Sinful :)

    I'll be hitting my Walgreens to look for these rimmel polishes.

    As always, I love your swatches and reviews!

    Btw, I just got a notification that Zoya received my polish for the exchange, so hopefully I'll be getting my polishes in a while ;)

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  12. I saw a whole bunch of the new Camouflage's at my K-Mart recently! It's such a beautiful color :-) Rimmel makes a great (and inexpensive) polish!

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  13. seriously, you have the most gorgeous nails around! i love the looks of all rimmal polishes on you esp. the regular ones.

    do my nails please? :P

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  14. Lovely!!! Rimmels are way up there for me. Fuel, Star Trek & Mania would be my faves - along with Camo, that goes without saying.

    Their new lasting finish line is awesome too. I don't think that's available in the US yet though. Forest is a clear winner from that line.

    Bring on the DS polish luvs!

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  15. I think Play Fast was taken off quickly at my local Target because I found Night Life and the Zoya Yasmeen dupe Art of Noise in a discount bin there mid-December. I wish I got to see more of those.

    What irks me more about drugstore polishes isn't the increasing price (wow, Sally Hansen and Revlon are gettin' a little big for their britches, y'think?), but the lack of originality. How about the Nail Prisms and Chromes of days past? I could care a little less about wear (that's what good base coats and top coats are for), how about some new finishes/microglitters/glass flecks/etc.?

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  17. I have Street Wear too and absolutely love it! It sucks they're being discontinued but at Long's Drug they're 50% off, so their only $1.99 now! I'm thinking about getting more, especially that gorgeous Scene Stealer.

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  18. Speaking of drugstore polishes I have a NYC (I think) nail polish that looks like almost an exact dupe of the Superstar Park Avenue Purple.

    I <3 my polishes. Even a CoverGirl I own that was on the pricer end of drugstore costs and it is amazing and lasts about a 5 days without a topcoat (and I'm abusive on my nails).

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  19. The Underground ones are great but I don't know how anyone likes the "regular" ones. Maybe I haven't tried enough of them. I bought about 8 last year and every single one took 4 coats to be opaque and the wear was awful. It's probably just my nails. I really hope the Underground ones aren't being dc'd!

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  20. Rimmel is really awesome!
    They all look lovely on you!

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  21. I managed to pick up all 14 Rimmel Underground polishes on Ulta's site last night for $1.98 a piece. Luckily, I had a few other cosmetics things to pick up, but I do feel a bit guilty. I blame them, since everytime I wanted to buy one of the polishes, I couldn't decide on a color, because they're all so cool. ;)

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  22. They are all so beautiful. I never thought about buying rimmel polishes. Everytime I look at them they look like they have been on the shelves for ages because they all look separated and old. I'll check them out again. Thanks for sharing.

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  23. I just realized I had a bottle of Torrid. My mom bought it and ended up not liking it, so she gave it to me. I remember it turned a bit goopy for some reason. It probably needs some thinner. I should probably look for it, and give it another try.

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  24. Lina-Elvira, thank you :) I believe Green With Envy is one of the new 60 Seconds :) They're so awesome, they need more love!!

    Susan, Both my CVS and Target carry them, as well as Ulta, some Walgreens, grocery stores, heck, I see 'em all over :)

    Sminkan, yay! You're so cool, I knew you had to like them :) <3

    Olga, Ooh, I am not sure if I've seen Sunny Side! I'll have to look for it :)

    Chrissy, thank you! :) Hopefully they release some great new colors to replace the ones that are leaving :(

    Wixbetty, yes, definitely! Good observation! :) Thank you :D

    Juvenescent, yes, very sad... I've noticed that the Rimmel displays in a lot of stores have been empty for months and I always hoped they would restock :(

    Katee, really? They're so good!!

    Javy, you are very welcome :D

    Irene, just a little cotton ball with some polish remover :) The glass didn't break to tiny pieces, the bottle just kinda split in half! The polish came off my tile and cabinet no problem though :)

    Phyrra, EXACTLY! Great comment :) I hope you get your new Zoyas soon!

    Amanda, they certainly do! I am very thankful that we have awesome Rimmel alongside the boring L'oreals and stuff :)

    Jojoba, awwwe thank you! I would *love* to do your nails!! :D And I think you are sooooo beautiful and your reviews are top notch! <3

    Mazoo :O You have all the cool ones!!! I'm jealous, hehehe :D Rimmel is excellent, I'm so happy they have it EVERYWHERE! Polish love! Woo!!

    The Asian Girl, yes, yes, exactly!! I feel the same way! I wish they would listen to us!

    Lady Lostris, ooh good price! I'd definitely pick up the ones that appeal to you, they're too beautiful to pass up :)

    Diana, oooh I will have to keep my eye out! The NYC displays at my usual places are always worryingly empty, though I have picked up a bunch of fantastic NYCs from other places. They rock too!

    K, ooh, the 60 second ones? I actually find them to be really good, but I only tend to by the dark/glittery/unique colors so I'm not sure how the other ones are.

    Sanna, thank you gorgeous :)

    Auroragyps, good deal! I wouldn't feel too guilty, they were a good price and you might not be able to get them soon :)

    rmcandlelight, yeah, I've seen them like that before! But separated is okay, it doesn't hurt the polish at all. Just a little shaking puts it right back to normal :)

    Deb, definitely thin that baby out and give it a try, it's so pretty and dramatic!

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  25. What a coincidence, I went on a mini-Rimmel binge just the other day! Picked up Night Life, Hard Edged, and Green With Envy (which the kid sis and I both fell for). Night Life really is quite close to $OPI's Metro Chic, but I find it is a little more purple and less brown than Metro Chic. The shimmer in it also makes it look a bit lighter. Either way, it's totally gorgeous! And now I have to hunt down Street Wear!


    Big fan of Rimmel's, but in some stores up here in Canada, they sell for $6.50 a pop, which I don't consider cheap. Zeller's has 'em for under $5 though. And I agree, I don't know why CG, Revlon, etc. try to sell such boring shades for so much money!

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  26. just wanted to let everyone know that ulta.com has these for 1.89. I just ordered 4.

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  27. Love the Rimmel colours!

    I just went to Rexall PharmaPlus today in T.O., which has different product lines from Shoppers. They carry the SH Hard as Nails, Salon (but not the limited edition), Rimmel U.G., and NYX. I have a few NYX polishes (Tahitian, Lime, Techno, and Carnation), and I really like them. I would love to hear your opinion on that line as well...like you don't have enough to do!

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  28. I really love these. I wish they weren't so hard to find.

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  29. Ooh, I have a bunch of those! I love drug store polishes. Revlon Street Wear and all the old Maybellines? It doesn't get any cooler.

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  30. hi! i never write on these, but i feel the need to


    I am a big fan of this nail polish line, too. but i work in retail, and although this line is discontinued, rimmel is coming out with a while new line of the exact same colors, but new bottles. so i think every/almost every shade will be there still!

    bye! :)

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  31. The Glitterati, great minds think alike, right? ;-) The price of Rimmels has gone up here as well!

    Anonymous, awesome, thanks!

    Melli, oh wow, you have a store that sells NYX? I love NYX polishes! A loooooong time ago I did a post on them, but my pictures sucked so I'll re-visit them soon :)

    Emelie, Awwe :(

    Heystellaa, RIGHT ON!!!

    Anonymous, thanks! I did see a lot of the same colors repackaged, but not all of them, I'll keep looking!

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  32. i have these colors from a promotion. never really used them but found them recently. the rimmel underground polishes are fantastic. the brush, formula, and colors are awesome for the price. and yes they were way ahead of the game when it comes to fashion forward colors. i believe this came out in 2007.

    they stick to the nail and don't chip so much as wear away at the tip. i'm loving these more than opi, essie, and nicole at the moment.

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  33. Suz, they really do rock, I love them all!

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  34. I love camouflage. I just picked it up a week ago and it lasted four days with no base or top coat, there weren't any chips either! For only 3$ it is thousands of times better than the China Glaze polish I just used- yuck, how streaky it is:(

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  35. Ashleigh, they are really really good, I love them! I have issues with China Glaze polishes sometimes too, but they have great colors!

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  36. I have just been introduced to this blog, so I know this entry is way old, but I wanted to add that I too have major, MAJOR love for Rimmel polishes. They apply so well for such a cheap nailpolish. Long live Rimmel!

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  37. I know this comment is completely outdated, but I just wanted to say that in low lighting, Green with Envy really looks green! A little yellower than Camo. The first time I realized this, I freaked out and thought I put on the wrong color, but nope, it was Green with Envy.

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  38. how does night life compare to china glaze Ingrid??

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