The case of Rubi shoes nail polishes... $2 well spent, and $2 wasted

What a mouthful. But that accurately sums up how I feel towards the 2 Rubi Shoes nail polishes I picked up last week Saturday at ION Orchard.

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I was at ION Orchard when I recalled that the-crimson-petal mentioned about Rubi Shoes nail polishes going for $2. And since frockandrolla wanted to check out their shoes, I decided to poke around the nail polish display (or rather, container), and walked out with Gunmetal and Sky. They're definitely impulse buys, since I didn't do any research on their formula/brush etc, but $2 a piece is way too tempting =)

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Packaging:

Rubi Shoes nail polishes are housed in an OPI-lookalike bottle. If you can't see the wordings, you probably will mistake it for OPI. The bottle cap is quite a bit lighter than OPI, which makes it a little uncomfortable, but it's nothing much.

Brush Size:

The brush is alright, not as wide as OPI's Pro-Wide brush, but not as thin as China Glaze's brushes.

Formula/Ingredients:

According to the ingredient list, Rubi Shos appear to be 5-free, that is, free of Formaldehyde, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), Toluene, Formaldehyde Resin and Camphor. The main list of ingredients is:

Butyl Acetate, Ethyl Acetate, Nitrocellulose, Actylates Copolymer, Acetyl Tributyl, Citrate, Bentonite, Titanium Dioxide

The main reason why I wrote "appear" is largely due to the smell. Both polishes stank fairly badly, with Sky being the worse of the two. Both smelt nothing like OPI or China Glaze polishes, and resembles a cheap $1 nail polish I bought from the market (and it's probably not 3-free). I don't recall 3-free (or 5-free) polishes stinking so badly!

As for the formula.... do read on while I explain the 2 colors.

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Sky is a very pale blue color. More like, it's a very pale blue with lots of grey undertones. It looks grey on most counts, but you can definitely tell there's blue in the color.

Sky is one of the rubbish-est (if such a word exist) polish I've ever owned. I like the color a lot, which is why I purchased it. Other than stinking as badly as my cheap $1 polish, it's so sheer, it's a pain to use it.

Swatches below show 5 coats. Yes, 5 coats. The formula of this particular color is extremely runny, I wonder why I didn't notice it before purchasing it. Boo, it's a complete waste of my $2, no matter how much I like the color. At this kind of opacity, you probably need to be extremely patient with 6-8 coats, and no, I didn't actually wait for each layer to dry.

You know what's the worst thing? It's almost similar to China Glaze's Pelican Grey, and I dislike having dupes in my collections. It doesn't help that Pelican Grey is so much easier to put on (2 coats), and has nice subtle shimmers. But I'm not going to blame myself, since the bottle pictures actually show a vast difference between the 2. Haiz.

Index and Ring Finger: CG's Pelican Grey

Middle and Pinky: Rubi Shoes' Sky

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On the other hand, I'm really satisfied with Gunmetal, the other color I purchased! I thought it resembles some other polishes I own, but nah, it's unique in my stash. That said, it's really nothing special, just a really pretty shade that's worth its $2 price tag!

Gunmetal has a black (or maybe really dark grey) base jam-packed with silver shimmers. It took only 2 coats to be opaque, and it's super shiny even without a top coat (I tried, no difference in looks). Under most lighting, it looks like a typical color, but somehow, it looks like there's a hint of olive-green. Hmm, interesting.

I kept the color on after swatching, making it my full manicure. And so far, it's the 3rd day without base and top coat, and there's no hint of tip-wear or chipping, pretty decent really.

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All in all, I think Gunmetal is worth picking up. Especially if it's going to work for Konading (which I hope it will!) Please skip Sky in all circumstances, unless you like it sheer. And oh, remember, both stink badly, so do paint your nails in a well-ventilated place, or just save yourself the 2bucks. I would still purchase a few other shades if I can, including "Taupe", which is supposedly a dupe for You Don't Know Jacques by OPI.