My financial advisors are trying to talk me into a variable life insurance policy as a form of tax free retirement savings.

Is that the only reason for suggesting variable life? Or is it that plus some other reason? Maybe to provide money for a spouse if something should happen to you? (Note: if you are planning on having that insurance money available for your spouse if something happens to you, the amount of benefit would be reduced by the balance of an outstanding loan against it.)

As far as pure investment purposes aimed at retirement, I think I would use my employer's pre-tax plan (401(k), 403(b) or equivalent) and Roth IRA.

If you are looking at something that you can access before you are 59.5 years old without using 72T, those retirement plans aren't so suitable, so one would want to look at something else, such as taxable ivnestments. (My pre-59.5 money is in taxable investments.) I haven't run any numbers to see how variable life with a "loan" before I am 59.5 would compare to plane taxable ivnestments, but I tend to prefer keeping investments in instruments designed to be investments, and insurnace in something that is designed to be insurance.