Essie Mochacino

Mochacino is a nice, cool-toned taupe shade, but what really makes this polish cool is the silver shimmer! Kind of unexpected for a taupe polish but very pretty nevertheless. I'm not really happy with the lighting in these pics, but oh well. The trees by my apartment kept getting in the way of my good light!

 (Essie Mochacino, three coats plus one topcoat)

This reminds me of China Glaze Ingrid, but with silver instead of gold shimmer, so if you like Ingrid you will probably like Mochacino as well. Mochacino dries a bit on the dull side, but the topcoat really helped to bring out the shimmer and give it a glossier finish. The formula was fine-maybe a teeny bit on the runny side but I might just be feeling picky. This is a great color for fall or a good work-appropriate polish that still has a little something extra to keep things exciting.

Revlon Starry Pink

I've finally got the last of the Revlon Expressionist glitters for you today! You can view my swatches of the other two, Blue Mosaic and Facets of Fuschia, HERE.

While I opted to layer Blue Mosaic over black just for fun, Starry Pink is really the one that NEEDS layering. The base of Starry Pink is very sheer on its own and having worn it once already alone, I can honestly say I didn't care for it as much without a stronger color underneath. Milky neutrals aren't really my thing and I thought it looked kind of goopy alone.

So for these swatches, I put one coat of Starry Pink over two coats of Essie French Affair, a baby pink creme. I think it turned out pretty nicely! Sorry for the messy edges. I ruined this whole manicure by accidentally hitting my hand against a door so I re-did it kind of quickly to fix the major dents and smudges.

The formula of Starry Pink is a little on the watery side. It makes for a fun layering polish and the base is sheer enough that you could probably put it over a variety of colors. But I honestly think this is my least favorite of the new Revlons. Overall though, I like the Expressionist glitters a lot and I hope Revlon follows through with similar glitters in the future!

OPI Road House Blues

First thing's first: Let's start this post off right.

Much better! Now that we've got a proper soundtrack in place, let's talk OPI!

Like the song, this polish is straight-up sexy. Road House Blues is an indigo creme from the new Touring America collection. Although it's on the darker side, this polish is still visibly purple-hued, not black. I'm wearing a pair of dark wash True Religions today and, over the course of a slow-moving Journalism class, realized this polish was pretty much the same color. Higher education in action!

The formula on this applied like an absolute dream; very creamy and smooth. Although I used two coats for these pictures to cover up a few patches here and there, this is basically opaque with just one. I also wore a base coat underneath because I hear this is a big-time nail stainer, but my Seche Vite base coat solved that problem just fine.

I love Road House Blues! It's sexy, vampy and sophisticated all at the same time. This is definitely one of the polishes to grab from Touring America.

Butter London No More Waity, Katie

Much to the chagrin of my wallet, I have recently fallen in love with Butter London polishes. They make some really unique, quality polishes and just look how cute the bottle is!

Like with Chanel polishes, the square top twists off so you can use the round brush handle underneath for easier application:

Seriously adorable! Anyways, enough of my raving; on to the actual polish itself. All Butter London polishes have English-themed names (which I love!) and this polish, of course, is named for Kate Middleton. While I'm not a big royal watcher (a friend and I actually spent the Royal Wedding watching "Machete" and eating Egg McMuffins at McDonald's), I am a total fan of this polish!

No More Waity, Katie is a greyed-out lavender with purple sparkles. This might not be for everyone but I really like it!

 (Butter London No More Waity, Katie, three coats plus one topcoat)

I'd read some other reviews saying the formula on this was really troublesome but I didn't think it was too bad; a little on the thick side but nothing unmanageable. I used three coats for these pictures.

This polish reminds me of a rain cloud for some reason. If you like glitter but don't want something that's over the top, or just want to try something a little different, this might be up your alley. Butter London polishes sell for $14 at Ulta, Nordstrom, Bloomingdales and a few etailers.

Re-Swatch: OPI Pros & Bronze

Truth be told, I was never really happy with my original swatches of this polish and I was really in the mood to wear it today. Plus, since it's such a gorgeous color, I thought you wouldn't mind if I showed it to you again.

If you missed out the first time around, Pros & Bronze is one of the polishes in the Serena Williams Glam Slam US Duo. The other polish is Love Is A Racket, a very lovely neon red glass fleck. But to me, Pros & Bronze is the true must-have from this set.

 (OPI Pros & Bronze, three coats plus one topcoat)

Look at how ridiculously SHINY it is! This polish goes absolutely crazy in the sunlight. I tried to capture it better with these new swatches, but Pros & Bronze may be one you just have to see for yourself in-person!

You can read more about Pros & Bronze and see some additional (albeit shittier) pics at my original post: HERE.

Orly Rock Solid

Yesterday I showed you Stone Cold, a sweet new blue shade from Orly's latest line, Mineral FX. So today I thought I'd continue the trend by showing you another Mineral FX beauty, Rock Solid. Rock Solid is a silver polish with specks of holographic glitter. It has the intense shine of a foil but the texture of Rock Solid's finish is completely different and quite unique; click to enlarge these pictures to get a better idea of what I mean.

 (Orly Rock Solid, two coats plus one topcoat)

Like Stone Cold, Rock Solid is a major topcoat eater. I only used one coat of OPI Topcoat here but I could've definitely used two to help conceal the grittier texture these FX polishes have when dry. As far as the formula goes though, I have no complaints.

As you can tell by how many pictures I took of this one, I really, really like it! I was very happy with how well the holographic glitter shows up on the actual nail and not just in the bottle. I'd be interested to see how Rock Solid stacks up against Chanel Graphite. While I don't think they would be dupes, I get the feeling that they would have some similarities.

Orly Stone Cold

You may remember the Orly Cosmic FX polishes that I am so very fond of. Well now Orly has a similar new line out, this time called Mineral FX. Like Cosmic FX, they cost more than the typical Orly polishes ($8.99 at Sally Beauty and $10 everywhere else), but also like Cosmic FX, they are kickass!

Stone Cold is like Orly Lunar Eclipse and China Glaze Dorothy Who? had a baby. I have a hard time describing the finish on this, but I guess if I had to choose I'd say it's kind of like a glass fleck. Either way, it's extremely cool-looking.

I can't remember if this was two or three coats. :-/ I was talking while doing this manicure so I didn't really keep track. But the formula was just fine, as I've come to expect from Orly. I seriously think I'm becoming something of an Orly fangirl. This did, however, eat topcoat like crazy, so I did two thick coats of Seche Vite on top. The Mineral FX polishes dry with a texture to them, so a topcoat will probably be essential for these anyways.

Stone Cold is somewhat similar in color to OPI Swimsuit...Nailed It! but the finishes are completely different. They aren't dupes, but I'll post a comparison picture for you very soon so you can see for yourself! I also grabbed Rock The World from this collection, so keep your eyes peeled for that one sometime this week too!