Essie Mochachino

Hi all! Happy Saturday! Today's post might look familiar to you - it was a guest post I did over at Amandalandish a few weeks back. Essie Mochachino is a taupe/gray polish with subtle silver shimmer. Essie's website describes Mochachino as a "perky gray with shimmer", but in my opinion this has more of a taupe/brown base. The formula was fantastic and this was fully opaque in two coats. The photos below show two coats of Essie Mochachino topped off with a coat of Seche Vite.

 

I hope everyone enjoys their weekend!  :)



Lynnderella Mercurial

Good Morning! Today I have swatches of Lynnderella Mercurial for you. This was one of my biggest lemmings and one of the first polishes I tried when I received my Llarowe order a few weeks back.

Mercurial consists of different size and shape silver, gunmetal, black and lavender purple glitter in a slightly tinted gray base. Formula was decent, with the exception of the large silver hex glitter. The large hex pieces curled and wouldn't stay down no matter how long I held them down flat during dry time. I took a macro shot of the hex glitter so you can see what I'm referring to. I actually left the hex glitter in place for the photos and picked it off later. I removed the hex glitter from my (unphotographed) right hand during application.

The photos below show two coats of Mercurial over China Glaze Concrete Catwalk...

Damn you curly hex glitter! lol

I wish I had chosen a different base for this, this seems too matchy-matchy for my liking.

Don't forget to check out my new *Blog Sale* page. I looked at my old stash list and I must be around at least 800/850/900 bottles by now. I NEED to unload! I'm too scared to actually count lol.

Twinsie Tuesday: Hyped Up Polish You Were Disappointed By....

Good Morning! Today we have another issue of Twinsie Tuesday. Today's topic is a hyped up polish that we were disappointed by. The first polish that comes to mind is L'Oreal Owl's Night, since I bought it strictly off all the talk on MUA. It's still sitting in my untrieds. Since I haven't swatched it yet and I was short on time, I felt it was unfair to chose it. So I picked Essie Smokin' Hot.

I'm not saying Essie Smokin' Hot isn't a nice color, I just felt I read so much about it and when I finally got it on my nails I didn't feel the love. The best way to describe this is a deep gray creme with a touch of purple. This has been duped quite a few times and it has some exact dupes and close cousins in Color Club Rad Nomad, Color Club Ash Brown, Nina Ultra Pro Never Glum Plum,  Zoya Kelly, Sally Hansen Gray Area and Chanel Paradoxal.

The photos below show two coats of Essie Smokin' Hot with a coat of Seche Vite...

I was a little bored, so I topped it with a coat of Kleancolor's City Never Sleeps...

Still bored! LOL. Maybe I need a lot to really catch my eye. Like I said, it's a nice color but with all the times it's been duped you would think it was truly amazing. How come nobody is duping Essie Starry Starry Night instead? There is one close dupe (Fing'rs Blue Glitter) which is so hard to find. I want all of my HTF lemmings to be duped like Essie Smokin' Hot was.

Don't remember to check out the other Twinsie Tuesday ladies! Just click the links below :)

Amanda at Amandalandish

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Ashley at Art Evolve

Brandi at The Collegiate Nail

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Jenn at All That is Gorgeous...

Jenna at I'm Still Thinking...

Katherine at Haul of Fame

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Meredith at Polish and Charms

Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails

Rachel at Top Coat It

Sarah at See Sarah Swatch

Off topic, but did anyone watch the premier of Brooklyn 11223 on Oxygen last night? I like to watch anything local, but I don't think I'll be able to make it through a season of this show. I was hoping to find a replacement for The Challenge when that ends on Wednesday night. I'm wondering if anyone else had a hard time watching it like I did   lol  ;)

Misa Spaced Out & a question for my ladies across the ocean.....

Hello! Quickie post today, because I ran out of time last night. I've been having sleep issues, where I can't fall asleep until after 2:30am and I have to be up by 7. I've trying to give myself a midnight cut off, where the computer and tv have to be off. I haven't even browsed all of my blogs this week and I'm going through withdrawals lol. I'll have to make up for it this weekend!

Today I have Misa Spaced Out, which is a grey polish with silver and dark gray shimmer throughout. Formula was easy to work with, and it was completely opaque in 2 coats. It's not the most unique, but it is very pretty. I have Misa Gray Matters, which I think may favor more ;)

Now....a question for my international ladies....can someone get me a bottle (or two) of Max Factor Fantasy Fire? I will pay for it, swap for it, whatever you want to do. I need this in my life.
I'm also looking for the Teeez holos if anyone knows of a place where they are laying around.
::::fingers crossed::::  Thanks lovies!

HITS - No Olimpo collection, Zeus

Every once in a while a polish comes in to your life, and you wonder what the hell you were doing without it. That's exactly what happen with Zeus from the No Olimpo collection from HITS. I received this as a Christmas gift from my best friend, who (on top of Zeus) gifted me the most amazing polishes. After we exchanged gifts, I had to nubbinize my nails and I really wanted to wait to wear this, but I figured dark colors look good on nubs so what the hell. I planned on wearing this for 1-2 days and then starting my NYE mani. That's not what happened.....
I wore Zeus for a record S-I-X full days. The last time I wore a mani that long I had OPI Axxium on my nails. I change my polish approx 5 times a week. For the most part, the only mani that lasts longer than a day is my weekend mani (and that's just because I run out of time). I can't begin to explain how much I love this polish. Formula was excellent. It went on smoothly and was opaque in 2 coats. I completely forgot to take photos the first day, so the photos shown are from day #4. On day #4, I only had slight tip wear. On day #6, I still had only tip wear and no chips. Zeus, when not in direct sunlight or light is honestly a little bland. It looks like a dark gray polish, and the shimmer is only slightly apparent. It really comes alive in the sun. For that reason, I included photos of the polish inside, with no flash. I think these are a decent representation of what the polish looks like indoors (although I need to invest in a better lighting system lol). I wish I would have taken outdoor photos. I will remember to take some the next time I wear this polish.

The photos below show 2 coats of Zeus, and a coat of Seche Vite (which did not lessen the holo, in my opinion). I couldn't narrow down the photos, each looked a little different so I decided to upload the best of the photos I took  :0)
Just a reminder, you can purchase HITS from Llarowe.

Misa Gray Matters

Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a good week. Any fun plans for the weekend? Since I was stuck inside last weekend with a cold, I plan on taking a road trip this weekend with my boyfriend (ex: looking up polish supply stores and heading in that direction lol). Luckily, he's a good sport about it. He used to come dusty hunting because I told him Essie Starry Starry Night sold for over $100 on Ebay (I would never give it up if I got my hands on it LOL)

I've always had a thing for Gray, but I've never met a gray like this. Today I have Misa's Gray Matters. Gray Matters is a medium gray with the most amazing finish. It has small silver and small dark gray (maybe black?) micro pieces, so it comes off looking speckled. This was so gorgeous I couldn't stop staring at my nails.

The formula was great and completely opaque in 2 coats. I put a coat of Seche Vite on this and went to bed. When I got up the next morning, I noticed that 1/2 of my left pointer finger was coming up. I stuck it back down with Seche Vite and went over it again. I figured it was just a fluke thing. Throughout the day, this continued to happen. By 10pm, I was all peeled and chipped like I've never seen before. I don't know if my top coat was bad, if I had lotion on before I painted, etc. but I was stunned. I'm definitely not blaming the polish yet, but I'm going to have to try it again.

The photos below are two coats of Gray Matters and a coat of Seche Vite.
See the speckles?!?!

On a side note, I think I found my holy grail treatment. Notice how long my nails are getting?

I'm waiting for them to break any minute now, and they haven't. Nailtek Foundation II is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I used to use OPI Nail Envy but my nails would have broken and peeled at least a week ago with Nail Envy.

I've been really bad lately and have been peeling my polish off on the drive home from work (almost daily) to save time, and they still aren't splitting, peeling, cracking, breaking, etc. When I make a fist I feel my nail tips, that's something I'm not used to!

I think I'm converted for life!

Buh-Bye Nail Envy! Helllooooo Nailtek <3 <3 <3

Orly 'Rock Solid'

Good Morning! Today's post feature's Orly 'Rock Solid' from their new Mineral FX collection. I picked this one up at Sally's for $7.99 (on sale). I really wanted to purchase every single polish from their new Mineral FX collection but I controlled myself. I'm sure I'll end up buying them eventually ;)

'Rock Solid' is a dark foil/shimmer gray with pieces of holographic glitter throughout. I thought this would for sure clash with my skin tone but I actually like it. Even if it did clash I would still wear it, I like it that much. The holographic glitter in this gives it a great effect. This is much more holographic than my camera decided to show.

Formula was easy to work with. This was the tiniest bit gritty but nothing insane. I didn't use a top coat but I don't think this will be a top coat eater.

The photos below are 2 coats of  Orly 'Rock Solid' with no top coat.

China Glaze 'Metro Collection' swatches

I've waited for China Glaze's Metro Collection for months now. I picked it up last Saturday at 8ty8Beauty and finally got a chance to quickly swatch them all. I was able to control myself and only purchase the 7 that I wanted the most. As you can see, I left without most of the reds and browns. Reds aren't really my thing unfortunately.

Without further ado, here are the swatches:
(in no particular order)

Urban Night

Urban Night is what I would call  fantastic eggplant purple. It's a medium purple. It's not too light but there is definitely no mistaking this for black. It's a gorgeous creme that was completely opaque in two coats. This is super close to Orly 'Plum Noir', which I do not own so I can't do a comparison swatch. I know this isn't the most unique color but it's so beautiful in person.


Traffic Jam

Traffic Jam is a bright raspberry creme. It leans a little more red on my skin tone. This was hard to photograph as far as color goes. The formula was a little more runny than some of the other polishes in this collection. It wasn't terrible though.

CG In The City

CG In The City is a lovely glitter polish. With three coats this is opaque and has a smooth texture. I would consider this micro-glitter. The glitter pieces are all of the same size and small. The glitter varies from purple, silver and pink which is suspended in a clear base. In my opinion this is unique, I don't have another glitter that looks like this.


Westside Warrior

Westside Warrior is a gorgeous medium green. This totally reminds me of camo/army green with yellow undertones. This is almost a one coater as well! It's completely opaque in two coats and the formula is lovely. This is definitely one of my new favorites. I couldn't wait to finish the swatches so I could wear this as a mani! I'm completely in love. If you are into greens, pick this one up!

Skyscraper

Skyscraper is silver glitter that is suspended in a light blue base. As the coats are applied the base becomes a medium blue. This is absolutely gorgeous, and deserves much more attention than the three photos I gave it. This is my favorite from the collection (with Westside Warrior right behind it). This is super flattering and I think it would look great on any skin tone. At first I thought this would be too close to Dorothy Who but they are completely different. Just like CG In The City the texture on this is smooth.

Concrete Catwalk

Concrete Catwalk is the one polish from this collection that no matter where I saw it swatched I had a complete lemming for. It's a deep gray creme polish. On my skin tone I'm not 100% crazy about it (but, after Skyscraper it had a lot to live up to). This is much darker than Recycle. I'm planning on reswatching this one eventually. I loved it too much in other swatches to give up on it so soon. (I'm headed to Miami in two weeks, maybe a tan will help!)

Midtown Magic

Midtown Magic is a dark brown polish with gold and rust colored micro shimmer, depending on how the light hits it. This really is magic. I wasn't sure how I would feel about it, but once on the nail it's definitely something special. I don't have anything like this.

Overall I'm super happy with the polishes. My favorite is Skyscraper. I tried to list them all in an order but I couldn't leave some at the end of the list, they are all stunning in person. I can't wait for the fall to finally get here. I feel bad wearing my fall colors so soon when I have so many summer colors that haven't been worn.

My next post will be OPI's DS Signature, so stay tuned!