Dior Nail Polish Rock Coat and Nirvana Review

First, I would like to say that I am very bad at nail reviews- I just am not that coordinated, nor do I have the proper camera or lighting.  Not that I don't buy nail polish, becauese I love it!  Nail polish would be my second biggest thing after eyeshadow.  In fact, I always, always wear polish.  Even when I had to rehab my nails (bad acrylics!  bad!)  I still wore nude polish, rather than nude nails.  So I am going to try my best here, I just thought these were unique enough that I wanted to post about them. 

Dior Rock Coat is a top coat that is applied to give a smoky effect to nail polish. 

For those of you unfamiliar with Dior polishes, I wanted to mention that the square cap does come off like other square caps- Chanel, Butter London, etc. (please take a hint here, NARS!!!), and the brush was recently redesigned.  I personally could almost care less about the brush, as I have used all sorts of nail polish, from 99 cents to 27 dollars, so I can make just about anything work. 

The bottle:

The brush:

The brush is wide and thick, and tapered on the ends.  It is very nice, and easy to get a streak-free application.  It is very similar to the Sally Hansen Pro brush, but just a tad wider.  I have shown here the OPI brush for a comparison:

Now, on to the polish!  I think Dior puts out really strong creme polishes- that is one of their formulas I really like.  I will probably never find better cremes than some of Chanel's, but Dior's are very good. 

The Rock Coat is supposed to be the next big trend, but I really was not that impressed.  Kind of dulls it, and I don't really know who would go for that kind of thing.  I have a lot of dark polishes- blacks, eggplants, browns, and anything in between, but they were made that way. 

It seems like a lot of these trends, I jump on at the first sighting and then my excitement quicky fades when I realise, this is just not my thing.  I think I prefer just plain polish- glitter would be as exciting as I can go.  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love nail art and the like, and I truly admire the talent and creativity of the artists, but I just prefer the plain. 

That being said, the Rock Coat is pretty cool.  The Nirvana goes from teal to a hunter green type of teal- supposed to be a blackened teal, but on my natural nails I am wearing this now, and it is a hunter green with the Rock Coat. But I really like the polish alone as well.

L: Nirvana,  R: Nirvana with Rock Coat

(L: Graphic Berry, R: Graphic Berry with Rock Coat)

Nirvana was just released, as part of the same collection with Rock Coat, and Graphic Berry has been out for some time.  I think Graphic Berry looks cooler with the Rock Coat than Nirvana though- it goes from a berry pink to a black cherry/burgundy shade. 

I tried the Rock Coat over a glitter polish and it darkened it, but it also lost the glitter effect completely- don't care for that at all.  Three thumbs down on that. 

Overall, Rock Coat is a nice formula and it is 'something different'.  

Diorshow Blackout Mascara Review

This mascara is named quite fittingly.  It is most well known for being very black.  It is probably the darkest mascara I have ever used. 

This is the brush:

It dries quickly, and not too much product is dispensed onto the brush.  It definitely gives dramatic lashes!  Here is my before and after:

Wow, what a difference!! 

I used to use this mascara a lot, and in fact this is a brand new tube.  It is a very good mascara.  No flaking or smudging, and the application is pretty even with one use.  But honestly, I do not like it anymore.  I just don't like the crunchy lashes that a most mascaras give me.  I know, it may look great, but the feeling isn't worth it.  Even after using a lash comb I still find myself thinking of rubbing at the lashes to get the excess product off, and that is irritating.  There are many other mascaras I like to use that are more natural looking, although admittedly much less dramatic.  I do like the Diorshow Iconic formula much better for daily use.  I feel like my lashes have an ok length and some curl, so if I had naturally black lashes, I would just need a very simple coat of mascara.  Ah, my lash lot in life!!

If your lashes are already black, you probably would not need this heavy of a mascara.  It is great for anyone with light, thin, short, or sparse lashes though, which probably is the majority of us!! 

Overall, this is a highly effective mascara and I would definitely recommend it.