My Picks from Rimmel Cocktail Colour

When I first saw photos of Rimmel's new Cocktail Colour limited edition mini polishes, I wrote them off as looking too similar to two of last year's collections from Sally Hansen and Color Club.  Pretty, but probably dupes for things I already have.  The claim that they're one-coaters is obvious nonsense too, since they're decidedly sheer in the bottle.  Still, I'm a sucker for tiny things.  Miniatures have been an off-and-on hobby for me for about as long as nail polish has....basically my whole life.  I was drawn to the cute little bottles.  I also really like doing comparisons and seeing how my dupe hunches play out.  I bought Baby Bellini first, then went back soon after for Cutie Colada and Apple Berry Smoothie.  Some of my suspicions about dupes were correct and some were way off.  You can see the comparisons at the bottom of the post.  Swatches first...


Apple Berry Smoothie has a sheer blue base with blue-to-purple duochrome fleck shimmer.

Far from the one-coat claim, this is three coats and still sheer in bright light.  It's gorgeous!  In person there's a sudden shift to purple that my camera wouldn't really show.  It's more obvious in person.

I had to mattify it, of course....

The slight bubbling I had (gotta love summer humidity) is more visible when it's mattified, but the purple shift is more obvious too...unless you're my camera.

Baby Bellini has a sheer purple base and fuchsia-to-gold duochrome flecks.

Three coats for this one too, but the darker base makes it pretty close to opaque.  Again, my camera just doesn't show the shift well.  Shame, because Baby Bellini is stunning!  It's got the boldest shift of the three shades I tried and the result is deep and interesting.

I mattified Baby Bellini too.

Finally, visible evidence of the shift!  Ta-da!

Cutie Colada's base is a very sheer bright green and the flecks shift green-to-blue.

over a nude base, except index nail

I don't think ANY number of coats of Cutie Colada would be opaque.  I tried five coats of it on its own on my index and still had very visible nail line on that nail.  Even over a nude base, it still takes three coats.  Still, it's a very cool color and, again, has more of a blue shift than my camera admits.

over a nude base, except index nail

Bet you can guess what's next!  Mattified, of course...

You can see the blue better this way, also much more obvious in person.

Aaaand the comparisons....


Apple Berry Smoothie reminds me a bit of OPI Swimsuit...Nailed It! or Sally Hansen Freeze!, but it's lighter and not as dense and foil-y, so I didn't compare them.

Apple Berry Smoothie vs Sally Hansen Tender Teal (on middle)

It's very close to Tender Teal, but the flecks in that are a bit bigger.


Baby Bellini reminded me of two other shades.

I-OPI Grape...Set...Match * M-Baby Bellini
R-Sally Hansen All Aglow * P-Baby Bellini

It's essentially a dupe for All Aglow, but Grape...Set...Match is deeper and more complex, with a much stronger shift and smaller flecks.


I couldn't find a dupe for Cutie Colada in my collection!

I-Revlon Appletini Fizz (over nude base) * M-Cutie Colada (over nude base)
R-Color Club Fly With Me  * P-Cutie Colada (over nude base)

As you can see, they're not even kinda close!


Bottom Line:  Of the three shades I bought, Cutie Colada is the only unique one.  The other two are close to previous LE's though, so if you missed them this is your chance!  They're all sheer, but Cutie Colada never builds to opacity like the others.  Still, they're very pretty and I'd recommend all three if you don't have dupes.


Normally I tease the next post here...but I'm not sure what it'll be yet so...um....follow us on Tumblr maybe?