A little about me: I do all my swatching at a desk in my main bedroom, and you know, instead of making the entire desk space usable or a place I can work at for my day job, I instead choose to fill it up with all of the nail polish shades I still have to swatch. I just really cram as many bottles onto it as I can and slowly work through them all, while continuously adding more. I don’t know why you’re looking at me like that, it’s obviously a good system and use of space.
A constant part of that insanity is always many beautiful Mooncat collections. They’re all just WAITING for their moment, and it’s about time I work on swatching them – both for the gorgeous nail polishes themselves, and for that fruitless hope of more future desk space.
So let’s work towards that goal. Let’s open up some SPACE. This first set we’re looking at today is called the ‘Midnight Rodeo’ collection, and it released last year in August. It features 10 shades all inspired by the colors of the desert – and in my opinion it truly nails that color story.
Of course, these are available on the Mooncat website. On into the swatches!
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We start out our journey with ‘Moonrise’. This shade is a gorgeous cooler toned pink jelly base filled with a bright blue shimmer, as well as scattered holographic sparkles. It’s looking almost lavender like on the nails, because of that cool blue shimmer.
Having a jelly base, it’s going to be a touch sheer, so I did build it up with 3 thinner coats. Overall it’s opaque after those 3 coats, and they painted on smoothly. That shimmer just gives it a glow on the nails, and it’s the perfect way to start out this set.
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We continue with our next lighter shade in ‘Sand Viper’. And as you can imagine, it’s sandy. But it is also more of a rosy pinky-beige jelly base, filled with a warm copper orange shimmer. So maybe like the dawn sun shining on the sand dunes.
Since this was another jelly, it is a touch more sheer, especially with such a light colored base. But I was still able to build it up to full opacity with 3 thin coats. I did prefer to go thinner on application, as it keeps it from being too thick, and the coats dry more quickly.
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Now it’s time to get into some BOLD COLORS, and we’re starting with a little complementary trio. First we have ‘Whiskey Sunrise’. This one is a warm red shimmer shade. It’s a shifty one, going from that bright orange all the way over to a green apple shade.
This one is more of a pigmented shimmer formula, so I got it easily opaque in just 2 coats. It’s so smooth, and I had no issues with brushstrokes.
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Next is ‘Bootlegger’ and it can look very similar to ‘Whiskey Sunrise’ in the bottle. But this one is a smoother, more metallic formula against ‘Whiskey Sunrise’s shimmer formula. It’s deeper, and it pulls more coppery rather than red. It has that same shifty quality, going from a warm copper over to an almost olive toned gold.
This was another pigmented formula and was opaque in just 2 coats. Since it is a smoother metallic formula, I did notice just a few brushstrokes, so I recommend just painting as straight as you can.
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And rounding out our coppery trio, we have ‘Dark Horse’, the deeper cousin to ‘Bootlegger’ above. This one is a deep brown base filled with a warm coppery-red shimmer.
This one is incredibly pigmented, being almost opaque in just 1 coat. I always do 2 coats, and that 2nd one just builds up that color more. It’s so smooth and it’s going to be gorgeous for any fall nail looks.
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‘Outlaw Country’ is an almost smoky silver metallic filled with even more silver shimmer running through. It’s truly a sparkle bomb and almost glows on the nails.
This one is again insanely pigmented, and is practically opaque in just 1 coat. It paints on so evenly, and it’s just stunning on the nails. If you’ve been needing a silver metallic, this is perfect.
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This next one is winning the award of “I just love to stare at it on my nails”. This is called ‘Midnight Rider’ and that name is so fitting, giving off the vibes of a deep night sky stretching out in front of you. It’s a gorgeous deep shimmery navy blue filled with scattered holographic sparkles.
This one did surprise me a touch, being more like a dense shimmer inside of a clear jelly base, so it more sheer and uneven on the 1st coat than I expected. But the 2nd coat comes in and really brings that shade to life, and to full opacity almost magically.
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And to round this collection, we now have our trio of flakey shades.
First up we have ‘Prickly Pear’, and of course this was one of my favorites. This starts with a warm, brighter, almost olive toned green jelly base that’s then filled with so many multichrome flakes. I’m a sucker for any sort of green, especially a tone like this.
Again, because of that jelly base, it is a touch sheer on the 1st coat, but I found it built up well and was opaque in just 2 coats. Depending on your preferences and application, you might want a 3rd to further build up that base color, but since it dries with a matte finish I found those coats do dry more quickly to help with time.
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Another of my favorite shades of the bunch, we have ‘When the Devil Strikes’. This is a black jelly base filled with golden flakes all throughout. The contrast of those golden flakes against that deep base, it’s just so beautiful.
Though it is a black color, it’s still a touch sheer with a jelly base (the same jelly base that allows those flakes to layer up and peek through). It built up well with 2 coats, but same as ‘Prickly Pear’ above, depending on your application and preferences, you might want a 3rd to further build up that color. It’s another matte formula, so those coats dry more quickly on the nails. And just look at that FINISH. STUNNING.
When the Devil Strikes – Live Swatch
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Last but certainly not least, we have a topper. This is ‘Fool’s Gold’ (a perfect name, it automatically reminds me of those little vials of gold flakes filled with water you could buy at tourist traps).
I have this as one coat over ‘Dark Horse’ and you can see the flakes pick up well and are perfect for a scattered appearance that adds sparkle to any polish while still letting the base show through. This does dry with a matte finish, and it’ll mattify any base color you put it over. I do love the matte finish, but of course if you want that shine back a top coat will have you covered.
Fool’s Gold (over Dark Horse) – Live Swatch
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And that’s the set! I always love a full Mooncat theme, and all of these shades really felt like they hit that “Western” vibe. They worked all so well together, and I just feel like saying “howdy, partner” as I paint them on.
Overall all of the formulas were opaque in 2-3 coats. They were smooth to paint on, and so easy to control. I had no complaints, and I could recommend any of these shades! Have you purchased from Mooncat before? Are you interested in any of these shades?
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Upcoming Posts
Glam Polish The Plastics collection • Glam Polish Wish collection • Ella Mila Jeweled Elegance 10th Birthday collection • Sally Hansen x Hersey Kisses collection
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