Orly: Fowl Play

It’s almost Christmas? Where did December go, seriously?! I hope you all are looking forward to relaxing over the holiday. I’m hoping we get some snow in Chicago sometime soon so it feels more like the holidays.

I bet a lot of you have seen this polish on the internet, or maybe even own the OPI original, Merry Midnight. I don’t, so was really interested in this beauty when Orly’s Birds of a Feather collection was released this fall. I didn’t snatch it up then, but did recently, and love it pieces.

Gorgeous plum base filled with micro-glitter and flakies!

Fowl Play is truly gorgeous, even if it is a dupe of another polish. The base is a jelly-ish purple plum and the polish is completely packed with blue and silver micro-glitter and copper and red flakies. The flakies flash green in the bottle (like in my bottle picture above) but that doesn’t seem to translate to the nail. Maybe in the sunlight, but it’s been pretty rainy here recently. I do wish the purple base color was a touch brighter, but overall I really have loved this manicure. There’s a lot going on within the polish, but it somehow works together perfectly.

Easy application

The formula of this polish is a bit sheer and thin, but builds up nicely with three coats. I also had no issues with drying time either. I like how the glitter and flakies don’t end up getting stuck anywhere (like at the base of the nail) and spread out and apply nicely and evenly. I’ve also got good wear time on this manicure!

Where to Buy: Ulta / Online Retailers / Sally’s Beauty  / $ 6 – $ 7

Do you own Fowl Play? Or Merry Midnight? Did you snatch this unique polish up right away? Do you want to add it to your collection? It’s gorgeous and very festive for the holidays! 

– Liz

Orly: Oh Cabana Boy

This is another summer favorite of mine. It’s very summer-y. This is probably the most summer-y color that I own. It’s pink. It’s neon. It’s loud. Not all things I normally like, but this polish is spot on. This is a great manicure AND pedicure color, for sure.

The perfect neon hot pink!

Oh Cabana Boy is a hot, pink. It’s a neon, so it dries matte. It’s very cool toned, which I really like. It’s not too light or dark, a nice medium base color. It also has this kind of special violet / slightly fushica flash that comes out at certain angles. It has a slight shimmer finish that makes this polish really pretty and less intense. This color is super fun and playful which makes it sexy and perfect for summer. Even though this polish has a lot going on, something about it is SO flattering and wearable. It’s one of my favorites.

Violet flash, I see you

The formula on this polish is good, I’ve never had an issue with it. I used two coats and application was smooth and easy. It also wears decently, which for me is a rarity.

Where to Buy: Online Retailers / Amazon/ Sally’s Beauty / $ 5 – $ 7

Do you own Oh Cabana Boy? Did I just convince you that you need it? Or is it too much for your taste? I swear if you try it, you’ll like it.

I’m really glad today is over,

– Liz

Orly: Royal Navy

When I first bought this polish last year for, I was so excited to wear it. It’s a beautiful, vibrant, yet deep blue with aqua micro-shimmer. I loved the combination of blues, but in the end it disappointed me. The aqua micro-shimmer wasn’t apparent enough AT ALL. Such a bummer.

But recently I read a blog post somewhere about how someone let the polish stand upside down for a few days to let the micro-shimmer fall to the top of the bottle, and how it allowed for much more micro-shimmer to be dispersed while applying the polish. It worked out super well! Why didn’t I think of that?

Vibrant, but not too bright, blue with aqua shimmer

As I mentioned, this polish is super saturated and vibrant but it’s bright. It’s not at all in neon territory, but it still packs a punch in terms of being noticeably blue. I let my bottle sit upside for awhile, and when I dipped my brush in during application I was thrilled with all the micro-shimmer that was readily available. The two tones of blue look awesome together. In the sun, it glows.

Look at all the micro-shimmer on index finger!

I had no issues at all with formula and application (after the trick I learned.) The formula is watery, but super pigmented. It’s easy to spread and smooth out on the nail for full coverage in two coats. No complaints here.

Where to Buy: Sally’s Beauty Supply / Online Retailers / $ 5 – $ 6

This polish is overall unique in general, and to my collection. I love the aqua shimmer, it’s so pretty. For me, this is a must have for anyone who loves to wear non-traditional colors (it’s perfect for summer!) or blue lovers. I’m so glad I was able to give this polish a second chance and let it change my mind.

So, do you like this blue polish? Do you own Royal Navy? Or have you wanted to pick it up?

– Liz

Orly: Lemonade

Sunny yellow!

First off…. IT’S OUR ONE YEAR BLOGIVERSARY! Thanks so much to all of our readers! I can’t believe it’s been a whole year! We’ll be announcing the winners of the giveaway soon. So excited!

And now… back to the polish

Orly’s Lemonade is from the Sweet Collection which came out last year. Out of the entire collection this was the only polish that really grabbed me. Kind of unusual when that happens with a pastel yellow, but I just think this is so cute!

I don’t have any application problems with this one, as you can see it comes out pretty smooth and even. I remember the first coat being a little streaky, so you probably have to work to even it out a little with the second coat. I only used two coats for this mani.

Lemonade is a rather pale yellow compared to others. It’s not golden, shimmery, or bright and electric like the few other yellows in my collection. I think this is such a cute color, although it probably won’t look great on everyone. If your skin tends toward the yellow side already, I’d probably stray away from this one and go for something that’s more golden or orange. It’s definitely a pastel, which isn’t something that appeals to everyone (normally, I’m one of those people, hah!) If you’re looking for a different yellow, however, you may want to give Lemonade a try.

close up!

I got pretty good wear time out of this polish, which has been my general experience with Orly polishes for the most part. This is always something fun and different for me to wear because it’s not what I normally grab when looking at my collection. It instantly makes most outfits cuter and girlier, haha.

Writing out this post makes me wonder what’s going on with Orly lately. I think the last time I bought a new Orly polish was last fall. It seems like their Pin Up Collection this year kind of repeated the Sweet Collection from last year.

Where to Buy: Online retailers

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

-Lauren

Orly: Royal Velvet

Royal Velvet in great sunlight!

This is the other nail polish I got from Orly’s Precious collection for Spring 2011. This is Royal Velvet and I think it’s the showstopper of the collection. It’s a dark blurple, fading from blue to purple depending on the light. It’s kind of reminiscent of RBL Scrangie, only that’s a bit lighter. I knew I had to have this one when I saw it in swatches and in person. Just from the bottle you know it’s going to be gorgeous, and it is.

I used two coats of Royal Velvet and it applies nicely. It kind of catches you off guard at first because the first coat can be rather sheer and unlike the bottle entirely. Just to be safe after seeing that, I made my second coat thicker and it turned out great and looks exactly like the bottle shade.

The dark side

The wear on this was pretty standard, normally I don’t have too many issues with Orly. It looked really good for about a day and a half and then was chipping a lot. The formula was nice aside for the sheer first coat, but it was easy to apply so you can fix that easily. There were a few bubbles, but I’m chalking that one up to old base and top coat that I used. The nasty old base coat and top coat I used (don’t ask me why) may also explain the wear. You really want this one for the color, it’s great. The color is rich and bold (like royal velvet?) and would look good on everyone.

Shimmer shimmer shimmer

I tried to get as many pictures as I could of the changes in color when it’s in the sunlight. It’s so pretty and I absolutely loved wearing it. I say if you get anything from the Precious collection it’s got to be this one. The rest of the colors seem much more pastel-y and traditional spring to me, which can be nice, but over done. I didn’t even pay that much, I think this was on sale at Sally’s for $3. If you love blurples, don’t pass this up.

Where to Buy: Sally’s / Ulta / Online retailers / Drugstores

-Lauren

Orly: Pure Porcelain

 

Pure Porcelain nails!

 

Hi everyone! Happy Mardi Gras from New Orleans! I had a long weekend, but I did manage to pick up new polish, paint my nails, and get some decent pictures amidst all the festivities. I wanted to get to this one right away because it’s new for spring from the Orly Precious collection.

Now I know this isn’t that attention-grabbing, but for some reason as soon as I saw the swatches of this I wanted it. I think I really liked the idea of porcelain nails. This ended up being a really nice, opaque off-white creme. Personally, I liked this polish a lot because it’s not a stark, bright white. It’s almost a really white greige because the color verges on gray and beige while still being obviously off-white/cream colored. I found it pretty flattering for me for something so white on your nails.

This applied well, not too thick or streaky at all, opaque in the first coat. I used 2 coats, couldn’t possibly see the need for more than that. In this second pic I think you get more of the beige/skin-toned aspect of the white in Pure Porcelain. You can kind of see in the bottle as well how it’s kind of a “dirty” white. I don’t really have another white nail polish, but I’m glad I now have one and it’s not too bright or harsh. I think this is a nice spring polish and something you can wear to lighten up an outfit.

Where to Buy: Sally’s / Ulta / Online retailers / $3-7 (these were on promotion for super cheap when I got them this weekend at Sally’s!)

-Lauren

Sales!

Hey everyone! We kind of slacked on reminding you all about the Rescue Beauty Lounge sale yesterday. I hope no one missed it and that there will be another sale soon. Liz and I can’t wait to get the polishes we ordered and post all about them as it’s our first experience with RBL.

I got an e-mail today about 20% off at Beauty.com. That promo lasts all week until Fri. Nov. 5. They have a good selection of a lot of polish brands from Essie and Orly to Nars, Butter London, and Deborah Lippmann. I’m pretty sure they do free shipping at a pretty reasonable minimum order, somewhere between $20 and $30, so if you need to grab other make up items in addition to polish, this is a great time to do it!

 

-Lauren

Orly: Space Cadet

Shadey

Um, OMG. Space Cadet is blowing my mind! I knew this polish was going to be amazing via the blogging I have seen going on about it. And even from the bottle. But literally, when you apply it, gets even MORE amazing. To get this out of the way, the application and formula on this polish was great. I used three coats and it dried really fast which was awesome. When you are first looking at this polish, the colors that come out most are brown and purple.  Mostly purple.

But as you can see in the bottle, there’s like gold in there too, and many of you that have read about Space Cadet know that there is also green in there. The green and yellow/goldish come out more in the sunlight and outdoor lighting. But it’s totally noticeable indoors too, just not the predominate colors that come out. I had read about possible dupes for many of the other polishes from the Cosmic FX’s, but I don’t think there was one for this polish. Which means it’s the most unique one of the group and totally worth the $10 price tag, to me at least. It’s a great “party polish”. I understand it might be too flashy for some people, or inappropriate for office wear, but for the weekend, this polish is great.

I wanted to throw in a picture of this polish not against my brown deck to show you guys some contrast. And I sort of think the green brings out the yellow and green in the polish too. This was the only Cosmic FX I have bought, but Laur has It’s Not Rocket Science, and is going to be blogging about that one this week. So we can see how that one is too. But I am totally in love with this polish, and think Orly did an amazing job with this line. And I LOVE the new black handles!

– Liz

New Orleans Saints manicure

Who Dat nation

Hey everyone! So today is the kick off of the 2010 NFL season starting with Superbowl Champion Saints vs. Vikings. I had to be festive for the occasion so I did a Saints-inspired manicure for the game. Please excuse the chips in the polish, I don’t know what’s going on there. I am really enjoying wearing this, it’s really fun. I tried to get some fleur de lis decals, but am glad I got to experiment with my own combos in a Blackberry mani-inspired way with the flashy thumb.

Here’s what I used:

Thumb: 3 coats of Orly Luxe. I love this super sparkly gold foil. This color is from the Orly Foil FX collection from earlier this year. This polish is perfectly fine in 2 coats, but I wanted to be balanced with the rest of my nails so I did 3. The only downside about this polish is that it’s a pain to get off, but totally worth it anyway at least in my book.

Fingers: 2 coats of any black, mine is OPI Black Onyx, which applies like a dream, and 1 coat of Borghese Cristallo Shimmer, which is a sheer polish made of mostly gold shimmer.

Hope you enjoy! I’m looking forward to many more sports manicures in the near future!

Happy football season,

-Lauren

Orly: Oh Cabana Boy NOTD

Shadey

Fun polish name, right? I have to admit, I have been totally obsessed with this color the past two weeks. Which is slightly weird because, well, look at it. I feel like a lot of us nail polish fanatics would look at this color and want to barf, but I have been totally loving it. I know it is completely barbie, bright, and sparkly but I can’t get enough of it. This is another one of those neon Orly’s I ran into at CVS recently. This bright pink is a neon and dries slightly matte.

It also has a pinkish purpleish micro shimmer that runs through it to make it even more flashy.

purple shimmer

It adds a purple/violet sheen to it at the right angle. I love that. Maybe it has been the heat here in Chicago that has made me want to wear this hot, bright color continually, I’m not sure. This color also looks great with a tan. And even makes you look tanner. I used three coats to get the full effect of this color and full opacity. This color looks even better on toes, as a lot of you are thinking. Can’t get enough of it!

I also wanted to mention that somehow surprisingly my Panda-monium manicure lasted three FULL days without chipping or seriously any tipwear. Which is honestly amazing to me. That never happens. I have switched to Nailtiques forumla 2 as my basecoat recently. One of my best friends uses this one so I decided to give it a go and see what happens. So the combination of formula 2, OPI, and Barielle topcoat seems to be a winner for me.

Til I paint again,

Liz