Revlon Gold Coin + Orly Halo

Yaaaaay, I am free! My cast was originally supposed to come off four weeks ago, but my wrist was definitely not healed enough at that point, so I got a new one. Watch out for those skateboarders, y'all. I still have a bit of trouble with my right knee. :|

Picking up where I left off, here's Orly Halo. It's an awesome, flashy metallic glitter from the Naughty or Nice Collection that was released last winter. When I tested this on a single nail, I realized it's sheer as hell, so I opted to layer it over a cool gold foil: Revlon Gold Coin. I know I said I wasn't going to buy Gold Coin, but I didn't! I discovered it in my mom's stash. Apparently we both have weaknesses for gold and copper. :'D

Luckily, Gold Coin is really freaking opaque, so I only needed to use one coat for a base. Here it is with 3 coats of Halo on top. I did use top coat, but Halo is surprisingly smooth on its own.

And in the sun:

Yay! Sparkly metallic glittery awesomeness. This is a pretty flashy manicure, and I got several compliments on it from people, which was nice. Let's take a closer look:

Ok, well, you can't really see that much because it's so busy...but it's comprised of small silver hexes mixed with tiny cool gold glitters, and flecks of Gold Coin peeking out through the glitter. I should also note that the wear on this mani was great. 5 days, still super blingy, no chips or tipwear.

As far as dupes go, I can't think of any that I would consider exact, but OPI Spark de Triomphe seems pretty close. I think it has a veeeeery slight greenish tinge, but the glitter composition seems similar. I actually bought Halo to kill my Spark de Triomphe lemming, and it's close enough to suit my purposes.

Have you tried Halo, or any of the other Holiday Orlys? What did you think?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you're having a great week!

Orly Mash-Up Collection

Hey y'all! I am not 100% back yet, that should hopefully be happening in a week or 2 turns out I will need a cast until May at the earliest, but in the meantime I wanted to let you know about a new collection I spotted at the nail supply today. I have heard absolutely nothing about this collection, but a cursory Google search led me to some press releases from March, and that's about it. The colors are as follows:

Sparkling Garbage: light green scattered holo
Harmonious Mess: a very light, blue-toned lavender creme
Choreographed Chaos: a bright, Barbie-esque neon pink with subtle cool-toned pink shimmer (did not photograph accurately, since it is neon)
Mayhem Mentality: neon orange, no shimmer (also did not photograph accurately, damn neons)
Beautiful Disaster: warm purple shimmer, zzzzzZZZZzzzz
Pretty-Ugly: IMO the prettiest one of the collection, a light aqua with icy blue shimmer

I didn't buy any of them because they're not really my thing, but I did attempt to take some bottle shots on the sly.

L,R: Sparkling Garbage, Harmonious Mess

L,R: Choreographed Chaos, Mayhem Mentality

L,R: Beautiful Disaster, Pretty-Ugly

I took some closer-up pictures of Sparkling Garbage, since that's by far the most unique color. Sorry they are weird and blurry, LOL. For some reason it didn't occur to me to put down the Essie bottle I was holding before attempting to photograph the Orly. And I was also thinking, "AHHH HURRY UP DON'T GET YOURSELF YELLED AT ASDFGHJHGFDS" ....yeah.

The rainbow was definitely stronger IRL. It's an interesting effect. Sparkling Garbage is a pretty silly name though.

What do you think? Anything you might be interested in?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and thank you so much for sticking with me even though I haven't posted in a long time!

Orly Halley's Comet

Orly Halley's Comet was released in Fall 2010 with the Cosmic FX collection. I've already shown you Galaxy Girl and Lunar Eclipse, and this is the last one I picked up. Like Galaxy Girl and Lunar Eclipse, I am smitten with this color, even if it is not the most unique. Here it is in the shade. 3 coats, plus top coat.

Yeah, 3 coats means it's pretty sheer, but because of the sheer base, you can see the shimmer very clearly. In indirect light:

Because the base is blue, the shimmer looks mostly greenish, but it is actually gold most of the time. I think it counts as a glass-fleck, but because the shimmer is so dense, it has foil-y qualities to it as well. In the sun:

This is one of my all-time favorite colors for pedicures. I love blues and teals on toes, especially in the summer, but it's a great pick-me-up in the middle of a particularly dreary winter.

As much as I love this color, I will freely admit that it is not unique. There are many versions available, including Zoya Charla (which I believe was the original), OPI Catch Me In Your Net (discontinued), Essence Choose Me!, and probably a few others that I can't think of right now.

How do you feel about these types of finishes and colors? Do you have a preference for color families when doing pedicures versus manicures?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great week!

Purple & Gold Half-Moons

I wound up wearing Orly Luxe for a few days, and thought I'd try a half-moon mani. I figured, eh, I was planning to take it off anyway, so if I royally screw this up, no big deal. It wound up being...not as bad as I expected! I used China Glaze VIII for the tips.

VIII is a super opaque eggplant creme. It's nearly opaque in one coat, but the formula makes it tricky. It's globby and runny and a tad bit streaky, so I definitely needed that second coat to even things out. It was released in Fall 2007 with the X collection (intended to celebrate China Glaze's tenth anniversary, if memory serves).

I do love purple and gold together, but my half-moons could use some work. I used reinforcement labels, but I had some difficulty getting them to stick to my nails properly. In certain spots, VIII leaked under the labels, and in other areas, it smeared as I tried to remove the labels. Well, practice makes perfect right?

Have you ever attempted a half-moon manicure? Or any other sort of nail art? How'd that go down?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you're having a great week!

Orly Luxe

Orly Luxe, like Shine, was released as part of the Foil FX collection. There is a third color in the collection, a rose gold foil called Rage, but I don't like rose gold at all, so I didn't bother with that one. This is 2 coats of Luxe, no top coat, in the shade.

I prefer Luxe to Shine because of the opacity. It does need 2 coats for full opacity, but if I'm in a rush I can get away with one coat. Here it is in the sunlight:

It's a nice gold; not too cool and not too warm, so it should be flattering to many different skin tones.

I don't feel that this polish is terribly unique, but can't really think of any dupes off the top of my head either. I think Revlon Gold Coin is similar, but not quite the same.

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great week!

Orly Shine

Orly Shine was released as part of the Foil FX collection for Spring 2010. It's a plain and simple silver foil, but it's a good one. 2 coats, no top coat.

Apparently the Foil FX polishes were supposed to emulate the look of Minx, and Orly failed miserably in that respect, but Shine is quite pretty. And unlike China Glaze Swing Baby, Shine is completely opaque at 2 coats!

I'm pretty sure there are tons of dupes for this one out there. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Celeb City, Zoya Trixie are among them.

Thanks for looking and commenting, and to those of you celebrating Eid today, Eid Mubarak!!

Orly Galaxy Girl

Orly Galaxy Girl is from the Fall 2010 Cosmic FX collection. It consists of blue-magenta shifting glass-flecks in a murky purple base. It kind of reminds me of a blackened bruise, but in an awesome way. This is what it looks like most of the time:

As you can see, those blue flecks are super prominent, but in order for that to work, the base has to be pretty sheer. I used 3 coats, plus top coat. The texture of these flecks is so cool! In indirect light:

That pink shift in the bottle does show up on the nail at an angle, but like the purple shift in Lunar Eclipse, I was on the verge of flipping tables trying to capture it. I do have this super awkward shot that I took a while back though. That shimmerrrrr.

Here's a closer look:

I believe there are several dupes for Galaxy Girl. There's Models Own Purple Blue, MAC Formidable!, and Claire's also had a version of this a while back, called Evil Queen, though that one's a bit different. Personally, I prefer Orly's brush and formula, but alternatives are always nice!

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you're having a great week!

Orly Lunar Eclipse

Orly Lunar Eclipse was released with the Cosmic FX collection from Fall 2010. It's a blue foil-y glass fleck in a blue jelly base, with a purple shift. That purple shift had me ready to hulk smash everything! I could not capture it for the life of me. But it's there, I promise, haha. It's not like those polishes that look duochrome-y in the bottle and then completely fall flat on the nail! This is 2 coats, with top coat.

It's so vivid! I love it. This was one of my favorites when it came out, and I wore it a TON that winter, but for the last year-ish I haven't reached for it much. I don't know why, because every time I use it for a mani or pedi I remember how awesome it is. I especially love it in the shade.

I think Lunar Eclipse has a dupe in Sally Hansen HD Laser, but Laser is very sheer. Orly Stone Cold is similar, but doesn't have the purple shift, and the shimmer is also different- those are more like small blue flakes of shimmer. Sparitual and Orly are made by the same company, so Lunar Eclipse is also sold in Sparitual form as the color Meditate on This. I don't think the Cosmic FX colors are easy to come by in person anymore (unless your local Ulta has a bunch of leftover stock), but the Sparitual version is available at Sephora, and is the same price as Cosmic FX and Mineral FX polish.

Thanks for looking and commenting, and HAPPY FRIDAY!