Orly Au Champagne and Little Bird

This was really the only one from Orly's winter collection that I really wanted. I love white polish that looks like snow, and from swatches I could tell this one fit perfectly. Here it is at three thin coats with not top coat. Notice how it dries to a satin-matte finish. Beautiful!

Orly - Au Champagne

I loved how it looked with the satin finish, but because I had stuff to get done, I needed it to dry quickly so I put a coat of Seche Vite on top of it. Here is how it looks shiny:

I really don't know which way I prefer. It's gorgeous both ways! In a day or two I'll probably end up putting China Glaze Snow Globe over it.

And here is a bonus picture of another pet: my little feather-baby named simply Little Bird or LB for short. I took this picture because I thought it was a hoot that Neiman Marcus sent one little bottle of nail polish (Nars Purple Rain) in this big ol' box.  LB is extremely curious (doesn't he look like he's reading the label?  haha) and destructive, so most likely he tore right into the box shortly after this picture.

Little Bird (white-bellied Caique)

Femme Couture Lip Luster - Sahara Rose

I don't know what possessed me to write this post, except for the fact that this product seems to be pretty dang awesome. I never buy makeup... because I hardly ever even wear makeup... EVER.

I was in my local Sally Beauty Supply (looking for nail polish, of course!) when I came across this display of lip glosses and this one caught my eye: Femme Couture Lip Luster in Sahara Rose. It looked like Orly Galaxy Girl in lip gloss form!  The bottle shows the duochrome pretty well, though it's not as prominent when it's on.

Femme Couture Lip Luster - Sahara Rose

This is how is normally looks: brownish-raisin color base with teal sparkle.

Here's an alternate shot to show the pink/orange/gold side of the duochrome:

It's actually a pretty nice, light lip gloss that's not sticky or gritty in the least.  It has a very sweet scent and lightly sweet flavor.  I'm not sure how long it will last, but I'm pretty pleased with it.  I love the oddball teal sparkle that shows most of the time.

Obviously I don't normally photograph makeup, so the pics aren't that great (also, I ran out of nice natural light)...  I'll work on it for next time, haha.

Now after getting them home I see the differences in the base colors, but the duochrome sparkle seems to be very similar. Here is an old, blurry (bad) pic of Orly Galaxy Girl. I plan on re-swatching this one to compare it to the Purple Blue duochrome from the Model's Own Beetlejuice collection soon.

Orly - Galaxy Girl

What do you think?  Have you tried any of these Femme Couture Lip Luster glosses before?  I'm going to have to go back and see if there are any other cool duochromes in that display!

OPI The Show Must Go On and Orly Rock It Swatches

Today I have a couple of pink/red/orange duochromes for you. I like these for fall, but they seem like they'd be fitting for summer as well. I put Orly Rock It on today and it reminded me I had pics of OPI The Show Must Go On to post as well. Both of these seem to have lots of pink/red/orange duochrome foil flecks in them but with different base colors.

The first up is OPI The Show Must Go On.

OPI - The Show Must Go On

The duochrome in this one is quite strong and beautiful. While I'm not much a pink fan, I very much enjoy this one.


Next is Orly Rock It from their current fall collection:

Orly - Rock It

The duochrome in this is much less pronounced and (unfortunately) is a lot harder to catch. I love the orange end of the spectrum in this one, but it can only be seen at certain angles. Nevertheless, it is still gorgeous. A beautiful rich dark magenta that turns crimson and a kind of burnt orange.

I know sometimes (a lot of times?) I forget to comment on application. Honestly, it's probably because I don't much care how hard it is to put on. If I love a color enough, I'll go through hell and back to have it on my nails. I'll try to include the number of coats and a little comment on application if I remember from now on though. These were both two coats and had very easy, smooth application. Removal is a slight pain just because of all the sparkly particles.

First Snow! (Orly Pixie Dust and Nubar White Polka Dot)

I can't believe it! It actually was SNOWING here in Pine, AZ on October 7th! Only briefly, and it didn't stick, but still... FIRST SNOW OF THE SEASON! I had on Orly Pixie Dust because it was rainy and stormy, so I just added a coat each of Confetti Tiara and Nubar White Polka Dot over it. Check out my snow nails - I love them!!

Orly Pixie Dust w/ Confetti Tiara and Nubar White Polka Dot

I've seen a few swatches of Nubar White Polka Dot (which, by the way, is the same formula as the Painted Nail Moon drops) over dark colors, and it looks awesome. But I'm really in love with it over a stormy grey! It has the most beautiful pearly, silvery white glitter hexagons as well as smaller while pearl and iridescent glitters. Honestly, one of my favorite glitters that I own (and I have a LOT).

And for good measure, here is Orly Pixie Dust by itself:

Black Comparison and a New Way of Mattify-ing

I love black nail polish... I don't know what it is, but it looks so classy in an edgy sort of way, and I just love it. So here are two of my black polishes swatched normally with not top coat, just glossy all on their own. On my index and middle is Orly Liquid Vinyl, and on my ring and pinky is China Glaze Liquid Leather.


The Orly is more pitch black than the ChG, which is much more of a charcoal jelly that builds to a black in two coats. Honestly, I CAN tell the difference in person, but I doubt anyone else would notice. The ChG looks deeper, like you're looking into a black pool, while the Orly is darker and looks more like a shiny black surface like patent leather or vinyl.

Now here is my new way of mattify-ing polishes. Honestly, I never got into the matte trend much, but I like it sometimes. Usually I'll take an existing color and use ChG Matte Magic over it, but I hate how it always seems to lighten the color or make it cloudy looking. I got this new buffing block that feels like the buffing surface is just the foam, and not a separate piece of "sandpaper" like on some. I just lightly buffed the topcoat (in this case, Seche Vite) once it had dried in long sweeping motions. Here is the result:


I REALLY like how it comes out. Yeah, it doesn't come out too matte - more like a satin finish, but I think I prefer that anyway - and it shows a bit of buffing stroke lines, but the best part is the lack of cloudiness! I've been considering getting Illamasqua Scorn because of how gorgeously dark it is for being a matte (or satin) black, but I may have found a new way to satisfy the craving.

Here is a picture of the buffing block I used:



What do you think of this way of mattify-ing a polish? Have you ever tried it before? Do you have a favorite matte topcoat?

Orly Wild Wisteria Swatch

I put Orly Wild Wisteria on so I could try my new Sally Hansen Turquoise Opal over it(most awesome duochrome EVER, by the way... pics soon!), but once I put it on that one finger, I just had to put it on the rest. This, to me, seems like a winter color, though it was released in their spring collection. It's also a dupe for OPI's Sapphire in the Snow.

Orly Wild Wisteria

Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?? I love this dark blue/purple super-shiny creme. It only took two coats (barely even needs the second coat) and applied very smoothly and evenly. I suppose it can sometimes have that "almost-black" look to it, but only in really low lighting.

I'm thinking of stamping some snowflakes on this one to make it a little more festive... what do you think?

CG White-Kwik-Silver and Orly Lunar Eclipse

Recently I got a couple things from Piff's sale on Polish or Perish, and figured I'd swatch and review them, since I really liked both.

China Glaze White-Kwik-Silvr

The first up is China Glaze White-Kwik-Silvr, and I have to say it's gorgeous. I hesitated to get this one since I just recently bought Frosty (from the 2010 winter collection), but I'm glad I got it. It is, however, NOT big 3 free, and it shows in the awesome formula. It's nice and thin and very easy to apply, and even though it doesn't get completely opaque in three coats, it still looks so clean and nice.

Since I had Frosty to compare it with, I decided to do some side-by-side swatches.

2 coats Frosty, 3 coats White-Kwik-Silvr

This is two coats of Frosty on my index and middle finger, and three coats of White-Kwik-Silvr on my ring and pinkie. They look very similar at this point, but the difference came out when I added one more coat.

3 coats Frosty, 4 coats White-Kwik-Silvr

This picture shows the opacity differences. Frosty is completely opaque at three coats, while White-Kwik-Silver still has VNL at four coats. Also, you can see in this picture that Frosty has a more white/silver shimmer to it, while White-Kwik-Silvr has a light gold shimmer, though both have a clean white base color. Frosty was a bit more thick, but still nice. If you couldn't find White-Kwik-Silvr, Frosty is probably worth picking up! Both are awesome!

Orly Lunar Eclipse

The second polish I got was Orly Lunar Eclipse from the Cosmic FX collection. It's such a bright electric blue, and it has awesome royal blue/purple flashes at certain angles. You can kind of see it in the next photo:

I'm so happy I got these when I had the chance! Thanks, Piff!