Orly Royal Navy

Early today I was cleaning pictures out of my Daily Varnish folder and ran across this macro shot of Royal Navy from probably a year ago. I completely forgot how gorgeous Royal Navy is! When it came time to do my nails the choice was obvious. I needed to revisit Royal Navy!

This polish was originally released back in 2010 as part of Orly’s In the Navy release. It wasn’t really a collection….the display contained 2 repromotes (Star Spangled and White Tips) along with Royal Navy, a new release at the time.

Royal Navy is a cobalt blue jelly packed with aqua shimmer. The shimmer settles at the bottom of the bottle so you have to shake the bottle to death before using it but the result is totally worth it!

Because this is a jelly I did use 3 coats and there was still a visible nail line in bright light. That doesn’t really bother me.

As this polish dries it is a bit dull. A shiny top coat is definitely required! I used Rush 60 Seconds in my swatches. A word of advice: don’t use Seche Vite. It causes this polish to shrink. Badly. 

Honestly, if you are a fan of blue nail polish at all this is a must have. It is part of Orly’s permanent collection and easy to find.

Below the jump there are a slew of swatches including pictures of this polish in the sun. Completely gorgeous!

Alli

Orly High on Hope ( + JulieG Secret Treasure)

Sometimes I get so wrapped up in new polish releases and the latest trends I forget why I fell in love with nail polish in the first place. While OPI I’m Not Really a Waitress changed my perspective on nail polish, what really made me fall in love with nail polish was dark purple polishes. I have an obscene number of dark purple polishes but when I saw Orly had one in their Spring 2013 Hope & Freedom Fest collection I just had to have it.

As it turns out High on Hope is a rather complicated nail polish. The base is a grayish blue jelly and it is packed with pink shimmer that in certain lights has a bit of a duo chrome effect. All that mixed together gives the polish an overall purple look that is right up my alley.

Because of the jelly base I did need three coats to get full opacity. Otherwise the formula is fantastic.

As much as I liked High on Hope on its own y’all know me! I had to add something a little extra. I used 2 coats of JulieG Secret Treasure to add an accent nail. I was a little worried the colors would look strange together but as it turned out….I loved it!

There are additional swatches of High on Hope below the jump (including some shots were you can really see the duo chrome) plus watches of my manicure with Secret Treasure.

Orly Boho Bonnet (+ a gold leaf manicure)

As a brand Orly has been off my radar for the past year or so. None of their 2012 collections really caught my eye. But when the promo images for their spring 2013 Hope & Freedom Fest collection came out I knew I had to have a least a few.

Boho Bonnet is a dusty light blue creme. It’s a lovely color that reminds me of Orly Pixie Dust and OPI I Don’t Give a Rotterdam minus the shimmer. According to Orly the inspiration for this color was the blue California sky. Believe it or not it does remind me of a hazy California day.

The formula is a bit on the thin side. I used 3 coats in my swatches.

For some reason this polish just didn’t mesh well with my skintone. I really loved the color of this polish so I didn’t want to just take the polish off. Instead I decided to do a gold leaf manicure. For most of the nails I just did a DIY Gold Flake Top Coat. But on the ring finger I applied larger pieces of gold leaf (well…actually copper leaf). It had an interesting look to it but I’m still not entirely sold. There are swatches of that manicure, along with additional swatches of Boho Bonnet, below the jump.

Orly Pixie Dust (+ my snow day manicure!)

So…it snowed. Sort of.

Here in good old Charlotte, NC a flake of snow that has no chance of sticking to the ground causes mass panic. After living in the Midwest for several years (and living through a legitimate blizzard and several snow emergencies) my love for snow is a thing of the past. But, that didn’t stop me for reaching for my favorite nail polish that reminds me of a snowy day; Orly Pixie Dust.

From Orly’s Fall 2009 Once Upon a Time collection, Pixie Dust is a dusty steel grayish blue with glass fleck glitter. It really does remind me of a snowy day in Ohio. The color is just gorgeous and quite unique. The base color is similar to OPI I Don’t Give a Rotterdam but the shimmer is more similar to OPI I Have a Herring Problem. The closest dupe I could come up with is butter LONDON Lady Muck.

The formula has a of a jelly feel to it so it’s a bit on the thin side. I used 4 coats in my swatches.

To give my manicure an even more icy feel I topped it with NYC Starry Silver. The result was lovely. Along with additional swatches of Pixie Dust there are photos of my “snow day” manicure below the jump.

Please tell me I’m not the only one that matches their manicure to the weather on occasion! I’m realize writing this post it might be a bit on the crazy side…

Perfect Pair: OPI Lincoln Park at Midnight & Orly Prisma Gloss Gold

My string of purple manicures continues! After wearing Zoya Mimi and OPI Can’t Let Go I was really in the mood for a darker purple.

OPI Lincoln Park at Midnight is one of my all time favorite nail polishes so I immediately reached for that. But….it can be a bit on the boring side. I decided to spice it up with a top coat I haven’t used in ages; Orly Prisma Gloss Gold. I loved the combination of the two. The Prisma Gloss is fairly subtle until it catches the light. Then it flashes a rainbow of colors!

Orly also made a Prisma Gloss in Silver that I never got my hands on. But after using it in Gold my desire to own the silver version has reared its ugly head again. Off to Amazon I go!

Make sure to check out the additional swatches below the jump 🙂

Perfect Pair: Orly Star of Bombay & essence Jacob’s Protection

After I wore essence Jacob’s Protection on its own I wasn’t in love. Which was really a shame considering how gorgeous it looked in the bottle! I really wanted to give it a try as a top coat and Orly Star of Bombay seemed like the perfect candidate as a base color.

I used just one coat of Jacob’s Protection over Star of Bombay and was so thrilled with the way that it turned out! On its own Jacob’s Protection is very rough and really quite dull. Using only one coat of it cures both those issues.

Sadly just as I found a way to make Jacob’s Protection everything I thought it would be my bottle met its untimely death at the hands (or paws…) of my cat. Sometimes I just can’t win!

Oh well. Luckily I did this manicure before the incident.

There are more swatches below the jump.

Nailspiration: MAC Taste Temptation Collection

Happy Thanksgiving! At least to those of you in the US. I’m in Birmingham, Alabama celebrating with some family I don’t often get to see. I know we all have turkey to eat and football to watch (and black Friday lists to make…) so this will be a short and sweet post.

When I saw the promo photo of the nail polishes from MAC’s Taste Temptation collection I immediately fell in love with the colors. The polishes are rich and vibrant individually. I never thought to wear the colors together until I saw the promotional photo from this same collection. The model was wearing the purple polish as an accent nail which leads me to believe she was wearing the blue polish on the other nails (though it doesn’t much look like it thanks to the lighting…).

Anyway, I wanted to give the manicure a try with polishes I already had in my collection. For the blue nails I used Orly La Playa and for the purple accent nail I used OPI Pamplona Purple. These are not 2 polishes I would have ever paired together on my own but I absolutely love the end result.

Kind of an unusual manicure for Thanksgiving but I love it so that’s ok! There are more swatches below the jump.

I’d love to know what you’re wearing on your nails for Thanksgiving so make sure to leave a comment with what’s on your nails today!

 

Orly La Playa

La playa in Spanish means “the beach”…or at least that’s what my brother who is fluent in Spanish tells me. That’s kind of ironic since no matter how much I rack my brain I can’t come up with a way to relate this polish to the beach. But, funny enough, it makes me think of Malibu. I spotted Orly’s Summer 2010 Viva! collection not long before I left for vacation in Malibu and I wore this for the vast majority of my vacation (despite the fact I lugged 7 polishes all the way to the west coast…).

Anyway, onto the polish! La Playa wants to be a navy creme but doesn’t quite make it into navy, at least in my opinion. There are distinct purple undertones to this polish that navy lacks.

Application was just ok. I used three coats and you can tell in one of the pictures below the jump the polish is a bit uneven leaving a few bare spots. To be fair, they aren’t really noticeable unless there’s bright light involved, but still, just fyi.

Orly didn’t add this to their permanent line but it’s still available on Amazon. The polish that is the closest dupe to this in my current collection is Ulta Moody Blues.

There are more swatches below the jump!

Nail Art: Large Purple Polka Dots

Sometimes being a nail polish blogger leads to strange things happening. Like that one day not only did I do my nails, I added some nail art just to go to the grocery store. I just don’t think doing my nails specifically to go to the grocery store is normal. But regardless, I really like what I came up with!

To do this manicure I did all my nails except my ring finger with wet n wild megalast Disturbia. I used Essie No Place Like Chrome on my ring finger then used the largest of my DIY dotting tools to make large purple polka dots with Disturbia. I then topped all the purple polish with Orly Fowl Play (including the polka dots).

I fell in love with this manicure. The flaky glitter polka dots just made me happy. Which sounds crazy but I think everyone who reads this blog already thinks I’m crazy so it’s ok!

There are many, many more swatches below the jump 🙂

 

Orly Star of Bombay (+ SinfulColors Faceted)

Sigh.

Once upon a time I remember really loving this nail polish. Star of Bombay is from Orly’s Fall 2008 Gems collection though it is now part of Orly’s permanent line. If I recall correctly I picked this up at Sally’s ages ago when I was on the hunt for the perfect Auburn navy. And to be fair, I’ve used this polish quite a bit in nail art. But it’s been awhile since I’ve worn it on its own.

Star of Bombay is a super dark navy with blue shimmer. Sounds like an awesome concept but fails to deliver on the nail. This polish basically looks black on the nail and the shimmer is undetectable. Sad face.

But, on a better note, the formula is rather fantastic. This can be a one coater though I used two coats in my swatches.

To salvage this manicure I immediately reached for SinfulColors Faceted. The two polishes look fabulous together! Below the jump are a slew of swatches 🙂

Nothing like using glitter to save a disappointing mani!