Review and Swatches--Orly Rococo A-Go-Go

There was one bottle left of Orly Rococo A-Go-Go at T.J. Maxx, and it was only $3.99...so of course, now it is mine. 

Orly Rococo A-Go-Go in natural light

Rococo A-Go-Go is part of Orly's Mineral FX collection of duo-chrome polishes. It's a beautiful, dark purple with duo-chrome flashes of gold and fuchsia. The duo-chrome is very apparent in the bottle, as below, but at first seemed to hide when on the nail, as above.

Orly Rococo A-Go-Go bottle in direct sunlight

(I'm sorry for the adhesive left over on the bottle; it's from the sale sticker. I forgot to clean it off with rubbing alcohol.)

Orly Rococo A-Go-Go in partial sun, closeup

This polish did not fail, however. The gold and fuchsia definitely came out to play, but they were choosy about which light they preferred.

Orly Rococo A-Go-Go in artificial yellow light

Orly Rococo A-Go-Go in artificial yellow light, closeup

You could easily achieve sufficient coverage in two coats, but I chose to use three coats so that it would be opaque even when held up to the light.

Orly Rococo A-Go-Go in artificial yellow light, closeup thumb

Orly Rococo A-Go-Go in partial sun

Application was very smooth. I had to be a little bit careful so that the polish would not flood my cuticles, but nothing crazy.

Orly Rococo A-Go-Go in the shade with bottle

I topped it off with Butter London Hardwear P.D. Quick Top Coat. I have been wearing Rococo A-Go-Go for a few days now with zero chips and minimal tip wear. I did polish my nail tips to cut down on tip wear.

Orly Rococo A-Go-Go in direct sunlight with bottle

Overall, I love this polish. It is shimmery and rich, and it looks as if it is constantly changing. I wish that the gold showed up more, but it is not a big detraction. Orly's website shows the retail price of their full-size polishes as $8.50.

What do you think? Do you have a favorite duo-chrome polish? I would definitely like to try more of them.

Play Date with Dots

One of my best friend's favorite nail polishes is Essie Play Date (their website shows it as one word, but my polish label shows it as two words). I finally got my own bottle when I had some Extra Bucks for CVS (their version of a rewards program). I find it to be a very unique shade in the purple family. It's like lavender if it were bright instead of soft and pale. Look at her beauty:

Essie Play Date in slightly overcast daylight

Essie describes Play Date as a 'flirtatious light purple'. The formula was smooth and easy. I did three thin coats, but you could get away with two.

I thought that Play Date would look great with some of the Color Club polishes that I bought recently. My dot gradient was inspired by Chalkboard Nails, especially this post: http://www.chalkboardnails.com/2012/10/blue-and-pink-gradient-dots-tutorial.html. (If you haven't already, check out her site; she's an amazing nail artist.)

I used the dotting tools in varying sizes that I bought in a Martha Stewart set from Michael's, the craft supply store.

The darkest purple is OPI Dutch Ya Just Love OPI? The periwinkle and rose dots are both Color Club, from their Spring 2012 Blossoming Collection. I bought these as part of a set at T.J. Maxx ($48 for seven polishes on Color Club's website; $9.99 at T.J. Maxx!). For some reason, they do not label the polishes with their shade names when they come in a set. But I am guessing based on online swatches that the periwinkle is Hydrangea Kiss and the rose is Sweet Pea.

I was very happy with how this turned out, especially for my first time with this style. I topped it off with Butter London Hardwear P.D. Quick Top Coat. (I didn't wait long enough before the top coat, apparently; some of the dots on the opposite hand smeared and it was sad.)

Thanks for looking, and thank you to Sarah from Chalkboard Nails for the inspiration!

*All products mentioned in this post were purchased by me with my own money, and I am not affiliated with or compensated by the brands.*

Manicures with Friends

My good friends know that I have more nail polish than one woman needs. Yesterday I shared with my two friends Kathy and Winter. I painted their nails, because it's fun for me and it usually feels like a treat when someone else does your nails. They brought me lunch, in turn.

It is fun to work with someone else's nail length and shape. The differences change the entire look.

First off was Kathy. She usually wears very conservative nail polish. However, she was very open to branching out. She chose a lovely purple: OPI Dutch Ya Just Love OPI?

I used one coat of Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Hard as Wraps Acrylic Gel + Nylon in Sheer Pink Gloss as a base coat. Next was two coats of OPI Dutch Ya Just Love OPI.

I topped the purple with Orly Sec 'n' Dry Multi-Layer Quick-Dry Topcoat to smooth things out and help speed up drying time.

I asked Kathy if she wanted to add something fun, and she agreed to it. We layered one coat of Essie Shine of the Times, a versatile flakie that has looked good over every polish I have paired with it so far.

Ooh la la! I was so happy with this look, I just kept taking photos. I love the length and width of her nail beds--just right. Below you can really see the flakie highlighted. It kind of looks like one of the fancy dark opals to me. (Have you ever seen blue or black opals? Amazing!) In the end, I finished with one coat of Butter London Hardwear P.D. Quick Top Coat and brushed on some Prolana Cuticle Oil.

My next model was Winter, Kathy's niece. I am a little jealous of her elongated 'piano fingers'. She is not even an adult, yet look how elegant her fingers and nail shape are!

Winter considered her color choices very carefully, as she specifically wanted a blue that would compliment her outfits for the next few days. (She is visiting from out-of-state.) We tried stamping first, but it was a disaster. I don't have good stamping supplies yet. So, moving on...

I used the same base coat on Winter, the Sally Hansen acrylic gel with nylon. It says that it's pink, but I find it to be a cool peachy nude. I started Winter's French tips with one line of N.Y.C. Water Street Blue to create some opacity. Then we went back over the tips with the color she really wanted--Wet 'n' Wild Teal or No Teal. After those two coats dried a little, we finished with Butter London Hardwear P.D. Quick Top Coat.

A big thank you to my lovely hand models! I certainly hope to have another 'nail party' soon. :)

What do you think? Are blue and purple nail polish intimidating to you, or do you say 'bring it on'?

Holographic Damsel Gradient--Essie and Milani

My last post featured the lovely nail polish Essie Damsel in a Dress. As promised, let me show you how I dressed up the manicure. I wanted to add a little something, but not lose the character of Damsel in a Dress. I chose Milani Hi-Res, a purple holographic shimmer (retail: $4.99).

I began, as mentioned, with three thin coats of Essie Damsel in a Dress:

Damsel in a Dress, alone

I proceeded to dabble on a little of the Milani Hi-Res; no sponge this time, just its regular brush. I started from the free edge of the nail and moved partway toward the cuticle.

First step of gradient

Once the first dabbled layer was dry (it dried very quickly), I added some more of the Milani Hi-Res, moving just slightly further toward the cuticles.

Second step of gradient

Finally, I dabbled a very thin amount of the Milani Hi-Res even further down toward my cuticles. I put a thicker dabble of it at my free edge to balance out the coverage. The holographic effect of this polish is not as strong as others I have seen, so it was a little hard to catch in photos, but still very pretty and stronger in real life. You can see it better in the blurred photo a little further down in this post.

Final result

Zoom in on final result

Indoor lighting

A flash and a blur to highlight the holographic sparkle 

I topped it off with Butter London Hardwear P.D. Quick Top Coat  (retail: $19.00). I wore this mani from Tuesday through Saturday without any chips, which I attribute to the top coat. I also have shorter nails than usual, so that probably helps to reduce chipping as well.

What do you think? Do you like to wear one polish at a time, or mix it up by layering another polish or adding nail art?