Review and Photos--Orly Fowl Play

Orly recently changed the style of their nail lacquer bottles. Most stores don't seem to care yet, but my local Sally Beauty apparently wanted to get rid of as many of their old-style Orly bottles as possible. So, a short while back, I was able to choose one Orly polish for free with my $10 purchase.

Indoors with flash

Being as my nail polish collection is a little ridiculous, it becomes more difficult to find shades that are unique to me. I let someone else go ahead of me in line while I dug through the basket of older Orly bottles.

Outdoors in sunlight

I couldn't remember exactly what it looked like on the nail, but the shade name 'Fowl Play' rang a bell as one that I had seen quite a bit online. I am glad that I chose this polish.

Outdoors in direct sunlight

It took the brightest sun available that day to capture it, but the above photo is the most color accurate, at least on my screen. 

Outdoors in the shade

The base color is a deep, warm purple. It has been described as a jelly, but I didn't notice that. The flakies flash between red, orange, gold, and green, but I have mostly seen the reddish orange. There also seems to be a blue microglitter in there.

Outdoors with indirect sunlight

'Fowl Play' was originally part of Orly's Birds of a Feather collection a couple of years ago, but it is in their permanent line now.

Indoors in artificial light

I used a Sally Hansen base coat, followed by two easy coats of 'Fowl Play'. The opacity was great.

Indoors with flash

I was happy with the formula. It applied easily and all of the flakies remained flat. I used Julep Freedom Polymer Top Coat to finish. I've had no chipping, no dings, and minor tip wear.

Outdoors with indirect sunlight

Orly polishes can be purchased at Sally Beauty and ULTA, and also at various beauty supply stores. I have seen a limited selection at CVS. Orly's web site shows a retail price of $8.50.

*I received the above product in-store as a gift with purchase. I am not affiliated with any of the brands mentioned above and have not been compensated for this post.*

Shorty Post--Miss Blu & Hello Kitty Polish

My darling 3-yr old cousin has a special love for nail polish, too. 

Miss Blu painted her own nails this lovely aqua shade of her Hello Kitty polish. I didn't verify, but I am guessing that the polish was purchased at Target, her favorite place to shop. 

Her 1-yr old brother Mr. M likes to pretend to paint his toenails with a closed bottle. Their mom recently had her first experience with quick-dry top coat and is in love with it. I think it's a lovely invention in general, but especially for moms.

Thanks for visiting!

Nail Fail--Smoosh!

Or, the day one bit of vanity devoured another...

Sometimes a look at another person's foibles can make us laugh or sympathize (or both) and can make a bad day better because you are not alone. That is why I'm sharing this Fail with you, just in case anyone needs it.

I was getting dressed up to go out for the evening, and my dress included the fabric shown below. The colors are somewhat reminiscent of peacock plumage. I was already wearing Essence Colour & Go nail polish in the shade 'Date in the Moonlight', a dark blue with an almost hidden royal blue shimmer. 

That day, I had just received in the mail from a blog sale Essence Nail Art Special Effects Glitter topper in 'Mrs. and Mr. Glitter'--perfect! Blue, green and black medium hex glitter, flashy fun. Then I added two coats of Gelous to make it glossy and glassy. I was happy, staring at my hands, rather proud of the manicure. I put a quick-dry top coat on and the polish was rapidly dry to the touch. 

The fatal mistake was trying to flatten my stomach--vanity. I started to put on a...Spanx-like apparatus...very carefully so as to not dent my nail polish. Dry to the touch is apparently a lot different than dry to the smoosh. One wrong snap of the elastic and the glossy, glassy glitter goodness died a slow, painful death.

Every layer of nail polish crinkled up toward my cuticles, even my base color from the day before. Above is my right hand, which fared better than my left, below.

Quick-dry top coat can't make you smarter. :)

Review and Photos--COVERGIRL Outlast Lipstain 'Everbloom Kiss'

COVERGIRL Outlast Lipstain was one of the products I picked up from Bloom.com, which I posted about here, when they were having crazy sales. I chose the shade 'Everbloom Kiss'.

COVERGIRL Outlast Lipstain in Everbloom Kiss

I was expecting the color to be similar to that of the majority of the tube/marker. In reality, it was more like the small darker portion at the end of the marker.

Everbloom Kiss outdoors in partial sun

The application felt fine and smooth with good coverage. I did, however, find it difficult to get the color to be evenly distributed.

Everbloom Kiss outdoors in the shade

This Lipstain did not moisturize my lips, but it also didn't dry them out. I would probably wear a lip balm over it next time. Below is how it fared after five hours, including talking, eating, and drinking.

Everbloom Kiss after 5 hours

I really like this shade. I think it would be flattering on most skintones. 

COVERGIRL Outlast Lipstain typically retails for $7.99-8.99. Buymebeauty.com sells it for $4.99.

*I bought this product with my own money, and I am not affiliated with any of the brands or websites mentioned above.*

Review and Photos--Hit Polish 'Retro Chic'

When I am browsing Etsy.com looking at indie polishes, Hit Polish always catches my attention. After 'window shopping' for some time, I finally bought several of the polishes I had been drooling over, which I wrote about in my post Hit Polish Haul. One of those was a mini bottle of 'Retro Chic'.

Hit Polish describes the glitter in 'Retro Chic' as "fine pink, fine silver, fine cayman blue, matte aqua hex, small rose hex, medium rose hex, small aqua matte hex, small gunmetal hex and a touch of fine black and small black hex". The base is clear.

In these photos, I'm wearing two coats of 'Retro Chic' over yesterday's Color Club 'Status Update'. I liked the combination, although the fine black glitter gets a little lost because 'Status Update' is dark. The glitter didn't give any trouble, but I still topped it with two coats of Gelous for ultimate smoothness, and one coat of Orly Sec 'n' Dry top coat.

The clear base is somewhat thick, to keep the tons of glitter suspended, so Rachel mentions on their site that you can use nail polish thinner to change the consistency if you like. I found that the consistency made it easy to control, so I did not thin it at all. 

Again, I was at work when the sun was out, so I did not get photos of this mani in sunlight. Let me tell you, though, the sparkle in the sun is stunning!

Hit Polish, made by the husband and wife team Don and Rachel of D&R Apothecary, has awesome glitter toppers. Their tinted base polishes look great, too (especially Tea-Stained Linen; I want!), but I haven't tried them yet. Their full size polishes are typically $8.00, and the mini bottles (7ml) are typically $4.00, but they often have sales. You can purchase Hit Polish from their Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/DandRApothecary.

Thanks for reading! Do you have any favorite glitter toppers?

*I am not affiliated with any of the companies mentioned above and received no compensation from them.*

Review and Swatches--Color Club Status Update

'Status Update' is from the Birchbox and Color Club Custom Collection. The shade names in this collection are based on social media.

Birchbox sent out mini bottles of polish from this collection in their sample boxes last year. I received 'Put a Pin In It' (metallic rose gold foil) in my Birchbox, and I traded with other members on makeuptalk.com for the other two shades that I wanted, 'Status Update' and 'Insta-This' (bright blue creme).

'Status Update' is a dark grey creme with a glossy finish. Application was excellent for me, smooth and even. The opacity was good for me, but I also have shorter nails right now, so you might want a third coat if you have long nails.

I wore it with two coats over base coat, and one coat of Orly Sec 'n' Dry top coat.

I did get one chip in this manicure the next day, but other than that I was very happy with this polish. 

All of my photos of Color Club 'Status Update' are indoors under artificial light. Sunlight was not available to me this time around. Or, rather, I was not available for the sunlight, as I was at work when the sun was out. 

The full size bottles are available on the Birchbox online shop for $8.00: http://www.birchbox.com/shop/nails/color-club-custom-collection. You do not have to be a Birchbox subscriber to purchase from their shop, as far as I know.

Thanks for reading!

*I am not affiliated with any of the companies mentioned above and received no compensation from them.*

Shorty Post--Revlon 'Girly' over Zoya 'Shay'

Revlon 'Girly' nail polish has been calling to me for a while now, but it was not in stock whenever I looked for it. I finally came across it on sale at Walgreen's.

Indoors, natural light

For my base color, I used two coats of Zoya 'Shay', a slightly shimmery nude creme. Then I used two coats of Revlon 'Girly'. (I did use base coat and top coat, but I didn't note which ones.) I was not disappointed at all, even though I had built up my anticipation. Smooth application and glitter that appears to glow, subtly pink base, fitting name for this shade. 

That's it for today--thus, a 'Shorty Post'.

*These products were purchased with my own money and I am not affiliated with any of the brands mentioned in this post.*