Orly Rococo A-Go-Go

Happy Thanksgiving, Dear Reader!

I thought I'd give you a look at my Thanksgiving manicure, Orly Rococo A-Go-Go, because the color is really cool.  I'm so late posting it that it the Orly Mineral FX Collection is probably not even in brick and mortar stores anymore, but it's pretty and still available online.

The color is kind of a red plum with the same cool finish as the other Mineral FX shades, and it seemed like a good Thanksgiving color to me.  I used two coats with a coat of Essie Good to Go and gave it some time to dry before taking pictures in the sunlight.

Orly Rococo A-Go-Go Nail Polish, Two Coats

That's my Thanksgiving manicure, and now I'm off to enjoy Thanksgiving.  I hope yours is happy, Dear Reader, and until next time, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Orly Rococo A-Go-Go

Happy Thanksgiving, Dear Reader!

I thought I'd give you a look at my Thanksgiving manicure, Orly Rococo A-Go-Go, because the color is really cool.  I'm so late posting it that it the Orly Mineral FX Collection is probably not even in brick and mortar stores anymore, but it's pretty and still available online.

The color is kind of a red plum with the same cool finish as the other Mineral FX shades, and it seemed like a good Thanksgiving color to me.  I used two coats with a coat of Essie Good to Go and gave it some time to dry before taking pictures in the sunlight.

Orly Rococo A-Go-Go Nail Polish, Two Coats

That's my Thanksgiving manicure, and now I'm off to enjoy Thanksgiving.  I hope yours is happy, Dear Reader, and until next time, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Sea gurl mattified

Hello ladies~I showed you what Orly Sea gurl looked like a couple of days ago. I decided to add a matte top coat to it since I haven't mattified any manis in a while :P

What do you think? Matte or glossy? :)

Thanks for reading!
~Sharon

Sea Gurl and some bling tips!

Hello everyone~ I'm still very much into the glitter layering - I really can't stop cos it's so simple and has such a beautiful result ^^

I started off with two coats of Orly Sea gurl from their recent Birds of a Feather collection. I then dabbed on China Glaze 5 golden rings onto my tips, moving from the tip to the middle. For some extra bling, I lightly dabbed on some of OPI Servin' up sparkle. I love the pretty holo glitter mixed in with the gold look! I added some gold sequins I received from my friend for that little extra oomph before finishing off with two coats of top coat.

See the holo glitter coming to life in the sun? ^^

And indoors, with natural light.

What do you think of this mani? I think this will look amazing matte - I might try it out later :D

Thanks for reading,
~Sharon

A product was provided for consideration. 

It's the blues~

Hello ladies :) So after my green phase, it was time for the blues. I had just received Orly Stone cold from the latest Mineral FX collection in the mail and totally needed to try it out. Unfortunately, I think this mani looks so much better in photos - in real life, not so promising :(

I started off with two coats of Australis Sky high. I then used Ulta3 lily white and a dotting tool to add some polka dots. I took out my Glossyblossom nail art striper in white to paint the stripes. For my index and pinky nails, I applied two coats of Orly Stone cold. This is a gorgeous, gorgeous blue and I love it so much! I found application a little annoying though as the polish took a while to dry. If you don't leave enough dry time in between coats you'll definitely end up with a goopy mess. I think the end result is soooo worth it though, just look at the beauty and depth it has!

On my thumb I used a dotting tool to outline the heart in white before filling it in. I then layered on one coat of Mode cosmetics Diamonte. Using a smaller end of another dotting tool, I went around the heart with Aldo Stardust. Stardust is a sparse glitter polish which would look great for layering!

I'm proud of my heart, heh!

What do you think of this mani - hit or miss?

Thanks for reading!
~Sharon

Some products were provided for consideration in this post. Fore more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Orly Androgynie

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Today I have a cool polish with a weirdo name to show you, Orly Androgynie.  It's the only one I went for from this collection, and it's a pretty good one.  It's a black base with lots of different glitter in it, and in two coats it was opaque but still let the glitter show through.  I like it, but in normal, non-picture lighting, the glitter doesn't show quite as well as I'd like.  It does make for a good picture though!

I applied it last night, two coats over a base topped off with Tout de Suite to dry it, but it was lumpier than I cared for this morning, so I added a coat of Sally Hansen Salon Speed Shine to it and that helped quite a bit.  It's still not glassy smooth, but my choices were to add more top coat or make a post, and I figured the longer I wait to post the more likely it is to get messed up, so this is as good as it gets.  There's no sunlight today, so artifically lit pictures are all I have.  Here is the manicure.

Orly Androgynie Nail Polish, Two Coats

Here's a close look at part of a nail to see the glitter.

Orly Androgynie Nail Polish, Closer Look at Glitter

The glitter does show indoors, just not quite as much of it shows as in the pictures.  Looking down at my hands, I see the tiny sparkle bits and the colored hex glitter shows, but the hex glitter doesn't sparkle like in the picture.  It's still a good polish and a pretty unique one at that, so it still get a well-manicured thumbs up from me.

That's Orly Androgynie and the update for today, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Orly Androgynie

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Today I have a cool polish with a weirdo name to show you, Orly Androgynie.  It's the only one I went for from this collection, and it's a pretty good one.  It's a black base with lots of different glitter in it, and in two coats it was opaque but still let the glitter show through.  I like it, but in normal, non-picture lighting, the glitter doesn't show quite as well as I'd like.  It does make for a good picture though!

I applied it last night, two coats over a base topped off with Tout de Suite to dry it, but it was lumpier than I cared for this morning, so I added a coat of Sally Hansen Salon Speed Shine to it and that helped quite a bit.  It's still not glassy smooth, but my choices were to add more top coat or make a post, and I figured the longer I wait to post the more likely it is to get messed up, so this is as good as it gets.  There's no sunlight today, so artifically lit pictures are all I have.  Here is the manicure.

Orly Androgynie Nail Polish, Two Coats

Here's a close look at part of a nail to see the glitter.

Orly Androgynie Nail Polish, Closer Look at Glitter

The glitter does show indoors, just not quite as much of it shows as in the pictures.  Looking down at my hands, I see the tiny sparkle bits and the colored hex glitter shows, but the hex glitter doesn't sparkle like in the picture.  It's still a good polish and a pretty unique one at that, so it still get a well-manicured thumbs up from me.

That's Orly Androgynie and the update for today, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Birthday mani

Hi ladies~ Apologies for not being around as often these days, I've been busy with uni and on top of that, I've fallen sick :( There seems to be some sort of bug going around - everyone I know is sick or recovering. Anyway, here's a quick update on my birthday mani (it was yesterday. and I was sick :S) before I go and rest a little more.

I applied two coats of OPI Siberian nights onto my index and fifth fingers, then layered with China Glaze 5 golden rings. For my thumb and fourth fingers, I applied three coats of Orly Fowl play. I love the flakies in this polish, I really do <33. On my middle finger, I applied one coat of Ulta3 gold rush fever then used a tape to tape off two thin lines. I then applied a thick coat of OPI Lincoln park after dark suede.

Ahh, not much else to say. I think I'm ready to go to bed again~ Check out my Blog Birthday giveaway if you haven't already!

~Sharon

Orly Rock-It

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I changed my mani to another of the Orly Mineral FX today, Rock-It, which is the kind of violet red one.  Like the other polish I've used from this collection, Stone Cold, it's really exceptional at two coats, which makes the higher than average price tag a little easier to swallow.

This was just a quickie color change with base coat, two coats of Rock-It, and one of Diamont.  As with Stone Cold,  Rock-It is very well pigmented and unusually easy to apply and control.  It has a nice sparkly finish and dried extremely quickly.  Here's Rock-It in the sunlight.

Orly Rock-It Nail Polish, Two Coats

I know it's not unique or out of the ordinary, but there's something about a good Fall red shimmer that makes my heart go pitter-patter, and Rock-It does the trick.

That's all there is to tell you, Dear Reader, so I hope you have a great Labor Day and until next time, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Orly Rock-It

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I changed my mani to another of the Orly Mineral FX today, Rock-It, which is the kind of violet red one.  Like the other polish I've used from this collection, Stone Cold, it's really exceptional at two coats, which makes the higher than average price tag a little easier to swallow.

This was just a quickie color change with base coat, two coats of Rock-It, and one of Diamont.  As with Stone Cold,  Rock-It is very well pigmented and unusually easy to apply and control.  It has a nice sparkly finish and dried extremely quickly.  Here's Rock-It in the sunlight.

Orly Rock-It Nail Polish, Two Coats

I know it's not unique or out of the ordinary, but there's something about a good Fall red shimmer that makes my heart go pitter-patter, and Rock-It does the trick.

That's all there is to tell you, Dear Reader, so I hope you have a great Labor Day and until next time, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Orly Stone Cold

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I changed my polish today to one of the Orly Mineral FX shades, Stone Cold, the bright blue one.  I got it at Sally's, and they're definitely pricey at $9 on sale.  The quality of Stone Cold seemed worth $9 though - it's well pigmented and great in two coats, and the polish is very easy to control.  Still, it's in that giant 0.60 oz bottle, and I think I'd be happier if it were 0.30 oz for $5...

For the manicure, I used a base coat, two of color, and one of top coat.  After growing weary of my shrunken tips on the last one, I used Diamont here so it wouldn't shrink.  Here's Orly Stone Cold in sunlight after it dried.  There's no cleanup here at all - Stone Cold is that easy to control.

Orly Stone Cold Nail Polish from Mineral FX, Two Coats

I like it a lot, it's so vivid and sparkly.  Bright blues always ring some alarm bells for staining, so my hope is that I'll be able to take it off without leaving anything behind to remember it by.

That's Orly Stone Cold, so until next time, Dear Reader, love ans nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Orly Stone Cold

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I changed my polish today to one of the Orly Mineral FX shades, Stone Cold, the bright blue one.  I got it at Sally's, and they're definitely pricey at $9 on sale.  The quality of Stone Cold seemed worth $9 though - it's well pigmented and great in two coats, and the polish is very easy to control.  Still, it's in that giant 0.60 oz bottle, and I think I'd be happier if it were 0.30 oz for $5...

For the manicure, I used a base coat, two of color, and one of top coat.  After growing weary of my shrunken tips on the last one, I used Diamont here so it wouldn't shrink.  Here's Orly Stone Cold in sunlight after it dried.  There's no cleanup here at all - Stone Cold is that easy to control.

Orly Stone Cold Nail Polish from Mineral FX, Two Coats

I like it a lot, it's so vivid and sparkly.  Bright blues always ring some alarm bells for staining, so my hope is that I'll be able to take it off without leaving anything behind to remember it by.

That's Orly Stone Cold, so until next time, Dear Reader, love ans nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Black and blingggggg!

Hi lovely readers <3 Today's mani is influenced by my love for dark nail polishes :) For some reason, whenever I'm stuck for ideas on what to wear, black is my go to shade (besides purple, of course). I applied two coats of Orly Matte vinyl onto my index and fifth fingers and two coats of Glitter Gal black onto my middle and thumb. For some extra bling, I layered two coats of Color Club Magic attraction over one coat of Ulta3 black satin.

I love how Magic attraction is so awesome and blingy <3. And of course, black totally jumps to life and shows off it's rainbow holo under the sun. I don't think the holo was photographed too well here, if you want to see it in it's fullest glory, check out my swatch here~ :)

Any lovers of black manis? ^^ Have a look at my Blog Birthday giveaway as well!

~Sharon

Givenchy Vernis Miroir Multiple 771

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I have a little something different to show you today, and interesting glitter top coat.  It is, as you might have guessed from the title, Givenchy Miroir Multiple Nail Lacquer and Top Coat 771.  It's an older one that's a clear base, but not perfectly clear, the slightly yellowish kind, with lots of really bright, very fine holographic glitter.

I tested it on a nail with the last manicure still on, and the glitter reflects really bright red, green, all the rainbow colors, so I was trying to decide what to put it over for today.  Black and navy blue seemed obvious enough to take the wind out of the Givenchy's sails, I considered a bright red and concluded that I too often use that as the backdrop for glitter top coats, then finally settled on white.  Since the Givenchy does have a tint to it (I doubt it's really tinted that way, some polish bases are not completely clear), I picked the whitest white I have, which is Orly White Out.  Every time I use White Out, there are a ton of comments asking if I mean the typing correction fluid, so I'll be really clear on this one.  White Out is an Orly white creme nail polish, Wite Out is a brand of liquid paper. They're two different things and it's the nail polish on my nails.

I did a base coat, three of White Out to make it non-streaky, then two of the Givenchy, which did add a bit of  a cast to the white, making it more of a pale ivory.  That's fine with me since it diminished the starkness of the white.  I left several minutes between each coat since I'd planned to layer, and I found that the Givenchy dried to a really exceptional high shine, far more so than most top coats.  Still, that's a heck of a lot of layers of polish, so I topped it off with China Glaze Fast Forward.  Fast Forward was just right - the fact that it's not terribly shiny wasn't an issue since it went over something very shiny, and it did a really nice job of drying all those layers.  I accidentally tested it a few times, with the first being fifteen minutes after applying Fast Forward. I knocked a nail into the side of my wire-framed glasses, which is noramlly a sure fire way to make a tear in the surface and take the polish all the way off, but it didn't even dent, which was really impressive.  About an hour after that, I used a nail as a tool for something and got a deep dent, which I figured I had coming, but it popped back out while I slept and I woke up with smooth shiny nails.  Here's the manicure in sunlight - the focus isn't the best ever, but that's intentional to show the glitter a bit.  All of it sparkles like the few pieces that show.

Givenchy Miroir Multiple Nail Lacquer and Top Coat 771

It would definitely be more vibrant over a dark color, but I was up for some variety.  Know what's really funny about that packaging here?  The stem on the Givenchy bottle  is super long, and the round bottle part is as tall as the Orly White Out 0.60 oz bottle, but the Givenchy holds only  0.27 oz.  I'd previously thought the 0.30 oz Estee Lauder bottle, that giant block of glass that would make an effective paperweight in a wind tunnel, was the most masterful job of deceptive packaging, but Givenchy topped them with this one.

That's Givenchy Miroir Multiple 771 and jst about all I have for you today, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Givenchy Vernis Miroir Multiple 771

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I have a little something different to show you today, and interesting glitter top coat.  It is, as you might have guessed from the title, Givenchy Miroir Multiple Nail Lacquer and Top Coat 771.  It's an older one that's a clear base, but not perfectly clear, the slightly yellowish kind, with lots of really bright, very fine holographic glitter.

I tested it on a nail with the last manicure still on, and the glitter reflects really bright red, green, all the rainbow colors, so I was trying to decide what to put it over for today.  Black and navy blue seemed obvious enough to take the wind out of the Givenchy's sails, I considered a bright red and concluded that I too often use that as the backdrop for glitter top coats, then finally settled on white.  Since the Givenchy does have a tint to it (I doubt it's really tinted that way, some polish bases are not completely clear), I picked the whitest white I have, which is Orly White Out.  Every time I use White Out, there are a ton of comments asking if I mean the typing correction fluid, so I'll be really clear on this one.  White Out is an Orly white creme nail polish, Wite Out is a brand of liquid paper. They're two different things and it's the nail polish on my nails.

I did a base coat, three of White Out to make it non-streaky, then two of the Givenchy, which did add a bit of  a cast to the white, making it more of a pale ivory.  That's fine with me since it diminished the starkness of the white.  I left several minutes between each coat since I'd planned to layer, and I found that the Givenchy dried to a really exceptional high shine, far more so than most top coats.  Still, that's a heck of a lot of layers of polish, so I topped it off with China Glaze Fast Forward.  Fast Forward was just right - the fact that it's not terribly shiny wasn't an issue since it went over something very shiny, and it did a really nice job of drying all those layers.  I accidentally tested it a few times, with the first being fifteen minutes after applying Fast Forward. I knocked a nail into the side of my wire-framed glasses, which is noramlly a sure fire way to make a tear in the surface and take the polish all the way off, but it didn't even dent, which was really impressive.  About an hour after that, I used a nail as a tool for something and got a deep dent, which I figured I had coming, but it popped back out while I slept and I woke up with smooth shiny nails.  Here's the manicure in sunlight - the focus isn't the best ever, but that's intentional to show the glitter a bit.  All of it sparkles like the few pieces that show.

Givenchy Miroir Multiple Nail Lacquer and Top Coat 771

It would definitely be more vibrant over a dark color, but I was up for some variety.  Know what's really funny about that packaging here?  The stem on the Givenchy bottle  is super long, and the round bottle part is as tall as the Orly White Out 0.60 oz bottle, but the Givenchy holds only  0.27 oz.  I'd previously thought the 0.30 oz Estee Lauder bottle, that giant block of glass that would make an effective paperweight in a wind tunnel, was the most masterful job of deceptive packaging, but Givenchy topped them with this one.

That's Givenchy Miroir Multiple 771 and jst about all I have for you today, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Orly Prisma Gloss Silver

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I thought I'd show you Orly Prisma Gloss Silver this morning because it's an exceptionally nice fine holographic glitter top coat, my favorite of the ones available in brick and mortar stores in this area, but I rarely hear anything about it.

I started out with base coat, two coats of Orly Pixie Stix, one coat of Orly Prisma Gloss Silver, then one of China Glaze Fast Forward.  This is the first time I've used Fast Forward, and it's pretty nice.  It dried all the polish thoroughly and quickly, but it's not very shiny.  Still, sometimes I'd rather just get a manicure totally dry in the evening so I can go to sleep without getting sheet marks, then just shine it up with a non quick dry top coat in the morning, so it's nice to know this works well for the drying part.

With Prisma Gloss, using one coat was good because I usually need more than one coat to get as much glitter as I like.  Since I only use glitters like this for layering, being able to shave a coat off the total count matters - the difference between two coats of color and three isn't huge, but beyond that I always have a sense of lots of question marks around whether a manicure will dry well, and I've messed up more than I could count waiting for a lot of coats to dry.  With a total of three coats of color on this one, it's dried really well.  Here it is in sunlight.

Orly Prisma Gloss Silver, One Coat, over Orly Pixie Stix Nail Polish

I have the gold version of this as well, but I don't recall ever trying it out.  I'll break it out this week so we can see if it's as cool as Prisma Gloss Silver.


That's what I know, so until next time, Dear reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Orly Prisma Gloss Silver

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I thought I'd show you Orly Prisma Gloss Silver this morning because it's an exceptionally nice fine holographic glitter top coat, my favorite of the ones available in brick and mortar stores in this area, but I rarely hear anything about it.

I started out with base coat, two coats of Orly Pixie Stix, one coat of Orly Prisma Gloss Silver, then one of China Glaze Fast Forward.  This is the first time I've used Fast Forward, and it's pretty nice.  It dried all the polish thoroughly and quickly, but it's not very shiny.  Still, sometimes I'd rather just get a manicure totally dry in the evening so I can go to sleep without getting sheet marks, then just shine it up with a non quick dry top coat in the morning, so it's nice to know this works well for the drying part.

With Prisma Gloss, using one coat was good because I usually need more than one coat to get as much glitter as I like.  Since I only use glitters like this for layering, being able to shave a coat off the total count matters - the difference between two coats of color and three isn't huge, but beyond that I always have a sense of lots of question marks around whether a manicure will dry well, and I've messed up more than I could count waiting for a lot of coats to dry.  With a total of three coats of color on this one, it's dried really well.  Here it is in sunlight.

Orly Prisma Gloss Silver, One Coat, over Orly Pixie Stix Nail Polish

I have the gold version of this as well, but I don't recall ever trying it out.  I'll break it out this week so we can see if it's as cool as Prisma Gloss Silver.


That's what I know, so until next time, Dear reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Seeing red

Hi ladies~^^ For me, I find red too bright of a shade to wear on my nails and that it draws too much attention. I felt like being brave the other day though and decided to once again step outside my comfort zone.  For this manicure, I applied two coats of Orly Ruby to my nails. Ruby is an opaque creme polish and not too bright too ^^ On my accent nails I applied three coats of OPI The one that got away. I've been looking for an excuse to wear this again - the duochrome is a beauty ♥ On to my middle finger, I applied one thick coat of Nubar 2010 for some flakey goodness :)

What do you think of red nail polishes? It's such a classic shade, but for some reason I can bring myself to wear it too often :P Don't forget to check out my Blog Birthday giveaway too!

~Sharon

A product was provided for consideration. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Spicing up the black

Hey lovelies :) I was in the mood for a dark mani a few days ago and so reached for my black nail polishes. Not wanting a pure black mani, I used some layering polishes to spice it up a bit and here is the result!

I applied one coat of Ulta3 black satin onto my nails and then layered with China Glaze White cap and OPI Servin' up sparkle. Onto my accent nails, I applied two coats of Orly Matte vinyl and decorated my fourth finger with some stars, pearls and rhinestones from the nail art etailer Born Pretty Store. I felt the star was fitting as the mani gave me a spacey feel. How's that for a shooting star attempt? :P

A couple of photos in the sun to show the bling and glory of Servin' up sparkle :) I love these holo glitters ♥

It's not much, but I like it for it's simplicity and prettiness.

~Sharon

Some products were provided for review. For more information, please view my disclosure policy.

Konad Sky Pearl Special Polish & m63

Good morning, Dear Reader!

This morning I did a manicure that came to mind the other day when I came across my Konad Sky Pearl Special Polish, and it turned out really well.  Not perfect, but I like it well enough that I don't especially care that it's imperfect.

I started out with Orly Frolic, the lovely two coat purple creme, which I thought would look really cool with Sky Pearl stamped over it.  For the pattern to stamp, I used the swirly one from Konad plate m63 that looks a lot like water marbling.  Since I liked how it was coming out off the bat, I used a coat of Konad top coat to prevent any smudges prior to finishing it off with Poshe.  Here's Orly Frolic with m63 in Konad Sky Pearl in the sun.

Konad Sky Pearl Special Polish over Orly Frolic with Konad Plate m63

You can see the the pearl finish in the Special Polish is very subtle - this is in sunlight, and the shimmer doesn't really show otherwise.  What I like about the Konad Pearl polishes (Black, White, Sky, Violet, ...) is that they don't seem to smudge anywhere near as easily as the cremes and they make exceptionally crisp stamps.

That's all for today, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!