Orly Luxe wishes you a luxurious year ahead!

...Aaaaand we're back. Sorry about the commercials but we've been swamped and the schedules haven't really been back to normal. Give me 3 more weeks and everything should be running just as smoothly as before. See, next week my sis in law (who lives in Whitby but works close to our place) and her adorable daughter will be staying with us for a few weeks while her hubby goes overseas for business. Guess who's playing babysitter? No complaints yet as I get to spend quality time with my niece, but feel free to ask me again after the first stinky diaper. We're also celebrating Chinese New Year on the 25th so that's still part of our holiday season, which just doesn't seem to end. Lots of preparation and traditions that need to be observed so I don't really get to breathe easy until February kicks in. Anyway, Hammie just shot me a look that clearly said I should get on with it, and so I shall.

It was hard to pick the polish to open 2012 with. I felt it would set the tone for the year ahead so I had to pick well. I was gravitating towards flakie polishes as they seem to be quickly becoming a trend. But I felt I didn't have enough time to do them proper justice so instead, I went with a happy metallic that is much favored to mean wealth:

El Dorado's got nothing on this.

The Quick Take

Brand/Name: Orly Luxe
Color: Gold
Formula: Loads of microglitter suspended in a clear base
Finish: Foil
Price: $5.00 (for mini) - 9.50 CDN for 14mL
Seen at: Trade Secrets, Sally Beauty, Nail Polish Canada, Glowing Beauty, Spa Boutique and other beauty supply retailers
Note(s): Originally launched in Spring of 2010 with the Foil FX collection, Orly Luxe is currently part of the core collection so availability shouldn't be an issue.


The Fun Facts

Token bottle shot.

Back of the bottle.

Label at the base.

Your usual Orly Brush.

Go for gold! (*sad face for Canada WJC 2012*)

A pretty true gold, Luxe feels aptly named. There's something really luxurious about this polish. It could very well be because I usually associate gold with wealth, and wealth with luxury. Makes sense, yes? Now while I normally shy away from yellow, this gold is cooler toned because of the mix of silver microglitter with the predominantly gold formula. This makes it a lot easier to wear and allows it to work with most skin tones. The foil finish may look grainy but it is quite smooth to the touch. No mirror finish with this metallic but it's shiny enough wit out it. In fact, this shines so much that my poor old camera was spazzing out. I had to up the contrast some in most of the photos you'll see below.
***All nail swatches were done with Orly Bonder Base Coat and two coats of Orly Luxe unless stated.

Natural light/No top coat/No flash

Forgiveably grainy.

Natural light/No top coat/Flash

Notice something it doesn't have? Brush strokes!

Sunlight/No top coat/No flash

Flashy enough even without a mirror-like shine.

I love the consistency on this. It's a happy medium between the runny and thick, which is really good considering it's mostly packed with microglitter. You will need at least two coats with this as you can get an uneven first coat with some areas having less of the particulate glitter than others. The formula itself is self-leveling so there's not much worry for streaks or even brushstrokes. The Orly brush performs well with this formula, providing an easy application. Dry time is fairly quick with the polish dry to touch within a minute. Removal isn't as bad as taking off your average glitter polish, but be prepared to use some elbow grease to take it all off. The foil method (wherein you wrap each of your nails with foil over a cotton pad wet with polish remover) would make the removal so much faster and easier. You'll also notice that some of the microglitter might stick to pretty much everything so don't say I didn't warn you.

Natural light/Top coat/No flash

Yes, there's top coat!

Natural light/Top coat/Flash

Hammie says: I seriously think you forgot the top coat. Good thing it's shiny anyway!

Sunlight/Top coat/No Flash

Hammie sings: "You are gold..(GOLD!)"

As you can see, top coat doesn't really do much for Luxe other than protecting the polish (or helping it dry faster if you're using a fast dry one). Don't listen to Hammie. There really is top coat even if it looks like there isn't.


The Lowdown

While originally released in 2010 for the Spring Foil FX collection, it has since made its way into the core collection, making it easy to get a hold of. That's great news for anyone who is still looking for a good gold polish! As far as dupes are concerned, the two closest that I could find were Dior Timeless Gold (which looks like an even paler and cooler-toned gold foil compared to Luxe) and China Glaze Midnight Kiss from their Holiday 2010 collection (which is warmer and more yellow leaning). I do have to point out that while the differences are significant, they're only really obvious when you look very closely. To the uninitiated, they'd look almost the same. Just not close enough for me to say they're duplicates, so if you already own one of the three and have resolved for the new year to try to keep the polish spending lower than usual, you can easily skip Luxe for another day.

As for me, Orly Luxe is easily one of my absolute favorite gold foil polishes. I love the grainy look to it as I find it adds more character to the finish. I've since showcased Luxe in previous nail art designs like this and this so that just goes to show that it really is one of my go to golds. Still wondering why I chose a polish that came out in 2010? Well, I've mentioned a few times that gold symbolizes wealth and our wish here at Polished Indulgence is that we all have a wealth of all things good in the coming year.

I have nothing but good things to say about this polish and Hammie seems to be in agreement (for once!). He asserts that I really did forget top coat (I so did not!) but claims it's unimportant as Luxe is pretty even by itself. It's not much of a surprise given that he's a well-known sparkle fiend. His score for Luxe?

10 Hammie Points!

Happy New Year! (Don't get tired of hearing it just yet. You'll hear it again on the 25th.) Where did you ring in the new year? Any resolutions for 2012? Do you believe that the Apocalypse is slated for December 23, 2012 (Great read on that here.)?