Orly Preamp

While fall is slowly creeping up on us, the fall nail polish collections are doing the opposite: lots of fantastic colors and finishes coming out already! Orly recently came out with a relatively tiny fall collection comprised of only four shades after that massive collection of glitters called Glam FX (22 glitters to, at least I think, rival the offerings of the indie nail polish movement). To be fair, they covered the usual fall colors, including a cobalt blue jelly and a medium grey. Now, if my fashion sources are to be believed, both are going to be huge colors in fall. That was a good call on their part. There was also a duochrome shade that I thought I wanted. But when I saw the display at my local Sally Beauty, there was really just one stand out shade: a shimmery pink. Yep, I passed on the blue (*gasp!*), grey and duochrome (which turned out looking horrible, really; sorry, Orly) to get a pink. I doubt that's ever happened before. This one's a special one for sure, just take a look:

The best part is that I have absolutely nothing like it!

Nail Art Wednesday: Green Slim Silhoutte Nails for St. Pat's Day

With St. Pat's Day just around the corner, you betcha I wanted to be sporting a mani to commemorate the occasion. Problem was, it always seems to be about the exact same things: the clover leaf, rainbows and a pot of gold, and leprechauns. I wanted to do something different. But after playing around with attempts to freehand intricate Celtic designs and failing miserably (I blame poor quality brushes the same way Mickey in Fantasia blames the cleaning tools), I decided to play it safe and stay true to my minimalist aesthetic. Better yet when you find out that this particular design was created by the talented Jin Soon Choi of Sally Hansen, in partnership with fashion designer Prabal Gurung, for the S/S'12 runway. It was a way to incorporate softness with a strong statement that the designer wanted to complement his frocks on display. She paired a pale lilac base with a deep purple shimmer. Now, I've been wanting to try this technique since I've seen it and it seems most timely to do it now. It IS Spring 2012 after all, right?

Jin Soon's Slim Silhouette St. Pat's-fied.

Nail Art Wednesday: Somber Dots and Stripes

After coming up with that busy design last week, I decided to go back to simple and understated. I was reading up on fashion trends and noticed a prevalence of print mixing. Brights and florals are also supposed to be huge (but aren't they ALWAYS huge during spring?) but what caught my eye was mixing patterns. Stripes, plaid, floral, paisley... Apparently, the rules aren't as strict as they once were. You can now mix patterns to your heart's content, provided you do it in a way that doesn't make you look like a clown on the run. Now, there's the tricky part. I wanted to see if I could do just that with my nails and decided on keeping it all grounded by using only two colors and two patterns. The color combination I chose was inspired by an art print that my dad in law left behind (it didn't fit in his luggage). Besides, it felt strangely appropriate with the icky weather we had over the weekend (wasn't that wind on Saturday insane?). As for the patterns, I've been wanting to do polka dots ever since I saw G's take on them at Nouveau Cheap and stripes seemed easy enough to freehand. This is what I came up with:

Hammie says: Dotty and stripey!

Nail Art Wednesday: Girly Graffiti Nails

You know how sometimes you envision something in your head but your execution leaves much to be desired? This may be one of those instances where I had a completely different idea for where this design was going. I was inspired by Carolina's impeccable double stamping over at Colores de Carol so I wanted to give it a go myself. Unfortunately, I learned that as easy as it looks, finding coordinating colors that don't clash and picking a design that will work double stamped wasn't as easy as I thought. I was about to write this one off as a failure and go back to the drawing board, seeing as it just looked..messy to me. But Mr. J (strangely) ended up liking it so much that he dubbed it a "girly take on graffiti". So here it is in all its busy patterns:

With Mr. J's penchant for chunky glitter, I think that's why he liked this design.

Nail Art Wednesday: Red and Gold Ruffian Nails

I'm spoiling you this week. You get not one, but two nail art posts to celebrate the year of the dragon! This was supposed to be the mani I'd be sporting while reveling in festivities and stuffing my face silly with abalone, lobster and char siu (barbeque pork). I did a dry run (which is what you'll see in the next few photos) but realized it didn't quite have the Asian feel I wanted it to have. So it was back to the drawing board for me. Now, I'm not one to waste photographed manis (and Hammie insisted I honor the promise of nail art on Wednesdays) so here you go, my attempt at a reverse french; otherwise known as a ruffian manicure:

Red and gold had the makings of a great Chinese New Year mani!

Orly Fowl Play is out to prove there's nothing foul about this play.

foul play

n.

1. unfair or treacherous conduct esp with violence

2. (Team Sports, other than specified) a violation of the rules in a game or sport

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003

I was trying to find something to tie in with today's featured polish but all I could think of were mighty ducks playing hockey and a goose referee calling a high-sticking violation amidst the squacking and booing of the turkey team's fans. You know, like a fowl foul play? (Hammie says I've reached new lows in cheesiness with that. Oops.) What about a flock of geese pooping in unison over your car? I'd consider that unfair or treacherous conduct. And violent enough if it hits you square in the eye! No? (Hammie's giving me that squinty eyed look that says just get on with it.) Moving on:

Definitely nothing foul in this play.

Orly Rage might have been a self-fulfilling prophecy

Are you one to follow the trends as they come and go? I'd like to say I try without feeling shallow, fickle and bandwagon-y. I like to think I'm more of a connector than a maven. Now, that brings to mind the Law of the Few that Malcolm Gladwell talked about in his book, The Tipping Point. He says that there are three different kinds of people that dictate why something becomes a trend and why another doesn't. There's the salesmen who take an idea/product/practice and (un)wittingly make other people want it because of the sheer persuasiveness of their personality. Mostly, without even trying. These are the Joneses of the world, so to speak. Then there are the mavens who are the early adopters of trends. They make it their business to know what the next best and biggest thing is and you can bet your bottom dollar that they'll also be the first ones to have it. Last but certainly not least, there are the connectors, who, with their vast social network, spread the word about this latest trend. There are a host of other factors that contribute to making something into a social epidemic aka trend/fad/whatever else you want to call it that are talked about further in the book, but we'll stop at that for for our purposes. (It really, truly is a great read. If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend it, along with the rest of Mr. Gladwell's other books.)

So where was I going with that? Well, mid to late 2011, rose gold was such a huge trend. It was everywhere. This sort of makes me wonder if Orly had an inkling it would be so big when they first released our featured polish for today in the spring of 2010. Orly Rage became THE rage.

"A prophecy...that misread, could have been."

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.

Nail Art Wednesday: Red Jelly and Gold Glitter

Sometimes, especially when I'm pressed for time and can't change my polish, I like to jazz up what I already have on with glitter or flakie top coats. It's fast, easy and it looks like you put in a bit of effort even if you really didn't. It's also a great way to ease yourself into doing (and sporting!) nail art. While I had Sweet Tart on, I remembered the nails I had seen from a Sephora Holiday 2011 email (I'm weird like that. I find I notice people's nails even more since I've begun blogging.) so I decided to do my own take on it.

The idea.

The result.

Orly Sweet Tart whets your appetite for more holiday sweets.

How was your Christmas? I hope it was as happy and wonderful as can be! It's actually still Christmas as I write this post while watching the NBA Christmas Special (MIA vs. DAL and if you're curious I'm rooting for the Mavs because Nowitzki >>> LeBron; nevermind that MIA is now 30 points ahead, boo) in the background. So if I seem strangely disjointed as you read through the post, you now know why. (P.S. I haven't been on Twitter lately either as it's been one party after the other and I had to sneak away to write this post so we'll keep this short and sweet-ish.)

Moving on, if you're still craving more sweets after all the Christmas treats you've, no doubt, stuffed your face with, today's polish will only serve to whet your appetite.

Sweet Tart for my sweet!

Nail Art Wednesday: Red, Gold and Green Checkered Nails

Are you as excited as we are that Christmas is almost at hand?? I know, I know, there's probably still a ton of stuff to do, but let's not forget the reason for the season. Maybe a breather or two and a nice cup of peppermint mocha should calm the holiday-weary soul. And while you're at it, how about another take on the perennial colors of Christmas:

Get into the spirit!

Truckload Tuesdays: Sally Beauty Steals and a Mini Review

No, I did not steal from Sally Beauty but for the price of the polishes that I got, it sure felt like I did! I did a quick run last weekend and ended up going home with five new pretties.

Gift set that I got for $8.99 + taxes.

Back of the box set.

L-R: Fowl Play, Sweet Peacock and Lucky Duck

This boxed set was such a no-brainer. Three full-sized Orly polishes and a pretty faux suede wristlet with feather accents for only $8.99 (with a Sally Beauty Club card)? Yes, please! I've been wanting to get my hands on Fowl Play since it came out but I waited, thinking that I'd rather get Cult Nails Unicorn Puke/Clairvoyant over it. Good thing I did and scored a great deal with this set! Better still that the two other polishes that came with it were the exact same colors I also wanted from the collection. I guess this is one of those few, few moments where delaying and waiting till the last minute makes it worth it?

Impulse buys: China Glaze Lighthouse and Glittering Garland, and a hand cream

I saw that China Glaze was also on sale and $1 off if you purchase 2 so I figured it was a good time to get Glittering Garland. I've been looking for Emerald Sparkle and have never seen it anywhere so when Glittering Garland came out, I was pretty excited that it would make a good substitute for now. Plus, it was a flakie. You know I had to have a flakie. Lighthouse was the hubby's pick since he says I don't have enough yellow. (As a matter of fact I only have a single yellow in my stash. Well, unless you count a color changing polish that changes from yellow to orange, then that would make it two.)

As for the hand cream, the cheapie/discount sucker in me couldn't pass up a 99 cent deal at the counter. *sigh* You can never have enough hand cream, can you?

Yuletide Vanilla by Beyond Belief (strange name for a brand)

Ingredient list at the back.

A dollop of the hand cream on skin.

I wish I can say that this is the best 99 cents I've ever spent on a hand cream but really, you get what you paid for. I do like that it's not particularly greasy feeling but I don't feel it's very moisturizing to begin with. It'll work for those my-hands-are-parched-beyond-belief-and-I'll-take-even-bacon-drippings-to-moisturize moments (that might explain the brand name..?), otherwise, don't expect too much and you won't be disappointed. As for the Yuletide Vanilla scent, it really doesn't smell particularly yultide-y or vanilla-y. I find the bergamot overpowers any sweetness from the vanilla that it actually smells like a perfume you'd expect an older lady to wear. No, don't get me wrong. It doesn't smell bad. But it's such a strong smell and you know what they say about too much of a good thing..? That.

The moral of this story is to never pick up anything from the counter, no matter how tempting or cheap that something might be. Put the blinders on, pay for your purchases and leave with quality products that you wanted in the first place. Don't make the same mistake I did.

Hammie asks: Are you an impulse shopper? Do you delay purchases till the last minute to score a better deal or do you jump on the bandwagon as soon as the next big beauty thing comes along?

Nail Art Wednesday: Rainbow Zebra Patterned Nails

Whenever I see these pretty colorful nail art, I can't help but rave about them. It looks like so much fun! But you wouldn't catch me sporting them on my own nails. I guess I'm more of a "subtle nail art" kinda girl where I prefer tone on tone color combinations as compared to high contrast ones. I recently had a hankering for some rainbow goodness to combat the grey, dreary fall days and decided to go with high shine instead of high color saturation. I was thinking of layering it with a black crackle to tie it all together but remembered I've been meaning to play a bit more with the makeshift black stamping polish I discovered (thanks to stamper extraordinaire, Marta!). This is what I came up with:

Subtle but with enough oomph to pack a punch.

Nail Art Wednesday: Special Birthday Nails Part 1, Pastel Skittle Nails

In our family, October is known as the birthday month with birthday dinners every week. It's always a lot of fun, family getting together and all that. Since each celebrant usually picks a different restaurant, it's also a great way to try some place new to add to the rotation. (Or they do a party at home!)This year, we're having one more birthday to celebrate: my niece, Alena, who's turning one on the 8th!

I did a skittles manicure in honor of the birthday girl in fun bright colors. I then stamped animals from the Konad S10 stamping plate in silver and added a holographic glitter layering polish as the final touch.

What I used:

Thumb: In the Mood Devious (cold color)

Index: Nicole by OPI City-Pretty Rose

Middle: Orly Snowcone

Ring: Revlon Garden (from the Spring 2011 mini set)

Pinky: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lemon Dash

Silver stamping polish: Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro in Pure Silver

Glitter polish: Sally Hansen New Lengths Ceramics in Silver Slightblade

More photos after the jump!