Quo by Orly Celestial Star

I was planning to do just one post this week but when I found out about the bonus redemption weekend coming up at Shoppers, I figured it would be best if I did the first two polishes I promised in my line up. I like to think of it as my little bit of public service: increase awareness of awesome must have products that can be had at a discount (or in the case for this weekend: free!).

For the uninitiated, Shoppers Drug Mart (SDM), a Canadian pharmacy and retailer, has a points system that is explained in depth here. Basically, for each purchase you make at any of their stores, you get corresponding points. Once you hit the different point levels, these can be redeemed for cash. Simple, right? Now, what's really great about the system is that racking up points isn't hard at all. Shop only during weekends for really good deals on essentials (Sundays & Mondays are best) or let the shopping list grow (unless you absolutely need it ASAP!) for weekends with 20x the points and special Wednesdays with 18 500 bonus points for purchases over $50. You can also get their MasterCard to double the rate of amassing points. Paying bills and getting back points to splurge on beauty products? Yes, please!

So where am I going with my unsponsored rave about SDM? Like I said above: Bonus Redemption Weekend. Meaning: for every 50 000 points you redeem, you get $100 off (extra $15) and 95 000 points gets you $200 off (extra $30). That's a new fragrance for Fall or an armful of nail polish. And if you're like me who's always on the look out for new pretty nail polish to corral into your stash, then read on after the jump as I have one that needs to go home with you this weekend.

Tell me you wouldn't invite this lovely home.

I first saw a photo of this stunner in the SDM weekly flyer, and right then and there I knew I had to have it. I got lucky that the display was hidden underneath the new Quo Fall 2011 collection (which is gorgeous, by the way, and Lisamarie from Beauty Crazed in Canada are hosting a giveaway of it here). Since it's not at eye level, the display was mostly intact with just a couple bottles missing. The five colors included a pale gold foil, a rose gold foil, a turquoise glass-flecked glitter/foil (more on this in the next post), a blackened purple glass-flecked glittered/foil and this electric blue glass-flecked glitter/foil.

The Quick Take

Brand/Name: Quo by Orly Celestial Star 
Color: Electric Blue (closer to the purple range, with slight purple duochrome because of glitter) 

Formula: Blue base filled with blue glitter, purple glitter and glass flecks

Finish: Glitter bordering on Foil

Price: $10 CDN for 14mL

Seen at: Shoppers Drug Mart

Note(s): Quo is an exclusive brand to Shoppers Drug Mart; Exclusive release to Canada
Contains: Ethyl Acetate, Butyl Acetate, Nitrocellulose, Adipic Acid/Neopentyl Glycol/Trimellitic Anhydride Copolymer, Isopropyl Alcohol, Tosylamide/Epoxy Resin, Triphenyl Phosphate, Polyethylene Terephthalate, Propyl Acetate, Trimethyl Pentanyl Diisobutyrate, Styrene/Acrylates Copolymer, Acetyl Tributyl Citrate, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, N-Butyl Alcohol, Stearalkonium Hectorite, Stearalkonium Bentonite, Mica, Tin Oxide, Alumina, Silica, Trimethylpentanediyl Dibenzoate, Benzophenone-1, Polyvinyl Butyral, Citric Acid, Dimethicone, Trimethylsiloxysilicate Calcium Aluminum Borosilicate.
May Contain: (+/-): CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide), CI 77163 (Bismuth Oxychloride), CI 15850 (Red 6), CI 73360 (Red 30), CI 1588 (Red 34), CI 77491 (Red Iron Oxide), CI 77499 (Black Iron Oxide), CI 77492 (Yellow Iron Oxide), CI 77489 (Brown Iron Oxide), CI 15850 (Red 7), CI 77510 (Ferric Ammonium Ferrocyanide), CI 19140 (Yellow 5), CI 42090 (Blue 1), CI 60725 (Violet 2), CI 47005 (Yellow 10), CI 77000 (Aluminum Powder), CI 77007 (ultramarines), CI 77266 (Black 2), CI 77288 (Chromium Oxide Greens)


The  Fun Facts 

 The bottle photo with flash in natural light. Check out that purple duochrome effect around the bottom of the bottle!

 

 The typical Orly "O" on the bottle cap is replaced with a "Q"for Quo.

 

 Label at the bottom. I love the name!

 

 The brush looks short but the long rubberized handle with a curved design for better grip definitely makes up for it.

 

Look at that pretty purple shimmer! Very camera shy, that one.

As strong as the purple duochrome shows on the bottle, it doesn't quite translate on the nails. Although, the glass fleck + glitter party shows up much more clearly to give you one glittertastic mani, so that's not much to cry about.

***All nail swatches were done with Nail Tek II Foundation Base Coat and two coats of Quo by Orly Celestial Star unless stated.

Natural light/No top coat/No flash

You can see the glass flecks and glitter best in this lighting.

Natural light/No top coat/Flash

The sparkle killed my camera hence the blurry pic. This was the best of.. a lot.

Sunlight/No top coat/No flash

Yay, sparkle party! Notice the purple peeking at the leftmost part of my pinky. 

Also, that sparkle on my index? It wasn't Photoshopped. Swear.

Isn't that such a vibrant blue? This electric blue is probably one of the best I have. For someone who loves her blues, that's saying a lot. The consistency of polish was neither watery or thick. I'd say it's in the good midway of both, as expected from an Orly polish. The brush I got was kind of iffy though, just because there were a few strands that were a bit longer than they were supposed to so it made application a little tricky.

Now, I decided to do an experiment to show the finish with just the polish by itself. Color me surprised that for a glitter/foil it actually dried really smooth with high shine! Not just shiny from the glitter or glass flecks mind you, as you can see from the natural light/no flash photo. It dried fairly fast, which is something that's a definite plus for me. That purple duochrome? It's still there, but it's just a bit harder to see. You have to move your hands at certain angles to really get it to show. I'd have photographed it, but who wants to see weird angled fingers?

Natural light/Top coat/No flash

Hammie says: Shiiiiiiiny.

Natural light/Top coat/Flash

Purple peeking at the edges again, the shy bugger.

Sunlight/Top coat/No Flash

The blue shine from my index fingernail actually reflected on to the left side of my middle finger. Wow.

Top coat makes everything better! It adds that depth to the color and really makes the unique finish shine. I noticed how it somehow focuses the shine from all the sparkly goodness and didn't spazz out my camera this time.

The Lowdown

As amazing a blue as this is, I can't say that it's unique. It's been said that Celestial Star is a repromote of Orly's Lunar Eclipse from their Cosmic FX collection. I don't have the polish to compare, but based on photos, I can safely say that it most probably is the case. If you're like me who missed out on Lunar Eclipse because it was harder to find north of the border, Celestial Star is a definite must have. It almost seems as if this is Orly's way of giving the Northerners an olive branch. Either that or Quo decided that enough was enough, Canadians deserve exclusive releases too! Good on them, I say.

On a value perspective, I'd say it depends. First, if you don't own Lunar Eclipse and refuse to pay shipping for an online purchase then I'd say this is a great value. However, for the $10 CDN you pay, you only get 14mL compared to a regular sized bottle of Orly polish at 18mL that you can get at a Sally Beauty for $7 CDN. So really, you're paying a little extra for accessibility and the color. Normally, I'd say to wait for when it goes on sale before buying it. But with a bonus redemption weekend coming up, why wait when you can get it for practically free!

Hammie was just as impressed with this polish and he was quite generous with his points! I think he's a fan of blues, too. He gives it:

10 Hammie Points! 

So tell us, do you collect points at Shopper Drug Mart? Are you redeeming points this weekend for nail polish or other beauty goodies? Did your eyes hurt from looking at all that sparkle?