Orly Velvet Dream Collection - Swatches & Review

There is one thing that I love about this time of year - the polish collections!  I like that Fall/Winter Collections are released while it is still cold here in Melbourne.  Means I get to enjoy them before the weather warms up.  I do like Fall/Winter collections and there are some really great looking collections this year.  I am super excited for the OPI one (which is being released here in Australia soon!).  But while I don't have the OPI collection yet I do have the China Glaze collection (which I should have up on my blog later this week) and Orly's Velvet Dream Collection which I can share with you today.

Black Cherry is a berry creme.  I am a big fan of this colour.  This is definitely a great winter colour for me.  The formula is great and applies evenly.  It does dry darker than it looks in the bottle.  I used two coats for my swatch.

Blue Suede is a blue creme.  I think the colour is great but the formula is a little on the sheer side which I thought was disappointing.  It is easy to use though.  My swatch shows three coats.

Just Bitten is a vampy red creme.  Now as much as I am not a red fan, I do like this colour.  I personally would prefer to wear it on shorter nails.  The formula does apply slightly uneven and needed three coats to even out completely.

November Fog is a dusty lilac creme.  I love this one!  I was expecting this to be a three coater, but I am happy to say you only need two coats.  Seriously gorgeous!  My swatch shows two coats.

Silken Quartz is a nude with a pearl finish.  I am personally not a fan of this one, but then I don't tend to like pearl finishes on polishes (there are a few exceptions though).  The formula is easy to use and you do have visible brush strokes.  I used two coats for my swatch.

Velvet Kaleidoscope is packed with glitters that shift from a pinky red, to bronze, copper and gold.  I am a big fan of this one.  I think it's such a great colour and it has a great colour shift.  The formula is sheer and needed three coats to build it up.

Overall I am a fan of this collection for the cooler months.  My personal favourites are definitely November Fog and Velvet Kaleidoscope.  I also really like Black Cherry, Blue Suede and Just Bitten.

What do you think of this for a Fall collection?  Will you be picking any of these shades up?

Orly Coastal Crush Collection - Swatches & Review

When I first say the promo pictures for Orly's Coastal Crush Collection I wasn't too excited by them at all.  In fact, I was actually going to skip over the collection.  Anyway, fast foward a few weeks and I saw that this collection was available at the same time I purchased the China Glaze Summer Reign Collection (you can find my swatches and review here if you are interested) so I thought why not not grab it.  Well I am so happy that I did.  The polishes are gorgeous and definitely make for a great Summer Collection.

For The First Time is a bright purple creme.  These is such a gorgeous colour and the formula is great.   My swatch shows two coats.

No Regrets is a fuchsia creme.  Another great colour with a good formula.  This one has a slight visible nail line on two coats so I used three coats for my swatch.

Sea You Soon is a bright blue shimmer.  I found this one to be quite slow drying, and a little on the sheer side.  I think next time I would use it over a base colour.  This one also applied unevenly on the first coat but evened out on the second.  My swatch shows three coats.

Summer Fling is a bright peach creme.  I could definitely have a summer fling with this polish.  Such a gorgeous colour with an easy to use formula.  I used three coats for my swatch.

Surfer Dude is a bright orange creme.  This one is quite bright but a little sheer.  I think it would look awesome over a white base.  My swatch shows three coats.

Under The Stars is a dark blue shimmer.  Now this one seems a little odd in this collection if you ask me.  The other polishes are all bright and scream summer to me.  This one just seems to dark, but that being said it's a gorgeous colour.  It seems to have a glow about it or something.  I can see myself wearing this in winter.  The formula is easy to use and you can get away with two coats, however it was a bit too see through at the tips for my liking.  I used three coats.

Overall I am a big fan of this collection and I am so glad that I ended up grabbing it.  The polishes are so bright and vibrant and the formulas are good across the collection.  My personal favourites (which are quite hard to pick) are For The First Time, No Regrets, Summer Fling and Under The Stars.

Orly La La Land Collection - Swatches & Review

I finally managed to get my hands on Orly's La La Land Collection.  I originally ordered this collection from HB Beauty prior to Christmas.  It took them close to two weeks to actually send it out to me (I had to complain on social media before they actually would send it).  Then it arrived here in Australia and for whatever reason their shipping company sent it back to them after it sitting here for another two weeks.  HB Beauty did refund me the money so that was nice, but definitely very disappointing.  I much preferred when they sent via DHL rather than the forwarding company they use now.  Anyway, I ordered this collection from Head2Toe Beauty and it arrived within a week (oh how I love H2T - they are also so reliable for me) and now I have my swatches and review for you.

Anything Goes has an opal shimmer base with blue stars and pink holographic circle glitters.  I'm not a fan of this polish.  I think the shimmer is quite pretty, but I am not a fan of the large glitters.  They are a pain to get out and really don't look good in my opinion.  For my swatch I used one coat over Head In The Clouds and had to place the glitter pieces on.

As Seen On TV is a lilac creme.  Now this is a really gorgeous colour.  It is a little sheer and does apply unevenly.  I used three coats for my swatch.

Big City Dreams is a mint green creme.  This an another gorgeous colour, but again the formula is sheer and it applies unevenly.  I used three coats but I am questioning if I should have done a forth as it kinda looks uneven still.  My eyes could be playing tricks on me though.

Cool In California is described as a poppy pink creme.  This one is the same as above.  Gorgeous colour, sheer and applies unevenly.  Again I probably should have done a forth coat but I stopped at three coats.

Forget Me Not is a pastel blue creme.  Again, pretty colour, sheer and applies unevenly.  My swatch shows three coats.

Head In The Clouds is a light pink creme.  This one is definitely the sheerest of the cremes.  It most definitely needs four coats (which is what I used for my swatch).  Again it does apply unevenly but it is quite pretty.

I have slightly mixed feelings about this collection.  I don't care for the glittery polish at all, but I do love the colours of the cremes.  The formulas are just a little disappointing.  I attempted to use this collection in some nail art the other day and even over a white base you could barely see them.  My personal favourites are Cool In California (this is definitely my number one favourite) As Seen On TV, Big City Dreams and Forget Me Not.

What do you think of this collection?

Favorite Mainstream Polishes 2016

To wind up the end of this year I thought it would be fun to take a look at some of my favorite things.  I had originally planned on doing some of these posts at the end of last year, however I was travelling and lacked internet and time.  But not this year.  I am organized and excited to share some of my favorites with you over the next few days - starting with my favorite mainstream polishes.  To make things fair (and to make it easier on me lol) I have decided to only include polishes that were released this year.  I had such a hard time picking my favorites but I have managed to pick my top twenty.  These aren't in any particular order because that would just be way to hard (have I mentioned that I really struggle making decisions especially when it comes to things like favorites?).  Enough babbling Tracy, show them your picks!

CHINA GLAZE

It may come as no surprise that I have a bunch of China Glaze polishes in my favorites for the year.  They are definitely one of my favorite brands ever.  My personal favorite collection that they released this year was the Lite Brites Collection, which I am guessing was a lot of peoples favorite seems the two posts I did on this collection are my most viewed blog posts ever!

Bite Me from the Lite Brites Collection.  Such a gorgeous colour and I love the shimmer in it.  Gives it a little something extra from your standard pink neon.

Dope Taupe from the Rebel Collection.  This is one of my favorite colours to wear during the cooler weather plus the formula is amazing. 

I Got A Blue Attitude from the Lite Brites Collection.  Is it blue?  Is it purple?  Whatever you want to call it, the colour and formula are amazing!  I actually want to reswatch this one as the camera I was using then hated purples and blurples.

I'll Pink To That is another I love from the Lite Brites Collection.  Seriously, neon pink - what isn't there to love?

Let's Chalk About It from the House Of Colour Collection.  I had a huge thing for these really light shades this year.  There is something about them that just seem so fresh, if that makes sense.

Lime After Lime is from the Lite Brites Collection.  Did I mention that this collection was a favorite of mine?  This green is not only a great colour on its own but I grabbed it a lot for nail art.

Moonlight The Night is another favorite of mine from the House Of Colour Collection.  When it comes to glitters I tend to favor indie polishes but I love this one.  It just so pretty and is unique in my collection.

None Of Your Risky Business is another favorite from the Lite Brites Collection.  This polish is easily my go to orange polish for this year, especially when it comes to nail art.

Dance Legend

I was able to try quite a few different polishes from Dance Legend this year.  A few of my all time favorites weren't actually released this year so I wasn't able to include them.   However, there was one stand out polish that I couldn't not include in my favorites.

11 from the Velvet Mini Collection.  This polish is drool worthy!  

OPI

OPI is another brand favorite for me, so again it will be no surprise that I have quite a few of their polishes in my favorites for this year.  OPI have released a lot of great collections this year.  If I had to pick my favorite collections I would say that Alice Through The Looking Glass, Retro Summer, Soft Shades, New Orleans, Washington DC and Breakfast At Tiffany's collections would be in there.  I know I just listed a lot of collections, but seriously OPI did some amazing collections.  I am excited to see what they have in store for us next year.

Apartment For Two from the Breakfast At Tiffany's Collection.  Great pink that isn't too dark or two bright and the formula is amazing.

Fearlessly Alice from the Alice Through The Looking Glass collection.  Gorgeous colour with an amazing formula.  Love it!

I Believe In Manicures is another one from the Breakfast At Tiffany's Collection.  I have always loved these lighter blue shades and this one is perfection.

I Manicure For Beads from the New Orleans Collection.  It really is no surprise that I have a purple creme in my line up of favorites.  The colour is gorgeous and it's so close to being a one coater.  How can I not love it?

I'm Gown For Anything is yet another one from the Alice Through The Looking Glass Collection.  For such a light colour this formula is fantastic and just look at the colour.  It's a nice soft colour without it looking white (not that that is a bad thing - I quite like those polishes too).

Rich & Brazilian is from the Breakfast At Tiffany's Collection.  This is a perfect winter shade for me.  It's not too dark that it just looks black and the shimmer is really pretty.

Rich Girls & Po-Boys is from the New Orleans Collection.  I have actually worn this quite a few times this year (although I may not have posted it?) and just love it every time.  It's a gorgeous bright colour without being over the top and the formula is awesome.

Sunshine...Bedtime! is another one from the Breakfast At Tiffany's Collection.  Now I know you may be thinking that this glitter isn't unique, and honestly it's not.  I am sure I have something very similar already in my collection.  However, it was released this year and I do love it!  It's super sparkly and girly. 

The I's Have It is from the Alice Through The Looking Glass Collection.  Have I mentioned that I really like this collection?  The colour is gorgeous and the formula is great.

Orly

I'm not to sure if Orly didn't release a lot of collections this year, or perhaps I just didn't buy them all.  There was definitely some good polishes but nothing that I really fell head over heels for (with the exception of one).  My favorite collection from Orly would have to the Pacific Coast Highway Collection.  I mean it's a neon collection, how could I not love it?

Scenic Route is from the Pacific Coast Highway Collection and is a super close to being the same colour as one of my favorite purple polishes ever - China Glaze That's Shore Bright (the original version).  It's not a dupe but it is close enough and a lot closer than the new version of That's Shore Bright.  You can see my comparison of these polishes here.

Sally Hansen

Sally Hansen is a brand that I don't have a lot of in my collection, however I am really keen to add more to my collection.  I was lucky enough to try my first ever polishes from the Complete Salon Manicure range and I fell in love.  I actually had most of the Spring Collection out of my drawers when trying to decide my favorites.  Sadly, there were a few other polishes from other brands that I loved the colour of just a little bit more.

Crush On Blue is from the Complete Salon Manicure Spring Collection.  These cornflower blues are easily one of my favorite types of blues ever and the formula of this one is perfection!

  

So that is my Top Twenty mainstream polishes that were released this year.  Now while I couldn't pick one of these polishes as part of my Top Twenty I couldn't not include the Color Club Pop Wash Collection.  I have used them time and time again for nail art and honestly love the colours and the formulas.  They aren't something I would wear on their one or as a full mani but they are perfect for nail art!

I'm curious to know what are some of your favorite mainstream polishes were that were released this year?  Or even some of your favorite collections.  Let me know in the comments below and leave a link to any favorite blog posts/videos you have done. I would love to check them out.  Tomorrow I will be back with my favorite Indie polishes from this year.

Orly Sunet Strip Collection - Swatches & Review

Today I am stepping away from the nail art posts for a minute.  Never fear I have a nail art post planned for tomorrow, Saturday and then a bunch for next week.  There will also be lots more swatch posts coming soon as I try and swatch my way through all the polishes I have purchased this year.  Apparently there is quite a few that I haven't done yet.  Oops.  Anyway today I have Orly's Holiday Collection to share with you.  I have actually had this collection sitting in my to swatch racks for way too long.  I would say at least a month and it kept getting pushed back.  I seriously need more nail hours in the day so I can swatch things more quickly.

Celebrity Spotting is a purple creme with pink shimmer.  I think this is quite a pretty polish and the formula is easy to use.  My swatch shows two coats.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in direct sunlight

Invite Only is a green creme.  The formula is easy to use but I am not a huge a fan of this colour.  I used two coats for my swatch.

Picture taken in light box

Last Call is a pink shimmer.  Now honestly I was expecting to love this one.  Sadly, not the case.  I think the colour is gorgeous but my my, this polish took forever to dry!  It applies evenly but there was still a visible nail line after two coats.  I used three coats for my swatch and there is still a slight visible nail line and quite see through at the tips.  So disappointing.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in light box with flash

Sunset Blvd is described as a red glitter.  Now if you look at the bottle you can see that is polish has a red base and some gold glitters in it.  The gold glitter isn't as obvious on the nails as it is in the bottle.  Formula wise this is very much the same as Last Call.  Applies evenly, sloooooow drying and still a visible nail line at three coats.  It is a very Christmasy colour though.

Picture taken in light box

The Who's Who is a dark blue creme.  This one applies unevenly on the first coat, and nearly evens out completely on the second.  You can get away with two coats if you aren't too fussy with it being slightly uneven and have see through tips.  Mind you even after three coats it is still see through at the tips.  I think it is a really nice colour though.

Picture taken in light box

Up All Night is a silver shimmer.  This one has the best formula of this collection.  It is super close to being a one coater and I am pretty sure it may stamp as well.  The colour is nice too.  My swatch shows two coats.

Picture taken in light box

Overall I think this collection is a bit meh.  The colours really aren't anything special and the formulas aren't great.  Do I hate this collection?  No, but I definitely don't love it either.

What do you think of this collection?