Orly Decoded Nail Polish

Decoded nail polish is part of the Orly Electronica collection. It's probably the most muted of the four shades and its hard to pin down 'is it is grey, is it navy, is it green?' colour is what instantly appealed to me. On the nail wheel, I think it looks more green whereas on my nails, I would say it looks more grey-blue. However you would describe the colour, I really like how it looks and it makes a nice change from my usual griege or gruple.

The first coat went on a little sheer and streaky, so this is definitely a two coat polish. It has a creme finish and as you can see in my nail pictures above, it doesn't cover up an uneven nail surface like more a glossy polish might do. Using a top coat would probably correct this however, I don't think it's that obvious other than in close up photos. Wear time was good on my left hand, average on my right. I will add the usual disclaimer that my nails are rubbish and I can chip nail polish in my sleep!

The Orly Electronica collection is available from BeautyBay where the nail polishes cost £7.50 each, they also have the mini mani set which contains all four colours for £12.75.

Disclosure: PR Sample

My Blues, Greens and Reds

The weather is so miserable outside that I felt inspired to do another colour grouping post. As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm not great at experimenting with colours but I wondered what a hunt for blues, greens and reds would uncover. I suspect that I'm repeatedly drawn to a single shade from a colour family rather than collecting a range from across the spectrum. So, no pretty rainbow of colours here.

Greens

Eyeshadows: MAC Club, Rouge Bunny Rouge Olive Violeteare, Green eyeshadow from Le Metier de Beaute Penelope Kaleidoscope, Green from the Chantecaille Sea Turtles palette, Lancôme Erika F, NARS Dogon and Rajasthan.
Eye Pencils: Annabelle Smoothliner in Jade, No.7 Metallic Eyes in Green, Sue Devitt Eye Intensifier in Bangalore and MAC Kohl Power Pencil in Mystery
Nail Polish: Barry M Racing Green, YSL in Wintergreen, Le Metier de Beaute Dionysus and Athena, L'Oreal Innocent Green, Nails Inc freebie in an unnamed Teal colour

Blues

Eyeshadows: YSL Pure Chromatics in shade #3, Sephora eyeshadow in Preppy Look (#41) and  L'Oreal Infallible Colour in Innocent Turquoise.
Eye Pencils: MAC Pearlglide liner in Petrol Blue and Annabelle Smoothie Crayon in Blubomb
Nail Polish: Joe nail varnish in Persian Blue, YSL Moonlight Blue, Lancôme Vernis in Love in Bleu de Flore (573B), China Glaze in Tempest, Orly Star of Bombay, Butter London Victoriana, L'Oreal French Riviera.

Reds

Nail Polish: Butter London Knees Up, Orly Glam, Lancôme Vernis in Love in Miss Coquelicot (154M) and Lancôme Rouge Saint Honoré (22)
Lip Liners: MAC Cherry and Le Metier de Beaute Rose
Lip Products: Tom Ford lipstick in Smoke Red, Ilia Crimson & Clover, Max Factor Colour Elixir lipstick in Ruby Tuesday, Lancôme lipsticks in Rouge Faubourg and Rouge in Love (159B), Revlon Colourburst in Raspberry, Kevyn Aucoin Liquid Lipstick in Aquarouge, Illamasqua Intense Lipgloss in Fume and Ellis Faas in L303
Cheek Colour: W3LL People Universalist Stick #5

I thought I'd add this final picture, so you can see exactly why all the images are so dark. I know we really need the rain but, seriously, enough already!! Hopefully I will get opportunity to take some of these again when the sun finally reappears.

Disclosure: The items shown here are a mixture of things that I have purchased myself, been gifted to me and PR samples. If you want to check the origin of any particular item, do feel free to ask.

My Weekend Makeup Bag

Despite my best intentions to keep things minimal, I have managed to completely fill my makeup bag just for a night away. I know I probably should have planned what makeup I wanted to wear in advance and packed accordingly, but I suck at being that organised. Anyway, I thought I'd share with you which items made the cut. I have included links to previous reviews where possible.

Basic Face Products
NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturiser in Finland
Diorskin Nude Natural Glow Fresh Powder Makeup in 020
BECCA Creamy Concealer in Praline*
Shu Brow Pencil H9 Seal Brown
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Tweezers and Pencil Sharpener

Eyeshadows and Liners
Rouge Bunny Rouge Eyeshadows in (left to right) Umber Firefinch, Bohemian Waxwing and Olive Violeteare
Lancome Erika F eyeshadow*
Sephora Jumbo Liner in Taupe
MAC Kohl Power Eye Pencil in Mystery
MAC Eye Kohl in Teddy
Ben Nye Eye Liner Pencil in Espresso EP-85
Kevyn Aucoin Liner in Basic Black*

I really wanted to take my LMdB Come One, Come All kaleidoscope but I'm too precious about my kaleidoscopes to travel with them. I wish I wasn't such a nervous ninny!

Cheek Products and Mascara
NARS Laguna Bronzer
No.7 Lash Adapt Mascara*
Laura Mercier Blusher in Petal Pink
By Terry Blusher, this was passed on from a friend and I'm afraid I don't know the shade.
Rouge Bunny Rouge Sea of Tranquility highlighter

Lipsticks and Nail Polishes
Orly Decoded* from the new Electronica collection
Illamasqua Bacterium
BECCA 2 in 1 top/base coat
Clinique Chubby Stick in Whole Lotta Honey*
Hourglass lipstick in Fresco
Rouge Bunny Rouge sheer lipstick in Murmurings

Brushes
Rouge Bunny Rouge Face Contour Brush* which I use for both blusher and bronzer
Illamasqua Blusher Brush #1, I'm hoping I will be able to use this with the Diorskin powder foundation
Adesign Flat Topped Foundation Brush*
Le Metier de Beaute Concealer Brush*
MAC 224, 219 and 239 brushes
Sigma E25 blending brush
Hakuhodo Kokutan ML Eye Brush
Ruby + Millie Angled Liner

Orly Decoded

I'd like to claim that it's unusal for me to walk around with one random nail painted but that would be a lie! I've had Orly Decoded on for my little finger for couple of days and it's lasted surprisingly well. I still can't make up my mind whether to wear this or Illamasqua Bacterium on Sunday which is the reason that both are travelling with me.

I don't tend to do clothes posts. I'm not the least bit fashionable (you'll be able to tell from the pictures below) but this is the outfit I'm planning to wear to the baptism. It's a black jersey faux wrap around dress and the cardigan is one I purchased the other day in the Lazy Lu sale. I intend to wear it with black tights, black boots and some chunky gold jewellery. I can't decide on which scarf to wear, as much as I love the one in the first picture, I fear that I'd be entering Bett Lynch territory combined with my zebra print bag! I may have a quick look for an alternative tomorrow if time permits.

My 'Bett Lynch' bag!

Right, it's time for me to rinse this hair dye off and find out exactly what 'blends in grey' really means!

Disclosure: PR samples are indicated with an asterisk.

W7 Metallic Mercury and Venus (with Orly Cosmic FX comparison)

I'm feeling poorly today (the small people have been sharing their germs again), so I thought I'd take the opportunity to show you some swatches that I've been meaning to post for ages. I hope you will forgive me for being less detailed than normal.

Left - Metallic Mercury, Right - Metallic Venus

I picked up these W7 nail polishes just before Christmas last year when I was visiting family. I've never spotted the brand locally and at only a couple of pound each, I thought it would be an inexpensive treat. The W7 bottles are very similar to OPI in styling, although the brushes aren't as good quality and are prone to sticking out at funny angles. The consistency of both of these polishes is quite thin and I applied three coats for the coverage you see here.

In the bottle, Metallic Mercury looks very similar to Orly Space Cadet, including that yellow green tinge at certain angles. On the nail, they look quite different as Metallic Mercury has a much darker base. The 'oil in water' sheen is lost a bit with the black base, especially with as you need to apply several coats. Nevertheless, I like the finished result very much.

Metallic Mercury

Metallic Venus has more of a metallic finish than Metallic Mercury (which is a duochrome finish - thanks Odyssey!). I particularly like how the tiny blue microshimmer gives the nail polish a lilac sheen. I think this Metallic Venus is my favourite of these two W7 colours.

Metallic Venus

Here are Metallic Mercury and Venus compared to the Orly Cosmic FX colours that I own. None of these colours are dupes but hopefully the comparison helps put the colours in context. At the very least it's an excuse for a bit of nail polish porn!

Right to left: Out of this World, Metallic Mercury, Metallic Venus, Galaxy Girl

Right to left: Galaxy Girl, Metallic Mercury, Metallic Venus, Out of this World, Space Cadet

I can't remember exactly how much these nail polishes cost from Savers, as the receipt has long since vanished. I suspect it was around £2.95 each. Although they're harder to apply than more expensive brands, the lasting power was fine so my overall impression is that they're not bad for a bit of cheap and cheerful fun. I found both colours available from Amazon and Fragrancemad.com.

Orly Star of Bombay

Orly Star of Bombay is a gorgeous deep navy with pretty metallic blue twinkle. It's so dark in fact that is looks almost black and in overcast light (which we've seen a lot of lately) it can be hard to capture that sparkle. It's probably more obvious to the eye than it is to the camera and I confess that I kept staring at my nails when I was wearing this colour.

This polish is quite thick and opaque in consistency and I could have almost got away with a single coat. However, two coats are best to really bring out that pretty twinkle. As ever, the long brush and rubber grip handle of the Orly polishes makes for easy application.

I wanted to compare Star of Bombay to a couple of other dark blues, I prepared the colours on a nail wheel but the sun has refused to put in an appearance since. I will post a picture separately when the sun finally comes out again, I will need to get up first thing on Sunday to catch it if the weather forecast is to be believed. I'll get back to you on that!

Orly nail polishes are available from Beauty Bay where Star of Bombay costs £7.50. Other stockists include Look Fantastic and Feel Unique.

Disclosure: PR Sample

Chocolate Nail Polish Comparison

Apparently it was Chocolate Week this week. I've not had nearly enough chocolate to celebrate this fact so to make up for it I'm giving you a whole lot of chocolatey nails. I no longer have Rimmel Chocolate Factory which is a shame as it would have been fitting. Though I do have quite a few similar polishes as it turns out, I never released what a collector I had become!

The nail varnishes shown here are: (on the top row from left to right) Chanel Khaki Rose, BECCA Billy Tea, OPI Over the Taupe, Nails Inc. Eagle Street, (bottom row left to right) Orly Prince Charming, Filthy Gorgeous Satchel, Max Factor Soft Toffee, Sephora by OPI Metro Chic.

On the nail wheel the colours are: 1. Nails Inc. Eagle Street 2. Orly Prince Charming 3. Chanel Khaki Rose 4. BECCA Billy Tea 5. OPI Over the Taupe 6. Filthy Gorgeous Satchel 7. Max Factor Soft Toffee 8. Sephora by OPI Metro Chic. It was rather interesting applying them one after the other as the differences in consistency and the brush size and shape were very noticeable. Eagle Street, Prince Charming, Khaki Rose and Satchel all had a thicker consistency and were near opaque with a single coat. Billy Tea, Over the Taupe and Metro Chic all seemed very thin in comparison.

The four colours that were most noticeably similar when applied were Orly Prince Charming, Chanel Khaki Rose, BECCA Billy Tea and OPI Over the Taupe. There are subtle difference, Khaki Rose is more yellow in undertone whereas Billy Tea is more chocolate-y with a hint of mauve. I don't think anyone would really require all four, certainly if I showed the Biochemist he would wonder why I had four identical bottles. I'd say we're in 'no dupes but near enough' territory. Billy Tea is the only colour currently available so if you've missed out on any of the others, this would be a good alternative.

Are you a fab of chocolate brown nails? Or do you think these colours stray into another less appealing category?

Orly Galaxy Girl

Orly Galaxy Girl is another of the Cosmic FX collection that Katie My Lips But Better sent me as part of our International Exchange. I put this on at the beginning of the week and it was instant love. It's a really complex colour and I don't think my pictures capture all of the nuances. In one direction it looks like a plummy purple with red reflects but turn your hand another way and it's a chocolate brown with beautiful green and silver sparkle.

It has lasted ok. I found some shrinking at the tips overnight but I always suspect the Seche Vite is at fault for this. Chipping only started after a day or so which is not unusual for me. This is two coats and in the pictures it looks a bit sheer. I assure you it doesn't look that way on my nails. I'm absolutely thrilled with this nail polish, I think it's my favourite of the three. If you happen to spot this colour available for delivery in the UK, I would definitely recommend picking it up.

Orly Out of This World

I took part in a little USA/UK cosmetic swap with Katie from My Lips But Better. Having seen a lot of beautiful swatches of the Orly Cosmic FX nail polishes, including Katie's, I thought I would ask for a couple these as part of our swap.

I received Out of This World, Galaxy Girl and Space Cadet. All of them are as beautiful in the flesh as I'd hoped.

I hope you will forgive my nail swatches. This was the second day of wear and there is already a bit of tip wear as you will see. This always happens to me, looking after children doesn't seem to be very nail polish friendly! The polish is a purple base with lots of pink and purple sparkles. The duochrome is only really visible in the bottle but I think this polish is gorgeous all the same. In these pictures I'm wearing two coats with Seche Vite top coat. As usual you can click the image to enlarge.

I'm really looking forward to trying the other colours. I will share swatches as I wear them. I made a YouTube video when I opened my parcel which if you have a spare moment you can see here. I was rather excited as you will probably gather! I shall leave you with a photo of the goodies, I'm really looking forward to trying the Wet n' Wild palettes. Thank you again to Katie for the lovely parcel, hopefully it won't be long before your package arrives.