Orly
Orly Once Upon A Time Collection
 As a child I was very much enamored with the world of fairy tales. I used to collect Madame Alexander dolls in my favorite characters like Cinderella and Snow White.
And even though our beyond ancient Encyclopedia Britannica set didn’t know man had landed on the moon yet it did come with an amazing set of children’s books that included the works of the Brothers Grimm. Now I don’t know if any of you remember the Fractured Fairy Tales from The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show but I was SUCH a fan! Knowing all this you can only imagine my delight in hearing that Orly was taking the fairy tale theme and running with it for Fall. Their chic, grown up version not only includes a gorgeous GREEN but a fantabulous grey. Take a look at Once Upon A Time after the jump! |
For some reason the polishes in this collection all apply a little differently so I’m going to address them individually rather than as a group.
Enchanted Forest – Hello LUVAH! Words don’t even begin to describe this gem. This rich forest green creme is deep, dreamy and utterly perfect. I applied it in two flawless coats and fell head over hells in love. Need I say more?
Now I wish could proclaim that Prince Charming swept me off my feet but alas he left me feeling a little flat. This muddy brown is too yellow for my skin tone and just isn’t working for me. The pigmentation and application were decent, nothing newsworthy. It’s a bit jellyish in texture but with two coats you’re done!
Can you have a fairy tale themed collection without a luscious red? I think not. Poison Apple not only represents that evil fruit but it makes me think of the cherry red lips our fair maidens are described as having. I will say I was impressed with the pigmentation on this. It looks true to bottle in two even coats.
Pixie Dust is my other stand out, must have, don’t think about not buying shade. This blue tinged dove grey sparkler is the work of magic. Once it’s on your fingers you won’t be able to stop staring. It’s an uber pigmented two coater though a little tricky to apply. I actually used top coat here to even it out.
You know how I love a grey and Mirror Mirror’s light cement hue is right up my alley. Unfortunately the formula didn’t wow. It was streaky and lumpy and even after three coats it looked imperfect. I want to love you Mirror Mirror but your competitors did it better.
Finally Happily Ever After is quite a unique berry. It looks all simple and creamy but there’s this hidden undercurrent of sparkle peeking out. It’s not easy to detect but in sunlight it pops out to surprise you. 
A little Fractured Fairy Tale for your enjoyment!
The Orly Once Upon A Time colleciton launches in September and will retail for $7.50/ea. You can buy Orly at OrlyBeauty.com in stores at Sally Beauty Supply and ULTA and online at our fave e-tailers (see sidebar).
What do you think Fanatics? Who’s feeling the mystical, magical love?
Orly Nail Rescue Saved Me. It Can Save Your Nails Too!
 I’ve told you about my DDS (Danny Devito Syndrome) in the past and it reared its ugly head just before my trip to Vegas. You see, my thumb nail split and peeled which fed into my tendency to pick at things. So of course I peeled back the split layer and made things worse. Even with a ridge filling base coat I could see the unevenness in my thumb nail. Not to mention the fact that one wrong move would have just torn that piece off. That’s when Orly Nail Rescue came into my life.
I met with a rep from Orly at Cosmoprof and we were discussing treatment products. She told me of her love for Tough Cookie (I’ll be testing it soon) and I told her about my nail issue. She immediately grabbed for a Nail Rescue kit, saying it would literally save my nail. Considering that I get these kinds of splits often, I figured it was worth a shot. See the results, after the jump! |
It’s an easy 3 step system that left my nail with a flawless surface. Included in the kit is a bottle of Nail Glue, Nail Repair Powder and a Buffer. As demonstrated in the image below you just Brush, Dip and Smooth! Step 2: Immediately dip your nail into the Nail Repair Powder. Orly’s Nail Rescue Kit is available online at OrlyBeauty.com ($9) or Head2ToeBeauty.com ($4.95) and in stores at Sally Beauty Supply ($6.99). What’s your favorite method for repairing broken nails? Have you tried Nail Rescue? Share!
As you can see in the “before” pic (left), the tear was pretty big and left me with a flimsy piece of nail that was barely hanging on. I know a lot of people use nail glue and patches or pieces of tea bag to fix breaks but Orly Nail Rescue seems much simpler to me.
Step 1: Clean the nail bed and brush the nail glue over the entire nail, avoiding cuticles. Tip - If you are fixing an uneven area, like I did, you’ll want to repeat this process using the glue on the lower section ONLY to even the nail surface.
Make sure you brush off the excess powder.
Step 3: Buff the nail surface smooth. This was my first attempt and I did repeat the steps to even out the broken layer. As you can see, it’s not a beautiful look but it’s smooth, even and ready for polish while you grow out the breakage.
You can’t even tell my nail is broken!
Removal: Soaking in acetone will remove the hardened powder which means you MUST use a non-acetone remover when taking off your polish.
COSMOPROF Day 1 Recap
 Day 1 of CosmoProf is over and I’m exhilarated, tired, giddy and dying to share the deets on everything I saw. I’ll be going in depth on some of the amazing things I came across when I get home but I wanted to update you all with a quick recap of the goodies I spotted on the show floor.
If you’re not familiar with CosmoProf it’s an annual salon trade show with exhibitors showing off their products in hopes of getting distribution. Because they are unveiling some of their latest and greatest products, press (including bloggers) are invited to cover the event. Now some of the brands are revealing collections that will release next Spring/Summer so to avoid being copied I’m only able to photograph fall/winter/holiday launches. But I can tell you, there are some EXCITING colors on the horizon. Check out my Day 1 redux, after the jump! |
My first stop was the Discover Beauty section of CosmoProf. It’s an area with new, emerging brands looking for US distributorship. When I saw Nails Inc. listed on the show map, I made an immediate beeline to their booth. Fanatics, let’s hope, hope, hope that they get picked up by someone like Sephora or ULTA or some other online/chain store. We NEED Nails Inc. in our lifestyle like ASAP. The color line is amazing, the packaging is so so chic AND they have a 45 Second Top Coat that has me in utter disbelief. They were giving a sneak peek at their holiday blinged out polishes and I MUST have one in my collection come December. The perfect stocking stuffer, no?
Within the Discover Beauty section, Total Beauty manned the Beauty Blogger Central booth. As a guest of Total Beauty I was invited to vote for the best of the Discover Beauty section. I voted for Nails Inc., natch. Granted there are a lot of unique new brands represented but Nails Inc. stole my polish loving heart.
On display in the Blogger Central booth is Total Beauty’s Top 10 rated products of the brands exhibiting at the show. I’m DYING to try the magical Morroccan Oil I’ve heard so much about.
One booth that made me stop in my tracks was KleanColor. Their display of colorful Nail Lacquers drew me right in. And I was beyond flattered that the rep for the brand actually reads ALU. Now I just need to track down where I can order the polishes from. If anyone has a KleanColor hookup, give me a shout!
One look at these bottles and you’ll understand why I was drawn in to Np2′s booth. Talk about a unique shape! And the color range is uber-chic. There are some vampy greens, blues and purples that I can’t wait to get my hands on. According to the rep for the brand, the formula is will knock Essie & OPI out of the water. They’re hoping to launch in Sephora soon so keep your eyes peeled.
As I wandered aimlessly trying to figure out the long winding ailes of booths, I came upon Essie, THE ESSIE! It’s like spotting a rock star. I also ran across Suzi of OPI, Jessica Vartoughian of Jessica and celebrity hairstylist Ken Paves, creator of HairDo. He’s so adorable and pocket sized!
I had to stop by the Color Club/Art Club booth to check out Wild At Heart. That purple and teal green will be MINE!
Next up, the SpaRitual/Orly booth. There are some incredible colors coming down the pike from both brands including two luscious greens for Spring (can’t wait!). First let’s talk SpaRitual. They too are releasing a matte collection called Mind Body Spirit only they formulated a base coat to apply underneath and extend wear. The rep I spoke with was wearing the purple, Spirit and it’s totally gorg. There is also a Fall colllection that I’m bringing home with me to show you.
Out now for fall, the Orly Once Upon A Time collection comes with adorable fairy tale themed charms on the bottles. Enchanted Forest, Pixie Dust and Mirror Mirror are immediate faves.
For holiday they will introduce Femme Fatale and collection of festive reds.
For Spring/Summer 2010 there is a candy colored collection with matching mini lipglosses, a colorful vivid floral inspired collection called Bloom that includes the green I mentioned.
Finally, the true highlight of my day was attending the CND Colour & Effects launch party. CND’s own Jan Arnold greeted us warmly, wearing yet another killer ensemble. That woman has such amazing style I can’t even stand it. She remembered meeting me backstage at the Barbie show during fashion week and it totally made my day.
I have so much more to show you and say about this amazing revamp of the CND line but I’ll just give you a quick rundown. Basically, CND has completely changed their game. Being that they are all about customization at fashion week, creating custom blends for designers all over the world, they have now brought that concept to all of us.
The Colour consists of 50 perfect cremes in a range of shades that will satisfy any addict. There are true primary and secondary shades, sheers, neutrals, pinks, reds, vampies, etc.
The Effects are 15 opalescent pearls, shimmers and glitters that you can layer over the Colour shades to customize your color. They may look similar in the bottle but once you start to play, you really see the difference.
Jan invited us to play at the colour bar and can you guess where I plopped myself down? In front of the “me” colors of course. I went to town swatching different Colours and testing them under the Effects. I was in heaven!
Being the kind, generous woman she is, Jan invited everyone to take home their favorite Colour & Effects combos but when she saw my bag with just a few bottles (I didn’t want to be greedy) she sent me back for more saying, “You’re All Lacquered Up, that’s not nearly enough!”
Oh and I didn’t even get to the bottles. They redesigned the shape of the bottles to be more ergonomic with a soft rubberized cap. And the BRUSH, wow on the brush. It’s now flat but THIN flat, very pinky nail friendly, and the bristles are triangular and clear, a first in the industry. I actually did a little playing back in my room and they apply phenomenally! I can’t wait to show you.
Well that’s pretty much Day 1. We finished the night with a cocktail party at The Mix in The Hotel and dinner at Strip Steak in the Mandalay Bay. The food was so spectacular I regret not taking pics for the fellow foodies out there. Next time, I promise!
Also, I’m attending the show with Phyllis from Makeup For Life so be sure to visit her blog to see the products that she discovered.
Best of Orly Spring & Summer 2009
 For Spring and Summer 2009, Orly hit us with three, count ‘em THREE, colorful new collections; Prepster, Carnivale and Tiki Time.
While all three have some fun colors, none of them wowed me as a whole so I chose my favorites to show to you. Check out my Top 5 of the season after the jump! |
One thing I noticed is that most of the bold creme shades are jelly-like in texture. They’re semi-sheer but buildable and have that glossy, rubberized look that makes jellies so cool. I know the sheers in the Prepster collection are great for layering but they just weren’t doing it for me.
Cashmere Cardigan is a stunning periwinkle blue creme. It’s well pigmented but looks best with three coats. To me this shade looks a lot like Essie Huckle Buckle, minus the shimmer.
I knew I would love Mint Mojito before I even saw it. I’m all over this bright spring green. It also needs three coats but who cares. It’s lovely. It’s actually more vibrant in person but it’s really hard to capture. Actually you should check out the manicure Brittany (aka Clumps of Mascara) did with Cashmere Cardigan and Mint Mojito. She did it herself and it’s way gorg!
Festival Lights is a beautious melon tinged orange. Like a perfectly ripe canteloupe, it’s vivid but not BRIGHT.
Country Club Khaki is the shade celebrity manicurist Jenna Hipp raved about when I interviewed her for WOYN? and it’s no wonder. This is a great neutral mushroom hue. It’s like the spring version of You Don’t Know Jacques.
Finally the shade that made my heart skip, Calypso Breeze. I can’t think of a blue in my stash that looks quite like this and I don’t even know how to describe it. It makes me think of lake water, the sky before a storm and denim all mixed together.
All these polishes are limited edition but still available online at Head2ToeBeauty.com and TransDesign.com. Orly is also carried at Sally Beauty Supply but seasonal collections tend to sell out fast so availability will vary by location.
So what did you think of the Orly Spring/Summer collections? Which colors did you pick up?
Coming Soon – Orly Matte Couture
And the MATTES just keep on coming! Orly is getting in on the matte game with their upcoming Matte Couture collection for Fall. What I’m happy to see is that, unlike the other brands, Orly says you can use a basecoat and I’m so on board with that. Though reading that they’re cremes makes me wonder if they’ll be flat like the OPI Mattes or more satiny like the Orly Matte top coat.
Always the trend-setters, ORLY introduces Matte Couture, a collection of matte lacquers created to keep you on the cusp of this fashion-forward craze. Best worn alone or over your favorite ORLY basecoat, just brush on two coats of your favorite Matte Couture lacquer for rave-worthy matte nails.
Put on your Blue Suede shoes (and nails!) in blue crème
Play your favorite (Matte) Vinyl record in black crème
That crushed Purple Velvet suit gets an updated look in purple crème
The Matte Couture Collection will be available starting September 2009 for $7.50 each. Orly is available at orlybeauty.com, Sally Beauty, ULTA and of course our fave e-tailers.
Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
Birdie
Spa pediccure chairs
