Lab Muffin's Top 13 Polishes of 2013 Part 1: Mainstream and Boutique Brands

2013 was a big year of swatching for me, and it was the year where I think Australian indie polishes really blossomed. It was very difficult to pick just 13 polishes that I loved, but I certainly tried! I limited myself to one polish per brand only, and to polishes that I discovered in 2013 (though they weren't necessarily released last year). Here we go, with the mainstream and boutique (i.e. small company but not hand-mixed) picks...

First, I obviously have to mention my collaboration shade, piCture pOlish Ultra Violence. The literary amongst you will know that the name is inspired by Anthony Burgess's book A Clockwork Orange. I love the holo iridescent glitter against the rich purple! I've included a bottle of Ultra Violence in my 2nd blogiversary giveaway here.

I blogged about the stunningly pretty Pretty Serious BSOD here earlier. What happened next was that while wearing it, my laptop did actually have a heart-stopping BSOD moment, in the middle of thesis-writing! Luckily I didn't lose anything, but Kaz was too sweet, and in her usual above-and-beyond customer service style, she sent me a few polishes to dull the pain.

OPI Keeping Suzi At Bay is a gorgeous blue creme that is both interesting and elegant. It may be my favourite creme shade ever. I think dark blue is actually quite work safe, but definitely not boring.

ulta3 Triple Threat was a big surprise for me. This is a complex holo glitter jelly that's indie-worthy, but comes at the ridiculously budget-friendly price of $2.

Orly Digital Glitter is one of my top 5 Orly polishes, ever. I usually think of Orly as a brand which does salon-friendly classic polishes well, but whenever they come out with something a bit different it's usually ridiculously cool (Fowl Play! Space Cadet!). I love the unlikely brown/purple/red combination - it's a bit steampunk in my opinion, and makes me think of Neal Stephenson novels. To top it off, the purple shimmer is duochrome.

I will be back soon with some of my indie picks of 2013 - hold onto your wallets!

Midnight Snow - Orly Royal Navy + Hit Polish Candied Jewels

I really really felt like wearing a cobalt blue color -- but the one I had in mind, Nails Inc. Baker Street, I don't own. Actually, I just ordered it the other day with my Sephora $20 off $50 promotion so it'll be arriving soon :) but going through my drawers, I came across Orly Royal Navy and thought it'd fit my fancy.

And it did, for a moment, until I had to slap glitter on top of it.

It ended up looking like snowfall on a dark blue background -- to me, anyway, almost snow globe like :)

This manicure accompanied me through a few finals, it held up really well! Can't quite see the shimmer from Royal Navy but the smaller teal glitters in Hit Polish: Candied Jewels kind of echoed it, which was cool!

I like the glitter mixes from Hit Polish, she doesn't hold back on mixing up different glitters!

You can find Hit Polish here on her Facebook or her Etsy.

Sorry for the absence! Orly Gogo and Illamasqua Harsh

OK...sorry that I've been MIA. Things have been insanely busy (I had a day off on Friday, where I did nothing, for the first time in three and a half weeks) and I've not had much time to a) do my nails and b) take pictures. On the plus side I LOVE my new job so working my socks off doesn't seem like much of a chore, but I am finding less time for, well, anything else.

BUT! I'm hoping that now that teaching has started and I'm more in the swing of things I can start posting more regularly. Fortunately the other ladies on POP have been so awesome that I'm sure you've barely noticed I was gone ;)

I think this was three of four coats of Gogo (streaky hell fest) plus glitter to make it look a bit more even. I did think this was quite pretty but I don't think I'll be reaching for Gogo again for a while.

A navy for all seasons - Orly La Playa

My delving into Orly continues! This time with La Playa - a dark blue creme that manages to never look black - a feat if there ever was one!

Somehow works in summer - sort of nautical themed? - as well as in winter thanks to the deep, bold colour. Since the weather can't seem to decide whether it's summer or not right now, this seems rather apropos! I'm very happy to add this to my collection. I do love a good navy polish.

What's your favourite navy? Mine is probably Essie Midnight Cami.

kittytokaren

Cobalt Champion! - Orly Royal Navy

Lately I've been on a search for my ideal cobalt polish! I started with Essie Mesmerize - the colour wasn't quite right. Then, thanks to reader suggestions, I tried Revlon Royal - perfect colour, but the formula really REALLY didn't work for me. Now I'm going to show you something that I think is *just right* - Orly Royal Navy!

I would have never thought to try this, as I know it has some green shimmer to it. Lovely, but not my thing - I really wanted a creme/jelly cobalt! But, fantastic PoP reader Laikabear suggested that I let Orly Royal Navy sit for a while - she said the shimmer would sink to the bottom and I'd get my creme polish. She was right! I left Royal Navy alone for a while et voila - perfection. I really do love the Orly formula too, so this held up very well. Many thanks to Laikabear!

Even though I've found my champion I'm still super tempted to try Nails Inc Baker Street - MANY of you have suggested it to me and I think that next time I'm able to go to Sephora it might just come home with me!

kittytokaren

A lot of big "meh": some LA Girl Glitter Addict swatches

I really love LA Girl polishes. They are generally inexpensive (especially if you catch a good Cherry Culture deal) and awesome (even if a little slow to dry sometimes). So I was ecstatic when I heard about the Glitter Addict collection. Ordered the whole thing on impulse before I saw many swatches. And I'm kind of annoyed at myself because now I just have a lot of new layering polishes (and I don't really like layering polishes). Without exception, all the glitters are suspended in clear jelly.

LA Girl Synergy over Orly Frisky

Gold hex glitter shows up as kind of holo in the bottle but is very sparse. And the holo doesn't really seem to show up unless in direct sunlight. Two layers. 

LA Girl Celebrate

Celebrate... what exactly? Sparse multicolored small and large hex glitter. The above is... I think it was five layers? At least it was interesting to look at and might be cute over a black or white polish. 

 Closeup of Celebrate

 LA Girl Euphoria over Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud

Lavender glitter with lavender and holo hex glitter. This one looked fabulous in the bottle: the combination of lavender and holo was stunning. On the nail, not so much. Four layers. 

LA Girl Flamboyant over Orly Fresh

I actually liked this one a lot. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because it looked like an ordinary orange glitter/orange hex glitter combo in the bottle and maybe because by this time, I had my expectations dialed down to zero. So when this came out looking as expected (two sizes of sparse orange glitter), I wasn't disappointed. Four layers.

How to drive a manicure over the edge: Orly Rock Solid... with LA Girl Inspire... with Color Club Smash Hit

This is what happens you're lazy and easily bored like I am. Let this be a lesson to you all. 

Orly Rock Solid

Part of Orly's Mineral FX collection, it looked so promising in the bottle. Black with strong silver shimmer and a heck ton of holo glitter. HECK TON. Yet it was kind of flat (and somewhat gritty) on the nail. The black shimmer ate the glitter almost entirely. Three coats. 

Closeup of Rock Solid

LA Girl Glitter Addict Inspire over Orly Rock Solid 

But I really wanted a glitter manicure that day, yet was loath to take off Rock Solid. So I decided to try out one of the LA Girl Glitter Addicts on top of it. (Btw, that collection was the most disappointing LA Girl collections ever but we can discuss that another time.) There seem to be two types of pink glitter: magenta and this old-fashioned rosy pink that seems to be the go-to pink glitter. Inspire was the latter and, as is usual for this type of pink glitter, it doesn't look so hot. I figured the polish wasn't going to be opaque so I might as well have a bit of contrast going by putting it over a dark polish, right? (Wrong.) Turns out, Inspire was even more sparse than anticipated: the above is three coats and the Rock Solid is still very visible. 

Closeup of the mess

Color Club Smash Hit over LA Girl Glitter Addict Inspire and Orly Rock Solid 

Having NOT learned my lesson -- and now having the double disincentive of removing a dark polish AND glitter -- I decided that I might as well layer on a polish that was sent to me by Color Club: Smash Hit, a black crackle. And I actually liked it better with the crackle than without. Still and all, it was pretty damn fug. 

Closeup of the coup de grace...

At this point, I had eleven layers of polish on my nails (bc, 3 Rock Solid, tc, 3 Inspire, tc, Smash Hit, tc). Well, this was just ridiculous. And kind of very unattractive. After I took this photo, I waited for the entire thing to dry and then peeled off the monstrosity off of all ten nails. (I know, I know. Gross. When you have that much polish on, once dry, it really just pops off with a little nudge.) Would it have been easier to just remove Rock Solid when I realized that I didn't like it? Probably. 

Orly Fresh and Frisky (Happy Go Lucky, Fall 2011)

Some collections scream the season in which they are released. Spring sees a lot of pastels, summer brings out the neons, fall and winter sees a lot more muted shades and vampies, and holidays are often glitterbombs. Never in my life would I have looked at Orly's Happy Go Lucky collection and thought, "Hey, that reminds me of buying No. 2 pencils and a required gym uniform." 

Orly Fresh

This is green creme that has just a tad of jelly to give it the squishy finish. It is, like, a step or two below neon but stops short of it. The first layer makes it look like it'll apply somewhat thickly and unevenly but it looked perfect after only two coats.

Orly Frisky

Sky blue creme. Not as close to neon as Fresh. This one was a bit frustrating. Three coats, somewhat uneven application, and cuticle drag. 

Lovely, dark and deep - Orly Enchanted Forest

A true, deep green polish. Absolutely fantastic! The colour is deep enough that it makes it a nice neutral for me in wintertime. Maybe it's just the name, but it reminds me of playing in the woods at night when I was a kid - they always seemed to mysterious and full of magical things back then! My pic may seem a little dark, but this is one that never looks black - its obviously dark green.

What are you wearing right now? I need some mani inspiration!

kittytokaren

Orly Bubbly Bombshell

Well, hello, lovely glittery princess! Orly Bubbly Bombshell, would you like some konad black flowers? I think you would.

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Orly Bubbly Bombshell with konad black special polish

I love this Orly polish, even though it took three coats for opacity and then showed tip wear after 24 hours. I mean, it's just so... pretty. The little microglitter just picks up every bit of light and throws it all over the place. I'm not so sure how I feel about the black flowers, but you know about the konad bug, right? Once it bites, it is UNRELENTING.

Happy polishing!

Orly Rock the World (Mineral FX, Holiday 2011)

Orly Rock the World

And rock my world it DOES. Gorgeous, gorgeous muted rose with gorgeous gorgeous gold and bronze microglitter. It feels like a very conventional combination but it is so bright and festive. From some angles, it looks more magenta but others, it looks more wine red. Either way, shimmer everywhere. Three coats. 

Happy New Year! - Orly Bon Bon

Something sweet for the New Year!

This looked so great on Piff, I had to pick it up. I think it looks better on her though!

kittytokaren

Wet n Wild Believe Me It's Real (Ice Baby) over Orly Stone Cold (Holiday 2011)

Wet n Wild Believe Me It's Real over Orly Stone Cold

I've seen photos of this Wet n Wild and it looks like that it does get opaque but I got really bored of my Stone Cold mani and didn't feel like taking it off. Lots of lazy layering. It made my nails seem HUGE though: between the basecoat, two coats of Stone Cold, one layer of topcoat, three layers of Believe Me It's Real, plus two more layers of topcoat... pretty thick by the end of this process. Extremely sparkly blue glitter with some purple hex glitter mixed in. 

I found most of the Ice Baby nail polishes at my local Walgreens... but not all of them (and that makes me sad because I really wanted Diamond in the Rough). And there MUST MUST MUST be some nail polish blog (or NB) enthusiasts in my neighborhood because the cashier at Walgreens told me that people were in asking for these polishes before they were released (and pretty much snapped up most of the display immediately). I wish I had some nail polish friends locally so I could go a-huntin' and a-paintin' with 'em. 

Orly Stone Cold (Mineral FX, Holiday 2011)

Orly Stone Cold

Blue metallic that's shot through with... micro-flakies, for lack of a better term? Bright, eye-catching. Would make an awesome summer pedi color, imo. Two coats and took a strangely long time to dry (at least one of those nails had been painted more than once because they dried slower than usual with my typical bc/tc combo).

I just recently told a bunch of my college friends about this blog. I'm still being all covert about it with people I know professionally (i.e. all academics anywhere) but the more I thought about it, the stranger it felt to be quiet about Polish or Perish to my friends. Most of these are people I've known for going on ten years now. What was the worst that could've happened? They've known me for awhile, they know a ton about me, and I'm pretty sure I've done some (or many?) things that they haven't totally liked/enjoyed/respected... and yet they still like and respect me anyway. Why would this be any different? So a couple of days ago, I talked about it on my private blog that only longtime friends of mine have access to. And it turned out that while I was writing the post, the most awkward thing about telling people is that I spent years NOT telling people. The post was like, "Hi guys, I didn't tell you this... for a very long time... but I belong to a beauty blog... that is 2.5 years old... and has over 1,200 posts. And I own... many, many, many dollars worth of nail polish. And I kept it a secret from you all... so yeah. That's all. Nail blog."

And then twelve hours later, I realized I had accidentally disabled comments on the post, so it kind of looked like I was so anxious about telling people that I didn't want to hear from them! Which then just made me feel foolish for being so apprehensive about any of it, especially since the people who have commented all think it's pretty nifty that I do this. (It's possible the rest of them might think it's unspeakably flakey. Oh well.)

An actual NOTD that I am wearing right now: Orly Fowl Play

Just put this on about an hour ago. I know it's a dupe of OPI Merry Midnight (which I have as well) but I still like it.

Orly Fowl Play

Plummy purple jelly with copper flakies, blue microglitter and subtle silver shimmer. It actually is good to go with two coats but the above shows three. 

Closeup of Fowl Play

A ton of students have come down with pneumonia and my own bout of flu is still killing me after 20 days. I'm constantly dizzy and coughing uncontrollably. Two days ago, health services gave me a corticosteroid nasal spray, an inhaler and some over-the-counter motion sickness pills (an anti-emetic). Took doses of all three. Then six hours later, I took a second anti-emetic pill and I start having an allergic reaction. I went to the emergency room when my throat started to constrict. I suspected it wasn't anything major but it was my first medication allergy, so I figured better safe than sorry, right?  

Over the next three hours, I spoke to seven different people (one receptionist, one triage nurse, one billing department person, three different nurses, and one physician's assistant). It took 2.5 hours for a nurse to get me Benadryl. Ten minutes later, the PA came in and told me to discontinue the anti-emetic AND the corticosteroids, even though 1. I've been treated with corticosteroids before and haven't had an allergic reaction and 2. when people come into the ER with allergic reactions to things, they are often treated with a corticosteroid. He gave me a prescription for a cough suppressant syrup, so I could at least sleep. Five minutes later, a second nurse came in and told me that I should discontinue the anti-emetic but to keep taking the corticosteroids. My SO -- who was seriously agitated by the inefficiency of the ER -- pointed out that her advice contradicted the PA's advice. "Haha, oh, oops. Yeah, discontinue the steroids." 

Then a billing department person charged me $100 for the visit. 

The next day, I found out that the prescribed cough syrup had been discontinued years ago. Brilliant! So, I paid $100 for two Benadryl and for seven people to talk to me for a total of maybe fifteen minutes in the course of three hours. Fun, huh?

Golden Toes!

It's that time again...to show you what's on my feet! (Without showing you my feet...)

They look kind of crazy on my hands (read: yellow and icky) but on my toes they are golden and glorious!

Index & middle: Orly Glitz & Glamour

Ring & pinky: SpaRitual Reflection

Gold is by far my favourite colour for my toes (closely followed by navy). In winter especially, I love removing my socks and boots to find sparkly gold tootsies! It's a little surprise for me at the end of the day.

What is your favourite colour for toes?

kittytokaren

Another Taupe Love! - Orly Country Club Khaki

You know how much I love taupes, and this one is a very welcome addition to my collection! Light, creamy, milky...

Orly Country Club Khaki

I'm discovering that I really really like Orly polishes. The application and wear on this one were both excellent! Taupes are definitely my most-worn colour family, and it's one of the few areas in my stash where my mentality is "the more the merrier"!

What's your favourite polish colour family?

kittytokaren

A couple of Owls!

I have a bit of a bird phobia, but these are two owls I can appreciate!

Orly Nite Owl (pointer and middle finger) is a lovely taupe with shimmer - quite similar to Essie Mochachino, but more flattering on me as it seems a little warmer on the nail. Definitely one of those polishes that is appropriate in most situations, but isn't a complete snoozefest. I love having polishes like this in my collection!

L'Oreal Owl's Night (ring and pinky finger) is truly gorgeous . It contains the most beautiful gold shimmer - that is very apparent on the nail - in an olive-y green-brown-grey-something base. It's unique, murky, mysterious, but the gold shimmer is so fantastically vibrant! A winner.

That's all for today - short and sweet! I hope all of you lovely PoP readers are doing well!

kittytokaren

Trying New Things - Orly Pure Porcelain

I've been feeling more adventurous lately - maybe not with colour, but with brands! I recently tried a SpaRitual (long story - you will see it soon!) and loved it. This inspired me to finally break my 'brand rule' and order a polish I have really really wanted for a long time from Orly - Pure Porcelain! (SpaRitual and Orly happen to be sister companies as well, which is neat.)

You're seeing my new, more oval, shape here again! This polish is amazing. It pulls more pink on me than it does on other people, but I just love love love love love love it! The formula is fantastic - not difficult to apply like other pale colours. It's a beautiful combination of white, pink, creme and grey. (Trust me, it looks more dusty when I compare it to my other pale pinks.) One of those perfect "any occasion" polishes and the wear was amazing!! Minimal tip wear and no chips for 5 days! I switched polish after that so no telling how long it would go...

I will *definitely* be trying more from Orly. I'm a huge fan so far! I just wish the bottle was prettier. Oh well, it is very functional.

Any Orly recommendations for me? What are your favourites?

kittytokaren

Orly Pure Porcelain and Ancient Jade (Precious, Spring 2011)

Orly Ancient Jade

Ahh Orly. You of the lovely formulas since everyone became B3F (unusual because the first B3F polishes seemed like they were kinda wonky... or maybe just China Glaze?). I love mint greens but I have a thousand mint greens by now. It's a great color if you don't own one like it -- and it went only very smoothly in two coats. Like, but not love. I think I'm jaded. (haha, get it?)

Orly Pure Porcelain

I don't know why my fingers look so lobstery in this photo. It IS a fairly stark pastel pink (and if you're careful, you can do two coats instead of three -- which is awesome for stark pastels) but it didn't look so bad in regular indoors lighting. (Both these photos were taken in my lightbox during one of the more dreary winter days a couple of weeks ago.)

I need something to do. I mean, I guess I could do work? My research is starting to look like one big fat bust at the moment. (And SPSS is being a bitch so I'm kind of teaching myself R. I used SAS in the past so R's utter lack of drop down menus and little boxes to check isn't as daunting... but it still took me half an hour to figure out how to run a multivariate correlation analysis, which is easy-peasy in SPSS. Frickin' SPSS.) I could put together a lecture on probability for the intro stats course I'm TA'ing. I could do the dishes. I could continue making jewelry out of leftover beads and wire that I found in my closet (from previous jewelry-making ventures). I don't feel like doing my nails. I HAVE to do something or else I'm going to go crazy. My grandfather, after many months of weaving in and out of a coma, passed away this morning. Even though he and I were never close, I'm still kind of devastated. So I need to keep busy. Very, very busy.