Tag Archives: Orly

Yellow Nail-Polish Comparison Swatches & Photos

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Yellow Nail Polish Comparison SwatchesAs spring inches closer, I’m sure I’ll be reaching more for yellow nail polishes. They never fail to boost my spirits because they’re so sunny!

I thought it would be interesting to do a Yellow Nail-Polish Comparison featuring Orly Spark, NCLA Tennis Anyone?, and Nicole by OPI Hit the Lights.

This might be helpful to those who have never worn yellow nail polish and are looking to buy one. Although I love yellow polish, I know that a lot of people will be satisfied with just one. ;)

I want to collect as many yellows as possible just because there aren’t too many in my stash in comparison to greens, purples, and blues.

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Haul of Shame: Nail Polishes from Sally Beauty Supply

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Sally Beauty Supply Haul & PicturesYesterday, I took my membership card and hit up Sally Beauty Supply because I was running low on my favourite nail-polish remover.

Since I have to make a trek to get to a Sally Beauty Supply store, the occasional time when I go, I make sure to look at everything in all the aisles.

As usual, I walked out not only with what I had original made the special trip for, but also with a handful of other goodies!

Normally I don’t have much luck in finding gems on the nail-polish clearance rack, but this time, I feel like I struck gold unexpectedly!

Come check out my amazing finds in this Sally Beauty Supply Haul!

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The Best of 2012

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The Best of 2012Another year is coming to a close! Are you ready to see what 2013 brings?

What you probably didn’t know is that in 2012, I faced a lot of stressful issues in my personal life that caused me great emotional pain.

Blogging and interacting with you helped me push through it instead of giving up.

If you’ve been following Swatch And Learn for even a little while, I hope it’s evident that blogging and interacting with readers bring me a lot of happiness. Yes, it is hard work and very challenging to keep up, but I’m not the type of person who’s afraid of pulling up my sleeves to get things done.

Thank you for listening to what I think and for valuing my opinion, post after post and tweet after tweet. That is a big compliment!

Most of all, thank you, dear readers, for being encouraging and kind as well as for cracking the much-needed joke.

You remind me that genuinely good people are still out there. I needed that reminder, and you gave it to me in spades!

So, while in this post I list the best of 2012 in terms of nail polish, nail art, etc., I want you to know that Swatch And Learn readers are really the best of 2012!

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Holiday & Winter Nail Art Ideas

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Winter & Holiday Nail Art Ideas & TutorialsThis year I haven’t had time to do Christmas nail-art tutorials prior to the big day.

But, since I know that a lot of nailphiles will be busting out the lacquer, I’ve put together this post on Holiday & Winter Nail Art Ideas featuring some looks I’ve done in the past.

In this post, I’ve also linked each manicure to its corresponding nail-art tutorial, which features step-by-step written instructions and photos. All, except for one, have tutorials. Plus within some of the posts are links to reviews of the individual nail polishes.

Hope that you’ll come up with something great for your holiday manicure! (I actually have been juggling a few designs in my head, but I still haven’t decided which to paint. I’ll be sure to share my Christmas manicure sometime after December 25th.)

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Orly Sapphire Silk Swatches & Review

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Orly Sapphire Silk Swatches & ReviewOrly Sapphire Silk is from the Precious Collection back in 2011. Since purchasing it when it was first released, I’ve worn it several times solo and once under Clarins 230.

It’s safe to say that I’m very much attracted to this blue nail polish.

Originally, I purchased it because it was rumoured to be a dupe for MAC Blue India (which I don’t own, but liked).

(You can Google comparison swatches to see what they look like side-by-side.)

After buying Sapphire Silk, I had absolutely no desire to track down Blue India. It squashed that lemming, which is good because Orly is way more affordable than MAC.

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Nail Art: Blue Flocked Nails (Plus My Experience & Application Tips)

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Blue Flocked Nails Nail Art SwatchesDon’t rub your eyes. Yes, my nails in today’s post are indeed fuzzy! These are Blue Flocked Nails that made me feel like I was the Cookie Monster…or Fuzzy Wuzzy (the bear)!

You saw me try this look most recently on a guy for fun, except I used pink flocking powder in that case.

To achieve this extreme nail art, I used blue flocking powder and secured it to my natural nails with a regular (and beautiful) nail polish (Orly Royal Navy).

I wore this as a full manicure and went about my normal routine to test it out.

It’s definitely not a practical manicure. This is best suited for a special event like Hallowe’en when you need something ‘out there’ and don’t require it to last as long as nail polish. When worn for such an occasion, I think it’s a really cool novelty!

After ‘surviving’ a full day of wearing this, I’m really excited to share my experience with you. This was like nothing I’ve ever tried before, and I’ve never heard many people talk about it, either.

Come see more swatches of this fuzzy manicure, and allow me to tell you all about what it was like to wear flocked nails!

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Orly Rock-It Swatches & Review

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Orly-Rock-It-Swatches-ReviewOrly Rock-It from the Mineral FX Collection is like the lady in red who heats up the dance floor as she kicks up her heels and does the salsa!

Better get the extinguisher and the hot greased-up fire fighters from those calendars handy because your nails will be on fire with this one! Hot damn!

Although I don’t wear red nail polish as often as other colours, when I do reach for one, it’s either a bright creme or something blingtastic like this magenta-leaning red.

Do you remember what the last red nail polish you wore was?

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