Radiant Orchid Nail Polish - ORLY Preamp

Pardon the brevity of this nail polish post today! I'm still in Massachusetts soaking in the gloriousness of my family, and since my trips home are only happening about twice a year now, I'm #NotTryna spend the whole visit on the computer trying to be witty for YOU folks. Well I mean... I will still try to be witty for you, just not in a super verbose manner.  AND YET HERE I AM RATTLING ON. #BitchesBeTALKIN, am I right?!

Alright so straight to the point (in a curved line, apparently). Today I have another Radiant Orchid-inspired nail polish swatch for you, to celebrate Pantone's 2014 Color of the Year. This is one of my favs! It's ORLY's Preamp, and I had to search high and low for this polish in order to scoop it up last year. It was totally worth the treasure hunt. Check out how gorgeous this polish is:

Preamp is a beautiful purple-ish pink with gold micro shimmer throughout:

I have no complaints about this polish. It applies beautifully - opaque in 2-3 coats (depending on thickness) and not streaky. 

I love that all of the gorgeous shimmer you can see in the bottle translates so well onto the nails themselves. It's like golden fairy dust!

How does this Preamp polish make you feel, deep down in your heart? Let's talk about it.

Also, I've wanted to mention this for the last several Fridays because I feel like it's the (tiniest little) elephant in the room:  I nubbinized the bejesus out of my nails after reading a guide for how to choose the right shaped nail for your nail bed. The guide recommended that I file my nails into an oval shape - not rounded or squared or "squared with round edges."  With this current shape, my nails are super short but at least they're strong and the edges aren't snapping off at unfortunate angles like they were when I tried to rock them longer and square. Some people (and by that I mean "me") just aren't able to keep their nails long. IT'S SCIENCE PEOPLE. PHYSICS, SPECIFICALLY.

Next week will be the last of this Radiant Orchid nail polish series. I've got one more Sally Hansen polish to show you before I'm all orchided-out. Have you had a favorite so far? I'm curious to know!

See the other orchid-inspired polishes I've swatched here, here, and here.

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{Linking with The Nail Files, Beauty Buzz, and What I'm Loving Fridays}

Radiant Orchid Nail Polish - Revlon Top Speed Orchid

Pantone named Radiant Orchid as the Color of the Year for 2014, and I was not disappointed in that choice! There are several nail polishes in my stash that fall under the "orchid" category, so I thought it would be a fun mini-series to show you some options for Radiant Orchid nail polishes.

I'm starting the series today with Revlon's Top Speed polish in the color (surprise, surprise) Orchid (#555):

Revlon's Orchid is filled with micro flecks of silver that give this polish a metallic sheen on your fingers. It was actually really hard for me to tell if the flecks were silver or gold. Ultimately I ended up settling on silver... I think.

Orchid is very bright and pretty to look at, and those afore-mentioned flecks catch the light enough to make this a sparkly-but-not-glittery, polish:

It applies very nicely - doesn't streak at all.  It's also very opaque - you could definitely get away with one coat if you were in a rush, but I like to do at least two coats... to make it easier for me to peel off the polish as soon as my OCD-esque finger-fidgeting happens to call for it. What, you don't peel your polish off and arrange it into tiny piles? Weird.

This is one of Revlon's Top Speed fast dry polishes, and most "quick dry" polish formulas do tend to dry out a bit faster in the bottle. So always make sure to keep the top off the bottle for as little time as possible while applying. Replace the top and give the polish a good thorough mixing (by rolling between your palms, NOT by shaking violently!) after every couple of nails to keep the formula from becoming too thick while you're using it.

My only complaint about this polish is that it's very sensitive to texture beneath it - meaning that it accentuates any ridges or uneven prior-coat applications on your nail's surface. So there's that.

Do you own any orchid polishes?

Are you a fan of the Radiant Orchid choice for Pantone's 2014 Color of the Year?

If you are thinking about picking up an orchid polish but aren't sure which one to go with, stay tuned for more of my Radiant Orchid nail polish picks!

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{Linking up with Beauty Buzz, The Nail Files, What I'm Loving Fridays,  and Friday's Fab Favorites}