Orly Coastal Crush Collection Swatches – Summer 2017

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Orly has a long standing history of producing some seriously bright colourful nail varnishes. The Orly Coastal Crush Collection for summer 2017 is no exception. Inspired by a romantic day at the beach, with names like “Surfer Dude” and “Summer Fling” and beach towel bright shades, Coastal Crush is a perfect holiday nail collection. Find the full collection here. 

Orly hails from Los Angeles and boasts a “12 free” nail varnish formula, which means that Orly polishes come minus these nasties:

• Toluene
• Formaldehyde
• Dibutyl Phthalate CDBP
•  Formaldehyde resin
• Camphor
• Ethyl Tolylamide
• Xylene
• MEHQ/HQ
• MIT
• Parabens
• Animal derived ingredients
• Gluten
• and not least, Orly is a cruelty free brand

Orly nail varnishes have a patented Gripper Cap, which means that the brush handle is rubberised, making it easy to grip the brush when you’re applying the varnish and opening the bottle. I’ve found the Gripper Cap really useful, being a bit of a klutz. It makes handling the brush easier and I’m therefore less liable to make a giant mess. The brush is quite wide with a slightly curved tip. I personally prefer a wide brush, it means that I need fewer strokes to coat the nail and so I’m less likely to make a mistake.

I have two shades to swatch from the range- For the First Time and Sea You Soon. Both were swatched with no base or top coat and they have a glossy finish which didn’t stain my nails. The drying time is about standard, you want to give it a good five minutes for each coat to dry.

Orly Coastal Crush Collection- For the First Time

For the First Time is described by Orly as a “Poppy purple crème”, I would call it an opaque blue pink. The brush picks up quite a lot of product, so you need to make sure you haven’t picked up too much polish on the brush, otherwise you will get some pooling at the cuticles. For the First Time applied smoothly and the colour came up really glossy and bright. I found that 3 really thin layers worked best to get a smooth even finish. I really like the colour and finish of For the First Time, it’s bright, glossy and easy to use. Find it here

Orly Coastal Crush Collection- Sea You Soon

Sea You Soon is a bright azure blue with a light blue fine shimmer. It has a less opaque texture than For the First Time, so you need more coats to build a full on colour. This shade is not as easy to work with, but it’s by no means awful. I found I needed four coats rather than the usual three. It also takes a bit more effort to remove, probably because of the shimmer particles. Once Sea You Soon is on, it looks great, really vibrant and eye catching, I think it would look great with an orange dress or top. Find it here

The Orly Coastal Crush varnishes lasted well for about a day before they started chipping, which I find is pretty standard for nail polish. I’m not the sort of person to don rubber gloves for household chores. If I took better care of my nails I bet it would have lasted longer. My favourite of the two I tried is the blue/pink shade as it’s a bit more user friendly. These bright summery shades have given my nail polish collection a much needed seasonal update. Find the full collection here

Nia

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