Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Collection in Swatches # 3: Oranges!

Hello Lovely Readers! Sorry for neglecting you for another week, but I had a wonderful visit with my parents, brother and his wife, 6 month old nephew, and my uncle! It was some much needed down-time with loved ones. I hope you all had a great New Year's as well!

Before I left, I had started swatching my polish collection for y'all, grouped into color families. So today we are continuing that trend with the orange family. (Just a heads up that this will be another picture-heavy post.) I thought it might also show off the color variations to see them all together. Also, you will no doubt notice in the pictures that I cut my nails way down. They were starting to curl they were so long, LOL. So I cut them fairly short and also re-shaped them from almond to squoval.


So let's jump into it. All pictures shown today will have a base and top coat. The first color I have for you is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear #405 'Coral Reef'. I used 2 coats for full opacity and a level, even finish. This polish is a lovely creme coral with a glossy finish.



Polish number 2 is Sinful Colors #1197 'Anchor's Away'. This is an odd shade for me because when I try to put it with yellows it seems too orange and if I put it with oranges, it looks more yellow, LOL. Here it is pictured with 2 coats. I have to admit, I prefer this polish more when I use it for water marbling since it has a great, thin formula that lets it spread well in the water. But for painting application, that thinness made it streaky and uneven. The topcoat did go a long way to smoothing it all out though. 



Up next is #150 'Sunkissed' from Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear. This is a gorgeous tangerine creme polish with a good formula. It does tend to separate in the bottle if it has been sitting around for a while so may need a good shake-up about 30 minutes before you plan on applying it. The pictures here are with 2 coats, and again a base and top coat as well.





Polish #4 of my orange series is #1214 from Sinful Colors, 'Feel the Vibe'. This is another great creme polish. It is similar to the 'Sunkissed' but a bit brighter and bolder. I used 2 coats with base and top coat for these pictures. This was a good formula and if applied with care, wasn't patchy.





Next up is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear #170 'Hot Tamale'. Not too much to say about this one. It applied well, has a great formula, and is a lovely creme with a glossy finish. This makes a good Halloween color :-) The pictures are 2 coats and like all the others have a base and top coat.




Last but not least is Sally Hansen Hard as Nails # 430 'Die-Hard Fan'. This is the only one of my oranges that has a shimmer and that makes it my favorite (not because I love shimmer, LOL. I actually prefer cremes, but the shimmer makes it unique among my oranges and that's why it is my fave). This is 2 coats again. And I do love the formula on this polish as well. It seems like you might need more coats when you put that first one on, but it layers so well that 2 coats brings it to full opacity. This is another good polish for the Fall/Halloween seasons. 




So, which polish was your favorite? Let me know in the comments. On Friday we will look at my brown polishes. And I'm still deciding if I should show my blacks? I have four of them because I do not think all black polishes are created equally, but that is more about finish and application then what they look like on the nail. Do you want to see them? Let me know!! See you on Friday :-)

28 comments:

  1. Die-hard Fan is a knockout! Love it! I agree not all black polishes are the same, would love to see your opinion on yours!

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    1. I really like that color too! It is my go-to for Halloween, LOL. I think I will do the black polishes, thanks!

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  2. Sunkissed and Coral Reef are beautiful! I would love to see a black polish comparison. You're right they are not created equal!

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    1. I should have known fellow polish lovers would 'get' it about the blacks! I will definitely swatch them, thanks for the encouragement!

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    1. Thank you! It is one of my favorite summer colors :-)

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  4. Loved all d shades.. most fav is coral reef :D

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    1. Thanks! Coral Reef seems to be the crowd pleaser, LOL. It deserves all the love though, it is a lovely color and a good quality polish.

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  5. I love orange colors...dey make me so happy. Sunkissed was on my wishlist fr long but then I got Salon Perfect Traffic Cone which is brighter and creamier. V helpful post though.

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    1. Oooh, Traffic Cone is a gorgeous color! I don't have it, but I've considered adding it to the collection, LOL

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  6. I do not own much of orange nail colors but loved all your swatches. To pick one fav. would be coral reef.

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  7. I think I have most of these in my collection, but orange doesn't suit my skintone at all. I really love how Feel the Vibe looks on you!

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    1. Thank you! Some of my polishes I won't wear alone because I don't think they match my skin tone either, but I still like using them in nail art.

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  8. Hot Tamale is my fave! These all have me craving summer now. Or maybe its just the negative wind chill that does. I think its both.

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    1. I think it is both too, Amy! Hot Tamale makes me think of summer and Halloween equally....it also makes me crave Mexican food, LOL!

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  9. Coral Reef is such a great shade!

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  10. I agree, Megan! I think it's a great spring/summer transitional shade :-)

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  11. Nice swatches, I have SH Coral Reef and Sun Kissed and they are some of my favorite polishes.

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    1. Thank you, Manisha! I do enjoy SH polishes. I find them to be excellent quality for the price range. :-)

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  12. I love these kind of comparison swatch posts. I am wistful about my days of collecting drugstore polishes hardcore, but somethings gotta give!

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    1. This is the first time I've done swatch posts and I'm enjoying it! I like to think when I'm buying polish that I'm not duplicating exact shades and this gives me a chance to see if I actually succeeded at that, LOL! I figured I should get a good color selection and such with drugstore brands and then I could slowly start treating myself to the 'good stuff'. I will say I don't have a lot of experience for comparison, but I think the Sally Hansen at least is pretty good quality for the money and they have a wide color selection :-)

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  13. Out of your collection of oranges, I like Coral Reef best! It's such a different shade of orange! Out of my own collection, my favorite oranges are Zoya Dhara Pixie Dust (sparkles!!) and Sinful Colors Courtney Orange.

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    1. Zoya Dhara Pixie Dust! *wipes drool from chin* Those are great colors. I'll have to keep an eye out for SC Courtney Orange, I don't think I've ever seen it sold around me. Thanks!

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  14. Lovely collection. I liked coral reef and Hot Tamale :)

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    1. Thanks Anita! Coral Reef makes it to my top too as well! :-)

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