Orly’s Spring 2011 Precious collection has a nice mix of colors and finishes-there’s dark, dusky teal, jade green and bright pink cremes,  frosty gold shimmer, neutral ivory-there’s bound to be a color in there to appeal to almost anyone.  I chose two from the collection, and the first I have to show is Gilded Coral.

Gilded Coral is a light, dusty pink base with strong gold shimmer.  It took three coats for opacity, but I was impressed by the fact that there are basically no visible brushstrokes left behind when it’s dry, even though it’s totally full of gold shimmer.  In these pictures I also used topcoat (China Glaze Fast Forward).  I liked this color a lot on me-the base is close to my skin tone only prettier, so the gold flash is subtle and pretty.  It’s not really how I imagine coral; it reminded me more of a pearl, with delicate, slightly purple shadows where it’s not in direct light.  You can see this at the edges of my nails in the picture–it’s more slightly purplish-pink than orange.

This picture shows the dusky quality even more, and also the bright gold of the shimmer.

Then I tried matte topcoat on top (I used one of those tiny bottles of China Glaze Matte Magic).  This lightened the tone of the color and blended the yellow from the gold shimmer into the color more, so it looks lighter and peachier.  It’s also pretty, but the shimmer is so nice that I prefer it with shiny topcoat.

This Orly collection is available now at Ulta, although it hasn’t popped up at Sally Beauty yet (not at the one I frequent, anyway).  It’s also available at some etailers (not yet at Transdesign).