Orly : Iron Butterfly

I'm thrilled to show you a lemming I got ahold of not too long ago; Orly Iron Butterfly! I believe it was released in 2009, it was part of a collection of three metallic mattes called Metal Chic. It wasn't until April this year I saw it, looking through old Orly collections online to see if there was anything I missed. It was love at first sight. And this polish (and hunt for the same) made me realize once again how madly obsessed I am.

Iron Butterfly

Iron Butterfly is a black-ish base packed with silver shimmer. It's kind of like Suede polishes from OPI, being that it's heavy on shimmer and dries matte. It must have loads of dupes, but I wanted this one... Call me crazy. I'm curious to see how it compares to Manglaze's version, but I don't own theirs.

When I started obsessing about nail polish, I wasn't too keen on Orly bottles. The design just didn't look good to me, lol! They are very practical and so easy to handle, which is the most important part doing your nails anyway ;) And I must admit, having obtained this lemming, I found myself admiring the bottle picture I took. Doesn't it look just ever so slightly magical? The shimmer shines through the matte bottle... ♥

Anyhow, once I fell in love with swatches, this polish was hard to find. I didn't find a single bottle on Ebay or Transdesign, and my heart sank a little. I knew it would turn up on ebay eventually but I wanted it like yesterday, lol. I desperately started to search the internet for small nail polish stores, and I found it in SpiceBeauty UK's webstore.. I believe it was the last bottle, even - I call it meant to be, LOL! ♥

This polish has an amazing formula. Even though it's matte, it's very easy to work with - and if you're good at levelling out layers, one will do the trick. I used two to protect my nails, after all I was going to leave it without topcoat. I used NailTek II basecoat as usual, and it didn't give me any problems :)

 I decided to add an accent finger, I'm really starting to like wearing those! I love the colours I chose, they are a great combination though it does look like a bugger from a long distance LOL. Oh well ;)

I used OPI Stranger Tides & Mermaids Tears, Gosh Yellow Doll and Essence Stamp Me! in white and black. I sealed the owl with Fast Forward, so in real life it's glossy (and the black and white dragged a bit, urgh!) and is a great contrast to the base.

I'm loving mattes/suedes right now, and have a few more on their way to me. I think I'll be wearing mattes a lot this season, it's a nice change from jellies, sparkles and shinies!

Do you like Iron Butterfly, or is it old news? I've only been nail polish obsessed for a year so I have a lot of catching up to do ;) Is there any mattes/suedes I should get before they vanish from shops?

♥ Vetten

Mint Mojito, cupcake and strawberries!

This manicure is inspired by a beautiful green creme I got recently, perfect for spring - Orly's Mint Mojito. I love this colour so much, it's bold for a pastel shade, it's green and it's just... wow. This is as flashy as a glitter! Does that make sense? LOL

I had a few difficulties capturing the true shade of the colour.. It's a bit more bold than my flash would allow.

Here's 2-3 coats of Mint Mojito. It's a bit sheer, but the colour is worth the 2 thick or 3 thin coats it takes.

Orly Mint Mojito w/ topcoat & flash

Mint Mojito is gorgeous on it's own, but I wanted more. I couldn't help myself, I needed something cute on my fingertips!

Orly Mint Mojito.. with strawberries! Picture taken with flash

This picture shows the true colour of Mint Mojito a little bit better;

Strawberry cupcake made with nail polish & steel beads

Besides my basecoat, NailTek II, I used Mint Mojito as base colour - 2-3 coats.

I then added a coat of Seche to speed up drying time, then I painted the cupcake and strawberries using OPI Feelin' Hot Hot Hot!, Essie Pretty Edgy, white Depend polish and finished the cupcake with some steel beads from Ebay in green and pink. 

I gently pushed them into the wet polish, and added a coat of Seche Vite to finish the manicure. I've worn this for three days now, and none of them have fallen off :)

I hope you like it! I think it's pretty cute, even if a bit sloppy, and will def. do something similar when Spring comes!

♥ Vetten

My top 5 polishes from 2010! *Tag*

The sweet Annkiins'♥ tagged me - so I'll be sharing my top 5 nail polishes from 2010 with you! :)

I've only been collecting/using polish the fanatic way (LOL) since August so it was easy choosing some I have got this year, but I decided to only choose between those that were released in 2010. It made it easier for me, but it was still hard to exclude some from this list!

First up, #5 on the list ~ Orly's Galaxy Girl!

Orly Galaxy Girl - click HERE to see the original post :)

I chose Galaxy Girl because Orly's Cosmic Collection was a major hit - not only for me, I'm sure ;) Galaxy Girl is my favourite - it's what I be looking for in a vampy duochrome, with it's almost blood-looking base. Even though there are dupes, it's such an unique polish, IMO - the colour in general - unlike most nail polish out there. It's bling in a new, fun way ♥

Let's take a look at #4 ~ NARS - Zulu!

NARS Zulu - click HERE to see the original post :)

I'm super excited my nail polish obsession started this summer, so I could get this gorgeous colour before it goes out of production again! ♥ A dark green jelly, almost black - and a super formula. I was lemming this colour so bad for a month or two before buying it - and I haven't regretted it one bit!

Up next is #3, this pretty ~ Lippmanns Across The Universe!

Lippmann - Across The Universe - click HERE to see the original post :)

I'm not shy of admitting that I am a glitterholic. I can't get enough flashy polishes! Across the Universe, along with Happy Birthday and Lippmanns other beautiful glitters, are so unique and made of amazing quality - it's like wearing diamonds in a jelly base ♥ The colour really speaks for itself, I think, so I'll leave it at that :)

Let's move on to #2 ~ Alessandro Magnetic Nail Polish!

Alessandro Magnetic Nail Polish - Click HERE to see the original post :)

Magnetic polishes are fickle to work with - but it really pays off. I chose to include the Magnetic polish I bought in Germany on this list, because it is one of the most unique polishes in my collection - the effect isn't too widely used in the polish industry, which is a shame IMO! Even though this polish is expensive, it's worth all your greens... It's one of the few polishes I didn't want to remove, even after 3 or 4 days and a chip.

And finally.... *drumroll* My favorite polish from 2010!

♥ OPI Mad As A Hatter! ♥

OPI Mad As A Hatter - click HERE to see the original post :)

Mad As A Hatter is the most wearable funky glitter I've found. It's full of colours, and very sparkly, but it still has that unity, I think it's called - it looks perfect with a dark grey outfit. I chose MAAH as my number 1 for 2010, because it was the first polish I wanted so bad I couldn't stop looking for it, despite the price tag (I bought it on ebay during Fall - and the price was double the original when it was released in Spring). It's also the polish that made me go glitter crazy - and started my lust for Lippmanns polishes along with other more expensive polishes. Even though I have glitters I'll be wearing more - this is a very unique polish that deserves credit for starting the glitter caze (and I don't think I'm the only one who was bitten - take a look at the glitterfied Burlesque collection!)

*phew* There it is, my top 5 picks. :) I've left out some amazing polishes, I think deserve to be mentioned: Catrice's Run Forest Run! + Sold Out Forever, GOSH Gypsy Blue, Chanel Paradoxal, China Glaze Party Hearty, OPI's Absolutely Alice, and the list goes on ♥

I choose to tag YOU! ~ RijaH, Kathain, Solensdanserinde, Ulmiel & Ali's Nail News! Looking forward to see your picks! :)

♥ Vettelicious