It’s the first of summer posts! Before summer officially starts! I don’t know about you guys, but we had our one official week of summer here in Chicago. Memorial Day weekend, it was in the 90s and beautiful all week, and now it’s gone away, back down to 60s and 70s. Selfish of me to want more, I know.

But enough about the hot weather already come and gone, let’s talk about some bright polishes!

Starting off the season again with Orly, which is becoming one of my favorite brands really. Let’s get into it.

I have the Orly Color Pass, which means I pay $119 at the beginning of the year, and then I get the 4 collections in fun boxes as they release throughout the year. It was the best deal, as it evened out to about $4 a polish, and now they just automatically come to me without thinking about it! I really love it and do really recommend.

Each of the boxes always comes with some little goodies to try along with the polish as well which I really love. This box, along with the Neon Earth collection comes with nail jewels, and a couple products from the brand Coola, a setting spray, and a mineral primer.

I did use up my little samples of the Coola products, so I’ll also throw in a quick review of those. The ‘Green Tea & Aloe’ Setting Spray – I honestly didn’t love this. The aloe was really strong, and though I’m sure it was meant to be cooling, it almost burned a little when I first sprayed it on. When a big drop got on my lip, I could feel it really just burning there! I’m afraid to think what would happen if I accidentally got this in my eye. Not my favorite thing to have in a spray that’s finely going everywhere.

The ‘Daydream Mineral Primer’ – this did have SPF 30, so I loved that for a little extra protection on my face for my morning walk to work (I’m getting hardcore about sun protection, especially on my face this year, trying to keep the sun wrinkles at bay forever). This did make my face feel really smooth as well, but I did notice it has super small sparkles all throughout. I do get the illuminating effect it gives your face, but it wasn’t my favorite personally.

Though I didn’t love either of these samples, I do still love the chance to test out some different products I wouldn’t have tried otherwise! Now onto the polish finally.

As always with Orly, it’s a 6 piece collection called ‘Neon Earth’. It’s full of warm fiery shades, like corals and peaches. There are 4 creams, that I swatched first, and then the 2 metallics next. Let’s get into the swatches.

The first, lightest shade is ‘Sands of Time’. This is a light peachy nude cream shade. This did have a streaky 1st coat, but it covered pretty well on a 2nd coat. You do have to watch with that thicker coat, because too much polish can flood your cuticles. For my super ridgey nails, I did have to use a 3rd on some nails to cover it, but it was completely smooth on the 3rd.

Up next are the two neons of the collection. And spoiler alert, the neons absolutely steal the show of the collection. I’ve heard that Orly really knows how to do neons, and this proves that they do. I’ll definitely have to pick up more of them after trying these two.

Up first is ‘After Glow’, the lighter and more coral of the two neons. This did have some streaks and ridges on the 1st coat, but it smoothed out and was opaque in 2 easy coats. 2 COATS. FOR A NEON. That’s crazy! Especially for it to be this bright with no white base is so amazing. I hope this picture shows even a little just how bright and beautiful this shade is! I normally don’t gravitate towards neons because of their extra work, but seeing this on my nails, I can’t stop looking at it. And a neon makes your pale girl look a little more tan so even more reason for me to love it.

Have I raved about this formula enough yet? Seriously, just pick these two neons up. Orly, how do you do it.

Girl, this next one is even more blazing, that it freaked out my camera. Like, look at it.

This is ‘Blazing Sunset’ and I legitimately wrote in my notes “Lord Jesus, this is so bright”. Again, another 2 coat, no white base needed, jump off the nails bright neon. It had some sheerness on that 1st coat like the other, but it’s so good and easy on 2 coats.

I just can’t. There’s no words for how good it is. Pictures barely do it justice, though I think they help give some idea of just how bright this is. I mean, look how tan I look, that doesn’t happen everywhere.

Orly, you wonderful mad geniuses, you. I don’t know how they do it, but please keep on doing it.

The last of the creams is ‘Desert Rose’, a darker warm-toned rosier shade. I don’t even know if I know how to describe this color correctly because it’s just unique to my collection. This had a stunning formula as well, almost good on 1 coat. I did have some ridges so I evened them out with 2, but it dries fast so the 2 coats was so easy. A different choice, but it fits so well into summer still!

These last 2 are the 2 metallics of the group.

This first one is ‘Moon Dust’, a super light champagne metallic. (I will say they did have another super similar shade with the exact same finish in the spring collection. I don’t exactly love that right in a row). This did have a super nice formula. The polish is thick enough and smooth enough that you can just paint all of your nails right after another without dipping back into the bottle. Easy 2 coats, but you will of course get some brush strokes so paint straight.

I love this less because of its similarity to the one from the spring collection, but if you didn’t pick up that one already, this is a good polish.

The last polish, oooh man, they stepped it up and made up for that similar color above. This is ‘Valley of Fire’ and it’s so fitting for this blazing orange metallic on the nails. This seemed pretty well opaque on 1 coat, though from different angles it can look a little patchy. 2 coats evens that out and solves that problem.

The brush strokes are less noticeable on this shade, and it just glows off the nail. Truly stunning overall.

Just look at that shimmer.

Overall I actually really loved this collection! I thought it was the first one I’ve seen in a while that does the almost monochromatic color story so well. All of the colors compliment each other so well, and I thought it all went so seamlessly.

THOSE NEONS. If you only get two shades from this collection, get those 2. Like it’s absolutely amazing how bright and wonderful the formulas are.

The other creams also have beautiful formulas as well. The metallics will of course have some brush strokes, ‘Valley of Fire’ less so, but they also have good formulas. If you have the champagne metallic from the spring collection, you don’t need ‘Moon Dust’ as well.

Overall, another beautiful batch of formulas from Orly! They absolutely killed it with this collection and it’s my favorite out of all the recent ones so far. Have I gushed enough yet? Seriously, Orly is showing they’re so underrated and need to be talked about more.

 

That’s my first summer collection! And they’ve only just begun! Stay tuned for so many summer polishes coming your way!

What are your favorite shades to wear in the summer?

 

Follow me for all the posts coming up!

Instagram: @GingerlyPolished
Twitter: @GingerlyPolish