The Best of 2012 - Orange Polishes

Hi Goddesses

and welcome to our first Review of the Year post !!  There is pretty much going to be one of these a day for most of the month, covering polishes, brands and blogs.  Today, we're starting with a colour - orange!

Orange was never a polish colour I loved, but this year, we've fallen in love with a passion.  This has been helped by some truly outstanding creations, and also the realisation that orange on my paws makes me HAPPY.  It's definitely a mood-changing colour.  

These posts will not be in any particular order - I haven't tried to rank the polishes because it's just too difficult!  For each of the polishes, you can also click on the polish name to be taken to my original post and more photos.

Ok, here we go -

Enkelini - Lainey Lou

Stunning orange holo, easily rated the best orange holo in my comparison post.  Superb pigmentation and effect.

HITS Hula

Pure happiness in a bottle.  Sensational orange crelly with flakies.  It doesn't get hotter than this.

China Glaze - Riveting

I guess this is possibly the most famous orange of the year, or certainly the most talked about.  Scarily intense and positively thrumming with electricity.  This is orange turned up to 11.

Rainbow Honey - Hoof Wrassle

This is the polish that confirmed I was addicted to orange.  One of my personal favourites of the year, this is a stunning glitter bomb in a burnt orange soup base.

Color Club - Sparkle and Soar

From the Take Wing Collection, this is summer perfection.  This polish looks like fizz on the nails, with the shimmer attracting the sun like bees to a honey pot.  Dupe for a w7 polish and also for Bettina Hippie.

Picture Polish - Vegas

On the outer limits of orange, this is blood burnt orange just as it tip toes into red.  Stunning and vibrant and indecently loaded with shimmer.

Glimmer by Erica - Muy Caliente

I still remember the gasp when I first saw this on More Nail Polish.  Possibly the orange glitter of the year.

Enchanted Polish - Dizzy Mizz Lizzy

Enchanted Polish has made a huge splash this year, and this was my personal favourite (mainly cos I have another 6 polishes of hers that I haven't worn yet!).  An unbelievable orange glitter soup, this is art in a bottle.

OPI - Call Me Gwen-Ever

You could have knocked me down with a feather when I liked this, as it's pretty much everything I usually hate.  Corally peachy creaminess ?  Blah!  But somehow it works.  Summer blancmange magnificence.

If I could only keep one ???   Ah, MAYBE the Hits Hula, purely because it was the one that made me happiest, but wow, these are all stunners.

So over to you - what was your favourite orange of the year?   Any classics that I missed out ?

Enjoy xx :)

Swatch & Review - Glimmer by Erica - Muy Caliente

Hi Goddesses

Being a polishaholic AND a shopaholic, it's quite rare that a polish takes me by surprise, but that was my introduction to Muy Caliente.

I'm quite partial to a blog called More Nail Polish - it's always filled with all sorts of wonderful, and Cathy has a great eye for colour.  A few weeks ago, she discussed how an indie seller had broken through her defences and persuaded her to review some polishes.  That Indie seller was Glimmer by Erica, and one of the polishes Cathy swatched was Muy Caliente.  I think it took me 0.29 seconds to get to Etsy and click Add To Cart :)

There is something VERY special about this polish.  All summer, I've been drawn to brights and fire colours, and this polish is just a thesaurus of everything fire-related!

This is a clear base filled with yellow, red and orange glitter (which occasionally flashes pink).   For my swatches I decided to go for the ultimate glitterbomb!  It took my 3 coats to reach opacity.  I think I prefer Cathy's swatches (here) which she layered over a coppery-bronze polish - it really allows the glitter to shine in all its glory.

However, try and tell me mine doesn't look a great big pile of autumn leaves!  Doesn't it look awesome layered so thickly?  When I wore this, it was a hand-turner - I spent all day moving my hand by degrees to see what this light or that light did to the polish lol.  Sensational.  Not subtle, but WOW.

I love the poetry of this polish.  Again, this unlocks metaphors in me, and I LOVE polishes that do that!  I think the autumn leaves metaphor is perfect, but it also reminds me of Fawkes the phoenix in Harry Potter.  More than anything, this is poetic flame and lava, burning and swirling, molten on the nail, and so hot it blows the mind.

So, 3 layers of glitter - that must have been a nightmare to take off, no ?  Well no, actually.  I don't know how, but recently I seem to have hit on a formula where if I layer and TC my glitters thickly, I can just peel them off at the end of the day.  I'm sure this isn't good for the nail, but it's a lot more fun than 10 minutes of foil lol.

If you want to check out Glimmer by Erica, her Etsy is here and her Facebook is here.  I bought this polish and 3 others (one of which I'm pretty sure I'll be wearing on my birthday, so that gives you a hint as to what colour it is lol) and you'll be seeing them soon.

Enjoy xx :)