Orly's PR was gracious enough to send me the entire Sweet collection for review. I was really surprised since a lot of bloggers only got three. (I think it's because they forgot to send me the first half of the Spring collection in December... but who knows anyhow? I'm not arguing!) Overall, super yummy and very cheerful.
Orly Snowcone
This is the first one I tried, the very day I got these in the mail. I LOVE this polish. It was, for me, a ONE coat wonder. A one coat pastel! Sure, it's blue and blue's not a difficult color but it's still a pastel that was gorgeous and pigmented with only one coat. I probably should've done two coats because there was a bit of VNL in direct sunlight but I got away with one coat of Snowcone as an NOTD. (And I NEVER do only one coat.) It was so smooth, pigmented and creamy. Just irresistible! ...much like blue snowcones. Except that blue is more of a jewel blue, not a pastel blue... but that's neither here nor there. I love this color: a very pretty powder blue that's not at all washed out.
I was expecting this to be more pastel from the promo photos but this was actually a peachy pink. Another easy application in two coats. Not as opaque as Snowcone but the polish had the same smooth and creamy quality.
Orly Gumdrop
Pastel turquoise. Almost a Tiffany blue though just a tad more green leaning. If I didn't have a thousand mints, I would call this mint... but it's more blue than what I think of as a minty green. The reflection on the polish makes it look like it was bumpy and uneven; it was not those things at all. This one took me three coats to get streak-free though.
Orly Lollipop
This is described as a pastel purple but it leans more pink on my yellow-toned skin. Actually, it looks terrible on me in person: it makes my fingers look grey and grimy. I think it would be pretty on someone with either very fair pink-toned skin or much darker skin. (...I don't know what it is about using a lightbox that makes my cuticles look a mess.) Two coats and super easy application. In general, I just loved the quality of this collection's polishes...!
Orly Pixy Stix
I dunno what I would call this color exactly: brink pink (a la Crayola)? Possibly guava? I totally forgot to use a basecoat with this so my application felt a bit rougher than with the others. Two coats. (...and again, the damn lightbox!)
Orly Lemonade and China Glaze Lemon Fizz (from L to R: Orly, ChG, Orly, ChG)
When I finally received my eBay order of China Glaze's Up & Away, my SO asked in a dismayed tone of voice, "Why is it the same as the other [Orly] one?" He wasn't wrong: they're both collections of springy pastels. But there are very few dupes between the two collections. Lemonade was the only one that could have been mistaken for something from Up & Away (in this case, Lemon Fizz). Color-wise, they are virtually the same: Lemonade is maybe a shade more saturated than Lemon Fizz. Application-wise, China Glaze Lemon Fizz is better than Orly Lemonade. Lemon Fizz (which could've passed at two coats but evened out perfectly at three) was so much smoother in application than Lemonade (which needed four coats to even out completely).
As you've probably have seen on other blogs, these all come with little lipgloss charms dangling off the neck of the polishes. I tried the one that came with Snowcone (a light purple, even though Snowcone is blue) and while it tasted pretty nice, added a nice sheen and wasn't that tacky in texture, it did make my lips burn a little bit. Maybe it was something put in to help irritate/plump the lips but it didn't feel too great to me. I decided not to try them all because, well, I don't like things that irritate my lips (and they are plump enough as is).
Btw, I apologize for the inconsistency of the lighting in these photos. The colors are generally fairly accurate but I took these photos on three different days (at different times in the day). Busy weeks lately. ("Busy" also included going away on a mini vacation this past weekend with my SO to celebrate our second anniversary next week. If you have the means and time to do it, definitely stay at a B&B in Napa Valley sometime. Such a wonderful trip!)
