Two Orlys: Ingenue and Fantasea

Ingenue was released as part of Orly's 2011 Holiday Soiree collection. It is a shimmer polish with a dirty mauvey pink jelly base just packed with large particled highly reflective golden shimmer. I'm kind of fascinated with this polish. On my pinkage, the golden shimmers are very much of a yellow gold, which when combined with the pinky purpley base color turn into a copper metallic shimmer. I love coppers and oranges, so I'm thinking this is pretty cool. I really like the shimmers in Ingenue. Because of their size, they add a lot of extra visual texture to the look.

The year that Ingenue was released saw a flock of such gold shimmered pinks and purples from folks like OPI and Zoya especially. I did have OPI's Rally Pretty Pink at one time and remember feeling absolutely repulsed by how it looked on me when I tried it out, so my current affection toward Ingenue is a curiosity. Either my aesthetic been maneuvering wildly behind my back or Ingenue and Rally Pretty Pink are not as alike as I expected them to be. Maybe a little of both, eh?

Ingenue is a sweetheart in terms of application. Just as smooth and easy to control as you'd ever want a nail polish to be. It did not pull patches and it dries fairly quickly. Sheer on the first coat, I had an opacity that I was happy with after the second.

Photos show two coats of Ingenue over Seche Rebuild treatment and Butter London Nail Foundation basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Orly Ingenue

Orly Ingenue

Orly Ingenue

Orly Ingenue

Orly Ingenue

Orly Ingenue

Orly Ingenue

Orly Ingenue

Orly Ingenue

Orly Ingenue

Orly Ingenue

Orly Ingenue

Orly Ingenue

Orly Ingenue

Orly Ingenue

Orly Ingenue

Orly Ingenue

Orly Ingenue

Despite my peculiar fondness for it, Ingenue is not a great look on me. But I can admire it on others! I've seen photos of it on darker olive complected skin that I thought looked simply stunning. The pink had a delicate sea shell-esque tone with the golden shimmer veiling it like magic precious metal gauze. Just very delicate and lovely.  

Fantasea is part of Orly's permanent collection. It's a subtle multichromatic shimmer polish with abundant finely milled golden shimmers in a translucent but slightly milky dark purple-tinted jelly base that contains color shifting pigments that change from violet to purple to rosy red to pink depending upon the type and angle of light. The combination of the base pigments with the yellow gold of the shimmers produces copper and bronze nuanced variations of the color shift in certain lights. Fantasea is a fascinating dreamy chameleon polish with a certain softness and delicate femininity to it that brings to mind drapes and folds of luxurious satiny color-shifting fabric.

Application of Fantasea wasn't problematic but it is very sheer and requires a bunch of coats to look it's best, which lengthens dry time and thus the attending period of vulnerability. I forgot to heed one of the first rules of manicure club and did not pee before I polished. Foolish mortal! I damaged the polish on my right thumb in that sickening horrendous way where all of your layers of polish get smudged at once like a miniature of half a continental collision in plate tectonics. But lo, the polish was still malleable enough that I was able to gently push it back into place and smooth out the majority of the crumple. There's still a visible crease there but lord have mercy it could have been so much worse.

Photos show four coats of Fantasea over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. 

Orly Fantasea

Orly Fantasea

Orly Fantasea

Orly Fantasea

Orly Fantasea

Orly Fantasea

Orly Fantasea

Orly Fantasea

Orly Fantasea

Orly Fantasea

Orly Fantasea

Orly Fantasea

Orly Fantasea

Orly Fantasea

Orly Fantasea

Orly Fantasea

Orly Fantasea

Orly Fantasea

Orly Fantasea

I've seen Fantasea layered over dark purples to beautiful effect (such as in this post by The PolishAholic), really bringing out the purple in this polish. My photos seem to capture more of the rosy shift that it has, but you can see hints of the purple in there. Fantasea wears other faces also. Outdoors in the bright diffuse light of lightly overcast skies I was delighted when I glanced at my nails to see a brilliant deep rich rose pink. In the sunroom on my way back upstairs I caught it with a shimmering burnished copper appearance. Other blog swatches of Fantasea, such as this one from Of Faces and Fingers and this one from Scrangie, showcase the purple better than I have. 

Like Zoya Kotori, Orly Fantasea has won the hearts of many polish enthusiasts despite requiring more than the average number of coats to overcome its sheerness. The beautiful and dynamic nature of this polish is worth the trouble. 

Both Ingenue and Fantasea are examples of why I admire Orly. They show creativity and if not independence then a willingness to experiment with new trends to produce Orly's own versions of them. 

And to think, I still haven't swatched Orly Space Cadet yet! Maybe next time....

love,
Aunt Liz