Orly Holiday Soirée Collection

Androgynie

Ma Cherie

Oui

Au Champagne

Le Chateau

Ingenue

For close up swatch photos with bottles and reviews please read on after the jump!
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2 coats Androgynie over 1 coat Wet 'n Wild Black Creme

Androgynie is a blend of fine irregular gold pieces, delicate holo glitter, and opalescent hexagon glitter in electric blue, citrus green, chartreuse, amber, teal, and gold, in a warm black jelly base.

I had such high hopes when I saw Androgynie in the bottle (see little photo to the left).  I tried 3 coats of it by itself initially but it looked awful.  The warm black jelly base looked so dull and stole the sparkle from the beautiful glitters.  It also dulled the vibrant colors of the hexagon glitters.  I decided to layer it over a black cream and it helped lessen the dullness of the base and brighten the glitters but...it still wasn't what I'd hoped for, the bottle look on my nails.  *sigh*

I also noticed that there was almost no glitter on my nails the first time I applied it. I tried shaking the bottle but it wasn't enough.  I literally had to take an orange stick and stir the polish vigorously, shaking it intermittently during the process to free all the glitter from the bottom of the bottle.  The moment I set the bottle down the glitter began to fall toward the bottom of the bottle again so I had to give the bottle a good shake every couple nails.  There is not nearly enough suspending agent in this polish.

3 coats Ma Cherie

Ma Cherie is a beautiful vibrant red jelly.  I don't mind the very subtle visible nail line because it's, well, very subtle.  Nice formula, gorgeous color, super glossy finish.  I don't think it's 100% unique though.  I thought it was brighter than it actually was when I put it on but when I compared it with my other reds it fell into the Essie First Dance/China Glaze Sacred Heart/CND Just Red category of reds, deeper brights, of which there are many.

3 coats Oui

Oui is a violet version of the sparkling gold polishes du jour.  It's pretty gorgeous.  I don't have It's My Year to compare it to but I have heard it is a possible dupe.  I was hoping for Oui to be a dupe for Don't Be Shellfish from the Ulta's Under the Sea collection of minis.  I love that polish and a mini is just not enough.  I'm happy to report that they're extremely close to being dupes - without painstaking scrutiny they really can't be told apart.  If you are interested in my scrutiny I'd say Don't Be Shellfish is a touch cooler toned and has slightly less density in it's sparkles.

3 coats Au Champagne

Please forgive my bottle photo of Au Champagne.  I did not do this polish justice in this bottle shot.  It was raining, blah blah blah...and this is the best photo I got. This polish is so pretty.  A beautiful white with delicate, luminous shimmer.  Orly has done an outstanding job on the white polishes in their holiday collections the last 2 years - last year's gorgeous Winter Wonderland and now this year's lovely Au Champagne.  I have very few beautiful white polishes so I'm excited to add this one to my collection.

3 coats Le Chateau

Le Chateau is an inky blue-green with a touch of gray in it.  It's formula reminded me of China Glaze Near Dark - a cross between a jelly and a cream.  Extremely glossy and extremely dark, it's one of those almost-black shades that pretty much looks black.  I was hoping it would have more color to it after seeing the first coat but it's pretty much black looking.  It is a bit softer and more complimentary to my skin tone than straight black though.

3 coats Ingenue

Ingenue is yet another incarnation of this year's Charla, Zoya's Faye.  So far we have Faye, Rally Pretty Pink, Ingenue...and I'm sure more dupes to come.  This collection could have done without the Faye dupe.  I would have loved a new shade in this finish instead; a bright cobalt blue or a white would have been amazing. Ingenue is definitely worth getting if you don't own any of the dupes though.