Hello, dolls! It's ORCHID DAY here on *Tiny Twinklings*, or at least, I have a few orchid things to show you! ILNP "Black Orchid" and the Lorac
Elegant Orchid Collection are not at all affiliated, but I was wearing "Black Orchid" when I found the Lorac box at Kohl's yesterday and I was like, well THIS is happening. I adore orchids, so I've been loving all of the Radiant Orchid-ness inspired by the Pantone Color of the Year. I was an orchid mommy once, but although I loved my orchid baby very much it was much too delicate for my hapless, erratic plant mothering :( I'm probably better off with orchid lips and tips (or rather, the orchids are better off that way).
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| my erstwhile Phalaenopsis orchid <3 |
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I Love Nail Polish "Black Orchid"
"Black Orchid" is a deep sexy plum glowing with pink orchid micro-flake shimmer, with a linear holographic flame for a little sizzle. Oohlala, this is fabulous. I have been besotted with vampy holographic polishes, and so has everyone else apparently, because there have been SO MANY in the burgundy purple range this season: Liquid Sky "It's Wine O'Clock Somewhere", Elevation Polish "Haleakala", Chaos & Crocodiles "Protocol", Cirque Lacquer "Boudoir", Lilypad Lacquer "Immortal Soul", Glitter Gal "Transfusion", and Colors by Llarowe "Mercy", to name a few (any stand out that I've missed??). And, of course, there's "Black Orchid" of ILNP's Fall 2014 collection. The selection is positively dizzying (like honestly, just close your eyes and point), but I'm so in love with "Black Orchid", and I think it has the best name of all of them so obviously that's what counts haha. Forbidden, seductive, bewitching; "Black Orchid" is deeply and darkly romantic, more thrilling than a secret midnight tryst.
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| ILNP "Black Orchid" |
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| ILNP "Black Orchid" |
Two coats of lacquer does it for "Black Orchid", though I actually loved it even more at three. I did have some problems with tip chips after one day, which surprised me; my manicures don't usually last very long, but I generally can get four days out of it without pronounced issues. "Black Orchid" is MUCH more holographic in person, though the full-spectrum lamp was not doing it justice. The sun has been playing hide and seek (more hide than seek) as the autumn rains drizzle over Oregon so no help from that quarter. But I assure you, the holographic effect is very lovely and can even be seen in some indoor lights, though even in shade this polish has a lovely shimmering flecked appearance. "Black Orchid" is found exclusively at the
I Love Nail Polish boutique, where it retails for $10.
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Lorac - The Elegant Orchid Collection box
This captivating box was released exclusively at Kohl's back in September, but I had some Kohl's Cash activate yesterday so I hustled out to get my polished paws on it, tee hee. I'm all about these limited edition boxes now, as you may have noticed; how have I never noticed what an amazing value they are?! (Or, I should say, sometimes are...)
The Elegent Orchid Collection, for instance, includes five full-size or nearly full-size products for $29 (reportedly a $97 value).
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| Lorac Elegant Orchid |
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| Lorac Elegant Orchid |
Cobra Mascara "Black": {0.25oz/7.19g - full size // $20 retail} At first I was kind of like, eww, cobra, snake, why yucky why? It all makes so much more sense when you see the unique brush shape: a flat teardrop bent into a sinuous arc, formed exactly like a cobra's hood. I have no idea how Lorac got such an idea but I'm actually digging it; it provides an interesting and versatile range of angles and thickness that I found quite intuitive to use. At first it looked light and feathery, but then built up and out to voluptuous volume and length, and as I regarded the effect in the mirror I thought to myself that my eyelashes had quite the curl going. And indeed, the Cobra mascara is intended to be curling and lengthening and volumizing, and I can attest that it does all three. I'm quite picky about my mascaras- I like extra bombastic lashes, and not just any mascara does it- and I do really like this one :)
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| Lorac Cobra Mascara "Black" |
Front of the Line PRO Liquid Eyeliner "Black": {0.02fl.oz./0.55mL - full size // $23 retail} I thought that this liquid eyeliner was applied with a nib like that of Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes: Precision Longwear Liner, until I noticed that it's actually a super sleek, finely pointed brush. It applies nicely and sets quickly, then stays put; it'll come off with a normal wash, but it's not going anywhere with a casual smudge. The cap has an interesting squishy bounce-back effect when you put it on; I think it's an air sealant mechanism to prevent the brush from drying out.
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| Tarte Precision Longwear Liner "Black" < || > Lorac Front of the Line Liquid Eyeliner "Black" |
Eye Shadow Pro Palette "Nude" / Pro Palette 2 "Chrome": {0.05oz/1.55g box size vs. 0.06oz/1.7g full size // $19 both} Ruh-roh! I calculate that these should actually be worth $17.32, but it would appear that they have been counted as the full $19 for the purposes of the box value. Tsk tsk. Silly Lorac. They're totally beautiful, though! "Nude" reminds me of the Swarovski crystal color "Silk", and is a lovely pale beige shimmer with pretty peachy tones. "Chrome" is an urban taupe shimmer with a pearlescent iridescence; it's really a mink brown, but the silvery shimmer cools it down. These shadows have a DIVINE formula; it feels so silky and soft and just ever so slightly creamy, I swear I would just moosh my finger around in the pot for hours if that wouldn't be, you know, a complete waste of a gorgeous eyeshadow. They blend beautifully together, as well, and are really very luminous and elegant on the eye. I wasn't too excited about them but I expect I'll get a ton of use out of them; I'm surprised that I like it as much as I do, but they really are so classic with the bold liquid eyeliner!
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| Lorac "Nude" < {} > "Chrome" // Lip Luxe Orchid, Liquid Liner "Black" |
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| Lorac Eyeshadow "Nude" {bottom left} < {} > {top right} "Chrome" |
Lip Luxe 8 Hour Lip Color "Orchid": {0.05oz/1.7g - full size // $16 retail} At first glance I thought this must be a mini, but no; the Lip Luxe tubes are just very diminuitive. They are quite slender, short, and the fact that they're made of chrome plastic also makes them very lightweight. Good for sneaking into a pocket, I suppose! "Orchid" is a gorgeous berry-tinted deep orchid pink with cool undertones and a pearlescent shimmer. This Lip Luxe has medium pigmentation and is nicely buildable, and applies smoothly, though I still wanted slick something over its slight tacky dryness; but then my lips are always like that, unless the color is also a balm. "Orchid" is certainly no shy flower, and it makes its muted fuchsia-hued self known, though it is very flattering and also somehow a quite sophisticated rendering of this shade of pink.
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| Lorac Lip Luxe "Orchid", Liquid Liner "Black", Eyeshadow "Nude" < {} > "Chrome" |
As mentioned, the Lorac
Elegant Orchid box is only available at
Kohl's, and retails for $29. The box claims to have a value of $97, though what with the slightly smaller size of the eyeshadow singles I came up with $93.64. A trifling difference, and still amounting to 70% off full price. You really can't go wrong with a box of truly excellent basics! <3
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Side note: have any of you purchased from gloss48 in the past?? I had a very disappointing morning today; I was up early for the Takko Lacquer sale... only to find that gloss48 had staged some
early access trickery, and then were totally bewildered when the sets sold out in a
matter of minutes, leaving none in stock for the actual advertised sale
time. *Sniff*. Gloss48 has been promising that next time they won't forget to reserve some stock for the promised sale appointment, and that they're already working on another Takko deal. Another change I'd propose that they make is to shift the time forward a bit; those of us on the West Coast are at a bit of a disadvantage seeing as these sales start at 11am EST/8am PST, and in particular that this secretive sale started at 9am EST/6am PST. I like mornings, but you won't find me up at 6am trolling around for deals. It was to be my first venture with gloss48, but I was so devastatingly disappointed that I don't know if I would want to get my hopes up again. What has been your experience with gloss48?? Did anyone manage to get the Takko Lacquers?! Wait, don't tell me... :*( Oh, the terrible drama of an indie nail polish missed. It gets us all every once and a while. Off to count some blessings... :)
Anyone have magical tips to raising happy orchids?
XOXO
Marisa + Sprinklepuff
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