NOTD Before & After: Orly's Smolder (Or, Fall Is In The Air...)

Hello!!

A little while back I reviewed two colors from Orly's Fired Up collection, and liked them so much that I ordered a third color from the collection, Smolder. When it showed up, I couldn't wait to try it out, especially when it turned out to be more of a red than it looked from the promo materials, which made it look a bit more like a wine color.

Smolder is very similar to Flicker in the type of color and finish it is; it has incredible depth and intensity, and I want very much to call it a duochrome, but it doesn't quite shift as much as flash--it's sort of in between a flash and a shift. In the shade, you see deep red with orange/copper flashes and winey flashes. In the sun, more of the wine color comes out. And like Flicker, Smolder is true to the name of the collection in that is seems to be lit from within:

Orly Smolder--shade

Orly Smolder--shade, different angle

Orly Smolder--direct sunlight

I had been wearing this for a day and wasn't sure what to do with it because I didn't want to cover it up, when my AIS group announced the challenge theme, and solved my dilemma. The theme for today is 'Can't wait for fall!', and this color screams fall to me, so I knew I'd be using it as my base.

I personally love fall and fall colors, and while I don't want summer to end, I'm really jazzed about putting together my first official 'fall' manicure, so one fall color was certainly not going to be enough. So I grabbed a rainbow of fall colors in a bottle--Kleancolor Chunky Holo Bluebell. If you've never seen it, it's a stunning holographic duochrome (don't know where holographic came from!) glitter that's sort of like the rainbow flakies out there:

Orly Smolder + Kleancolor Chunky Holo Bluebell

It's like a spray of fall leaves in a bottle...

Honestly, at this point I almost decided that this could no longer be a part of the weekly theme, because AIS is a stamping group, and I almost couldn't bring myself to stamp over this combination. I wore it like this for a day, and then finally decided that a little spray of leaves would be a nice touch to stamp on top:

For the stamped image, I used Cheeky XL plate E, and stamped with Revlon Varnished, a greenish gold that I thought would be perfect for fall. However, if I had to do it again, I think I'd go with a straight gold polish, which would have a bit more of a warm feel. :)

So there you have it, a NOTD, review, and theme challenge all in one. I loved this all so much I wore it from start to finish for 5 days, which is crazy long for me these days! And I should mention, not one chip until the last day. :)

Thanks for taking a look, and have a great Sunday!

M.