Thank God for swatches, right? [That’s photos of beauty products tested in real life, for all you non blog-linguists.] They’ve practically revolutionised the way we make-up mavens shop – the equivalent of try before you buy! This is especially useful for nail polish which, unlike make-up you’re allowed to smear on the back of a hand or let an assistant vandalise your face with, shops generally won’t let you try before you buy anyway!
But what’s worse than not being able to find a single swatch of a make-up product online? Finding dozens of inaccurate ones instead.
And thus is the case with Orly Frisky.
Most blog pictures have made this crème look like a super-bright saturated cyan blue colour. Even Orly’s product photo makes it look like a super-bright saturated cyan blue. So I figured the first few pages of results in Google Images couldn’t be wrong, and bought Frisky believing it to be a super-bright saturated cyan blue. It isn’t.
That’s not to say that Frisky isn’t a fantastic colour. It is super-bright and it is saturated – but it’s more of a turquoise, actually. Luckily, turquoise just happens to be one of my favourite colours so I was still delighted with the results.
It leans more blue than Essie’s Turquoise & Caicos (thus far, my ultimate turquoise) but it’s definitely much more aqua than the green-leaning Turned Up Turquoise from China Glaze. It’s by far the brightest turquoise I own – the closest thing to being fluorescent without actually heading into highlighter pen territory.
It’s a vivid vibrant aquamarine that pops straight off the nails. Brilliant, bright and bouncy, it totally lives up to the name of its mother ship – the Happy-Go-Lucky collection.
It’s a really lush creamy colour but sadly, doesn’t dry to a high-gloss finish. The formula was a little tricky to work with – thick, glue-y and with a finish nowhere near as self-levelling as OPI’s – but the coverage was good and the colour was opaque in just one coat (though I did two anyway). I experienced a little bubbling with thicker coats though, which you can see from my photos, and a longer than average drying time. Orly’s brush is large but thin – sort of a cross between OPI’s in size and Essie’s in thickness – which I found spread the polish nicely, and I love brands that have rubber caps like these for better grip.
Overall, Frisky is an awesome aqua that sits equally nicely amongst spring pastels, summer brights or as a pop of colour against an otherwise neutral outfit. It’s a charismatic crowd-pleaser, bursting with oodles of oomph. It’s just not cyan blue, ok?!
Looks good with: summer brights, spring pastels, as a pop of colour
Drying time: 5-7 mins
Coats required: 1-2
Chips: +5 days
Orly Frisky, Summer 2011 Happy Go Lucky Collection, $60, Cher2
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