Orly smartGELS + new gel colours Shine & Crawfords Wine

I'm out at the baseball again tonight (they won last night - so only one more win!!!) but I have an epic scheduled post for you about Orly smartGELS.

I recently dipped my toes (and fingers) into at home gel nails using Australian brand Gelicious.  I really love their product and commented a month or two back that I would love to try some other brands of cure at home gel polish.  So when I was recently given the opportunity to review Orly's smartGELS system I jumped at the chance.

The package I received contained two of the new shades that Orly have just released as gel colours, an Orly LED lamp and the Orly smartGELS starter kit.

Let's start with looking at what's in the starter kit.  

• Cleanser
• Remover
• Lint free wipes
• Primer
• Base + Top coat
• Cuticle oil
• Orly buffer file
• Orly cuticle remover and pusher tool
• Pack of 20 soak off satchels
• Instruction DVD
• Instruction guide brochure

I started by using Orly Cutique - which isn't in the pack but it's a staple part of my nail care routine.  I painted it onto my nails and cuticles and let is soak for a short while.

Here is the Orly pusher and remover tool - I have to say, this is the most awesomely amazing tool ever.  I don't know how I ever cleaned my cuticles without this thing.  It is quite sharp, so you have to be careful not to dig into your nail and cause damage, but if you use it gently it's sensational.  The curved tip on the end is just the most perfect cuticle shape! It's so amazing I have already purchased another one of these tools for my mum. Seriously awesome tool. /rave.

Yep, here is me using the awesome tool!

Ok, next I used the cleanser and the lint free wipes from the starter pack to thoroughly cleanse each nail.  I only cleansed the nails I was about to paint, not doing all 10 at once so I didn't risk getting oils back onto the nail.

The instructions say to lightly buff your nails, but I'm not a huge fan of buffing cause I tend to go overboard. So I skipped that step.  Then the instructions say to apply the primer (from the starter pack) to just the tip of the nail.  Done.

Here is the Orly LED lamp.  It has only one button on the top to start it so it's pretty much idiot proof. It runs for an auto time of 60 seconds (with a beep at 30 seconds).

Next paint your nails with the base + top coat from the starter pack and cure under the lamp for 30 seconds.  Then paint your desired polish colour on each nail and cure for 30 seconds for each coat.  When you are happy with the appearance of the polish, apply a layer of base + top coat and cure.

Like with any gel manicure, you will end up with a stick residue on your nails.  Grab the lint free wipe and use the cleanser to buff up the nail. 

Finally, add a drop of the cuticle oil included in the starter pack to each nail and gently rub it in.  It has a lovely fruity scent, maybe Papaya?

So that's how I put it on, shall we have a look at the two colours?  

Crawford's Wine - a bright true red with a red shimmer.  Really stunning in real life, and that's coming from someone who doesn't wear a lot of reds.  I only needed two thin coats of get good opacity and a rich colour.

Shine - a bright silver foil. I have the regular version of this polish and it was one of the first Orly's I purchased.  It's from the Foil FX collection and was partnered up with Luxe and Rage.  I did find this one at lot sheerer than both the original version of Shine and Crawfords Wine.  I ended up doing four thin coats to ensure I had full coverage.  However I do find these gel polishes to be very thin, so even at four coats it's not thick and chunky at the tip of the nail.

Removal time - This was the part of was most interested in.

The instructions say to use the coarse side of the included file to file off the glossy top coat.  Ok, done!

These are the soak off satchels that are included in the starter pack.  They are small plastic bags with pieces of foam folded within them.

Looking down into one of the soak off pads.

I added a little squirt of the Orly remover...

... and shoved my nails in.  I then enjoyed half a cup of coffee and read nail blogs on my ipad for 10 minutes.

After ten minutes I pulled off the soaker bags and all the polish just fell off in flakes.  I didn't have to scratch or use the tool or anything.

Removal of Shine was so easy - but would the removal of Crawford's wine work just as well?  

Top coat filed off? Check.

Soak, drink coffee, read blogs... polish falls off. Check!

Because I wanted to test out the wear on these polishes, I left my right hand wearing Crawford's Wine for six days.  This photo was taken at the end of day six and it still looked fantastic.  I only removed it because I had to put on my baseball themed nails yesterday.

Here are some of the things I loved about the Orly smartGELS

• The pusher and remover tool - enough said.
• The Orly smartGEL polishes only take 30 seconds to cure.
• The colours are the same ones that you purchase in the regular polish line. When I saw that Shine was amongst the colours I knew exactly what I was getting.
• The lamp has the auto timer so you don't have to sit watching the clock.
• The soak off gel remover baggies are very simple, yet very effective.  Plus, you can reuse them over and over again.  When I'm finished with them I just put them in a zip locked bag until next time.
• Removal in general was clean and easy.
• The lint free wipes.  I usually just use cotton rounds I buy from Aldi, but they can get fluffy.  I love these lint free wipes and a single one lasts for many manicures.
• The gel polishes are very thin.  Even with multiple coats it doesn't end up looking thick at your free edge.
• Everything that is included in the Starter kit. It costs extra, but I love it!

Some things that I didn't love so much

• You have to file off the top coat.  It just felt wrong using such a coarse grit file on the top of my nails.  Even though I know I wasn't even close to my nail, it just felt... weird.
• The Orly smartGEL polishes are only small. 5.3ml to be exact.  One thing I really love about the regular Orly line is their bottles are a huge 16ml.  I wonder why they made these gels polishes so small.
• It's expensive to purchase everything at the start.The LED light is $99.95 RRP, the Starter Kit $79.95 RRP and each colour is $23.95.

I'm so happy to have been able to try the Orly smartGELS, I think they are an excellent product and I will certainly buy additional colours in this range (hello Orly Rage).

There are eight new shades that will be available in March 2013:

• Catch The Bouquet (Barbie Pink withFuchsia Shimmer)
• Terracotta (Bright Pink Tangerine Crème)
• Shine (Metallic Silver Glitter)
• Passion Fruit (Hot Neon Pink)
• Crawford’s Wine (Deep Crimson with Cherry Shimmer)
• White Tips (White Crème)
• Ruby (Red Browne Crème)
• Liquid Vinyl (Black Crème)

The ORLY smartGELS system is available now from Terry Whites Chemists nationally, National Pharmacies (in South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria) and online from: www.orlybeauty.com.au.

Product provided for review.

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Write by: Unknown - Saturday, February 9, 2013