Quo by Orly is a line of nail lacquer that is produced by Orly and can be found in Canadian drugstores (Shoppers Drug Mart, specifically). When I was out the other day I couldn't resist picking one up to share with you all; this is Quo by Orly Night Sky.
Night Sky is a beautiful, slightly multichrome, purple shimmer in a smokey base. It's quite dark, but remains visibly a deep purple, although it does have a strong smokey cast to it. It has tons of depth and looks kind of... wet. It has a glittery wetness to it. And makes me think of beetles; dark and shiny. Yeah, that sounds a bit odd, but I'm trying to capture the depth it has. And while the gold multichrome is has in the bottle doesn't show up as much on the nail as in the bottle, you do still see it from time to time. Not always when you're looking for it, either. Sometimes it'll jump out at you in the most random lighting, and then disappear. Here are a few more pictures:
See how shiny it looks here? This is in artificial light. I'm kind of crazy about it.
I think this colour might be similar to one of the Orly Cosmic FX, but I don't have any of them to compare. Either way, this is an interesting lacquer, and I'm very happy with it.
Oh, and incidentally, this is the ring I was wearing today, and there is a story behind it that relates to Night Sky...
I bought this in Istanbul's Grand Bazaar from one of the (many, many, many!) jewelry vendors. I love bartering, and it was so amazingly glittery. I knew it was almost certainly some kind of plastic with glitter in it, but I had to ask the vendor what the "name" of the stone in the ring was. The response was that it was a "Night Sky Diamond". Hahahah. After that answer, who could resist? A NIGHT SKY DIAMOND! Doesn't it sound over the top?
So that's the story of Night Sky the polish, and Night Sky the ring. I'm further impressed that I just happened to wear it today when I was wearing my Night Sky polish. The parallel was lost on me until just a short while ago.
What do you think of Quo by Orly Night Sky? And what do you think of my Night Sky ring? Before I go, I'll leave you with a couple pictures from my visit to Istanbul:
Before we get to today's manicure, I want to show you what became of my Mermaid's Tears manicure from the other day:
My first attempt at the half moon manicure! I chose OPI Get in the Expresso Lane, a deep brown, to compliment the turquoise of Mermaid's Tears. I love the combination of dark brown and turquoise, it's one of my favourite combinations. I used paper reinforcements to create this look, which was incredibly easy. Here is what it looked like as a work in progress:
I think next time I will take extra care to make sure they are stuck on really well so I get a crisper line, and I'll also place them just a bit lower to show less of the base colour. What do you think of my first attempt at a half moon manicure?
Now, onto today's manicure! This will be my first time posting an Illamasqua lacquer, but you'll probably see a couple more in the future. I really love this brand.
This is Illamasqua Load. Yes, this is a polish called "Load". I think I'll just leave it at that, shall I?
Anyways, this is a really unique polish, as it's a kind of off-white. We'll call it antique lace, I think. I haven't come across anything like it before. The formula is very good for a white polish, as they tend to be super streaky, but this is two coats and it's pretty perfect. I like how it looks here, but I thought I would this would make a good base for China Glaze Afterglow.
Afterglow was one of my $2 purchases from the other day, and I was quite excited to find it. I recall seeing it featured on Scrangie's Blog and was fascinated. In real life, this lacquer has the most amazing and very strong blue flash- not only in sunlight or bright light, but also in lower lighting, which I love.
Here is Afterglow, layered over Load:
It does take on a somewhat yellowy tone (albeit not as yellow as in the last picture), which I'm not totally thrilled about, but it looks really cool. And I couldn't quite capture how bright the blue flash is, unfortunately. I can't wait to try it over other colours!
These are a couple lacquers I really like; in particular the Illamasqua is really fantastic. I have good memories of London when I wear Illamasqua, because I purchased my Illamasqua lacquers during a trip to London. I had the opportunity to visit the Illamasqua store near Carnaby Street (a shopping district in London that I really love).
I really wish I had taken a couple pictures of the Illamasqua store itself- it was pretty cool! And the ladies working there were really nice, too. If I go back there, I'll definitely take pictures to share with you (along with new purchases, I'm sure!).
As it happened, we were in London during a rather momentous occasion...
This was taken while watching the Royal Wedding on big screens in Hyde Park. It was an exciting (and busy) time to be in London.
Do you own any Illamasqua lacquers? What are your favourites? How about China Glaze Afterglow? What do you think of it?
In an attempt to spice up yesterday's manicure, I layered a purple glitter over top. I like the effect; the glitter is quite fine and sparse, which gives a kind of speckled robin's egg appearance.
The brand is "Jerden", but other than that, I can't tell you much about the polish. The label is in cyrillic, and I purchased this while on my first visit to Ukraine. If anyone understands Ukrainian/Russian, here's the label:
At most, I can make out what looks like "Lak Manicure" at the top, but I don't have any clues as to a name for this polish. I was in Ukraine for an academic conference, and while travelling through the city of L'viv I couldn't resist popping into a drugstore to scope out some foreign polishes. I came across this pretty, and it came home with me. I did find it a bit funny to explain to an older, male professor why I simply HAD to see what Ukraine could offer in the way of nail polish. I told him that it was my "thing".
I also wanted to include the above picture of one of my very favourite necklaces. I bought it during my second, longer stay in Ukraine; I had the chance to do some travelling, and while in Odessa I saw it and became quite enamoured with it. It reminds me of some very happy memories of a beautiful city. Odessa is definitely my favourite place that I visited while in Ukraine. Fascinating harbour on the black sea, the Potemkin Stairs, beautiful city centre with great shopping and restaurants, and some truly stunning architecture. For example, check out the Odessa Opera House! Gorgeous.
I have wonderful memories of my time in Odessa; however, I have to admit that getting there was a challenge. Travel in Ukraine isn't always the easiest, and certainly it isn't a terribly accessible country for a foreigner who doesn't speak Ukrainian or Russian.
The first leg of the journey was by bus, which my lovely Ukrainian friend assured me would be "very comfortable". In fact, it was incredibly cramped, stuffy, and kind of... smelly. Ukrainian roads aren't the smoothest ride.
Another challenge was changing from bus to train in a small town around midnight. There was all of one cab available at the bus station around 9pm when the bus arrived, and negotiating a fare to the only reputable hotel in town (a safe place to kill time and grab a meal before heading to the train station at midnight) was a process. One thing (well, one of many things, really...) that you should know about Ukrainian taxis is to agree on a fare before getting into the taxi. Chances are that there won't be a meter (and there almost definitely won't be seat belts, fyi); if you don't agree on a price before getting into the taxi, you'll get totally screwed when you arrive at your destination. If you're a foreigner from the West and an anglophone, avoiding speaking English.
After successfully navigating the taxi ride to the hotel, the next three hours were spent eating borsch and vareniki at what appeared to be a mostly deserted (with the exception of the staff) hotel, and watching a movie on a small TV in the corner of the restaurant. Which happened to be a Russian-dubbed version of the late 90's sci-fi horror flick "Virus" starring Donald Sutherland and Jamie Lee Curtis. If you've never seen Virus, here's what you missed out on (caution for strong language and mild gore):
Ahh, Donald Sutherland. Yeah, I have no idea what accent he was supposed to be approximating there. Any guesses?
So it was like that, but with Russian dubbing over the English. It was an intriguing three hours spent watching this with the hotel staff. This was followed by a mile and a half long walk in the dark (street lights are sporadic in a lot of areas) to reach the train station.
The train station was very atmospheric. It was a good Soviet-era structure; blocky and grey, but with a certain imposing splendour. The train was another matter. Ukrainian trains are an experience all on their own. Four people to a compartment: two bunks on the top, two on the bottom. Train trips in Ukraine tend to be lengthy, so people get to know each other. All the main rail lines were built heading towards Moscow, so depending on where you're situated, and where you want to go, you may end up heading away from your destination before you head towards it. This means a journey which you might expect to take 5 or 6 hours to drive by car, could take 18 hours by train (they're not the swiftest trains). There is a certain camaraderie among the car occupants- it's a genuinely shared experience, and usually people are curious to know you, talk to you, find out what you're doing/where you're going. I really liked that about Ukraine. English speakers are a rarity, so people tend to be curious and welcoming, unlike more touristy countries where the influx of English speaking tourists is met with a cooler reception.
However, if you think you're going to see the countryside from your train compartment, no dice. The windows are long fogged over from decades of travel, and they are bolted shut. With brings me to my major problem with train travel in Ukraine. Ventilation and temperature control. On all my train trips, the train has been unbearably hot. The heat being pumped through the train car was oppressive. It was a sauna. And it wasn't just me sweating away and gasping for fresh air- it was everyone. Everyone was just simmering away in their compartments in the sweltering heat. Sure, there was a slight chill to early Spring air outside the train, but inside was unbearably, unnecessarily hot. I thought it was strange that no one complained to the train car attendant. Finally, after working up my courage and looking up the translation for "very hot", I went and knocked on the train attendant's door.
After relating the story to a Ukrainian friend of mine, she told me a Ukrainian proverb, by way of explanation: "The steam won't break the bones". More or less, it's better to be too hot than too cold. In my opinion, it's better to be neither too hot, nor too cold.
Anyways, to make what turned out to be a very long story short, I loved Odessa, and Ukrainian people can be wonderful, but sometimes the getting there can be an ordeal. Not one that I would have changed, but just one I'll be mindful of in the future.
I hope you enjoyed my story of Ukrainian nail polish and Ukrainian travel,
