NOTD: Essie Orange, It's Obvious + Cult Nails Captivated

This is a manicure from "The Vault" aka my Google+ Instant Upload Photos that otherwise never see the light of day. I wore it last summer and with summer right around the corner, I figured it was an appropriate combination to share!

Essie, Orange It's Obvious - This is a beautiful and vibrantly opaque orange shade from Essie's Navigate Her Spring 2012 Collection. It is a brignt punchy tangerine orange creme opaque in 2 easy coats. If I was careful, I could do 1 thicker coat too, but 2 made sure there no bald spots on my nail. Make sure you've got 2 layers of basecoat on underneath this because it stains like a mf'er otherwise! I learned my lesson on that the hard way. When worn by itself, it dries to an extremely high-gloss finish, but I like to put on topcoat just to protect it from tipwear and chipping.

Cult Nails, Captivated - I usually adore Captivated coupled with Cult Nails, Scandalous - it's like the two were made for each other. Whether I actually mix the polishes together and apply them as one, layer them, or even create a jelly sandwich, Cult Nails Captivated + Scandalous are soulmates. I was craving something more bold (Scandalous is a jelly finish so it gives everything a more soft and dainty appearance), so I layered just one coat of Captivated over Orange, It's Obvious for the above look. 

Captivated itself is also a jelly polish with a coral base, and can be built up to nearly-full opacity on its own. It will lean a lot more coral/red when worn alone as compared to the manicure above. The formula is chock full of gold and coral glitter, and the jelly finish gives it a little bit of a pinkish translucency around the edges when worn without undies. 2 coats give you a squishy semi-opaque look and three will cover you right up. 

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I am defiinitely planning on wearing Captivated a lot more with the weather getting better though! I'm so bored of wearing OPI Tickle My France-y to work, even though I do love it. It's work-appropriate but OH SO BORING to people used to neon glittery nails by now lol.


UPDATE/DUPE ALERT - Icing, Tiger's Blood ($4.50) - Check out ThePolishAholic's post here for pictures and things!