Orly Surreal collection swatches and review

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How to cite: Wong M. Orly Surreal collection swatches and review. Lab Muffin Beauty Science. August 28, 2013. Accessed March 19, 2024. https://labmuffin.com/orly-surreal-collection-swatches-and-review/

Orly’s latest limited edition collection Surreal is already out in the US and was on sale at the Spa and Beauty Expo over the weekend. The collection contains 6 polishes, with an emphasis on ethereal and electric colours. The shades are very daring for an Orly collection – possibly their most avant garde collection to date! The idea is “Alice in Wonderland gone digital”, and as you can see, the new Orly logo and bottle designs have well and truly hit Australia. I managed to swatch these yesterday:

Digital Glitter is the glitter top coat of the collection, and I’m quite impressed with it. It’s kind of steampunk-looking, with bronze hex glitters, silver squares, red specks and purple-golden green duochrome shimmer. I’ve swatched two coats over black – it’s very dense for a topper, and applies smoothly without dabbing. This is a surprise favourite, since I didn’t love it on the swatch stick, but over black – wow!

Angel Rain is an ethereal pale blue jelly base with fine purple-green duochrome shimmer. It’s a little frosty, and over black the duochrome is stronger, but I think it’s pretty on its own – this is 3 coats. I originally thought this might be similar to Nubar Indigo Illusion or Models Own Indian Ocean, but it’s completely different.

Pixie Powder contains the same purple-golden green duochrome shimmer as Digital Glitter, but denser. It doesn’t give great coverage – I used 4 coats here and it’s still not quite opaque. It would do well over undies! Again, it’s very ethereal and pretty though the duochrome is pretty weak on the nail. It dries a tad rough, but it’s easily smoothed out by top coat (though I think the rough finish is more interesting).

Purple Poodle is an intense magenta jelly with blue and pink shimmer and tiny flakes. It’s bright and impressive – this is 3 thin coats. I’m not a huge fan of this shade, but I can imagine that a lot of other people would be!

There are also two bright cremes in this collection. Pink Waterfall is a medium purple-toned pink creme that’s opaque in 2 coats. It’s a surprisingly uncommon creme colour – incredibly, I don’t have any dupes in my swatch stick collection, though it’s similar to ulta3 Flirty Bikini (Pink Waterfall is brighter).


Teal Unreal is the other creme in this collection, and another favourite – it’s an intense 2-coater jade green, like a deeper version of OPI Fly, and as Kayle of Nerd4Nails warned me, it’s also a stainer! I’m currently wearing this on my nails as undies for a glitter, and I’m looking forward to the smurf fingers when I take it off…


Overall, I’m impressed with how adventurous this collection is – in my mind, Orly does great salon staples but generally nothing too risque, but this collection is full of unique shades. It will be officially out in Australia in November – you’ll no doubt see a few sets floating around post-Spa & Beauty Expo!

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13 thoughts on “Orly Surreal collection swatches and review”

  1. Gorgeous swatches! I’m having a hard time deciding if I like Angel Rain or not. Guess I’d have to see it in person and make an impulse decision lol.

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  2. OMG!!! The Angel rain is so pretty. I super love the color for i find it elegant and classy. Its perfect for any occasion. Can’t wait to try it out.

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