A few polishes from the Orly Spring 2009 Prepster Collection

I have mixed feelings about this collection. I love the colors, but I hate the name! It brings me back to high school. I think I will always have a permanent distaste for anything labelled "preppy".... Maybe Orly should re-promote Goth, the beautiful black polish with silver glitter, and put it on it's own display and set it all by itself off to the side of the Prepster collection... Ha!

Okay, that was random. Sorry. Heh. Anyway, I only ended up with the colors from this collection that appealed to me, so this isn't a complete set of swatches. I just have no desire for another sheer pink or sheer frosty lavender. I don't like them, I don't wear them and I don't like swatching them.


Here are my favorites from this collection:




Cashmere Cardigan. From the promo pictures of this, I had expected it to be more purple, but it's really more blue. I'm not complaining- I love this color! It's soft and muted but since it's such an uncommon color it still has a bit of edge to it.





Country Club Khaki. I was hoping that this would be like a Rescue Beauty Lounge Grunge with less red in it, and it was! It's one of those unusual dirty-but-super-cool colors that always catch my eye. Kinda like Grunge, yes, but also 'mushroomy' like Butter London Fash Pack or Zoya Pasha. I can't think of any dupes for this.




OMG! This polish is way better in real life. My picture does it no justice. It's an ultra bright but not neon pink/red/coral creme with a near-jelly texture. You have to see this one in person, it's really beautiful.


Tennis, Anyone? This wasn't the color I was expecting but it's not too bad. It's a sheer nude creme. It's kind of sheer and hard to apply- this is four coats and you can still see my nail through it.


The formula on these is spotty. Cashmere Cardigan and Country Club Khaki were smooth, thin and easy to apply- no issues at all. OMG! and Tennis, Anyone? were on the thick side and I found it a little difficult to build coverage without the polish on the nail becoming too thick and stringy. OMG! was nicer to apply than Tennis, Anyone? but still thicker than the other two colors I tried.

The drying time on this is pretty long. I have worn each of these colors at least once (twice for Cashmere Cardigan) and I used my usual combination of Qtica Natural Nail Growth Stimulator and Seche Vite with them but they were still dentable after 24 hours. I have also had drying time issues with a lot of my other Orly polishes, so I don't think it's unique to this collection. Some people don't have a problem with them taking too long to fully dry, I do, your mileage may vary.

The bottles and brushes are perfect. The bottle sturdy, that's for sure- I dropped one on my ceramic tile floor and it BOUNCED. Didn't break. The handle is really nice. It has a natural curve so it's comfortable to hold and it has a rubberized coating so you don't drop it. The brush itself is average- bristles are on the long side but no defects. No complaints about the bottle here.


Other than the thickness of certain shades and the long drying time, this is a pretty good collection. I really love three of the four colors I have and I at least like the fourth color. They are all much better in person- especially OMG!.