Orly Electronica Swatches and Comparisons

My fondness for Orly is no secret, so I'm guessing it didn't surprise anyone when I announced I'd bought all four polishes in the Electronica collection when I shared the display photo last month. Left to right: Preamp, Synchro, Shockwave, Decoded.



Let's start with one of the cremes, Decoded. This is a dark grey; swatches are two coats, no topcoat.





Given that grey is a Karen color, I was fully expecting to find a dupe for this in my collection. The two that looked closest when I examined my nail wheels were Sephora by OPI Break a Leg Warmer and CND Asphalt.



Left to right below: Break a Leg Warmer, Decoded, Asphalt. Asphalt is pretty close; it's just a touch darker than the Orly. It also only took one coat, so that's a point in its favor. The Sephora by OPI is not far off; it's less blue-toned than the other two but would make a good substitute nonetheless. It was two coats.



Shockwave is the other creme in the collection. It's a medium blue that's ever so slightly jelly-ish. I felt two coats was adequate; that led to just a tiny hint of visbile nail line in strong light but nothing you'd notice in most conditions.





When it came time to do comparisons of Shockwave, my first thought was my beloved Orly La Playa, but when I pulled the bottle I could see La Playa was way darker so I kept looking. I found Pure Ice French Kiss and Essence Colour & Go Just Rock It.



At this point, I should have a comparison photo of the three blues, but I do not. My notes lead me to believe I took some, as I can tell you the Pure Ice was two coats and a touch lighter than the Orly, and the Essence was one coat and a touch darker. I have looked on my main computer and my backup drive, and photographic proof that I had these three on my nails is nowhere to be found. I've got no idea what happened, and that's somewhat disconcerting. I know I'm not the most organized person but I don't usually misplace whole sets of photots like that. Ah well, I could recreate them if I had to, but let's just move on.

Preamp is a purple-leaning pink filled with pink micro-flakie shimmer. I used three coats of this; I probably could have stopped at two but it was just so pretty going on that I got distracted. I like this one a whole lot more than I expected to; I bought it thinking it was just another pink shimmer, but its sparkly beauty really won me over.









I found I didn't have anything very much like Preamp in my stash, so decided to swatch it next to a sparkly purple and a sparkly fuchsia to try and show where it falls on the color wheel. My volunteers for this were China Glaze Anklets of Amethyst and Sally Hansen HD Hi Definition Byte.



Left to right below: Anklets of Amethyst (3 coats), Preamp, Byte (4 coats).



Finally we come to the polish in this collection that's gotten the most buzz, Synchro. This is a duochrome shimmer. In the bottle, it looks like it's deep rose pink shifting to golden orange.



On the nail, a blue pops out on top of the pink and the orange pretty much disappears. This is three coats of Synchro by itself.







At some odd angles, I fancied I could see a bit of orange peeking out from the pink.


In low light, it went more plummy purple with blue flash.



Synchro wasn't what I was expecting based on looking at the bottle, but it sure is interesting to look at since it does shift and change so much. I couldn't think of another polish like it in my stash, so instead of doing a comparison, I swatched it over Decoded. Over that blue creme, Synchro showed a distinct blue to purple shift as I moved my nails around.







I think all of these are keepers, especially for a cool tones lover such as myself. If you're well stocked with cremes, Shockwave and Decoded are not must haves. Preamp and Synchro are quite fun to look at; if you're only getting a couple from this collection, those are the two to grab.