Orly Breathable Sweet Retreat Spring/Summer 2023

[Press Samples, affiliate links used]

Hello my friends! Today’s blog post is for the newest collection from Orly’s Breathable nail polish line. For spring/summer 2023 we have Sweet Retreat which is a 6 piece collection featuring vibrant pastel neon shades.

Since I went in on my thoughts on the whole Breathable line in my first Breathable post, I’ll save us both the time. Just know, I did use both base and top coat for my swatches because that’s just how I roll.

Thank you very much to Orly for sending me this collection in PR. This blog post isn’t sponsored. If you would like to see the polishes in natural lighting, do check out my live swatch video! As always, I will have links and sale deets at the end of the post!

Live Swatch Video

Orly is a US based mainstream brand. Their polishes are in massive 18ml bottles, 12 free, cruelty free and vegan friendly.

Burst Your Bubblegum

Description: a neon pink creme 

Burst Your Bubblegum is the perfect neon pastel pink creme shade. It had a great but slightly thicker formula. It was the kind of thickness that adds opacity but not difficulty in application.

This polish was a little streaky but self leveled well. Coverage is pretty good in 2 coats but I had a few nails that I could see a few dark spots so I opted to add a third coat to all of the nails.

My photos show Burst Your Bubble in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. This will be a 2-3 coater depending on application and personal preference.

For comparison, I have Orly Purrty In Pink (Lisa Frank collab, discontinued check eBay) on my pointer finger, Burst Your Bubblegum on my middle nail, China Glaze Glow With The Flow (discontinued, try 8ty8Beauty or eBay) on my ring finger and Night Owl Lacquer Persist (Lite & Brite collection) on my pinky. This wasn’t an exact dupe for any of my neon pinks. It’s cooler in tone than both Persist and Glow With The Flow. Next to them it almost looks purple.

Are You Sherbet?

Description: a pastel orange creme 

Are You Sherbet? had a pretty good formula. It was pretty streaky but that is not at all surprising given this is a pastel.

I didn’t really love the color on this one. I found on me it pulled as if it had a drop of like a brown or a tan? I am pretty sure that’s just how it’s pulling due to my undertones but I wasn’t a fan. I wish this had more creamsicle vibes.

My photos show Are You Sherbet in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. Again, this will probably be a 2-3 coater depending on application etc.

As far as comparisons, I pulled out China Glaze Peachy Keen (discontinued, might be cheaper on 8ty8Beauty or eBay) and Essie NFTea (Cyber Society collection).

Obviously, none of these were dupes.

Sour Time To Shine

Description: a lemon lime creme

Sour Time To Shine had an ok formula. It was on the thicker side and didn’t really self level very well. Unsurprisngly, it was also pretty streaky.

I would definetly reccomend floating your brush on to apply this one! Formula issues aside, I love this shade of chartreuse. It has a very 1970s feel but just shy of being a prugly.

My photos show Sour Time To Shined in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. It will be a 2-3 coater depending on personal preference and applicaiton style. However, I wouldn’t be surprised it it was a solid 3 coater on most people. This polish dries down a little flat so you will want top coat for a glossy finish.

For comparison, I pulled out Lightspeed Lime by a new-to-me brand called Barry M Cosmetics and China Glaze Def Defying on my ring finger. This polish was almost identical to Lightspeed Lime. There was a slight difference but I would say if you have Lightspeed Lime you probaly don’t need this one. The formula is better on Lightspeed Lime.

This polish made me think of Sally Hansen’s Inch Worm which I thought I owned but as it turns out I don’t. I did end up purchasing it earlier today so I will update this comparison once it arrives. And yes, I did buy a nail polish to verify if it is a duplicate for a polish that I already have a duplicate for. Don’t question it.

Give It A Swirl

Description: neon a swirl in aqua pop creme

Give It A Swirl had a good formula. It was on the thicker side and self leveled ok just a little slowly. It did self level WAY better than Sour Time To Shine though.

I love colors like this. This is a perfect pedicure color for me. I feel like this polish has a teeny tiny droplet of green in it but it photographs very blue. I did color correct my photos but to be perfectly honest, I always struggle color correcting when there is such a subtle hint of color to a polish. I feel like my comparison shot shows the slight green tone better than my swatch photos FYI.

My photos show Give It A Swirl in 3 coats plus glossy top coat.

For comparison, I have Night Owl Lacquer‘s Paint The Sky on my middle nail and China Glaze What I Like About Blue (discontinued, try 8ty8Beauty or eBay) on my middle nail.

As I mentioned, the hint of green in this polish shows up a lot better in this polish next a true blue. This is most similar in color to What I Like About Blue but that polish has a shimmer in it.

Don’t Sweet It

Description: a violet pop creme 

Don’t Sweet It had the best formula in this collection. It applied wonderfully and self leveled fantastic.

This is another shade that I just love the color of it. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a pastel in the strictest sense but it is a light medium purple.

My photos show Don’t Sweet It in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.

For comparison, I have Orly Synthetic Symphony (Alt Amazon Link), Night Owl Lacquer Darkness Into Light and Holo Taco Party Of One Purple. It is cooler in tone to Party Of One Purple and lighter than Synthetic Symphony.

Taffy To Be Here

Description: a pink lilac creme

Taffy To Be Here had pretty good formula. It was thinner and pretty streaky but I did expect it to be streaky given how light in color it is. It did self level really nicely though!

Again, this is another color that screams pedicure season to me. It’s a funny shade that is somewhere between a pink and a lilac. I would probably categorize it more as a pink than lilac but it is a little bit of both.

My photos show Taffy To Be Here in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. I had a few nails that were good in 2 coats but I opted to do 3 on all of them for consitency.

For comparison, Night Owl Lacquer Believe (Lite And Brite collection) and Orly’s Kaleidoscope Eyes (Alt Amazon link). This is just slightly darker than Kaleidoscope Eyes but you probably don’t need both.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this was a nice collection. I generally expect all pastel cremes to be 3 coaters so I wasn’t personally disappointed that so many of these were 3 coaters on me. I find it very rare to find a 2 coat pastel creme.

I liked the color story, we have a rainbow-ish kinda vibe going which always makes me happy. I’ll be honest, I am feeling kind of burnt out on pastel cremes for the year. This is my third pastel creme collection of the year and I just want summer neons to be here already.

However, despite my general lack of love to pastels I did think the added vibrancy to these polishes was really nice. My only complaint is I wish the self leveling aspect on some of these was better so while these weren’t the best pastels that I have tried, they weren’t the worst either.

So color wise, my top picks are going to be Sour Time To Shine and Don’t Sweet It.

Orly
18ml, 12 Free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
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Sale Information

The Sweet Retreat collection is available right now on the Orly website. I also spotted these on Amazon. I do believe they should start popping in places where the Breathable line is sold like Beyond Polish. If you go the Beyond Polish route, use my affiliate code NicoleLovesNails to save yourself an extra 10%!