Orly "Royal Navy"

behold the most incredible blue polish: Orly "Royal Navy". this polish was released as part of the Spring 2010 In the Navy collection. you wouldn't expect a red-white-blue collection to yield such a stunning shade, but apparently we lucked out. "Royal Navy" is definitely a saturated royal blue--NOT a navy blue--and it is packed with lighter aqua microglitter that sparkles through the jelly formula.
i put off wearing this polish for a long time because i assumed the formula would be problematic--usually runny, sheer, dark polishes are no fun to work with. i was pleasantly surprised by the formula of "Royal Navy", though, because it was fantastic. i also expected to need 3 coats with this jelly, but 2 was plenty.
a really important tip when applying this polish: SHAKE WELL. the gorgeous aqua microglitter sinks to the bottom of the bottle and if you don't shake it up, you won't get nearly as much sparkle on your nails as you could.

this colour was exceptionally difficult to photograph accurately because my camera tried to make the blue look lighter and more transparent than it does in real life. i had to do some post-processing on these photos to make them more accurate, but i think i succeeded.