Cirque Colors Cypress Holographic Nail Polish Swatches and Review

Are you all taking advantage of this sunny weather by wearing as many holos as you possibly can?  I know I am.  Nothing quite like that gorgeous, magical, flickering rainbow of color blasting you in the eyeballs every time you look at your nails that a good holographic polish can provide.  Here's a recent one from one of my favorite indie brands, Cirque Colors. It's called Cypress and it's from the Objet d'Art collection (sent for review).

 Cirque Colors Cypress.  A light metallic copper with fine-textured, scattered holographic effect.  The copper shade looks a bit darker in the bottle than it appears on the nail, and the holographic rainbow is not quite as intense as it appears on the side of the bottle.  That said, it's still an incredibly lovely color.  The hologram look is delicate but very visible (the particles are smaller than in most scattered holos, but still well-defined), giving a fairy-dust overlay effect to the copper metal base.  Looks much more pronounced in direct light.

The formula was good.  Cirque's holographic shades have a much different texture than other holographic polishes.  They feel and flow and apply like a normal shimmer polish, not like a dense, sometimes streaky foily/dense metallic.  I found this particular shade to be on the sheer side and I needed three coats for complete opacity.  Dry time is not as fast as a 'normal' holo, but but it isn't slow.  Same as any other Cirque polish.  I used no basecoat or topcoat and this manicure lasted well past a week with little noticeable damage/chipping/tipwear, which is also very unusual for a holo.

Sure, the holographic effect could be stronger, but I still like the copper base color of this a whole lot.  I don't have many copper polishes, which is odd because I really like copper because it reminds me of fall.  The holo effect is just icing on the cake.  Oh yeah, it's scented, too.  I love that.

Cirque Cypress is available at cirquecolors.com!

(Sent for review.)

 

Dance Legends Robots vs Humans Swatch!

I just got my very first Dance Legend polishes and I'm pretty excited.  They sent me a few different varieties to check out, but, of course, the holographic ones caught my eye first.  And when I saw that this one was named Robots vs Humans?  Done.  Instantly on my nails.  Had to.  I have a thing for robots.  Good color, too.  Brown linear holo, don't see too many of those.

Dance Legend Robots vs Humans.  Medium, slightly red/orange-tinged chestnut brown linear holo.  The first two photos are with regular ambient indoor light, the last three are with flash.  You can see the holo in any type of lighting, it's pretty strong, which is what I prefer.

The formula was on the thick side and has a strong smell to it, but otherwise good.  I didn't have any trouble with application, but if I didn't wait for each coat to dry before applying the next, I got bubbling.  Luckily holos dry crazy fast, so that doesn't really slow down my application time.  I didn't get streaking or bald spots, either.  The brush is square-edged and a bit too soft for my taste, but it didn't give me any problems, I'm just being picky.

ROBOTS.  HOLO.  Yesssss.  Love it.

(Sent for review.)

Tomorrow! Butter London Friends and Family Sale!

Heads up!  Starting tomorrow through the 17th, you can get 30% off your order at butterlondon.com with code FFSUMMER.  Good deal, those things are pricey!

My favorites from them are The Black Knight (especially layered with Tart with a Heart), Disco Biscuit (I'd call it a must-have if you like bright jellies), the Melt Away cuticle remover, and the Kitten Heels Powder Finish Foot Creme.

Woo!  Sale.

Little bit of everything

Here's some of the stuff I'm into this month:

 Green Eyeliner

Brown eyes and green just go together. This one is Milani Shadow Eyez in Green Safari.  The name "Shadow Eyez" still makes me cringe, but the product itself is really good.  And yes, you can get a precise line with it despite how thick the pencil is. 

Textured Polish

I've been wearing the heck out of the OPI Liquid Sand polishes (I have Honey Ryder on right now), but the Softouch Effect polishes from Layla are also really nice.  This color is 01(sent for review) and it's a silver sparkle with a velvety, semi-matte finish.  It's not lumpy like the Liquid Sand finish, and it's not a smooth surface like other matte polishes. 

Neon-colored Anything 

I've accumulated an embarrassing amount of neon things.  Neon tights (Target's are awesome and dirt cheap), neon tank tops, neon jackets, a neon dress, neon eyeshadow and nail polish, and, most importantly, neon hair.  I've been using Manic Panic Hot Hot Pink for the better part of a year, but I switched to Special Effects Atomic Pink this week.  It's essentially the same color as Hot Hot Pink, but extra strong.

This is not even an accurate picture of it.  My camera makes it glow like it does with neon polish pictures and it washes out the color, and when I uploaded the picture it lost another layer of vibrancy.  This picture is after three washes and it's still a little too dark for my tastes, but the color is intense and vivid.  There's actually a stripe of Napalm (bright orange) in there, but I can't tell where it starts and ends because of the Atomic Pink.  I'm hoping it'll lighten more as I wash it, but so far it's resisting fading way more than my usual.

Can't think of a clever title for this post about smiling soap

I was feeling pretty crappy yesterday (having a rough month, if it wasn't already obvious) and I was hoping a hot shower would make me feel better.  Usually some really good smelling soap cheers me up a little, but I just wasn't feeling it... and then I looked at my soap dish.

It also has the ability to fold space. (Thanks, EB!)

My soap was smiling at me and I couldn't help but laugh about it.  Hell, I even brought my camera into the shower to take a picture of it so I wouldn't forget how (eerily) cute it was.  Message from the universe or weird soapy coincidence?  I'll never know, but it sure made me smile too.

Hope everyone's having a good day today!

NARS Disco Inferno Nail Polish Spring 2013 Swatches and Review

NARS Disco Inferno.  A light greyed purple-based, frost-finish multichrome.  It starts out with grey edges and a blue-toned purple in the center of the nail, but shifts to blue, green and just a hint of orange, depending on the angle and lighting.  The overall effect is soft and faded, keeping a grey-ness in every color it flashes.  In addition to the multichrome effect, it also has a good amount of tiny silver foil sparkle. 

The formula on this was good.  Thick enough to keep it from being runny, thin enough that it wasn't clumping or bubbling.  It needs to dry for a minute or two between each coat, but otherwise decent application.  It's pretty sheer and needs at least three coats to eliminate visible nail line.  I did four here.  Each additional coat enhances the duochrome effect.  Dry time is average.

Very cool polish, but not a unique color.  It's basically the same as Wet n Wild Gray's Anatomy / Deborah Lippmann Wicked Game (and I'm sure there are others), just with a little more sparkle.  It is more opaque than those two, but it's priced a few bucks higher than the Lippmann so it's not the most economical choice for a purple-grey multichrome.  Super pretty, just kinda pricey.

(This was sent for review.)

Color Club Halo Hues Holographic Nail Polish Collection Spring 2013 Swatches and Review

Hey, more holos!  Good ones.  Linear ones.  Holos pretty much speak for themselves, so just soak in the rainbowy goodness of the Color Club Halo Hues collection:

Color Club Angel Kiss.

Color Club Beyond.

Color Club Blue Heaven.

Color Club Cherubic.

Color Club Cloud Nine.

Color Club Cosmic Fate.

Color Club Eternal Beauty.

 Color Club Halographic.

 Color Club Harp On It.

 Color Club Kismet.

 

 

 Color Club Miss Bliss.

 Color Club Over The Moon.

The formula on these was very good.  Some of the older linear holographic polishes had huge problems with streaking and bald spots when not used with an Aqua Base-type basecoat, but these do not have that problem at all.  They apply evenly without bald spots, streaks, running, pooling, excessively thin formula or sheerness, or really any noticeable problem.  Some colors apply easier than others, but overall I'm pleased with the application.  I'm also happy about how long they wear; the past few times I've worn these has been without any base or topcoat and each one lasted almost a week without chipping.  Usually the stronger the holo, the faster it chips, but I didn't have that problem with these.  Fast dry time, as expected.  Zero complaints in the formula department.  Opaque at two coats, which is what I'm wearing here.

Topcoat does seem to dull the holographic look a little, but it gradually returns to full strength the longer you wear it.  I don't wear base coat or top coat with these, though- they don't seem to need it for wear, dry time or shine.

One thing I like about some of these is the intensity of the base color.  Angel Kiss and Miss Bliss are two good examples of a colorful holo that's not overly faded or silvery-looking.  Not all the shades have saturated, colorful bases, but they all still have a very strong linear holographic effect.

You may have noticed that there's a black holo in this collection.  It's good.  It's better than Revvvolution.  I don't like it quite as much as my beloved OPI My Private Jet, but it is one of the better black holographic polishes I've come across.  Good formula, reasonably and affordably priced and easy to obtain.  I'd pick it up if you are a fan of black holos.

The price of these varies depending on where you get them from.  I paid $8 each for mine at 8ty8beauty, but I just saw them on clearance at Meijer for $3.50 a bottle.  Much cheaper than pretty much any other full-sized holo polish on the market right now.