Cirque Colors The Metropolis Collection March 2015 Swatches & Review

Happy Sunday funday! I hope you have something cool to do today besides setting your clocks forward (if you're in a Daylight Savings area). I wanted to show off the two newest shades in the Cirque Colors Metropolis Collection for you! The boutique indie brand from New York has been putting out one or two new crème shades every month to comprise the collection and today I have the March additions.

Press Sample

First is Lady Liberty, a greeny turquoise crème with an almost jellyish quality. It was nice, buttery and opaque in two coats. This might be my favorite shade in the collection so far!

And second is Hudson, a dusty medium blue crème with a periwinkle tone. This was super creamy and smooth, perfectly opaque in two coats.

These are available now for $13 each on www.cirquecolors.com. They also have a list of all the stockists they are sold with. So what are your thoughts on the latest installment of the Metropolis collection? Which of these would you pick up?

Happy trails!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

BB Couture 'Eye Candy' Men's Collection: Swatches & Review

Hey friends! I am back with the second half of the Eye Candy collection, brand new from BB Couture. Hope you brought your napkins, because you'll need them to mop up the drool!

Kicking off the guys is Mr. Playboy himself, a beyond exotic peacock blue-green lacquer with teal and silver flattened shimmer particles. It's one of those colors that just captures you. I wore two coats of this today and couldn't stop staring at it. It is definitely a color that will tend to stain so be safe and wear two coats of your base coat of choice.

Next is pretty little ditty, Dirty Blonde! I like anything a bit *ahem* dirty ;) This is a flaxen tan-ish blonde yellow with the slightest of slight silver shimmer. It doesn't translate to the nail hardly at all, but it does show up in the sun ever so subtly. This is two coats, this bad boy was a little thick.

This is one Sexy Centerfold! I would liken this to a lighter version of BB's Golf Pro. I like this way better though, as I thought I would die for Golf Pro, it fell a little flat on me. This baby rocks my socks off! A dusty grass green with silver shimmer that glides on like butter. This is two coats.

And on to a Silver Fox, hmm mmm, yes MA'AM! I am head over heels with this polish. I really wasn't expecting to love this one. I felt like "meh" even when I was putting it on, but when I stepped into the sunlight, it won me over. The sexy shimmer weaves itself into the metallic silver grey really well.  Three coats here, because the formula was a little difficult.

Next is a Rustic Romantic. I see this as a dusty orange butterscotch color with subtle silver shimmer. I thought when I first saw it that maybe it was a shimmer version of one of the "Touch of Greece" collection colors, but it's not close to any of them. I wasn't in love with this guy unfortunately. I think it actually looks pretty good with my skin tone, I'm just not feeling his groove. This is two coats.

And closing the collection is a Heavenly Hunk. I really love this polish, I think along with putting out fabulous greens, BB Couture really does blues well and this is no exception. This guy is a fabulous sky blue with that awesome silver shimmer this collection is working so well. I used two thick coats for this swatch.

I hope you enjoyed this review and that you'll let me know what you think of the colors from then Men's collection in the comments. The Women's collection is showcased in my previous post. These can be purchased from www.bbnailpolish.com soon and from www.overallbeauty.com right now for $8.95 each, that's a dollar cheaper than they are usually sold for. And these are limited edition so if you want them, get 'em quick dolls!

Products provided for review.

Nicole by OPI - Green Up Your Act!

I wasn't expecting to see this new Nicole by OPI polish in stores until August, but saw it on an end-cap display yesterday while shopping at Target. It reminded me of the glorious Rescue Beauty Lounge Orbis Non Sufficit, so I decided I must have it.

Green Up Your Act! was already a win for me because it has a regular round brush applicator rather than the flat "broom" brush that several new Nicole by OPI polishes have now. It became a grand slam hit when I realized the formula was fantastic, not at all thick, but opaque in two coats. This dust army fatigue green crème is rich and buttery, and so perfect for fall. Today was an overcast moody Sunday, so I knew I had to sport this baby on my tips.

Love! What do you think about it my dears?

OPI Brights: Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides Collection

OPI put out a Pirates of the Caribbean collection for their Brights set this year in anticipation of the new movies, On Stranger Tides. The collection includes six dusty crèmes that evoke the murky waters and misty hues of the ocean and the mermaids in the movies. Also special in the collection is a new shatter, silver.

Stranger Tides, namesake of the collection, is a somber sage crème. I freaking love this color. Absolutely perfect, this looks like moss at the bottom of a tide pool. Great formula, opaque in two coats.

Planks a Lot is a fab dusty purple crème. I am not the biggest purple lover, though I know a lot of you are. This one works for me because it's not super vivid, sometimes a nice subdued color is just what the Captain (he he) ordered. Two coats.

I love Steady as She Rose. Not only does it appear to be possibly the most perfect light rosey pink ever but it reminds me of one of my favorite songs, Steady as she Goes by The Raconteurs. (I love me some Jack White!) Basically I can't believe how pigmented and opaque it is in two coats!

Mermaid's Tears is a bright yet dusty seafoam jade green crème. I know this isn't a terribly unique color but it performs remarkably well. Beautiful wouldn't you say? And who can resist that gorgeous moniker, I wonder if a Mermaid's Tears really are jade?

Skull & Glossbones is a fabulous murky beige grey crème. Glossbone is an absolutely perfect name for this polish, it totally looks like a shiny bone! I adore these types of non-traditional polish shades, they call to me. Another amazing shade that looks fabulous in two coats, was not expecting that!

Sparrow me the Drama is a medium pink crème, semi bright and vibrant but with a dusty cast. I love how they stuck 'Sparrow' me in the name, trés OPI haha, wouldn't expect anything else of course. This rose shade is so beautiful and perfect for spring, not too in your face, just sweet and pretty. I used three coats here.

And of course, we have Silver Shatter! This is by far my favorite shatter so far. From any one that I've tried. From ANY brand. It is seriously ga ga gorgeous! Just look at the rich blingy texture and shine you get! Plus it's relatively easy to apply, no headaches, just wait til your lacquer is totally dry, apply a semi-thick coat and voila cracks appear! I opted for the regular straight application over Planks a Lot here.

I have to say that this collection is a-mah-zing! I really think OPI hit this one out of the park. I've heard some complaints that these colors don't seem like they coincide with the "Pirates" theme very well but I think they do wonderfully. The old times that the Pirate movies are set in have beautiful clothing that are in colors like these, the water and sky of the Caribbean look much like these dusty hues, and the mythical mermaids that are featured in the film tie into these colors beautifully. The silver shatter also reminds me of the era, with the buckles and embellishments on the militaria of the time and the actual crackle lends itself beautifully to looking like driftwood or an old creaky ship. I love the texture it creates! I hope you enjoyed this review and that you like these colors. They should be in stores and online soon, early May I believe is the release date!

Products provided for review.

Essie Resort collection 2011

The upcoming Resort collection from Essie is inspired by Essie's travels to South Africa. I love the color palette, it's truly lovely. Plus I enjoy African design anyway :) This review is being done on my sister Claire's beautiful nails, so give her a nice comment on here for guest modeling for me if you will please :)

I got two colors from the collection to review, the first and my favorite of the two is called Da Bush. When I first read the polish name on the bottom of the bottle I was like, uh that can't be right, maybe this is a misprint! But sure enough that is the name. I didn't know that premise of the collection or anything though haha. This is a soft dusty sage green crème. It looked great in two coats, no problems.

Fair Game is an interesting color for sure. It's hard to describe what color it actually is, best I can manage is a frosty steel blue grey color. This is three coats on Claire's fingers. It was a bit brush-stokey but I anticipated it as it's texture is metallic/frosty.

What do you think? I'm looking forward to seeing the other two colors in this collection Lion Around and Your Hut or Mine.

These were sent for review.

Cult Nails My Kind of Cool Aid

My lovely friend Maria from R3Daily has recently realized her dreams and started her own nail polish company. It's pretty amazing, I am so happy for her! It's off to a fabulous start, with three lacquers up to order, another on the way, and a topcoat soon to launch. I jumped at the chance to buy them the second I could and here is the first one. Maria's baby girl, My Kind of Cool Aid.

This girl is a dusty gray lavender (gravender!) with a misty turquoise shimmer running through it. The formula is superb, one of the absolute BEST I've ever tried. And of course, I'm not just saying that. I'm honest as all hell and would never jeopardize my reputation with false claims, and girls I'm telling you that this is some BAD ASS polish. Amazingly perfect in two coats. Great coverage and pigment and so easy to apply. It's actually quite shiny w/o a topcoat too which is always nice, though I always wear one haha. The bottle design isn't my favorite but a lot of folks like this shape so that's good I suppose. I love her cute font for the label though!

You can purchase MKOCA on www.cultnails.com and you can pre-order the other colors she has coming soon. Maria shipped this to me UBER fast, with recycled packaging--magazine paper and cotton balls! Green and useful :) All her polishes are "big-3" free and vegan. I find it easy to spend $10 on a polish from a small business brand rather than a big name brand, what do you think? Especially if you know the person running the business is a perfectionist!

UPDATE: Maria is doing a promotion at the moment for the first 50 folks who purchase three of her polishes, they get the fourth color free! Awesome right?! Well, rumor has it there's only 10 spots left out of the 50 so hurry if you want to be one of the lucky ones. The new colors, Iconic, Living Water, and Quench are expected to ship this weekend so I'm really excited!

P.S. Sorry for the quality of these photos, I left my camera in my brother's truck while was he was visiting so it's stuck in Nevada :( I should have it back soon!

xoxo,
kelliegonzo

Colorama Militar

This is Colorama Militar, from Brazil from my lovely Sarah of Them Pretty Colors--like the two lacquers I've already shown you this week. She is so good to me! A gorgeous dusty muted military green. Think that's where the name comes from? I do :) Three coats.

xoxo,
kelliegonzo

opi hong kong part 1

hiii honey bunnies! i've had a pretty good weekend and finally decided i better post something nail polish related for y'all. this is my review of the opi hong kong collection that came out earlier this year. it was a great collection, probably one of my favorites on whole that opi has done in a long time.

suzi says feng shui is my favorite blue polish ever. it's a perfect opi creme, medium toned, and slightly dusty. i cannot rave enough about this beauty. this application was done with the mini-bottle of it, but i loved it so much i went back and purchased a full size bottle of this baby. believe me, you need this!

cloudy/sunlight

i had just gotten orly's prisma gloss gold topcoat and decided to try it over the blue. it's not my favorite combination, but i do love them both separately.

the next color i have to show you is hot and spicy. it's a medium bright coral-orange with that hint of dustiness that some of the cremes in this collection have. i thought i would like this guy very much, but it ended up being disappointing to me. i was expecting it to be browner or something. anyway, i ended up returning it, although it is a nice color. just not unique like i was hoping.

meet me on the star ferry is one of the three shimmers in the collection. this purple/plummy polish is super gorgeous. it has a very interesting finish, frosty but shimmery but with flecks of foil glitter in it? crazy cool! gold, blue, red, and green all stand out in the unique shimmer. la la love this one!

sunlight

the next shimmer that i got from the collection is bling dynasty. definitely in my top 10 golds, this is a stunning warm yellow-brown gold polish with that same frosty/shimmery finish that meet me on the star ferry has. i absolutely adore this and wore it for almost a week straight! very flattering on my skin tone.

sunlight

a few more polishes from this collection are yet to come so stay tuned!