Cirque Colors Ultimate Holographic Gift Set Review & Swatches

Hello and how are you my dear? I hope you are well on this fine November day! I am a little under the weather but not too terribly so, thank goodness. Today I would like to show you a really terrific limited edition gift set for the holidays from Cirque Colors. They are an independent brand based in New York. Their Ultimate Holographic gift set comes with eight linear holographic nail polishes in a windowed black gift box.

Press Sample

First up is Alter Ego, a black holographic. This is pretty dark, the black holos I've tried in the past always seem more charcoal colored, but this is nice and inky. Two smooth and easy coats. I used Cirque Colors' base and top coat for all the swatches in this post.

Bejeweled is a bright royal blue holographic. I find blue holos swoon-worthy and this is no exception. So perfect for the winter! Two coats.

Next is Chrysopoeia, which I wasn't expecting to love as much as I do. These really yellow golds can be hard for me to pull off, but this one looked nice with my skin tone. Two coats here also.

Then we have Cypress, which is a little more sheer and thinner than the rest. It's a rose gold coppery holographic with some copper shimmer bits. This was one I anticipated loving, but it doesn't look the greatest with my coloring. Three coats here.

Fascination Street is perfection though, a blueish violet holographic. Really just fabulous, almost a one coater. I used two in my swatch.

I'm also loving Lonesome George, a grassy green holographic. I have seen very few true green holographics so I was happy to see this shade in the box. It's quite lovely. Two coats.

Sani is the only polish in this set that is simultaneously metallic and holographic. I don't know if I have anything similar. It's a chromey silver metallic with true linear holographic pigment, making it incredibly bright, especially in the sunlight. This was kinda hard to photograph, I hope you can see it's uniqueness from my pic. Two coats, a little on the draggy side.

And last is Vesuvius, a medium rose pink holographic. I really love this tone of pink and when you add holo to it, I'm over the moon! Two coats.

The Ultimate Holographic gift set sells for $80. Their polishes normally retail for $13 each so this set gives you a nice discount when buying all 8. It is limited edition so be sure to snap it up while you can! I wanted to mention the great packaging of these polishes, the square bottle looks luxe and is sturdy and I love the caps, they feel like glass!

I mentioned their top and base coats above so I wanted to review them as well. The blue-tinted Holdfast base coat dries quickly and has infused garlic to strengthen nails. I like it very much. The Liquid Laminate top coat is also lovely, it dries really fast and is incredibly shiny. I did notice shrinking at the edges on one manicure I used it with. However that tends to happen with improper application with a lot of quick dry top coats, and my technique could've been off that day. Overall they perform very well and I will continue to use them. They retail for $10 each. They are also included in Cirque's Back to Basics gift set, which also includes their white and black crèmes, for $36.

photo via www.cirquecolors.com

I was also able to try their crystal nail file and tea tree cuticle oil pen. If you know me, you know that I prefer crystal files, they are the BEST for shaping your nails and not damaging. I am also a fan of cuticle oils in general, and this pen is perfect to use on the go. They both sell for $10 each.

photo via www.cirquecolors.com

You can purchase Cirque Colors from their website www.cirquecolors.com or from their assorted stockists. What do you think of the holographic set? Are you buying any polish gifts for friends or family for the holidays? Or maybe treating yourself?

Stay warm and see ya next time!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

China Glaze Halloween 2014 Apocalypse of Color Collection Swatches & Review

Hi friends! Happy day after Thanksgiving (for the USA) and Happy Black Friday! This is kinda funny, since it's the next holiday and all, but today I have the Halloween 2014 collection from China Glaze to show you, Apocalypse of Color. It's got six shades, one of which I've already shown you, and another of which I am not going to show you. Stay with me, there's more ;) I purchased two of these prior to receiving them as press samples, so I actually have three polishes from this collection that I'm not opening to swatch, meaning there'll be a giveaway for those three at the end of the post, so stay tuned for that!

Press Sample | Purchased by Me

First is one of the purchased polishes, Getting to Gnaw You. It's got a black jelly base with tons of copper glitters. This is awesome and perfect for Halloween. I found it easy to apply, but it's got a slight texture, making it very top coat thirsty. I used two coats of polish, then one coat of Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter Food and one coat of Digital Flash from the same brand. This combo of thick top coat wrangled in the texture and made it glass-like. I've seen swatches of it without top coat and it's just as lovely with the natural finish.

Next is another texture but this one is more pronounced, it's I Love Your Guts. This is a bright pinky red matte with a gossamer layer of silver shimmer and little black bits of microglitter. I have heard others have had trouble with applying this one and the next one I'm going to show you, but I found it really easy to put on. I usually don't like mattes because the application can be so temperamental, but this one was a cinch for me. I used two coats here, no top coat.

Kin to I Love Your Guts is But of Corpse. This is a green version with the same black microglitter, silver shimmer and texture. This reminds me of Frankenstein so much! I found this one equally easy to paint with. I didn't buy this or the previous one, but I'm glad I got them as samples, because I ended up loving them! Two coats, no top coat.

The glitter bomb of the collection is called Rest in Pieces. Could these names be any better? It's got holographic and metallic gold, bronze and black hexes and string glitters in varying sizes in a clear base. I wanted this one a lot but resisted buying it, and it's another one I'm glad I ended up receiving for review because it's awesome! This is two coats over pale nude crème OPI My Vampire is Buff. A bit of placing and dabbing is required for this.

And last is the polish I showed you on actual Halloween haha, Don't Let the Dead Bite. I was going to leave it out because you already saw it on me, but I had to include it because it's just that good! This has a fleshy pink crelly base with multisized red hexes and bar glitters. I used two coats here. I love this.

This collection also includes a glow-in-the-dark top coat called Ghoulish Glow that China Glaze releases every year with their Halloween collection. I've already got a bottle of it from a few years ago so I don't need to keep this one. You can purchase China Glaze from Sally Beauty Supply or Ulta stores, or at a lot of online shops like Transdesign and Head2Toe Beauty.

The polishes I'm giving away are the unopened sample bottles of Ghoulish Glow, Don't Let the Dead Bite and Getting to Gnaw You. Please read all terms and conditions detailed in the Rafflecopter widget below, but in a nutshell this is open to all USA residents aged 18 or older. The giveaway will be open until 12/6/2014.

**CLOSED**
The winners have been chosen and emailed! Congrats to Samantha F. :) Thank you everyone for entering!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review. I also purchased some of these products myself.

HARE polish Flesh World Swatch & Review

Hello and welcome my dears! Today I have a crazy "ugly pretty" polish to show you. It's HARE polish Flesh World. This is part of the Welcome to Twin Peaks collection that came out last winter, but I just barely picked it up. It's kinda zombie-esque and I decided I just had to have it for this Halloween.

It's a yellowish nude jelly with gold shimmer, gold circles and hexes, small black hexes and squares, and translucent pink hexes. I. FREAKING. LOVE. THIS! Ridiculous and odd and not everyone's cup of tea, but I just adore it. I used three thin coats here with top coat. Not as thick as I expected, it had quite a nice formula and was easy to apply.

I purchased this from the HARE polish Etsy store for $10 (she may be closed right now to restock, not sure). They are also sold at stockists like Llarowe. What do you think of this polish? Do you like offbeat colors like I do?

Later babes!

❤ Kellie