Cirque Colors Thicker Than Water

Taking a break from the mattes and textures of late, I have a gorgeous polish to share with you-- Cirque Colors Thicker Than Water. This was originally released as part of the Kontiki Collection in 2014 and then re-released as part of a Nordstrom Pop-In collection this year. I missed out on it the first time around, so I didn't delay this time around. Thicker Than Water is a stunning teal green jelly with a strong green-gold shimmer to it.

As this is a jelly, it is a little on the sheer side and you can see some visible nail line (though honestly, the camera picked it up more than it was truly visible). This just have a slightly thicker formula, but goes on easily and smoothly. I used three coats just to make sure I had good coverage.

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Natural light (sun):

I thought Dear Dahlia was exquisite, but Thicker Than Water is just as gorgeous. The shimmer is incredible-- it really does give the appearance of tropical waters. All I wanted to do was stare at my nails. Thicker Than Water is truly stunning-- the shimmer is what elevates this polish. My pictures don't do this justice!

Fourth of July manicure!

Happy 4th of July! We are currently experiencing an unusual heat wave in the PNW, though it feels a little cooler today than most of the past week. We're all heat wimps here! I was drenched in sweat last night while I removed my polish to do my 4th of July manicure. Yuck! But I wanted to do a themed manicure so I wasn't going to let the heat beat me. I had been kicking around an idea for awhile, and I didn't want to waste it.

I started with a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls on my pinkie, middle and index finger. Once that was dry I used saran wrap to 'sponge' on Cirque Colors Rita on those fingers. Once that dried, I then sponged on Colors by Llarowe Living the Dream. Using saran wrap to sponge on different colors if one of my favorite nail art technique-- it's so easy and fun! I got a little overzealous in when I sponged on Living the Dream at first; my pinkie nail got a bit dark. Which, duh, makes sense because it's a dark color, but I thought it would be a little more sheer. Anyway! The joy of this technique is that it's different every time and very unique! I'm really happy with how this turned out.

On my ring and thumb I used two coats of Polish 'M American Spirit. This is a grey-white base with red, white and bright blue glitters. Perfectly in the spirit for the holiday-- some day I'll actually do a real swatch.

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I was really proud of how my 'Cinderella' hand turned out, so I took a picture!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th! Eat some good food, set off some fireworks, and hopefully don't start any fires!

Cirque Colors Dear Dahlia

Today I have my first Cirque Colors to share with you today! I have Dear Dahlia, which was originally released in a trio called the Kontiki Collection (which was limited edition) and then more recently it was re-released as part of a Nike Pop-In Collection at Nordstrom, which was also limited edition. Dear Dahlia is described as a "fuchsia jelly with multi-dimensional shimmer." The shimmer picks up as predominantly green.

Dear Dahlia has a jelly formula and is definitely a little on the thick side, but not unmanageably so. I used three coats here and my camera picks up some visible nail line, but it's not as noticeable in real life. This does has have a really nice squishy quality to it. I only had one major issue with this: there were some weird black spots that showed up on my nails when I painted. Not a lot of them, but I'm not sure it was some unmixed pigment or some other contamination. It wasn't too bad, but I was a little disappointed because this brand has a very high-end vibe and it was a little disappointed that this happened with my first experience.

Artificial light (flash):

My photographs aren't spectacular but you can really see the green shimmer is. It's so gorgeous!  All I wanted to do was stare at my nails. Dear Dahlia is a perfect summer color!