Cirque Tibetan Nights

 I'm a fan of small brands, so when I received my Cirque order, I was reminded why I liked them in the first place. In my package, I received the cutest polish in a black pouch (what I expected), and a couple of Werther's Originals (yum!), as well as a written thank you note on my packing slip by Annie Pham, the creator of Cirque. I don't know about anyone else, but I truly appreciate these small gestures that shows how much Cirque appreciates its customers. It's hard for small brands to establish themselves in any industry. They are competing against behemoths that have prestige and experts at marketing, so I feel that brands that puts this much effort in ensuring their customers are pleasantly surprised deserves respect. 

I'd also like to mention that I'm going to try and post 2-3 times a week instead of once a month, as I did originally plan on updating on a regular basis. Now, onto the review!

Cirque is a new nail polish brand that is Big 3 free. Part of the Dark Horse collection, Tibetan Nights is a royal blue jelly packed with small silver and blue micro-glitter and light blue bar glitter. I don't have anything like this in my stash, nor have I ever seen any polish like this.

  

I ordered this nail polish on the 11th, and received it yesterday, so I really commend the fast processing/shipping of this brand. I used three coats for the pictures below, which provide a fairly opaque coverage for a jelly. My nails are rather short right now, so if there is VNL, I can't see it. I did use thicker coats though, so I don't think there would be VNL (take that with a grain of salt). The polish dries to a semi matte texture, so be sure to add topcoat to get a shiny and smooth manicure. Also, apply this polish slowly, as it does have a thin formula that can go out of your control is you aren't careful.

 I have a tendency of applying nail polish to my nails before the last coat is completely dry (the moment I finish painting one coat on one hand, I add a second coat on the same hand), which sometimes creates bubbling depending on the formula of the polish (some topcoat takes care of that problem). Tibetan Nights didn't bubble at all on me, so I'm pretty happy about that, though I still used topcoat because I wanted the polish to be shiny. You can't win everything.

I'm a fan of the color and of the brand. Tibetan Nights is a gorgeous and unique color that positively glows. Cirque nail polishes can be purchased here for $12 (Duochrome, Glitter, Shimmer) and $16 (Holographic). I'm definitely planning on getting more polishes from this brand. I'm eyeing Potosi, Devris, and French Roast, though I have the strangest feeling that I'll get the entire collection. Decisions, decisions...

Oh! Before I forget, here's a blurry picture... Shows how pretty the glitter is, and how awesome the polish looks when it is shiny <3

RBL Poppy

Hi folks! Sorry it took so long for me to write a post! I didn't have access to Blogger (or Google in general, for that matter) for a little while >_< But I'm back, and that's what counts, right? 

Anyways, today, I have for you the lovely Poppy from RBL's newest collection. I pre-ordered it way back when it was called a slightly different name (check out Ji's blog to find out why it changed) and got it a few days ago. I fell in love with this color the moment I took it out of its box. Pink microshimmer and larger gold shimmery flecks? Yes please! 

It's a beauty in the bottle, but the shimmery goodness unfortunately does not translate onto the nail. I can see the tiniest bit of shimmer if I bring my nails close to my face under bright sunlight, but most of the time, Poppy looks like a bright orange red creme. I do like polishes with hidden shimmer (Piu Mosso, Aqua Lily), but the shimmer in this polish is practically non existent when applied, which is a little disappointing.

 I used two coats for the pictures, though a careful application of one coat (wow I say that a lot) would probably work as well. Poppy is a glossy color, though I still used Poshe's topcoat to make it shinier. The formula for this polish was wonderful. There was no drag,  it dried very quickly, and there was no bubbling. RBL polishes are known for their great application, and this one is not an exception.

 I was surprised by how unique this shade of orange red was. My other orange reds (OPI Guy Meets Gal-veston, Red My Fortune Cookie, Big Hair... Big Nails, Give Me A Coral Sometime, Essie E-nuf is E-nuf, Dior Merveille) all looked either faded or pinkish next to Poppy.

 Red is my favorite color to put on my nails, so I really like this polish even though the shimmer is hard to discern. The fact that I don't have this shade of red in my collection makes me like it even more. Poppy has a great formula and is a lovely color, but the shimmer from the bottle isn't present on the nail. It costs $20 and is available here.

Left to right: Chanel Rouge Carat, Dior Merveille, RBL Poppy, Zoya Sooki

I'll end this post with a comparison of how different Poppy is from other reds. Rouge Carat is a cool red with pink shimmer (it's a darker color IRL),  Merveille is a warm orange red with gold shimmer, and Sooki is a neutral bright red creme. Poppy clearly has more orange in its tone than the other three colors. See what I mean, when I said that an orange red (Merveille) looks pink next to Poppy?

Linear Holos!

The sun was out this week, so I decided to try out a couple of gorgeous linear holos!
First up is OPI DS Sapphire. I got this a couple of days ago at CVS for *drumroll please* $7.29. I was really happy about the price, since this sells for $20+ on Ebay :D
This gem is a linear light blue holo that is noticeably holographic even with artificial light. It was sheer (I used three coats) and had a distinctive scent, different from the other OPI I own. I don't own any OPI that have the old formula, so it might be due to that. One thing I have to note is that the holographic effect you get on your nails is not as strong (not by much, mind you) as what you see in the bottle. I'm wearing this right now, and so far (one day), I haven't experienced any chips or tip wear. I used one coat of Poshe in the pictures below.
EDIT: After 10 days of wear, I had minor tip wear and some chipping on one of my nails. Pretty good for a holo, don't you think?

 The next polish I have is Nubar Reclaim, a beautiful grassy green holo. Unlike OPI DS Sapphire, the formula for this one was perfect. The holographicness (yes, I create new words) of this polish was very strong, stronger than the OPI. I wore this for a week and only had some tip wear before I removed this. I used two coats (you could get away with one if you are a careful), no top coat. I got this on Amazon for $8 (including shipping).