Cirque - Coronation (Special Edition 2013) and comparison with Max Factor Fantasy Fire

Last day of 2013...last chance to post...and then there was Cirque, a festive end of the year 2013!
I fell in love at first sight with Cirque's Coronation, what a lovely polish and a lovely crown ring as a bonus, together in a cute little satchel and box. The price I won't talk about, it's ridiculous (I bought it with a discount, but still...>auch<).

The polish is a purple jelly with red shimmer and that colour shifting stuff that you all know too well as unicorn pee (Fantasy Fire, Clarins 320, Nfu Oh 51 etc.). It works well with 2 coats, although 3 might be better. It EATS top coat, so prepare and add an extra layer!

Cirque - Coronation

Love it! The little catch is...I had major chipping within a day! I used China Glaze Fast Forward top coat, next time I will use something different and pray that will work better.

Next up I needed to compare this with Max Factor's Fantasy Fire, naturally.
To achieve the same result with two coats of Coronation, I needed 5 coats of FF.

Cirque - Coronation and Max Factor - Fantasy Fire

left: Fantasy Fire... right: Coronation

You can see that Coronation has also some micro glitters in there next to the shimmer.
Colour wise it is very much the same.
5 Coats is, well how shall I put this, a bit exorbitant; so I thought of a solution: 1 coat of Sation Miss Emo Shun All and two FF.

Sation - Miss Emo Shun All and Max Factor - Fantasy Fire

top: Coronation...bottom: Sation & FF combo

A very lucrative alternative to the pricey Coronation and less visible nail line as well!
But then you do NOT own the rose gold plated crown ring by Jeannie Vianney.....

I wish you all a very happy, healthy and colourful 2014!!!

China Glaze Christmas Nails: China Glaze trio

I hope everybody had a very happy and cosy Christmas!

image by Leendert Jan Vis

We almost burned the tree with our candles :-)
Needles were dropping like flies....but the pudding was a big succes and the rest of diner was yummie as well!
I was in a bit of a hurry to do my nails: I had thought out the most beautiful skittle in the world but I had to toss that thought. It became something a bit more simple........

The base is China Glaze Queen B (1coat!), I added some glitter by using China Glaze All Wrapped Up and China Glaze Put A Bow On It. The snowflakes are made with Essence silver (for stamping) and some obscure plate I bought in China via eBay.
This combination matched my dress (dark blue) and my tights (purple) perfectly, so I was pretty satisfied with my mani-in-a-hurry. These pics were made in a hurry as well: in the car on our way home :-)

OPI - Warm Me Up and Wonderous Star (Holiday 2013 Mariah Carey Collection)

To stay with the December feeling I have two Christmas polishes for you today.
OPI Warm Me Up and OPI Wonderous Star; the first is a cold leaning brown with a foggy appearance (it is almost a neutral really), the second is a clear base polish with gold glitter and with a hint of black glitter (a bit like ground pepper). I thought the WMU needed something extra and the WS on it's own was too much contrast between the gold and the black...so a combination was born!

OPI - Warm Me Up & Wonderous Star

It works, I think: the brown underneath makes the black glitters blend in better and the gold gives the brown a bit more sparkle and warmth.
I'm still not over the moon with this Holiday Collection (a bit too boring and bland for me) but it is growing on me ;-)

Essie - Cashmere Bathrobe (For The Twill Of It Collection, autumn 2013) and China Glaze - Fairy Dust

It has been a while....it was a hectic two weeks: celebrating Sinterklaas at school, at home and with the grandparents. Preparing for X-mas, extra swimming lessons for the little guy, visits to the hospital (nothing earth shatteringly  major...but it needed its time) there just wasn't any time left to blog!

But today I have a new polish for you: Essie's Cashmere Bathrobe. It is a lovely slate gray with some light shimmer in it (I looked at it very, very carefully and I can say that the shimmer seems to be green en pink....in most lights it just looks silver). I had difficulty capturing the shimmer in the pictures...the green and pink proved to be totally illusive....

Essie - Cashmere Bathrobe

I used Essie Protein basecoat and Good To Go topcoat and yet it chipped on day one....tiny chips but chips all the same. So I decided to carefully restore the mani and add a layer of sparkle, it's December after all!

China Glaze - Fairy Dust

The result was Cashmere Bathrobe on steroids or something.....it had the same character but with added pazazz. I wore it for two more days with loads of pleasure :-)

China Glaze - All Wrapped Up (Happy HoliGlaze Christmas Collection 2013)

China Glaze took the glitter theme a bit extreme this year in their Christmas Collection: there are only glitters and foils, no decent creme in sight!
I bought All Wrapped Up, the densely packed blurple micro glitter.
I love the colour of the tiny glitters: it looks like fountain pen ink, it's blue with a hint of purple (hence the blurple). It took me 2 liberal coats and a few touch ups to achieve this result and three layers of topcoat for that glasslike finish (2 x Essence Gel-look topcoat and 1 x China Glaze Fast Forward).

China Glaze - All Wrapped Up

The result is very satisfying: it is sparkly and fun yet calm at the same time....
I am starting to like the micro glitters more and more: the sparkle like crazy but the glitters are not in your face. It is allways an even colour on the nails wich makes it easy to wear and not too carnavalesque.
I can see myself wearing this at Christmas or perhaps in between Christmas and the New Year.

Essie - Sable Collar (Shearling Darling Collection, winter 2013)

It's Essie again ;-)
Today I have Essie's Sable Collar for you. It is quite a complex colour: the base is dark brown but there is a hint of black there as well as a touch of pearl, this combo makes it greyed out. Yet that is not all: in the depths you can find this smoldering wine shimmer/glow that gives the polish it's warmth.
I wore this for days without getting tired of it, it's very neutral but not boring at all!

Essie - Sable Collar

The first coat was a bit streaky with application, the second coat gave me this wonderful opaque result without any trouble.
I love it <3

Rescue Beauty Lounge - Fire Queen (2013, Fan Collection 2.0)

And here she is, the second polish I bought at Rescue Beauty Lounge: Fire Queen!
Like it is described at RBL:

“My color inspiration comes from Depression Era glass from the 1930s and 1940s—specifically, the pale jade color of the Fire-King line made by the Anchor Hocking Glass Company commonly referred to as “jadeite.” In a sea of imposters, no one has been able to capture the magic of the genuine Fire-King and thus it has become highly coveted since the 1960′s: a small decadence of lean times turned luxury. When you hold a piece of Fire-King up to the light it glows with history. This hue has a build-able jade jelly and the end result looks like milk glass veneers on your fingertips. Both edgy and full of vintage charm, this polish is the perfect fit for any 'Fire-Queen.’” Jaime’s desire.(RBL)

Well that just about explaines it all! Fire Queen is a lovely jelly that builds up in three/four coats and gives this lovely squishy, milky and shiny result. The formula is way better then the NailsAndNoms one. >thank heavens< It is self leveling and has a medium to long drying time in some lights it has a warm mint hue and in other light it is more of a cool colour (perhaps due to it's translucency?).

Rescue Beauty Lounge - Fire Queen

My camera makes it way too yellow here....but the pic shows that in some lights FQ does look more yellow.

This was four coats and I wore it for four days without chipping or any major tip wear.
Sooooo; RBL has redeemed itself somewhat, I am still not in love with the brand but I can appreciate the qualities of this very nice and fresh polish indeed!

Essie - Warm And Toasty Turtleneck (Shearling Darling Collection, winter 2013)

Ahhh, there we go again: Essie!
It's a bit weird lately; at first glance, I find a lot of the present collection a bit bland and boring and then after a while....I like them very much and I all of a sudden "need"' at least some of the polishes. It was the same with the Shearling Darling Collection, first up I thought it was all a bit blah and seen-that-done-that kind of feel but then the shift happened and I started liking Warm And Toasty Turtleneck closely followed by Sable Collar. Things like that just happen!

Warm And Toasty Turtleneck is this greyed out lilac that is a soft colour but not a pastel and very neutral but not boring. The formula is perfect and creamy, it took two easy coats to achieve the following result:

Essie - Warm And Toasty Turtleneck

I love it very much.....do you see a warm and fluffly sweater when you look at this colour? I do: just look through your eyelashes.....you see....very cosy and snuggly indeed >huh?!<