Gems with Cirque Colors Facets Collection

Hey space turtles! Super excited to be using Cirque Colors' Facets Collection again as it remains my favourite collection of all time. I'd forgotten just how many polishes there are and chose a select few for this look. Initially I was planning just a sheer pink background but then remembered the collection has a sparkly pale pink so I added one layer of that before adding my decals.

I started with four layers of 'Mani Mask' sheer polish and then added one coat of pale sparkly pink. While this was drying I created decals on my Uber Mat (see how here) for the gems using Mo You London's Crystal 06 stamping plate. Using Cirque Colors' Facets collection for a gems look has been something I've meant to do for ages so was great to finally do it! I finished the look with a glossy top coat and then unfortunately wiped a bit of the design away at the bottom left of my thumb by mistake - a shame as that was my favourite one! I'm enjoying the way these sparkle in the sunlight - very authentic!

Colours used: Bashful - Barry M, Rose Quartz - Cirque Colors, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Emerald - Cirque Colors, Tourmaline - Cirque Colors, Zircon - Cirque Colors, Ruby - Cirque Colors, Citrine - Cirque Colors

Jammy Raspberry Nails

Hey everyone! Back again with some more fruit nails for todays Glam Nails Challenge prompt which is raspberry. As with the lime nail art from yesterday I decided the follow a similar pattern, use the same stamping plate (Maniology Fruit Deco) and use one of Cirque Colors Facets collection polishes (this time it's Tourmaline).

I started by applying Tourmaline on three of my nails and white polish on the other two, topped with a shimmery iridescent topper. There was no decal making today as I used layered stamping plate images, using dark pink, green and then black stamping polish for the outline. There is one raspberry image on the stamping plate and I'm not sure I really placed it very well. I think I'd have been better off having just one image per nail at the end as a sort of accent. Still, they're not bad - after all who doesn't like raspberries?!

Colours used: Tourmaline - Cirque Colors, Cream Soda - Barry M, Good Vibes - Nails Inc, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Pomegranate - Barry M, Spring Green - Barry M

Cirque Colors Facets 2021

Hey everyone! Blogged a bit less than usual last month and I think it might be another month of the same as I'm managing to do more social stuff at the moment. Going to try and take it easy this coming weekend so may have a bit more time for nails!

Today I'm sharing my swatches of the new 2021 Cirque Colors Facets Collection polishes. I was surprised and excited to see them release new additions to the Facets collection as it is my favourite collection of all time! I did think some of these were a little similar to some polishes I already have but on receiving them I think they're totally worth it! As I have been short of time and reviewing them later than intended I have done my lazy swatches with a colour on each nail rather than each hand. I've listed my thoughts on each colour below the pictures. It's a really gorgeous collection and has all that beautiful sparkle you'd expect from Cirque Colors Facets polishes.

Champagne Diamond - On my index finger in the top left picture. This is a gorgeous champagne gold and really classy. It's one of the most sparkly in the collection too! It took 3-4 coats to get the look I have here but also looks beautiful as part of a more sheer look and would look good over other colours.

Spinel - Middle fingers in the top left picture. This gorgeous purple is a little lighter than Amethyst (previous collection) but still a gorgeous rich colour. Only a couple of coats needed though I did do a small third one just for extra depth!

Pink Diamonds - Ring finger in top left picture and bottom left. This was another fairly sheer one that needed a few coats and was super sparkly!!

Aquamarine - Little finger in top left picture and middle right. Again gloriously sparkly and fairly sheer so did need a few coats. 

Tsavorite - Middle left picture. This one is a little less sparkly than the others but the perfect shade of tree green (lighter than Emerald and darker than Peridot). I used two coats.

Fire Opal - Bottom right picture. This combined with Tsavorite make a great Christmas pair! This is a lovely rich colour (lighter than Garnet but darker than Ruby) and I think the name really suits it. It has great depth. I used two coats.

Glitter & cocktails on my nails!

Hi everyone! Some bright and summery nails to share with you today, with a boozy theme. It's one I'd been meaning to do for a while as the Bottoms Up plate from Uber Chic has so many good cocktail images, but I could never quite make my mind up how to order them. Ended up pretty much making it up as I went along and kept changing my mind about what would go where!

I mostly used colours from the Cirque Colors Facets Collection, but did also include a super sparkly nail on each hand, using Barry M's Diamond Glitter. All images where stamped directly onto my nails, and I used a dotting tool to colour in a few small images, with the exception of the cocktails on my little fingers where I used a layered stamping image. I particularly like the wording on my middle fingernails - wise words!

On my ringer finger nails I sponged the glitter on for maximum effect, and had much deliberation over which image to use. I'm pleased with the one I finally picked as I think it stands out well against the glitter. I wasn't 100% sure about this look but it grew on me! Didn't last long though as I used a peel off base coat, so I have freshly painted nails to share with you shortly. TTFN!
Colours used: Tourmaline - Cirque Colors, Zircon - Cirque Colors, Peridot - Cirque Colors, Diamond Glitter - Barry M, Padparadscha - Cirque Colors, Citrine - Cirque Colors, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Black stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Yellow - Barry M

Cirque Colors Facets Collection 2019: Lazy Swatches

Hey everyone! Some swatches to share with you today, which is rare for me! I've done what I did a few years back when I reviewed the first Facets collection and have painted a colour on each nail, in what I call lazy swatches! This collection was very good for that as it consists of five polishes! If you weren't already aware, Cirque Colors first launched the Facets collection in 2016, with 6 gorgeous gem inspired shades. These were a huge success and remain my fave collection of all time! Due to all the hype they re-released them in 2018, which six new shades, and this year they were joined by five more (earlier in the year this time).


Above are the polishes in different lighting, they are all stunningly sparkly in direct sunlight or bright artificial light. With the exception of the deep purple I'd say these shades are more summery than the previous collections, which makes sense given the time of year they were released. You can see my review of the original set here. Looking at it now I wish I'd done the same hand poses with these! Keep reading for a review polish by polish.


First up is Peridot, I would call this a grass green, with lots of lovely flakies, as all the polishes in this collection have. Above I have used two coats, as I have done with all the swatches for this blog post, but you may want three to get it really opaque. This was one of the two most sheer of the collection, but not too much effort to get a good build up! I was a bit concerned this would turn out to be the same as Someday by ILNP, but although similar I am pleased to say it's not the same. This is a tad darker with fractionally larger flakies, whereas Someday is more of a Spring green.


Next we have Citrine, which is a lovely sparkling amber shade. This as it turns out is my birthstone, I googled it after I saw people commenting on Instagram that their birthstones were included in the collection. This polish is quite unusual, and completely different to anything else in my collection. I don't normally go in for this sort of shade but I love this with the jelly effect and all the glitter! I think it will be a great one for autumn. This is two coats but again you may want three, this is one of the sheerer polishes in the collection.


Next up is Amethyst, a rich purple with a galaxy of flakies. I was looking forward to this as I knew I'd love it, and it did not disappoint. I have many sparkly purples, but I feel like I probably can't have too many... I'm very drawn to them. To me this is a very classic shade of purple. I used two coats for consistency with the other swatches but it's definitely a one coater, very opaque.


Next up is Tourmaline, another gem I had never heard of! Tourmaline is a bright pink jelly polish with the classic Facets flakies. Cirque Colors released some stunning pictures of this coming out of the bottle, where it reminded me so much of a sparkly jam I once bought at a market! I sense some jam themed nail art coming soon! The above is two coats but again this is a one coater, and possibly the most opaque of the collection.

And finally we have Crushed Ice, a beautiful and immensely sparkly silver. Now I must admit, I find it a bit frustrating that it's called Crushed Ice. I can't deny the beauty of the polish itself but I would have hoped it would have another gem themed name like the others in the collection, maybe Diamond. I suppose perhaps they previously had another polish called diamond. Anyway, I've used two coats here and was really impressed with how well it built up. I'd recommend 2-3 coats. It's definitely the most sparkly as you'd expect with a silver, I've included a bonus picture on the left where you can really see the sparkle!

So which one is your favourite? I'm finding it very hard to choose! Crushed Ice is the most sparkly, while Tourmaline and Citrine are the most different to things I currently have. I've thought about it and to be honest I don't think I have a favourite, I love them all! I am marginally more excited about Citrine as it's so different and will be so lovely for autumn designs, I have some ideas already! Also maybe Amethyst, can't get enough of those sparkly purples...

I absolutely adore Cirque Colors, it's hard to say as there are a few that I really love, but I think Cirque Colors may be my favourite brand. As well as being beautiful and often unusual, their polishes come in such lovely collections with great themes behind them. They must be sick of me tagging them in Instagram by now as I seem to always be wearing their colours at the moment!

Winter Brights with Cirque Facets Polishes

Hey everyone! Something bright today for the winter months, well, apart from the black, but it was January when I did these so it seemed appropriate! Besides, I like the contrast. I haven't worn black nail polish for a while and  I enjoyed the shininess!  I originally intended for these to feature all the new Facets shades, but once I got started I wasn't sure how well that would work, Also meant to do the thumb nails in the pattern as well but had time pressure and it's quite a fiddly one to colour in!

For the pattern I used Mo You London's Crystal 01 plate (can't wait to try out the actual crystal images!), and decided to add a bit more of the orangey-pink polish on my middle finger. Not 100% sure if that was the right decision or should have left it black. Padparadscha was the first polish I thought I'd use from the newer Cirque Color's Facets shades but it's turned out to be the last! I'm not 100% on it to be honest, it is more orange than I expected.

For the image I used the advanced stamping technique (see how here). It was a bit of a fiddly one to colour in but worth it I think! I'll definitely use this image again.
Colours used: Lady In Black - OPI, Padparadscha - Cirque Colors, Emerald - Cirque Colors, Sapphire - Cirque Colors, Midnight Mischief - Painted Polish

Christmas Day Nails 2018

Merry Christmas everyone!  These are my Christmas Day nails for 2018, done in between various preparations yesterday! I started with a white base and then a couple of layers of shimmering top coat to give a wintery, snowy effect. I then used my Happy Christmas plate from Uber Chic to choose a selections of images from around the home at Christmas. most of which I stamped in black onto my Uber Mat. I then coloured them in using various Christmassy colours, including a few from the newer Cirque Colors Facets collection.

Once dry I covered with another layer of clear top coat to create decals, and once that was dry peeled them off to apply to my nails. You can see the full process here. I finished off with a quick dry top coat and hurried downstairs to drink mulled wine and watch Mole's Christmas! (a half an hour wind in the willows cartoon we watch on Christmas Eve every year). I'm pretty happy with these, they don't quite beat 2015's for me but I think they are my second fave of all my Christmas day nails, so pretty pleased!

I have had a lovely day with my family (and will go re-join them again now!) and some lovely presents including a couple of nail polishes of course. Hope you have all had a lovely day wherever you are :)
Colours used: Floral Street - Nails Inc, Good Vibes - Nails Inc, Midnight Mischief - Painted Polish, Forest Green - Mo You London, Ruby - Cirque Colors, Emerald - Cirque Colors, Sapphire - Cirque Colors, Foil Effect in Gold - Barry M, Bronze Bae - Barry M

Silent Night Nails

Happy Christmas Eve Eve! I guess these are my second to last Christmas nails for the year. Might squeeze some in between Christmas and New Year and at least I have New Year nails to do! (I have plans) I wanted to do a silent night theme nail art, and also to use Sapphire from the newer Cirque Colors Facets collection polishes, it seems like the perfect blue for a starry night!

I used a clear jelly stamper to place the images on my nails in white stamping polish. Originally I had planned to do shimmering silver over the top, but I liked how it looked in white so left it as it was. On my left hand I have a manger scene and three wise men on camels, and stars on my thumb. On my right hand I have Santa's sleigh and reindeer, and various star patterns including a shooting star. Though simple to create I have enjoyed having these on and will be sad to take them off for my final Christmas nails tomorrow!
Colours used: Sapphire - Cirque Colors, White Stamping Polish - Emily de Molly
Stamping plates used: Christmas-01 - Uber chic, Festive 01 - Mo You London, BM - XL213 - Bundle Monster

Santa Gnome Nails

Three sleeps to go! Hopefully there is enough time for me to blog all my Christmas nail art too! These nails were done for our trip to Norway last weekend. I chose to do Santa gnomes as we saw lots of them in Norway last year. I would 100% recommend a pre-Christmas trip to Norway! This year we went to Tromsø which is very far north and is a fascinating and beautiful place. It felt so arctic!

I tried out Ruby from the Cirque Colors Facets collection in this nail art. It is of course beautiful! I used Santa gnome and tree images from the Uber Chic Happy Christmas plate, and the advanced stamping technique (as usual) for the  gnomes. I added trees first on my middle fingers as it seemed like to much white space otherwise. I think I should have possibly added more trees but overall I like it. I'd forgotten how lovely Cirque's Estate is too - it's sparkles in the light!
Colours used: Ruby - Cirque Colors, Floral Street - Nails Inc, Estate - Cirque Colors, Midnight Mischief - Painted Polish, Key Lime - Barry M, Spring Green - Barry M