Cirque Colors Bubbly Collection

Hello from a very sunny England! Preparing for possible record breaking temperatures over the next few days! These nail pictures are from a weekend away we had in the Cotswolds last weekend which was delightful! I sat out in the garden and tried out Cirque Colors new Bubbly Collection while we were there. It's a six piece collection of linear holo magnetic polish in some gorgeous shades which are on the sheer side with a holo streak running through once magnets are applied.

I'm not going to talk through each shade here (though I've listed them below the pictures) but just give a bit of an overview of my thoughts in general. I adore the colour palette here. The colours are somehow perfect summery even though they're not bright or pastel, I think they made my nails look like coloured glass beads! I started with one coat of polish on all nails then added a second coat and only applied the magnets to that coat. I didn't get that much of a magnetic effect on most of them which I think was down to user error. I wonder if the effect would have been better magnetising both layers given the sheer element to the polish.

On one of my thumbnails I tried a gradient effect which I really like, would definitely like to do more gradients with these polishes. The magnetic effect definitely came out better on my thumbnails though I don't think the pictures do it justice. I would definitely recommend these! I think Aperol Spritz is my favourite. I have a bit of a thing for orange nail polish at the moment and it's my favourite drink too! (Aperol Spritz that is, not orange nail polish :D)

Colours used: La Dolce Vita, Helter Seltzer, Soda Shoppe, Sparkling Yuzu, Aperol Spritz, Fizzy Lifting Drink - All Cirque Colors

Holo Taco Christmas 2021 - Lazy Swatches

Hello again! Got some lazy swatches to share today, showing off the new Christmas 2021 collection from Holo Taco. I was late to the party with their previous holographic Christmas collection but it was SO gorgeous that as soon as I saw this collection I knew I needed it! It comes out at a convenient time too as it was around the time of my Birthday! There are six colours in this collection, and as I only have five nails per hand I decided to put two of them on my thumbnail. I've included my thoughts on each colour below.

Naughty List - This is a beautiful deep read glitter in a sheer red base. Their previous pinky-red glitter was SO stunning so was super excited to see this one! Reminds me of jewels. Two coats for full coverage.

Everything Is Pine - I absolutely love the name for this one! Formula is just as above but with green, it's super sparkly too, I'm not sure I've ever seen such a sparkly green! Two coats for full coverage.

Plumb Luck - This is a stunning plum coloured polish with the same formula as the two above. Really dense glitter and great pay off. Two coats gave me full coverage. A really glamorous vampy shade!

Gold Play Button - This one is slightly different to the others in that it's in a clearer base, but the glitter pay off and formula are otherwise the same, and it is SO sparkly! Just what's needed to sit alongside their silver holo glitter, Rainbow Snow. I used two coats in the pictures here for consistency, but another would be needed for full coverage.

Choco Holo - A brown holo, sounds odd but it's lovely! A really unique shade and surprisingly sparkly. Really good coverage (same as the first few) and a gorgeous warm autumn/winter shade.

Black Holo Wish - This one is not the sort of thing I'd expect to find in a Christmas collection but it fits well and I know many people have been asking for it. It's in a black jelly/sheer base which is packed with holographic glitter. Glitter pay off is great and it covers in two coats, no need for sponges!

In conclusion - obviously I love them! I know they would be amazing and they didn't disappoint! It's hard to choose a favourite. The gold is of course super sparkly, and plumb luck is understandably popular, but I think Choco Holo and Everything Is Pine might be the stand out ones for me, it's such a gorgeous glittery green and the brown glitter is so unusual. Much like their last holographic Christmas glitter collection I really love the depth in these and the different sizes of glitter.

Colours used: Naughty List, Everything Is Pine, Plumb Luck, Gold Play Button, Choco Holo, Black Holo Wish - All Holo Taco

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!

Lazy Swatches: Fun Lacquer Valentines Collection 2019

Hi everyone, today I have GLITTER to show you!! Glitter is always a great source of excitement for me! Fun Lacquer released a very sparkly valentines collection at the beginning of the year and I just had to treat myself after seeing some of the lovely videos of them under bright lights. There are six colours in total and I have done what I call 'lazy swatches', where I do one colour on each nail instead of each hand. I do this to try and save time as otherwise it would probably be months before I got round to blogging it!

All six shades are fine holographic glitter densely packed in a clear base, and are show below with three coats and a top coat. Scroll down to see how I got on...
Crazy In Love (little finger) - First up is this vibrant purple with a pinkish tone in  certain lights. Lovely and holo and very girly!

Lucky Girl (ring finger) - This is a bright green leaning towards teal/turquoise and intensely sparkly.

Kiss Me (middle finger) - Classic sparkly red. Not quite as glittery as the others in some lights but super sparkly in bright sunshine or artificial light.

BFF (index finger) - Bright blue holographic. Some similarities to 'How Deep Is Your Holo' from Fun Lacquer's Simply Nailogical Collection but finer glitter and slightly less green.
Love Potion (index finger) - This is a classic bright pink glitter. A rich sparkly pink.

Precious Moment (middle finger) - Pale pink/rose glitter with a hint of champagne. Classy yet also incredibly sparkly! This one came out the most sparkly of all six.

I feel as if I've been describing a box of chocolates for some reason! I didn't go into much detail on each colour as they were very similar in terms of consistency and glitter density. I was particularly impressed that I was able to do this in three coats. Normally I would expect to be sponging on this type of polish. If wearing these out and about and not just for swatches I think I would probably add one more coat, but only because I have long nails which makes my nail line more visible in bright light.

My favourite has to be Precious Moment. Normally I am more of a blues/greens/purples sort of person but this one is just so intensely glittery! I also think it's a classy shade despite all the sparkle, and a little different to what I currently have.

Will you be trying these out this year? Let me know what you think!