Mad About Nails: Cirque du Soleil Nails

I've had quite a few people comment on my nails in the past ask what I was using or wish I'd done a close-up so they could see better, etc., etc., and had a realization: Why not do a feature on nail polish? It's not book-related (Unless you're wearing the new HUNGER GAMES-inspired line from China Glaze, but I'm not even going into how wrong that is...), but it's fun. Plus, if I do this feature, I'll be more likely to re-paint my nails this week and less likely to let them chip their way to the bare bones (which would mean that I could see my nails...and if I see them, I want to bite them!).

Welcome back to another edition of Mad About Nails! 

Recently, I was sporting all sorts of crazy in honor of my first time seeing Cirque du Soleil!
We had tickets to the current touring show, Totem, and it was stunning in person.

Lucky for me, when the Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away movie came out in theaters this past winter, China Glaze created a special collection to honor the movie!

It was advertised in the ULTA ad, but my ULTA had *nothing* after Christmas. Sally Beauty Supply had the fake eyelashes and not the polish. I only wanted a few colors, but it was cheaper to buy a complete set on Amazon than to get just a few, so I wound up with all 12!

...and 8 of those 12 were on my fingers this week. ^^;

So all colors below are from the 

China Glaze Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away Collection!

 

Ready for a hot mess that led to a good time?

Here's a video of the materials used

(Or keep reading below!):

YouTube Link

These two are POWERHOUSES for
long-lasting manicures!  One lasted
1.5 weeks, the other for 2!!!

I started off with a basecoat of ORLY "Bonder."  Many of the professional nail studios use this as a basecoat when doing nails for their clients.  It's a rubberized coat that helps polish adhere to the nail.  It stinks, but it's great!

I finished everything with a top coat of Revlon's "Quick Dry Top Coat."  I'd heard it was a rival for the legendary Seche Vite, but with fewer harsh chemicals.  It also doesn't go bad in the bottle or shrink when used.  I was intrigued, and so far, this stuff is FABULOUS.

Together, this combo has made my nails last, on average, 1.5 to 2 weeks. They're both awesome!

For my base color:

I started out with two coats of "It’s A Trap-Eze!" This is one of my absolute favorites in the collection. It's very Cirque-y, imo. There are so many colors, like silver, magenta, blue, green, white, yellow, orange, etc. They are scattered throughout in all different sizes. The base is a milky blue, and needs to be layered for opacity unless used atop a pale base coat for less glitter layering. The glitter packs onto the nail as you apply it and stays in face. You don't have to go fishing for glitter with this polish!

It's beautiful, and it really gave an extra POP to my overall design, because it was peeping through like extra stripes on my nails!

For my design:

I took all the solids in the collection and alternated stripes!

The coral pink is "Surreal Appeal." It's a perfect spring color that I've previously worn by itself!

The hot pink, on the other hand, is "Escaping Reality." The two look similar on the nail in this design if you're not paying attention because I used one coat of each, but if I took the time to layer it--or if the polish stood on its own--you'd really see a difference!

The red I'm using is "Igniting Love." It's a warmer color, and a little similar to the pinks in certain lighting because, again, I didn't build it up. I tried not to put these three colors together on the nail!

The lime green is "Def Defying," which I'm planning to feature in a few other designs this summer. Great summer color!

The blue is another vibrant summer-ready color, "Hanging In The Balance."

The purple is a little darker, more of a vampy fall hue than a summer one. It's called "Creative Fantasy." I would have bought this one on name alone. I like when the titles are things like "Creative" or "Muse" or somesuch. It gives me more inspiration when I wear them!

I topped everything off with "Whirled Away," a crazy glitter with a clear base packed with black bars, small black hexagons, and large white hexagons. It does need to be "staged" at some times. The bar glitter goes down easily enough, but I had to do a little fishing for the hexagons. I also tried to put back any white hexagonal glitter and only use black so it popped more, since the white blended into the milky color of "It's A Trap-Eze!"

The colors I DIDN'T use in the collection are a glittery red shimmer entitled "Bend Over Backwards," a glitzy green glitter called "Running In Circles," a beautiful blue glitter packed with flecks of green and purple called "Water You Waiting For," and a black-based red/silver glitter that needs layering called "Get Carried Away."

 Is anyone else obsessed with nail polish? What are you wearing right now?