It took me ages to like neons. They say that first impressions shouldn't matter, but the ones that I tried early into my polish obsession were total crap. Such total crap that I was turned off by the finish for a long time. I hated how sheer they were and how finnicky they were even over white undies. I shouldn't be taking six-plus color coats to make something opaque just because the color is a streaky mess. The sheerest ones were useful for jelly sandwiches, yet still required coat after coat. I quickly concluded that they were not worth the hassle and stayed far away.
Those days are an increasingly distant nightmare as neon formulas are vastly improving across the board. There are still some that require white bases or have terrible formulas (mainly old popular shades you can still get off the shelf), but otherwise, they are becoming an endangered species. Most current neons no longer require white undies and are opaque in two or three coats like standard cremes. Some are even nearly opaque in one coat. Case in point? Cirque Colors's Vice 2018 collection.
 |
Cirque Colors Vice 2018 collection
|
Indies are doing an excellent job with neons, with Cirque's Annie crafting among the best of the best. The formulas are dreamy enough for a creme. For a neon? They're heavenly. Yes, even the yellow.
 |
| Cirque Colors Vice 2018 collection, swatch wheel. All are two coats with topcoat. |
Most of these were nearly one coaters for me. All but one needed two coats to cover completely, but you could probably get away with it if you have nubs and/or a thicker coat of paint. I didn't have trouble with these pooling for the most part. I just prefer thinner coats. They do dry demi matte, which is expected. All of these swatches include quick dry top coat and matte accent nails.
(By the way, before I forget, these are all UV blacklight reactive. While I don't own a blacklight, I do own a LED gel lamp. Here is the swatch wheel in the lamp light. Rainbow loving me gives two thumbs way up.)
 |
| Cirque Colors Vice 2018 collection, gel lamp blacklight |
Retail Therapy
 |
| Cirque Colors Retail Therapy, direct sunlight |
Boozy Brunch
 |
| Cirque Colors Boozy Brunch, direct sunlight |
Described as a coral neon creme. It's an orange base coral. I have a soft spot for this sort of shade.
 |
| Cirque Colors Boozy Brunch |
 |
| Cirque Colors Boozy Brunch, bottle shot |
 |
| Cirque Colors Boozy Brunch, shade |
 |
| Cirque Colors Boozy Brunch, artificial light |
Hedonist
 |
| Cirque Colors Hedonist, direct sunlight |
Described as a primary yellow neon creme. Definitely not your typical eye searing highlighter yellow neon, which is a refreshing change. It's still very bright. I was most impressed with this one's formula since yellows are notoriously streaky. In fact, one of the worst polishes I've ever used was a neon yellow polish. Cirque killed it good here.
 |
| Cirque Colors Hedonist |
 |
| Cirque Colors Hedonist, brush shot |
 |
| Cirque Colors Hedonist, shade |
 |
| Cirque Colors Hedonist, artificial light |
Cyber
 |
| Cirque Colors Cyber, direct sunlight |
Described as a grass green neon creme. Indeed it is. This is my favorite in the collection if we went by color alone. I love how this collection is a darker rendition of the usual neon rainbow!
 |
| Cirque Colors Cyber |
 |
| Cirque Colors Cyber, brush shot |
 |
| Cirque Colors Cyber, shade |
 |
| Cirque Colors Cyber, artificial light |
Wanderlust
 |
| Cirque Colors Wanderlust, direct sunlight |
Described as simply a blue neon creme. This is more teal to me than a simple blue. It was the first polish in the collection I chose to wear as a full mani. The neon is most subdued here but still present. Gorgeous.
 |
| Cirque Colors Wanderlust |
 |
| Cirque Colors Wanderlust, brush shot |
 |
| Cirque Colors Wanderlust, shade |
 |
| Cirque Colors, artificial light |
Taboo
 |
| Cirque Colors Taboo, direct sunlight |
Described as a "magenta-purple" neon creme. I call it the purple of the bunch. Do you remember former Color of the Year Radiant Orchid? It reminds me a lot of that, only neon and a touch pinker.
 |
| Cirque Colors Taboo |
 |
Cirque Colors Taboo, brush shot
|
 |
| Cirque Colors Taboo, shade |
 |
| Cirque Colors Taboo, artificial light |
All in all, a fantastic collection from Cirque. I'm still relatively new to this brand but I have nothing but praise so far. I regretfully missed getting most of the 2017 Vice collection (my first awareness of the Vice series) and knew that I could not miss this release. I'm gleeful to have the entire collection for summers to come. Snap these up while they're still in stock. You won't regret it.
Cirque Colors can be bought on their website.
No comments:
Post a Comment