No Lack Of Lacquer

Cirque Never Nude

Cirque is a relatively new hand-blended nail polish line - their first collection, Dark Horse, was launched at the beginning of June this year. Never Nude is just one part of that collection, a silvery-nude base with incredible amounts of holo shimmer throughout. The formula is very thin indeed, which can make it slightly tricky to work with, but I went slowly and didn’t have any problems. I used three coats to get it fully opaque.

As you’d expect with a holo, Never Nude really comes alive in direct sunlight. I actually couldn’t capture the true extent of how impressive the holo looks in the sun with these photos. In the shade it’s less extraordinary, but still a very pretty, subtle colour. It costs a little more compared to the non-holo shades of the collection ($16 as opposed to $12), so bear that in mind if you’re thinking of picking it up. I think it’s worth it.

(One has to hope that Cirque’s next collection will feature a blue holo called I Just Blue Myself. Please. Please please please.)

a-england Saint George
China Glaze Watermelon Rind

Here is the (probably not that anticipated) comparison between Saint George and Watermelon Rind, as promised. WR is on my middle finger, flanked by SG on either side.

As you can see, SG is a much deeper colour and the holo glitter has more depth to it than WR’s glass fleck finish. I also had to use three coats of WR to the two necessary for SG. They’re both lovely teals, but not even close to being dupes.

a-england Saint George
25/02/12

As I sadly reached the end of my week with The Legend, I wore the extremely popular Saint George. It’s the richest, deepest, most beautiful teal I can think of and I can understand why everyone loves it so much. The holo adds a really interesting edge to a colour that otherwise would be fairly standard, and it shares that odd, slightly-matte finish with Dragon, though it’s far less obvious here. The formula was a bit thick but very smooth and easy to apply, as we’ve all come to expect from a-england. This wasn’t quite as opaque as Bridal Veil, though it came very close, so two coats did the job.

Warning! You may get some staining with Saint George (I did on a couple of nails), so be extra dilligent with your base coat.

a-england Bridal Veil
24/02/12

Bridal Veil is the closest polish in the collection to being a one-coater, though I used two to make sure it looked perfect. The deeply pigmented richness of the black base makes it seem like it should be impossible for the holo shimmer to show through it at all, let alone as well as it does! Though it’s not the flashiest of The Legend, you can’t deny that it’s eye-catching. I love blacks with some level of shimmer or glitter running through them, so Bridal Veil is right up my alley.

It was surprisingly easy to remove as well and I didn’t end up with black cuticles despite how lax I can be when wielding a cotton pad. It just goes to show how good a-england’s formulas really are!

a-england Ascalon
22/02/12

First of all, I have to apologise for the picture quality! The day I swatched Ascalon it was raining, so I had to take photos in the bath to get the holo to show up. One day, my dream photo set-up will come.

An interesting consequence of this was that it really brought out the goldish-green duochrome as opposed to the purple that I’ve seen in most other swatches (though you can still see hints of it here). The base colour is the kind of charcoal grey that I’m a total sucker for, and it showcases the holo particles beautifully despite how dark it is. This was another two-coater with a formula that was wonderful to work with. I had zero application problems. Along with Dragon, Ascalon is one of the winners of The Legend and is a must-have.

a-england Princess Sabra (Tristam Eyes)
21/02/12

I love the idea behind Princess Sabra - the colour was inspired by the eyes of a-england creator Adina Bodana’s cat, Tristam (hence the subtitled name) - but unfortunately for me, the execution falls down. I’d rather have seen a red holo in its place.

That’s not to say it’s bad, it just isn’t to my taste. The formula was very similar to the rest of the collection, though it needed three coats for me to be completely happy with the opacity. The holo looks interesting against the gold base and it dries to a high shine, which looks fantastic.

a-england Dragon
20/02/12

Dragon is definitely a strong contender for my favourite of the collection. It’s a bold, unusual green with a fantastic gold duochrome running through it. The holo is less obvious than in Princess Tears, but for me, the finish makes up for that. Despite using a glossy top coat, Dragon dries somewhat matte and I genuinely have no idea how that happened. I’m not complaining; it looks absolutely incredible. The only other varnish in The Legend that has a similar finish is Saint George, though I think Dragon wins out just by being so different from anything else I own.

Another two-coater with an excellent formula. It was neither too thick nor too thin, and I feel as if it applied the best of all the collection, despite the fact that the formula didn’t differ much across it. In fact, I think I just talked myself into calling Dragon my favourite.

a-england Princess Tears
19/02/12

It’s not exactly subjective, but I think Princess Tears is the prettiest varnish in this collection (not to say that it’s my favourite; just the prettiest). The holo is absolutely out of this world. The pale grey-lilac base provides the perfect background to really make it pop and I’m not ashamed to admit that I spent most of the time wearing it moving my hands back and forth to watch the colours change. Even with a single coat as I began painting my nails, it was breathtaking.

It’s slightly duochrome as well, shifting to a different purple in some lights. That was quite difficult to capture on the nail in pictures, so you’ll have to pick up a bottle to try it out for yourselves.

a-england’s formula seems to be spot-on for most of this collection. It’s so easy to apply, extremely smooth and glossy (though the swatches are pictured with top coat), and has the perfect drying time. I used two thin coats here, which gave me flawless coverage.

NerdLacquer I Think You Call Me…Sexy
17/02/12

This might well be my favourite NerdLacquer polish so far! The colour is an absolutely perfect match to the TARDIS, as well as being a beautiful blue in its own right. There’s a small amount of holo glitter in the mix, which mostly seems to flash pink and red in daylight and when lit by a computer monitor it’s very distinctly green. Otherwise, it’s all blue and silver, and very beautiful. I could hardly take my eyes off it! The base is slightly jelly-ish, so I used three coats to make sure it was fully opaque, but if you use thicker coats two will do the job nicely.

Butter London Knackered
5/02/12

Knackered is definitely a layering varnish. I used three coats and as you can see, there’s still quite a bit of visible nail line. This isn’t really a problem, though, since it’s a very strong green-purple duochrome and I don’t think layering it would reduce that very much at all (though I’ve yet to try this out). It’s also got a good amount of silver and holographic glitter scattered throughout. Though it’s less obvious than the duochrome, it’s still obvious enough to provide interesting little flashes of colour that catch the eye once in a while.

This isn’t the first colour I’d think of when it comes to a S/S collection, but it rounds out Butter’s rather well, in my opinion.