Cirque Colors | Nail Art Sets

Olvasd MAGYARUL                                                                                                                                 PR sample

Cirque Colors just launched some really exciting polishes, and this time the focus is on nail art. With this 3 sets you can create jade, rose quartz and tortoise shell nails. Tortoise shell designs are all around the Internet, but most of the nails are done using gel products. There weren't too much (if any) color or finish options in nail polish to create this design with, until now.

Before I get to the really exciting part, lets see the polishes as actual polishes. I used them all in 3 coats for my swatches and most of them totally covered in 3 coats. Because of this, I'm a bit hesitant to call them true jellies, but they are not crellies either 😅 they are somewhere in between.

I also included swatches in 1 coat and 2 coats just to be thorough.

LINEN

White jelly/crelly.

JADE JELLY

Jade green jelly/crelly.

CHIFFON

Pale powder pink jelly/crelly.

ROSE JELLY

Rosy-blush jelly/crelly.

CAMEL

Orange toned yellow jelly/crelly.

RUST

Rusty-brick red/orange jelly/crelly.

WALNUT

Neautral/slightly warm toned dark brown jelly/crelly.

And now the fun part! Cirque Colors created video tutorials for these, but you know me, I just couldn't help myself, and altered the steps tu put my own spin on them. I always do this, and encourage you to do it as well, because we are all different, different things will suit out taste and you just gotta have to figure out the best way for you.

I will link the official tutorials, and also will tell you what changes I made.

JADE

For this, I pretty much did what the tutorial tells, 1 coat of Jade Jelly, then I brushed on some lines with Linen, then I repeated it again. I also recommend using watercolor lines (see below) on top, or between the layers, to achieve a stronger look. 

ROSE QUARTZ

For this, I really did it differently than the tutorial. Beside the two pinks, I used Linen too, from the Jade set. I didn't used the polish brush, instead I used a thin nail art brush and painted on the cracks and lines. You can also add white watercolor lines to this, but to make it different, I outlined with copper.

TORTOISE SHELL

And finally the most exciting set!

I actually have my own way to create tortoise shell nails (see my Insta post HERE and HERE). Here's the story in a nutshell: piCture pOlish created a brown jelly called Henna, and when I got it I knew I want to use it for creating torties. I had to buy a yellow jelly polish which was a hard task, there wasn't too much options. I finally found one from an indie brand, which wasn't available for long. I know Essie has a yellow jellie, but I can only buy Essie from Ebay. Also, you can't just thin down/jelly-fy a yellow polish, it just doesn't work because they are all white based, so the whole thing was just annoying.

But with this set you can create them easily!

 

Comparison of 3 coats of Walnut and 3 coats of Henna (ring finger and pinkie).

With these, I kinda totally didn't follow the tutorial 😂 As I said, I already had a way to create this effect. I really encourage you to do these extra stept I'm about to tell you, because they make a huge difference.

This was made according to the tutorial:

And this is my own version:

 (For the accent nails I used 2 coats of Chiffon as my base, and used a bright coral acrylic paint for the lines. This was inspired by @beautyworksbyamy)

The biggest difference is that I use a black jelly/tint polish to create the depth and dimension, and I really think this is a step you have to consider doing. I created my own black jelly, using a clear polish, a couple of drops of black polish and some nail polish thinner. Here's a reference picture of a 1 coater black (Cirque Colors - Memento Mori) against my black jelly.

Walnut is just not deep enough to create that signature depth that tortoise shell has.

I created a pictorial too, but if you have any questions feel free to comment below!

1. One coat of Camel.

 2. Paint some patches with Rust.

3. Paint some overlapping patches with Walnut.

4. Paint some overlapping patches with your black jelly.

5. Add some depth/color with Camel and Rust by smudging them a little bit.

6. Add some smaller pathes here and there (if needed) with Walnut.

7. Final touches with your black jelly, to add even more depth.

8. 1-2 coats of topcoat is necessary to achieve that signature glossy/glassy tortoise shell finish.

9. ENJOY 😍

+ some extra tips:

- Don't be afraid of those corners, place the dark colors near the cuticle too!

- You shouldn't use the same patch-pattern on every nail. Place the patches differently, to create a more natural/organic feel.

- Work on one nail at a time. This will help you create the different patch-pattern, and you can smudge the colors more easily if the layers are still wet.

- Practice makes ...better? 😂 Let yourself some time to get to know this technique of perfectly unperfect design.

- Keep your distance, don't get overboard! Let all the colors have their own place, don't do too many patches, don't let the design be one big smear.

I rarely do detailed blog posts like this, but you truly know that I'm excited and driven by these now.

I think these sets are a brillinat idea, and were much needed in the nail art community (especially the tortoise shell ones).

They are available right now at the Cirque Colors website. Sadly they can be purchased only as sets, I wish they were sold separately too.