Monday, May 23, 2016

Cirque Colors The Manus x Machina Collection: Swatches and Review

Provided for Review 
Hello! I am excited to share with you a new set of polishes from Cirque Colors. Annie of Cirque has collaborated with Olivia Kim to create these two trio sets of polishes, inspired by the Manus x Machina: Fashion in a Age of Technology Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This exhibition debuted May 5th and will be open until August 14th. 

I loved this collection! The few times I have had the chance to visit New York, going to The Met is always on our itinerary and I especially love seeing the fashion exhibitions and those that highlight haute couture. The inspiration from this particular exhibition translates really well to the polishes and I like how some feel very soft and some are darker and edgier.The polishes are split up into two sets, the first three are part of the Manus Trio, the remaining three are part of the Machina Trio. 

 Manus, from the lation word manus (hand) represents the painstakingly hand sewn haute couture pieces. Machina, from Ancient Greek makhaná (machine, tool), represents the emergence of the ready-to-wear fashion following the invention of the sewing machine and the industrial revolution.

You have a couple of options on how to get your hands on these Cirque Colors. They will be available individually from The Met Store (retailing for $15 each). If you are not able to do that, you can purchase either three piece gift set from the Met Store's web-shop (each set retails for $42, shipping to US residents).

he polishes are available until the exhibition ends on August 14th or until supplies last. For more information, check out Cirque Colors' blog post about this collaboration. 

Manus Trio:

Cirque Colors Moon Dust
Two coats
Silver foil made with superfine sterling silver pigment
Metallic polishes tend to look even better in person, with the light catching and adding that extra bit of sparkle. This applied well, two coats for coverage. 

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Cirque Colors Pret-a-Pearl
Two coats
Soft white with a rouge-pink sheen
This is probably my favorite of them all. I love to see pink shimmer in pale colored bases but they never are opaque enough. This was thick enough that I applied two coats over a ridge builder and had enough coverage. The shimmer is very obvious in person, I wish my photos could have shown off that feature better. 

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Cirque Colors Raven
Three coats
Black with green iridescent shimmer
My oh my, this is quite a looker. The green is crazy intense in the black base. If you don't want to apply three coats (I did three thinner style coats), you could easily layer it over one coat over a black base for the same dramatic effect. 

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Machina Trio:

Cirque Colors Tulle
Two coats
Light pink-beige creme
This is a bit more pink toned in the press photos. On my nail, it's duskier and in my opinion, more visually interesting. Formula is flawless but then I would not expect anything different from a Cirque creme. 

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Cirque Colors Laser Jet
Layered over Tulle 
Sparkling black holographic glitter topper
You can never go wrong with a holo topper and I love it more for the monotone black coloring with the added holo flash. You can layer this over anything and it would look good (even black). The photos show one coat over the base and as you can see, it has a nice amount of coverage. 

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Cirque Colors Ultrasonic
Three coats
Sheer linen-white crelly
I do like a soft white crelly, especially when I am wanting to wear something as a palette cleanser. The color itself is exactly what I would picture "linen white" to be. This is on the sheer side, so I applied a ridge builder base coat and then three thin coats for coverage. 

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LINKS!

The Met Store:

Cirque Colors:


*The products in this post were sent to me for unbiased review*

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