Cirque Metropolis Collection January 2015 Swatches

Hello, guys! Hope you are all having a nice weekend so far. Cirque Colors has an ongoing collection, The Metropolis Collection, which has two new releases each month, and I was lucky enough to try out the January 2015 shades! They're both perfectly vampy and great to rock for the new year.

The formula on both of these was pretty easy to work with - they were a bit jellylike, so the first coat came out a bit patchy, but they were both fully opaque with the second coat. There is just something about the elegant simplicity of these bottles that I love! Anyway, let's get into it:

Empire State of Mind is described as a vampy oxblood red. This color actually looks a lot like the Pantone Color of the Year, marsala! (You'll remember I actually used this shade in my recent marsala manicure). This one has a magenta undertone, but I only noticed it in certain lighting. Definitely a gorgeous vampy color for winter, and as I mentioned, the formula was great. Shown above is two coats with top coat.

Midnight Cowboy is a gorgeous navy blue. I might be a bit biased because navy blue is my favorite color - and definitely one of my top nail color picks - but I'm in LOVE with this shade! As with the other shade, the formula was wonderful. Shown above is two easy coats with top coat.

Both of these shades are available from Cirque for $13 USD each. What do you think of them? Are you planning on picking up either one (or both)?

PRODUCTS USED:
Base: Cirque Holdfast Base Coat (reviewed here)
Polish: (listed above)
Top: Cirque Liquid Laminate Top Coat (reviewed here)

KBShimmer Men Are From Mars-ala Swatch and Nail Art

Happy New Year, friends! What better way to start off the year 2015 than by showing you the latest creation from KBShimmer, inspired by Pantone's 2015 Color of the Year! Many of you involved in fashion and beauty probably already know that the color of the year is Marsala, which is described as a "naturally robust and earthy wine red." Well, KBShimmer is on top of the trend with their new release, a linear holographic shade called Men Are From Mars-ala:

Men Are From Mars-ala is a brick red (or marsala!) linear holographic shade. Application is incredibly easy, as I've come to expect from KBShimmer, and it's fully opaque in two coats. The holographic shimmer is very present and looks lovely on the nail! Shown above is two coats with KBShimmer Clearly on Top quick dry top coat.

I decided to see how it looked with matte top coat as well:

...And I absolutely loved it! In fact, I think I prefer this shade matte. Although the holographic shimmer is much more muted, the shade has a softer and more elegant feel to it. (Plus, you all know how much I love matte top coat!)

I wasn't ready to take this shade off just yet, so I decided to paint on some simple roses using Cirque Empire State of Mind, which is a rich reddish brown that I think qualifies as a marsala tone! Of course, I mattified the roses as well ;)

KBShimmer Men Are From Mars-ala is available online for $8.75 USD per bottle. Keep up with KBShimmer by following them on Facebook!

What do you think of the color Marsala for 2015?

PRODUCTS USED:
Base: Duri Rejuvacote
Polishes: KBShimmer Men Are From Mars-ala, $8.75 USD; Cirque Colors Empire State of Mind, $13 USD
Top: KBShimmer Clearly on Top; OPI Matte Top Coat

Some products provided for my honest review.