My Picks From China Glaze Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away

Longest title ever?  Maybe.

This has taken me waaay too long.  China Glaze put out Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away in December , but I had the hardest time actually finding the shades I wanted.  Between that and various setbacks, I'm a few collections behind already!


Water You Waiting For is a blend of various sizes of blue and aqua glitter in a sheer blue base.

Too much sparkle for my doddering old camera to handle!  What a stunner!  I used three coats for complete opacity, but two would be enough for shorter nails.  It applied really nicely, but isn't suited to layering.  I think this is my out-of-the-bottle favorite for this collection, but I like it even more mattified!

Mattifying it brings out the depth...and makes it easier for my camera to understand.  I liked it a lot with a glossy top coat, but I adore it like this!  It's even more gorgeous in sunlight...

Running In Circles has a sheer green base packed with green microfleck shimmer.

Amazing.  Really just amazing.  It *glows* like few other polishes I have.  There's a slight golden hint at some angles, but my camera wouldn't pick it up.  It took a bit of building, but was completely opaque at three coats.  It's smooth like this finish should be and just...perfect.  I had no luck at all finding this in Sally Beauty stores in my area.  Someone from the Makeup Alley Nail Board saw me pouting about it and shocked and delighted me by sending me a bottle!!  Thank you again!!  It's another that's even more beautiful in sunlight.

As much as I really like it, I like Zoya Logan more.  Unlike Logan, the cleanup on Running In Circles was...well...problematic.  Some of those flecks just *would not* budge!


Creative Fantasy is a sheer dark purple that dries to a semi-matte finish.

I love Creative Fantasy for layering, but not at all on its own.  Hassles galore!  This photo is FOUR coats and you could still see my nail line at some angles.  It bubbled a bit, not not terribly.  I think if I'd taken my time and dried more between layers it would have been preventable.  The finish on this is weird.  I guess I'd count it as a jelly, but it's got a finish more like a neon.  If there's such a think as a vampy neon...here it is.  I'm tempted to wear it over white or maybe gray sometime just to see what happens.  This photo isn't exactly true to color.  My camera wants this to be bluer than it really is.  It's a warmer purple in person.


Hanging In The Balance is a bright blue cream.

Opaque in two coats, but watch out...it STAINS.  See the blue skin?  It took a couple of days and some cuticle remover to get it to go away!  Kinda expect that from vivid blues like this, but still...beware!


Get Carried Away has a sheer black base and a variety of glitter; long black bar glitter, silver and black microglitter, and large hexagonal glitter in red, silver, and black.

over China Glaze Call Of The Wild

Get Carried Away is a tough glitter to pair with a base!  I didn't want to wear it on its own and I'd seen it paired with purple and red so so soooo many times already.  I tried it over Call Of The Wild first, but the black glitter got lost against the dark base.  Phooey.  I went into my Helmer for Immortal, but I'd forgotten how cool-toned it was.  Not a good match for the red in Get Carried Away.  Right there next to it though?  Hook & Line from the Hunger Games collection!  An odd metallic taupe kind of shade, but I like it!  It worked really well with Get Carried Away, I think.

over China Glaze Hook & Line

The silver microglitter gets a little lost, but at least the black pops.  The silver shows up better when mattified.  Get Carried Away applies pretty well, but needs some dabbing.  Matching it with a base is the only real problem I had with it.

Bottom line time...  I like all five of these, but I'd recommend Running In Circles and Water You Waiting For   most strongly.  I'd also recommend Creative Fantasy if you like layering.  Hanging In The Balance is very dupeable and stained my cuticles, but applied better than some similar blues in my collection.  Get Carried Away is unique and interesting, but possibly to its detriment because it's tough to find a good base for it.


My basket of new shades is overflowing...just need to find the time!  Hopefully I'll have more to show you next week.