Cirque Rioja
Like Coronation, Rioja was released earlier this month by NYC-based indie polish maker Cirque Colors as part of the Holiday 2017 collection. It is the sole polish in the collection that is not a Limited Edition.
Creator Annie describes Rioja as "a brilliant ruby red holographic," and I agree. It's a dark, dense, saturated true ruby that in low light reminds me for all the world of a drop of venous blood on the nail. When the princess pricks her finger on the spinning wheel in the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale, this is the color that my imagination sees. It's packed with fine, shimmering holographic pigment and I believe there may be some slightly larger holographic particles in there too because I see brightly glowing bits when the light hits them just right. This polish is absolutely glorious in the sun -- bloodlike transforms to rich, blazing brocade, with a linear prismatic flare featuring all of the rainbow colors that frames a lick of glimmering semi-metallic ruby and shades to a deep red wine color at the sidewalls.
Application was great! The consistency of Rioja is fluid, dense and smooth with a medium-to-slightly-thicker viscosity and a full-bodied, self-leveling flow over the nail. Pigmentation is excellent, delivering evenly opaque coverage on the first coat, but I think that adding a second does increase the depth and native richness of the look. Cleanup is straightforward with some pigment travel and a skosh of trace staining. Rioja dries naturally in good time to a smooth, shiny finish. Topcoat does not in any way inhibit the prismatic properties of the polish and actually seems to accentuate its holographically-generated dimensionality.
Photos show two coats of Rioja over KBShimmer Love You Strong Time treatment and KBShimmer Fillin' Groovy basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.
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There's a smoldering glow to this rich, vampy deep red that is just stunning, and it has a dramatic, sensual kind of clarity on the nail that's very seductive. Much better in person than any still image could portray and perfect for date night! It's unusual in my experience to come across a red holo this dark and saturated that displays such a full range of prismatic color in the sun, fabulous! I'm loving it on my shorties, it makes my fingers feel long and graceful and cunning, like I could perform any number of magic spells to bend the hapless passerby to my will! Let's see if it works on the dog....
xo,
Liz
Liz, do you have A England's Anne Boleyn? They looks soooo similar, those two . . I'm debating getting the A England but I have Rioja . .
ReplyDeleteI do have Anne Boleyn. I haven't used it yet on my nails yet but I did swatch it on a swatch palette next to Rioja. While I haven't seen them side by side in the sun, my impression is that Anne Boleyn is a creamy holo while Rioja is more jelly-ish. Anne Boleyn is not quite as dark as Rioja, with a softer, more velvety glow. Rioja has a certain clarity and depth to the color, with a sharper, flashier look, and is definitely the more vampy of the two. Anne Boleyn appears to be a classic a-england kind of holo.
DeleteAs red holos go, other than both being cooler-toned reds (I'd say Anne Boleyn is more of a crimson while Rioja is a true ruby with the slightly purple tones to it that dark rubies have) they are NOT similar in my opinion. I am happy to have both and would absolutely purchase both again if I had it to do over.
Hope this helps a little!
Yes, thank you! Boleyn will be my first A England. Have never bought as they don't appear to have the Holo I really want to see...but, that red! Lol
DeleteYou're in for a treat! A-england has a softer holo than many others, but you get a beautiful, dimensional glowy look and the formula is always superb. You will love it!
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