Hey guys! I must admit, I was a little bit unsure if I was even going to have anything to post today, but being that it's the last #CBBxManiMonday of the year there was no way I was going to let myself miss it. Of course, after the marathon of holiday nail art that I just finished up last week, the creativity and energy was a little bit sapped - so I decided to keep it simple. In the past few weeks I've received some GORGEOUS indie polishes that I ordered and I hadn't had a chance to reach for any of them, so I grabbed this one and let what happened happen.

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I've had my eye on Cirque Colors Majolica - and all of the other polishes Cirque does in this formula - for quite a while now but I hadn't gotten around to picking them up yet. Majolica is this really rich, smoky blue that is coming off a little bit brighter in photos than it does in real life. It's a crelly formula, quite thin actually, but with enough pigment to give me coverage in two coats. It's run through with these gorgeous irregular gold flakes that gives it just a beautiful textured look (with  smooth finish) that almost feels like stone. I absolutely love it and I'm gonna be needing to collect all of the shades like this that Cirque has released.

For this mani, I started with two coats of Majolica to give me full coverage on the nail and let them dry down completely before going in with my gradient.

When it comes to polishes that have a lot of flakes in them, it can be tricky to sponge them on because they behave very much like a glitter does on a sponge and tend to build up the flakes and lose a lot of the base colour. So for this gradient, I used the technique that I use when I just want a French fade. On a makeup sponge, I applied a thin line of shimmery gold polish at one end and then covered the rest of the sponge in clear polish and then sponged it onto the nail. While you could just apply the gold polish and sponge that on, I find that when you apply the clear polish you get a much better blend. 

Once I was happy with the coverage and transition of my gradient, I finished with a layer of glossy top coat and voila!

All Products Used

I just wanna get a little bit sentimental for a second here. I am very, very bad at following through with things - it's a neurodivergent thing - and I feel really proud of myself right now for another year of not missing a #CBBxManiMonday. It's been almost three years since Jayne messaged me and I asked me if I wanted to participate with her and Renee in Mani Mondays and I don't think any of us knew that it would last this long and that we would all inspire each other to make sure that we had a post every week. For me, this really has been invaluable. So, I'm really, really proud of myself and really, really thankful to them for keeping me on top of it in ways that I know I would struggle with otherwise, and I really hope that we all keep rolling with this.

Of course, be sure to head over to Cosmetic Proof and See The World In PINK to check out their nails this week. 

Thanks for reading!