Mani in Manhattan: Neon Tribal

This past weekend I went with Mike to New York City to visit friends in both Manhattan and Brooklyn. We always love seeing our friends up there, and, to be honest, it's the only type of vacation we can afford right now, so we try to take advantage about twice a year or so.  

I cannot emphasize this enough: seeing the city with people who live there is a COMPLETELY different experience than seeing it by yourself. Many people who visit the city go to the typical tourist attractions: Times Square, Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, etc. 

There's nothing wrong with those places, and they are cool to see. But when you get shown around New York by a New Yorker, you get to see all the cool little hole-in-the-wall hot spots and restaurants that you wouldn't otherwise know about. 

Brooklyn Bowl is a great example of this. It is a bowling alley in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, that doubles as a bar and concert venue. Pretty cool, right? Well they also do events, like Emo Night, which we attended Friday night. I got to dress up as a douche-y, 2005 teenager (let's be real, a former version of myself) and scream along to classic songs by Taking Back Sunday, Story of the Year, My Chemical Romance, and more. 

"Am I doing this right?"

Mike and I *did* do one tourist-y thing, and visited the Central Park Zoo. It was worth every cent, especially for the time I spent watching the harbor seals twirl around in their pool. 

There was also brunch. Lots of brunch. SO MUCH BRUNCH. I'm pretty sure by Sunday afternoon, my kidneys were swimming in champagne and orange juice. 

"Do you guys have pitchers of mimosas? Yeah, we will have one of those. That's right, just for the two of us. Thanks."

#NoShame. 

And, of course, I had to browse around a city Sephora. I'm glad I did, because I got to see, and hold in my hand, a Christian Louboutin nail polish in all it's glory. They retail for $50 EACH, so I really felt like I was in the presence of greatness. 

Which brings me to my final point: what I did with my nails for the weekend. I arrived in the city wearing a light sundress and wore a lot of black and white or tribal throughout the weekend, so I wanted to do something that would work with whatever I wore. 

Zoya in "Ali", "Purity", and "Willa"

Despite using my smallest detailing brush, the tribal still turned out a little messy, but not too terrible for my first freehand tribal. But, holy moly, that pink?! EYE searing. It's a great pink neon for the summer, it really packs a punch. 

No Sleep Til Brooklyn and My First Ever Cirque Colors

My friends Katie and Jico live up in NYC. This is pretty fantastic for me, because it means I have a great excuse to spend the weekend in the city basically whenever I want, and I LOVE the city.

Katie's birthday is this month, so Jico spent the past 3 weeks coordinating a surprise trip from me, Mike, and our friends for her. It was a big success, and we had a blast the entire weekend being rowdy and reckless (and then very tired over Sunday brunch). 

I first heard about Cirque Colors over a year ago. It is an indie line of nail polish hand made by a woman in New York; specifically, Brooklyn. Sure, you can buy her colors online, but to me, I always thought it would be more exciting to pick up a bottle while I was visiting the very place where it was made. 

Luckily, I remembered this, and emailed their customer service to find out where I could buy some. After a walk around Smorgasburg and Brooklyn Flea (both of which I highly recommend; where else can you get a Ramen Burger and an antique typewriter in the same place?), I paid a visit to a store called The Brooklyn Fox. 

The place seemed pretty high end. I walked straight to the back and picked through the Cirque Colors display. I found a sample of "XX", the first color I had my eye on from this brand. Unfortunately, there was no packaged one for sale. I tried to get the saleswomen to let me buy the sample, but they wouldn't do it, and then explained that it was "the brand's most popular color" 

Fucking duh. 

Girl, please. I know. That's why I'm willing to buy the sample. 

Anyway, I ended up walking out with "Cypress" instead, which is a beautiful rose gold color with spectacular linear holo. 

My reaction when the light hit the holo

As soon as I got back to Jersey I made time ASAP to do a new manicure using this color. I didn't do anything fancy. I didn't want to take away from the gorgeous color by making it too busy with stamping or incorporating another color. 

"Cypress" by Cirque Colors

Check out that prism

In certain lights, it just appears to be a pretty, champagne-y neutral, like so:

But then you throw some pin lighting on it (or shine your iPhone flashlight on it or, or some shit) and you get Edward Cullen on the beach in the middle of a sunny July day... Only on your nails. 

KaPOW!

DRUUUUNK IN LOOOOOOVEEEE

This was my first Cirque Colors polish, but it definitely won't be my last. I still want "XX" and after doing some IG research, I NEED "Coronation". All in all, a really successful weekend.