Ciaté MMM - Headliner

Hi Everyone,


We're almost through my Ciaté Adventure, and to keep me going, I'm showing you one of my favourites from this month - Headliner!!

It's a bright turquoise, which leans a little more to the blue side. And I loved wearing this. It cheered me up after having a rather bad nail break. I'm not a fan of my nails when they're short.

Anyway, here it is in all of its loveliness!

 

What do you think of Headliner? I absolutely loved the colour. Loved it! It was so bright, and well pigmented. A perfect pick me up, to get through the grey skies and miserable weather. And you just know that this is going to look awesome with a tan!

What do you think? Let me know!

Love Charlotte x

Ciaté MMM - Mistress

Hi Everyone,

Another quick Ciaté polish for you today, this time - a sexy little Mistress.

This was a polish I loved wearing - there is something hard to resist about a simple glossy red nail! It's the type of red that can be rather sexy, and also dressed down for a more festive twist - which is what I did with it!

This is definitely making the list of my favourite red polishes!! It's just right :)

 

I turned this into a more festive mani with China Glaze's White on White, and a dotting tool. This was the first day I would have broken my 'tradition' of a different mani each day, as I really loved it. I say would have, as a nasty nail break meant that I had to take the polish off to assess the damage. It wasn't pretty. They're just about getting back to normal, in February. I have been mourning my lovely long and strong nails since the 9th of December. /sigh

Do you have a favourite red polish? 

Let me know,

Love Charlotte x

Ciaté MMM - Ladylike Luxe and Bumble Bee

Hi Everyone,

Yet again, I'm showing you two polishes from my MMM (Mini Mani Month) as they really do go together!

Ladylike Luxe is a kind of dirty yellow, but shimmery gold - a nice change from my Barry M Gold Foil (which gets used a LOT).

Bumble Bee is one of my favourite Caviar concoctions - black and gold pearls. A lot more grown up than some of the colour combinations; it doesn't make me feel like I've been dipped into a sweet shop with wet nails! And yes, that's a good thing!

 In theory, Caviar nails are easy to apply: apply your polish, dip your nails into the beads, and let it dry for 20 minutes.

20 minutes? The horrors. I don't like to wait 20 minutes for anything. Also, doing the 'Caviar' nails on your break at work? Not recommended. That is all!

What do you think? Are you a fan of the Caviar effect?

Let me know,

Love Charlotte x

Ciaté MMM - Cabaret and Angel Wings

Hi Everyone,

I have another Ciaté manicure for you today, featuring not one, but TWO nail polishes!! I know, I know, a treat!! Only kidding, but to be fair, it would have been plain daft to show these separately!

I first wore the lovely Cabaret on it's own - which I'm sure does not surprise you as it's PURPLE!! I love purple polish. There, I said it. Again!!

 Yes, it is rather lovely. This was another three coater, and was streaky and draggy to apply, but the end result is so worth it. I love this one.

 In fact, I loved it so much that when Angel Wings turned up the next day, I was torn between the two. I wanted to stick to trying each new polish each day, but I also knew that a white frosty polish was not going to look attractive on my nails on its own.

 I was really rather happy with my gradient mani - it was frosty enough to be all Wintry, and purple enough to be purple. Which makes me happy :)

What do you think of these polishes? Would you wear them both alone or do you like the combination of the two together? What would you do?

Let me know,

Love Charlotte x

Ciaté MMM - Vintage

Hi Everyone,

Today I'm going to show you another polish that I wouldn't have picked personally. There seem to be a few of those in my little Ciaté section - some of them turned out to be nice surprises, some... well.... didn't make it onto the blog. So...

As for the colour on the nail - I'm still undecided. This is Vintage - a dusty, greyish green in the bottle. A bit mossy, but a softer version of khaki I would say.  Do I like it, or don't I? I don't know!! Sometimes I look at these pictures and think 'meh', and other times I kinda like it. Let's be honest, I don't love it - and I think that's all we need to know!

As I wasn't sure if I would make it through an entire day with this polish, I added some of my OPI 18k top coat. A bit of bling never hurt anybody!

I can't remember how many coats this took, but the coverage was certainly a lot better. The polish is a lot more pigmented than some of the others!

What do you think about this one? Would you reach for this off the shelf, or leave it behind?

Love Charlotte x

Ciaté MMM - Dangerous Affair

Hi Everyone,

Here is the next polish in my Ciaté MMM Adventure, and it's called Dangerous Affair. It's a darker, more vampy red creme, which to me reads grown-up glamour. Truth be told, it's not a colour I would pick up off a shelf to purchase, but it IS the type of colour every girl should own.

Some days, you do just wanna vamp it up... even if it's just your toes that are getting vampy!!

Anyway, lets have a peek!

Application was... well... not very nice to be honest. For what seems to be a premium brand (given their price tag), their formula can be a bit hit and miss, and this one was a miss for me. Another three coater - which is very annoying when you only have 5ml bottles to play with. And, for a shade as deep as this to still show VNL after three coats, I have to say I can't recommend it.

Disappointing formula, but beautiful colour.

What do you think?

Love Charlotte x

My Ciaté Advent Calendar Adventure! Cupcake Queen

Hi Everyone,

Thanks to the lovely Beth, I managed to get my manicured mitts on one of the Ciaté Mini Mani Month Calendars that were all over the Blogosphere last year.

As almost the entire planet (slight exaggeration there...) was taking pictures of these polishes (me included, of course) I aimed to try and do something to my nails everyday. I tried (and failed) to wear each different polish each day. Some days I was just too busy to spend 20 minutes waiting for the Caviar Manicures to dry. And then there was the whole issue of how to pull off the bright green Mojito, and the equally bright Big Yellow Taxi. Which was very yellow. Pulling those off in the middle of December would take some braver nails than mine!!

As I had quite a bit of fun with these polishes, the next few posts are going to be dedicated to them!

So, let's have a look at a swatch of my favourite!

Cupcake Queen:

Well, firstly, who doesn't love cupcakes? Exactly.

Secondly, who doesn't love a bright pink with a blue shimmer running through it?! Exactly, again!

This was three coats, and sadly it still showed the dreaded VNL. But it's pretty enough to forgive it haha!

What do you think? Did you get the Ciaté MMM?

Love Charlotte x

Swatches of Summer - The Freebies Edition

Hi Everyone,

After the rigmarole of my PC being naughty, and the relief of not losing everything on it, I found myself having a good old nosey through my 'nail files'. I managed to find a couple of pictures of polishes I had swatched during the Summer, but not actually given them their own post. So I guess we could call this an honourable mentions page haha!!

First up, the rather wonderful Plush Pink from Leighton Denny.

A Leighton Denny polish, for free? Awesome. I so should have got them all, but at the time I was rather un-moneyed. So I got just one, but I'm glad I chose this one!

It's bright, glossy and ever so PINK! And it has a fantastic formula. This is roughly two coats, but I think I could have managed this in one slightly thicker coat. I have come to the conclusion that I would have paid full price for this. Every time I see a Leighton Denny stand, I am drawn to it like a moth to a flame, and each time I pick it up I call myself a silly, as I already have it!

If you want it too, it's £11. And worth it.


Next are a pair of Ciaté polishes! I do LOVE magazine freebies - I'm sure you can see that haha! And I am quite fond of Ciaté polishes - I love the extra detail of the bow on the bottle. It shows that the extra thought went into the design, and I appreciate that!

This one is a real beauty and is called Purple Sherbet! A name as fun as the polish itself! And one that makes me really want a Sherbet Dib Dab!

It is a gorgeous mid-toned lilac - not too washy and not too dark. Perfect to slot into my collection, as I didn't have anything quite like it. Now I do! Yay!! This has a nice formula, but is pretty sheer and needed three coats for decent coverage. And I apologise for the unattractive nick in my ring finger, but I was attacked by a monster!

Look at the claws on the vicious beast! So wild! And a bit gorgeous, even if I do say so myself! Anyway, back to the reason we're all here!!


Next is Bon-Bon, a rather sweet offering! And a rather lady-like colour, if you ask me! Oooh, nails like a grown up!

So... the colour.... you tell me?! I would have said it's a dusky pinkish colour. But it's also griege-ish. And in some lights, it's a grilac. It's not a duochrome or anything, just a basic creme polish, but I find it so hard to define it to one colour. The formula was nice the first time I used it and took two coats, but the second time, it was a little bit streaky and needed three. Still, I can't complain as it's a lovely nude-ish shade, and a great way to stay on the nude trend without having mannequin hands!

So there we have it, my favourite freebies from the last couple of months, all deserving of an honourable mention!

Did you manage to get hold of any of these?

Let me know!

Love Charlotte x