Hello!
Over 2 days, I acquired 24 bottles of Ciaté nail lacquer. Thankfully they are all mini, else I would have absolutely no space to store them and I also would never be able to justify the purchase. This is actually the first time I’m purchasing mini bottles of polish and while I initially hesitated with a “how am I going to hold the cap and paint my nails?”, I’m really happy I bought the Ciaté Mini Mani Month and Tree Trinkets sets.
Let’s take a look at the Mini Mani Month First.
The Mini Mani Month is essentially a secular advent calendar – advent calendars are calendars, with little doors that open to reveal little quotes, images or even gifts that help countdown to Christmas Day. In recent times, many beauty brands create advent calendars as part of the Holiday Season, often with mini or deluxe-sized products. The fun thing is that these are also a great way to try out a variety of products from a brand without committing to a full-size.
This – Main Stage – is my favorite shade and favorite quote in the Mini Mani Month
The Mini Mani Month contains 18 nail lacquers and 6 toppers in the form of Caviar Pearls, Glitter dust and Sequins. I don’t know how much I’ll use the Caviar Pearls but I’m tempted to mix the glitter dust into a clear top coat for ease of use.
There is a nice mix of colours in the Mini Mani Month – pastels, vibrant pops of colour, one duochrome (Starlet – an aubergine with a green flash), one foil polish (Fit for a Queen) and a mylar flake topcoat (Snow Globe). While in the bottle, some shades might look a tad similar to each other like Members Only vs Ivory Queen or Chinchilla vs Pillow Fight, they actually apply rather differently.
Formula-wise, the majority of the polishes flowed easily on the nail but the bonus is really quick dry time, even without a quick dry topcoat. The photo below is of Ciaté Boudoir, a beautiful scarlet, taken after 2 days of wear – there is some tip-wear but no chipping which I’m pleased with. Boudoir has been photographed with 1 coat of Nail Tek Foundation, 2 coats of polish and finished off with 1 coat of Seche Vite Quick Dry Topcoat.
Here are skittle swatches of some of the shades – the vibrant hues like Main Stage, Boudoir, Hopscotch (a bright orange; not featured) tend to paint more easily than the pastel ones like Pepperminty and Candy Floss which were prone to a little streaking in the first coat. The swatches below have been photographed with 1 coat of Nail Tek Foundation and 2 coats of polish each (no top coat). I’ve not had much sunlight here with the constant thunder and rain and while I like my photos in natural sunlight, I kind of like how the colours crisply contrast against the gloomy sky.
From Ciaté’s Holiday Collection, I also picked up the Tree Trinkets set – a set of 6 sparkling glitter topcoats in very merry hues.
These come packaged in clear baubles – ideally to be hung on a Christmas tree. The individual packaging makes these perfect stocking stuffers or small tokens for guests who attend parties.
I love glitter polish but it’s been a really long time since I’ve worn any because I really hate removing glitter polish and I’ve actually avoided purchasing any from the recent OPI, China Glaze or Essie collections. These were too cute to resist and I love every single one of them.
My favorite of the lot is Humbug – a mix of silver and black glitter discs with silver and black micro-glitter strewn all over. All Aglow is a mix of bright gold and copper glitter.
Candy Cane is another winner – I have a thing for fuchsia and I like how this is larger glitter discs. Yules Rule is a bright Cerulean blue glitter.
Tinsel Town has a mix of silver, aqua, rose gold and pink large and small glitter while Wrap Star is a mix of large fuchsia and small violet glitter.
I’ve swatched them and they are all densely packed in the clear polish base – there is absolutely no need to fish for glitter which make these worth your time. I hope to feature these in an upcoming nail swatch soon.
The Tree Trinkets set was the one I actually bought first – my friend Elaine alerted me to the set and I was won over by the mini glitter paint pots. While attempting to tempt another friend Lynn to pick up the Tree Trinkets set, Lynn in turn showed me the Mini Mani Month and I was sold. So I have both these girls to thank for my Ciaté minis! Both of these were purchased during the recent Sephora 20% sale but I’ve heard that these are now on discounted prices which makes them a great deal if you haven’t snagged them already. I think these are good quality polishes and a good variety of colours – these would be a great addition to anyone’s collection and will be much appreciated, even if they were already avid nail polish buyers. If you haven’t checked these out, you might want to – I like these so much that I’ve told my girlfriends that I’m already anticipating Ciaté’s 2014 Holiday sets!
Thanks for stopping by and have a fab day ahead!