Ciate Advent Calendar Days 13 to 16

On day 13 I finally got one of Ciate's special edition nail polishes, specifically created for the advent calendar. It is blue glitter polish called Glass Slipper. 

 Ciate Mini (5ml) - Glass Slipper

Next I got a coral polish called Speed Dial. It is very thin and required 3 coats for a full coverage (plus there was already nail varnish on the bottle upon opening the door, tut tut)!

  Ciate Mini (5ml) - Speed Dial

Day 15 has to be one of my favourite colours so far - a beautiful sea blue green (or turquoise if you wish). Another 'thicker' polish from Ciate, which I like better than the thinner more watery ones. 

                                                         

                   Ciate Mini (5ml) - Headliner

Today a bright canary yellow was behind door number 16. I love the name - Big Yellow Taxi - it instantly transported me back 5 years when my friend and I visited New York for Christmas!

                                                

                  Ciate Mini (5ml) - Big Yellow Taxi

Until next time...

Introducing... I Heart Nail Art

After much deliberation I have decided to change my blog/domain name. I know this is potentially blog suicide but I felt I had to do it. I started this blog with the intention of covering all things fashion and beauty, but I feel I have been a little biased in my posts since I have focused primarily on nails and nail art.

Keep Calm and Paint Your Nails is the way I like to think about nail art. Painting my nails is my form of relaxation, the time in my day I get to dedicate to myself and my passion. I also enjoy wowing people, I have never been particularly musical or creative in any other way, so I like the fact I can say I've found something I am good at and like to do. 

I hope you will pop back for more nail related posts in the future :)

Love,

Ciate Advent Calendar - Day 5

Behind door number 5 of the calendar was Cabaret, a warm creamy purple with a hint of pink. The consistency of this one is definitely a lot thicker than the others, it only took one coat to achieve an opaque look. 

Ciate Mini (5ml) - Cabaret

Until next time...

Ciate Advent Calendar - Day 3 & 4

Hidden behind door number 3 was Halo, a pretty pearlescent white with an irridescent sparkle. 

Ciate Mini (5ml) - Halo

Today's door, number 4, concealed a bottle of Ciate's famous Caviar Manicure nail pearls. This particular caviar combination includes pink, silver and purple beads with hints of pink and silver glitter.

Ciate Caviar Pearls (10g) - Prom Queen

Until next time...

Ciate Advent Calendar - Day 2

Today, behind door number 2 of my Ciate advent calendar, was Dangerous Affair. It is a beautiful deep red polish, perfect for the festive season.

The consistency of the polish is quite thin so at least two coats is required for a full coverage. 

Ciate Mini (5ml) - Dangerous Affair

These are my first Ciate nail polishes so I'm still fanscinated by the bottles - they are gorgeous, I love the little bow too!

12 Days of Christmas Nail Art Challenge - Day 1

YAY it is finally December, and I get to start my 12 days of Christmas nail art challenge! Today's design was based around the song 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town'...

Last year I did one of my very first nail art designs - Santa hats (using CutePolish's YouTube tutorial), so this year I wanted to do one better and incorporate Santa's face in the design.

All that is required for the design is a red, white and gold polish. I also used a black striper and a range of dotting tools to create the eyes, nose, buttons and fur. 

My next nail art design will be based on my favourite Christmas book.

Until next time...

Ciate Advent Calendar - Day 1

It is the 1st of December, which means I can finally open my Ciate Christmas Advent Calendar :) I was so excited to finally open the little door to see what was inside...

Cupcake Queen is a bright pink colour with a subtle blue shimmer underneath. I'm not sure it is exactly my colour but I'm sure I can find a nail art use for it!

 Ciate Mini (5ml) - Cupcake Queen 

Winter Sparkle Nails

Quick and simple nails with a touch of winter sparkle...

The products I used were Essie's Ridge Filling Base Coat, Lady Like, Model's Own Snowflake and Seche Vite Fast Drying Top Coat. 

I recently brought a selection of Essie nail polishes from Fragrance Direct for £1.99 each (RRP £7.99 in Boots & Superdrug). One of my favourites is Lady Like, a mauve pink colour. It worked as a nice base for Model's Own's Snowflake iridescent glitter polish. 

Black Cat Nails

I really wanted to try out one of my new Sally Hansen nail polishes, which I reviewed in my previous post. I chose to use Oxide, a black silver shimmer polish, as a base for some super cute cat nails. 

The design was very simple and easy to achieve. I used nail dotting tools to create the paw-prints, eyes and nose, and a small brush to do the ears and whiskers. 

I'm very pleased with the results and think this would be perfect for Halloween.

Sally Hansen - Complete Salon Manicure Nail Polishes

Sally Hansen seems to dominate many aspects of the 'nail market' from her nail varnish remover to her cuticle cream and nail shields. I have tried most of her products, apart from the actual nail varnishes. I spotted her Complete Salon Manicure nail varnishes on offer on Fragrance Direct a few weeks ago for £1.50 each but then I found they were also being sold in Poundland for a £1 - a bargain too good to miss (RRP £5.99)! So I picked up a couple...

L-R: Oxide and Anenome of Mine

Both colours are stunning, great for Autumn/Winter. Oxide is a black with silver glitter undertones and Anenome of Mine (I love quirky nail polish nails - sometimes it is what encourages me to buy them, opps!) is a vibrant glossy purple. I particularly like the lid on these polishes as it has a rubber grip around the base of the lid, which helps steady your hand. The actual brush is also quite thick so on some of my nails I was able to coat them in one clean sweep!

I will definitely be popping to £land again this weekend to stock up on some more colours!

Models Own - Snowflakes

I've wanted to try a Models Own nail polish for a while now, so after reading a blogpost about their new 'Wonderland Collection' I knew I had to buy one. I opted for 'Snowflakes', a clear-ish glitter polish with iridescent foil flakes, which immediately caught my eye.

 It really does look like Christmas in a bottle! I love it. 

This is only one coat, which I found gave a good overall coverage but I think it might be nice to build it up with a few more coats. Or use it as a topcoat to compliment your favourite Autumn/Winter nail polish. 

I found the flakes quite big so it was difficult to position them on the nail without any overlap. They also dry with a flaky 3D texture (no one likes the feeling of flaky nails), so I used a clear topcoat to give a smoother more polished finish.

I cannot wait to do a snowman/snowflake nail art design with this beautiful polish! 

UK Glamour Magazine November 2012 - Freebies!

Everyone loves a freebie right? Well this month's Glamour magazine has excelled itself as you get a free bottle of Nails Inc nail polish (RRP £11). You also get a free sample of Nivea's Daily Essentials Hydration Primer and L'oreal's BB Cream in Light. 

There are 4 different shades of nail polish (a dark blue, red, pink and gold glitter) to choose from but I opted for the gold glitter one as the festive season is nearly upon us. The effect on the nail is quite understated thus I feel a couple of coats would be needed to achieve a more glittery look.

Ciate Christmas Advent Calendar

I spotted this little beauty a few weeks ago on What I Heart Today's blog, so I decided to check it out on the Selfridges' website. 

I must admit I was tempted, but the £38 price tag seemed a little too expensive. However, as it always seems to be the case, after telling my mum about it (who rationalised each bottle would work out at around £1.60 - you would think she wants me to spend money) I had another look on the website and found it to be out of stock. Gahhh! I scoured the internet to see if I could find any information about when it might be back in stock, when I stumbled across a MoneySavingExpert thread discussing the different beauty advent calendars that are out this year. One poster mentioned the Ciate calendar was being sold on QVC for a discounted introductory price of £31.20 (£36.20 including P&P). You'd think this would have sealed the deal but I still ummed and ahhed over it until I saw they were being sold on Ebay for £75! So I decided to treat myself :) 

Roll on the 1st 0f December...