Tuesday 14 November 2017

Ciate



I first published this post in 2013 and since then, Ciate have really made their mark on not only the nail industry but also makeup. Unfortunately, I believe their 'wow kits' are now discontinued, however I think you can still find them in the depths of the internet!

As this is now discontinued, it feels a little silly bringing back this post, however I have fallen back in love with this nail kit so thought I'd show it off and hope they bring it back!

 The kit comes with a base colour, three sheets each of four different colour foil, glue, and a manicure wheel for you to practice on. I thought that was really good value for money, at £18.

I started with the base coat 'pepperminty', which in itself, is a really nice fresh colour.


After a couple of layers, I was ready for foiling! I practiced on the wheel first to get the right technique. You randomly dab the glue and wait a couple of minutes for it to go tacky, and then place the foil shiny side up, rub and whip of really quickly. I used the 'waxing strip' technique. After that, I kept on layering...


After gold I used blue


then red


and finally silver. I also did another layer of blue as I thought it was the most striking of the colours.


And Voila!

At the beginning, I was being quite careful, but after half an hour I was being quite rough with it and found that worked better! Altogether it took me about 1 hour to do all fingers in four foils. Personally, I thought it looked better with fewer colours, and I will probably use the 'less is more' approach in future. Its a really effortless look that looks really interesting. It also lasts really well! I've had my foil manicure on for a week now and haven't had any trouble. When using some heavy duty cleaning products some of the foil wiped of but otherwise its all in tact. When using the foils, I went right up to the edges of the sheets so still have loads of foil left over. A very good investment and interesting kit from Ciate. 

I have also done this with a darker colour underneath and got a lovely finish better for Autumn/ Winter


Monday 6 November 2017

October Favourites 2017

Hello there readers!

Today I am going to be doing my October favourites as I feel like I fell at the first hurdle after saying in my August favourites post that I would try and do it every month then neglected to do so straight away in September. My excuse is that the end of September was taken up largely by my  Coffee post which kind of acted as the post for that month as I was trying those bits out, so I am going to let myself off the hook.


Anyway. I'll put my excuses aside!

I haven't got a huge amount of products to show this month as the switch in warm to cold weather has reeked havoc on my skin, so makeup and skincare have been minimal. The products I have been using though have been used a lot, so without further ado, here are my October favourites.


As I mentioned above, the change in weather has caused my skin to become very dry, prone to spots, and I also have flaky almost eczema like rashes on my eye lids (attractive I know). I have been sticking to my usual Beauty Pie skincare but have added in a couple of extra steps to keep my skin looking as good as it can! I have spoken about this product before, as in January I was really suffering badly with my skin. I bought this Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%, £5, Deciem and it cleared up my skin within a week. Once again, I have reached for this product everyday the last few weeks and it has improved any aggressive, painful and red spots and reduced them considerably. For such a small price tag, I would highly recommend the Ordinary to anyone who fancies a little dabble with the products available.


As my skin hasn't been it's best, I have been trying to avoid makeup as I feel it actually clings to the dryness and makes my skin look worse. Espcially around my eyes, I have been avoiding all eye makeup apart from mascara as my eyes feel so dry and agitated. However when my skin has been particularly bad and I have had no option but to cover it up with makeup, this No28 Primer Serum, £55.80, Hourglass has been the perfect hydrating base to make sure no foundation clings onto dry skin. I find primers often make the skin feel drier whereas this makes your skin really soft and almost a little oily which I find makes my makeup blend better. Another thing I love about this product is the smell. It has a really natural botanical smell and it makes me feel confident that the product is feeding my skin the healthy vitamins it needs. It contains 28 beneficial ingredients to feed skin to make it look hydrated, luminous, and healthy.


As my lips have been really dry, I have found lipstick hasn't been looking great and a bit patchy (I sound like the flakiest person in the world from this post). My natural lip colour is very pale so I do feel like I need to have something on them to make them look more defined. I have been using this Lip Glow, £21.25, Dior colour reviver balm as it naturally brings out the colour of your natural lips to make them look bolder but also hydrate like a balm. It works with your skin tone and just intensifies the look of your natural lip meaning you don't have to wear lipstick and you just have the feeling of balmy, soft lips.


Next is a fragrance and I have been absolutely loving which is Amber Rose, £55, Shay & Blue. I remember when Shay & Blue had just come out as I was working in a fragrance department. The creator behind the brand is a man called Dom De Vetta who used to be the global manager for Jo Malone and senior Vice President at Chanel. He wanted to create a beautiful boutique brand and he discovered Julie Masse, a 20 year old perfumer who had a flair for creating modern and unique fragrances. Paired together, they have gone on to create this really cute, niche brand which create genuinely lovely fragrances at affordable prices. They only do 100ml and 30ml fragrances, and they are so reasonably priced as they look so expensive.
 I am not a huge lover of Rose alone, and I think these days a rose fragrance needs to have something about it on order to survive on the fragrance market, and this rose and amber fragrance is the perfect balance of sweet and sultry and I have been loving it recently. It isn't necessarily an autumn winter fragrance, I have just found myself reaching for it time and time again.


Lastly is another product that will help with any lack lustre nails this winter time. I am trying to use oil as my nails as I have become a little bit lazy with nail care when it used to be a big part of my night time routine. Nail oils will stop your nails going dry which will stop them peeling and will result in evenly applied, longer lasting nail varnish which is what you want when you're wearing darker, berry shades of nail varnish this season usually requires. Usually in the summer with lighter colours you won't notice a small chip but daker colour can look very scruffy very quickly so regular nail care is a must do, plus it will moisturise the skin around the nail and stop any painful hang nails.
This nail oil is from an Australian brand called Sienna which is a vegan, non toxic, cruelty free brand. The only sell their oil in a set and unfortunately we do not have these products in the UK, but any type of nail oil will suffice and I have found the Phenomenon oil by Jessica is a great one to use!

What products have you been going for this Season?
Do you have any tips or product recommendations for dry skin, particularly around the eye?