Ciate Mini Mani Month 2017

As we are know fully in March 2018, it feels a little ridiculous posting a blog post with '2017' in the title, but I promised I would review my Ciate Mini Month advent calendar and as it has been a solid two months since Christmas, I feel that if it gets to three months everyone will well and truly think I'm mad.

Although this was a Christmas Advent Calender, I believe most of the nail varnishes are available all year round so I wanted to show them to you as they are so pretty and can be worn in all seasons!
As you can imagine, it takes a while going through 24 products, and I have actually worn these shades out and about, not just painting, swatching and on to the next one so that is why it has taken so long!







The calendar has 20 mini nail colours, one full size polish, one mini nail file, a mini nail treatment and a mini gel top coat. Each treat came out of a door with a famous quote from a famous lady. People such as Anna Wintour, Marilyn Monroe and Beyonce graced to calendar which made every day of December and empowered one.



So here are the 21 swatches!

'After Party' is GREAT polish very similar to the 'Rainbow Wishes' in the Nails Inc Unicorn duo but it is a super metallic colour you can't go wrong with.

'Beach Party' as the name suggests, is a lovely bright Summer time coral. Bit odd being in an advent calendar, but I love this for the warmer months

'Big Top' is a loose glitter which is much better for Christmas time! This featured in my Valentines nails ideas this year, as it is a really beautiful fine glitter you can pat into damp polish to create this gorgeous glitter nail.

'Caberet' is a beautiful berry colour which looks great all year round. It is really wearable and looks really sophisticated.

'Champagne Kisses' looks a lot pinker in the bottle but this is a really cute bubblegum pink chunky glitter. It is a bugger to take off but it is totally worth it for the final look!

Another absolute chore to take off is 'Locket' which is a mixture of metallic silver polish and silver glitter. It is a real half and half of each so if you shy away from glitter this is a great stepping stone!

'Desert Lights' is a really unusual colour I've never come across before. It is a silvery, purple glitter speckled polish. As the name suggests, it is quite a mystical colour and is like a star studded night sky.

Ok this colour here, THIS COLOUR HERE is the winner in my eyes. Oh my gosh 'House of Mirrors' is a holographic polish. No need for holo dust or anything like that, just pure, multi-tonal smooth holo. It is 100% my favourite polish in the whole calender.

'Maybe Baby' is a classic cool girl nude with coffee toned browns. It's a very chic and sophisticated colour.

'Midnight In Paris' is another starlight scene with silver glitter embedded into a deep navy blue colour. The glitter is very fine in this so adds a touch of mystery when it catches the light.

'Moon Dust' is a cosmic goldy purple colour with a glitter metallic finish. It is quite a fun unicorn like colour if you're into that sort of thing!

Another duo tone glitter is 'Moonlit Whispers' which is a light blue and purple shimmer. It is a really pretty mix of the two and looks like different colours in different lighting.

'Mostly a Mum' is a classic deep red colour. This will suit all skin tones and look a million dollars. It is also a great base colour for glitter powders like 'Big Top'

'Palm Springs' is another summer time sounding name, with its jewel toned blue reminiscent of the ocean. This royal blue colour also looks lovely in the cooler months too though.

Another aqua inspired colour is 'Part Time Mermaid' which is a green metallic colour. This is a little harder for some to pull off, but as the Mermaid trend is in, why not give it a splash.

'Cosmic Love' is a holographic chunky glitter which is in a clear polish. This works well over a colour to add sparkle or can also be buildable to create more coverage.

'Reign Supreme' is another deep dark colour. A great alternative to black, this deep purple wine colour is very sophisticated.

'Roll Up Roll Up' is the epitome of Christmas tree green. I love this teal colour for all year round though, it is very wearable for all skin tones and is a really interesting.

Another nude which is slightly cooler toned is 'The Naked Truth' which I thought would be a little meh but actually I love this colour on my skin tone. It is really flattering and makes you look perfectly polished.

'What The Shell' is a really bold bright bluey/purple which makes a statment and makes people look twice. This is another great all year round colour, perfect for the Spring months with blooming Bluebells!

Lastly is the full size colour in the calendar, and that comes in the form of 'Show Time' which is a chunky gold glitter with fleks of rose pink glitter in the mix. Perfect for when you want to make a bang with you nails!

December 2017 Favourites

First off, welcome to my first post of 2018! We are nearly half way through January 2018 and that is just mad to me!

Whilst I have lots of fun new and exciting posts coming up and things I want to try, I can't neglect the wonderful little happenings that were my December favourites.
 I will probably do a little post on some of the bits I got for Christmas too, so if you thought the festivities were over in January hop over here to relive the Christmas time.

Probably my most favourite item of December was my Ciate Advent Calender, £50, ciatelondon.com which my generous mum got for me! My youngest sister, Tanya Burr superfan Sophia got Tanya's 12 Sweet Days Beauty Calendar, £20, Boots and my vegan sister Charlotte was treated to the Lush 12 Days of Christmas, £67.50, Lush calendar. Although these differ in price, can I just say that these calendars suited each of us down to a tee so the fact she spent more on one of us than the other doesn't mean anything as we were all so chuffed, although as the clear middle favourite I'm just happy not to be last. I'M JOKING.

My 24 day calendar included 21 STUNNING nail colours, a nail treatment, gel top coat and a sparkly nail file. I will do a full post on this advent calendar complete with swatches of each colour because I can only do it it's full justice in one dedicated post which I will link back in this post so keep an eye out for that!

My next favourite item was the Beauty Pie Pro-Glow Superstrobing Drops, £4.18 (members price), beautypie.com. These drops give the perfect dewy highlight that made me feel like a Christmas angel.

These drops are 100% my favourite highlighting product I have ever used. They completely transform my complexion and make my skin look flawless. If I could hazard a guess, I'd say they were created in the same factory as the famous Custom Cover Drops by Cover FX which come in at £34.00. If you don't know about Beauty Pie or why I have written that previous sentence or why I have written "membership price", then go to this post where I explain how Beauty Pie works and why it is so amazing!

Another Beauty Pie product I have been loving in December is the Great Skin Foundation, £6.02 (membership price), beautypie.com which I didn't get on too well with at first. I don't know whether my skin was just not its best when I first tried this but recently I have been using this as my everyday foundation and I have really loved the final look! The coverage isn't full, but it covers just about every blemish I need too with feeling heavy and evens my skin tone.

In my previous post I talked about how much I love a lip kit that comes with the matching liner and this MAC Duo, £29.50, maccosmetics.co.uk was the perfect kit for the December time.

With the matte colour 'Diva' and liner 'Burgandy', this was a winning berry lip colour for me throughout December. I was recommended this colour when I had my makeup done at MAC Fenwick Tunbridge Wells ahead of the Royal Variety show, and I am so glad I purchased this as it has been so perfect for the Christmas time of year.

At the end of the day when removing all my makeup, my favourite cleanser has been the Sumptuous Camomile Cleansing Butter, £10, The Body Shop. This balm cleanser is so gentle on skin, and really soothed my eyelids when they flared up in December. They were really dry and itchy but the calming chamomile in this cleanser put them back to normal within a few day.s, and it removes every scrap of makeup.

For a pamper session, I loved this Snowfairy Jelly Bomb, £4.95, Lush which I believe they are not stocking anymore as it is a Christmas exclusive, but I was given this at a bloggers event and waited for the perfect evening to indulge, and it was a much better experience than the one I had with the dark arts jelly bomb which you can read about here. The jello bombs leave a thick jelly like layer on the top of the bath moisturising the skin, and generally giving you a fun old bath time. Snow Fairy is a very sweet, very girly collection and it left my bath bright pink.

I also really loved the Naked Lip Scrub, £5.95, Lush as my lips get very dry in the winter and lipstick doesn't go on very well to dry chapped lips, especially matte formulas such as the Diva lipstick mentioned above. I much prefer the new Lush lip scrub formula of it being in a solid balm as I found the sugar in the pots went everywhere and tended to waste a lot of product. These balms allow you to apply directly onto the lip so moisturises as it goes without being too abbrasive and it also saves on packaging which is good for the environment. Yey!

Thanks for reading my December favourites, and as always if there are any products you loved this past month that you think I should try please do suggest them! Be sure to come back and read my new exciting posts coming soon!