Ciate Nail Varnish Advent Calendar

One of my closest friends gave me an early Christmas present and suggested that I open it before December 1st. Now, I know I sound like a big kid but Christmas presents really excite me, especially when you are allowed to open them before Christmas Day. Obviously, I opened it as soon as I got home – why wait?

It was the Ciaté advent calendar! Inside are 24 mini nail varnishes, one for each day of advent. The back of the box gives an idea of the colours that you will receive, including the mystery shades.... which makes me think that each box might be slightly different. Exciting stuff! 

With the boom of beauty advents left, right and centre, it is hardly surprising that they are becoming coveted gifts. The price range for each advent means that every budget can be satisfied (we went into Liberty's the other day and unsurprisingly, the luxury advent was over £100.) However, they are novel, beautifully packaged and allow for the Christmas gift giving to start early! Jen looked at some of the more popular ones (including Ciate and Liberty's) in a post earlier this month and if you want a unique gift and have decided upon a beauty advent, snap them up quickly. They are selling out fast! You can read that post here: Best Beauty Advent Calendars

www.ciatelondon.com

Best Beauty Advent Calendars 2015

First of all I must apologise for talking about Christmas when we are only three days into November. Yes, we all know people who have finished their Christmas shopping already, however (if you are anything like me and want to keep Christmas in December where it belongs) please bear with me...

Beauty advent calendars have been getting bigger and better over the last few years. They are now available to suit every budget and the high street is getting involved in what was once a solely high-end domain. Most are either 12 or 24 days and (as much as I love chocolate) what could be better than getting a beauty-related present each morning in the run up to Christmas?! There's only one problem – many of the most popular brands sell out quickly. So if you fancy treating yourself, or someone else, you will need to get in quick. Hence the unnaturally early festive post from me.

So without further ado, here are 8 of the best beauty advent calendars:

CHARLOTTE TILBURY
The Book of Makeup Magic is a fabulous calendar by the one and only Charlotte Tilbury. It contains 12 of her most popular products: Magic Cream 15ml, Take It All Off 15ml, Wonderglow 15ml, Multi Miracle Glow 15ml, Supermodel Body 15ml, Goddess Skin Clay Mask 15ml, Mini K.I.S.S.I.N.G lipstick, Matte Revolution lipstick, Lip Magic, Mini Rock n Kohl liner, Nocturnal Cat eyes Eyeshadow, Magic Night cream.
£150, www.charlottetilbury.com

SELFRIDGES
The Selfridges Beauty Workshop Advent Calendar is a lot like their seasonal beauty boxes – exceptional value for money. The 24 little beauty treats are worth £226 in total and include Tweezerman tweezers, Eyeko skinny liquid liner, Ole Henriksen Truth Serum, Caudalie Divine Oil and lots more.
£60 www.selfridges.com

KERASTASE
This limited edition calendar contains 24 iconic Kérastase deluxe travel size products and one full size Elixir product worth £28.50 alone. If you are a Kérastase fan you won't want to miss this one. Visit the link below for details of all the products included.
£79.99 www.kerastase.co.uk

LUSH
Fans of Lush can enjoy 12 days of bath bombs, bubble bars, bath melts and body lotions! All products are vegan making it an ideal gift for anyone who likes to buy cruelty-free brands.
£49.95 www.lush.co.uk

CIATÉ
Fellow nail-polish addicts will love this Mini Mani Month advent calendar by Ciaté. This is another one that is excellent value for money as it contains 23 nail polishes and a nail file worth £124 in total.
£49 www.selfridges.com

THE BODY SHOP
The Body Shop's 24 Happy Days calendar has a really wide variety of treats, from cult classics to new products, including bath and bodycare, skincare, fragrance and more. Check out the full list at the link below
£60 www.thebodyshop.co.uk

LIBERTY LONDON
This calendar is a real luxury treat.. possibly the one I want to get my paws on the most! Who could resist that beautiful packaging with the iconic Liberty building illustration? Yes it is a little pricey at £149, but with over £400 worth of products inside, my beauty maths tells me it is actually a real bargain! It even contains 11 full-sized products alongside the deluxe sample sizes. Gifts include skin care from Eve Lom and Dr Sebagh, candles by Diptyque, cosmetics by Surratt and haircare from Davines.
£149 www.liberty.co.uk

JO MALONE
Jo Malone's advent calendar is always a hot favourite and rightly so. However, as a result it sells out very quickly. It is currently unavailable on their website but it might be worth checking your nearest store. If you can get hold of you one you will have 24 days of beautiful treats to look forward to! This is another one that scores highly on the packaging front too, with the brand's Georgian townhouse illustrated on the front.
£260, www.jomalone.co.uk


Other brands worth checking out include L'Occitane, Benefit (although I believe this has sold out online!), No7 and M&S Beauty. If you know of any others we would love to hear from you!

Olivia Palermo's first collection for Ciaté

Earlier this year, Olivia Palermo was named as guest creative director for nail brand Ciaté. She will create several collections throughout 2015, the first of which has just been unveiled on vogue.co.uk. It consists of three polishes in classic shades inspired by her own lifestyle; Hutch, Sundays and Nantucket.

Hutch is a classic red named after her mother, who wore a similar shade whilst Olivia was growing up. Sundays is a nude and the name pays tribute to her husband, whose weekly Instagram post of the pair are always entitled 'Sundays'. Finally Nantucket, my personal favourite, is a beautiful coral shade named after one of her favourite holiday destinations. All three are very classic wearable shades, an unsurprising first collection that is true to Palermo's own classic style. I look forward to seeing if she throws us a curve-ball with the next collection!

From left to right: Hutch, Nantucket and Sundays

Available from June 2015, www.ciatelondon.com/uk

Images via Vogue.co.uk

Glossybox Goodness

I have subscribed to Glossybox on and off for several years and for as little as £8.50 a month you get five beauty products delivered straight to your door. Recently, I have been impressed by their unique box designs that have become sturdier, sleeker and down right fun. 

So, let’s get to the nitty gritty…..

THE SEPTEMBER BOX

The Karen Millen watercolour London scene is quintessentially British but in a contemporary way. 

The fact that Glossybox also had an after work gathering with prosecco (to celebrate the collaboration) makes me like it just a little bit more. Unfortunately, Jen couldn't make the event as she was at the Savoy having a fancy smancy celebratory time with her sister and dad. (Happy birthday, John!) However, I'm sure that the next time the words 'free' and 'prosecco' are bandied around, Jen and I will both be there, with bells on....and goblets at the ready. 

My favourite products: 

• A fairly reasonably sized Origins Plantscription Anti-aging Power Serum (15ml)
• Skin PEP Dark Circle Eraser Growth Factor Eye Cream (what the flinking flanking heck is growing? My eyes? Eye bags?)
• More Brows by Model Co (you can read my full review here). 

THE OCTOBER BOX

• Nuxe Paris Masque Crème Fraiche (50ml)

• etre belle LipLift Peel (15ml)

• So Susan Flutter Mascara (4g)

• Full sized Ciate nail polish in Ditch the Heels

• Rimmel BB Cream (8ml)

• Yves Rocher Quelques Notes d’Amour L’Eau de Parfum (16floz)

The mask looks great and perfect after a long week of hectic-ness. I am also excited by LipLift Peel. This is something that should be used once a week, to gently remove dead skin cells and supposedly, it keeps the lips looking smooth and soft. Hurrah. Red lipstick, here I come.

The BB cream doesn’t really bother me either way, but if it is good, it will be useful for travelling.

Full sized Ciate nail varnish….why thank you Glossybox, thank you. The green colour makes me happy. Perhaps it will rival the Sephora Formula X nail varnishes?

I appreciate that the perfume is in an actual little bottle and not a sample spray. Nice touch.

I will try the mascara. I wasn’t that impressed with the concealer palette from the same company but I will give it a whirl. The Essense I Heart Extreme Crazy Volume mascara that I received a few months ago in one of the boxes was amazing, so fingers crossed…or maybe eyes would be more appropriate. No, I’d walk into things.

The only negative, the black shredded paper.... It gets all over the product!

But, all in all…..Glossybox has seriously improved. I genuinely get very excited about receiving it every month. Small pleasures, especially as this doesn’t make me put on weight, or have to exercise, or even move too much. Lovely.

Prices range from £8.50 to £10 per month depending on the length of the plan you choose. Visit

www.glossybox.co.uk for more information

Nail Varnish and Top/Base Coats

I look for two things when it comes to nail varnish – a colour that stays put for the working week and a fun colour. To define 'fun', anything from a pearlescent pink to a vibrant aqua. It all depends on my mood. 

CIATE IN JELLY BEAN:

THOUGHTS

Jelly Bean is a bright fuchsia pink is a summer staple and I like the depth of the colour. That's probably a weird thing to say but if you use it, you'll know what I mean, especially with two coats. With a good top coat, it lasts five days. Without a top coat, chipping happened after a day. 

APPLICATION 

A good size brush, distributing the product evenly. One coat will create an opaque finish. The easiest nail colour to apply.

COST

£9.00 for 13.5ml

REPURCHASE?

I might try other colours but will buy from Ciate again. Most definitely.

www.ciate.co.uk

MAVALA IN RIGA

 

 

THOUGHTS

This was a gift and I had not heard of this Swiss brand before. You can buy it at John Lewis, Boots, Feel Unique and Beauty Bay. The consistency provides opaque cover with two coats and is the most beautiful candy pink. It lasts five days with a top coat and tends to fade at the top of the nail, rather than chip. This is brilliant for a muted nail look but has more umph than a nude or for work, where bright nails might not always be the most appropriate. 

APPLICATION

The product applies evenly and dries quickly.

COST 

The product may only be small (5ml), but for £4.75, it is worth it. I have painted my nails four times (two/three coats per time) and I have only used a quarter of the bottle.

REPURCHASE? Yes, plus other colours.

www.johnlewis.com

www.boots.com

www.feelunique.com

www.beautybay.com 

NAILS INC FLORAL IN QUEENSGATE GARDENS

One coat:

Two coats:

THOUGHTS 

This had so much potential. The advertising images showed floral designed nails. Unlike other nail fads, where any texture or pattern is applied though various intricate methods, this looked easy. All in the same bottle... time saver or what?

My boyfriend looked at my nails and said 'That's a mess'. Why thank you, sweetheart. However, I couldn't have agreed more. The glitter was overwhelming for the flowers and the flowers were either non existent or piled onto the nail in twos or threes. I don't know if the more you use this, the easier it will be become. Mainly because the flowers have sunk to the bottom half of the bottle (despite energetic shaking) and so, the more that you use, the quicker you get to the glitter and flowers in a more equal distribution.

APPLICATION 

All glitter or flower central. Glitter over flowers. Lumps and bumps. Really not good.

 

COST

£12.00 for 10ml 

REPURCHASE?

Nope. I had such high hopes. 

www.nailsinc.com 

TOP COATS

Nicole by OPI Quick Drying Top Coat

THOUGHTS 

Really speedy drying time. Two minutes for touch dry, three to five for completely dry. Very useful for painting nails in a rush but doesn't preserve the colour too well and does not prevent chipping. Every time I use it, the nail colour has chipped the next day, even when wearing long lasting nail colours. However, this is perfect if you are rushing to get ready and only want your nail colour to last for a day/evening out. 

APPLICATION

Even and smooth, no bubbling. Quite 'liquidy' in consistency. 

COST

£7.99 for 15ml 

REPURCHASE? 

No, I would rather try the Orly Flash Dry Drops. 

www.superdrug.com 

Sally Hansen Double Duty Base and Top Coat

THOUGHTS

Protects the nail from being stained by nail colour and dries fairly quickly over nail varnish (five minutes touch dry). It is moisturising and seriously good at preventing chipping when wearing the Ciate, Mavala, Tanya Burr and Essie. Doesn't prevent Barry M Jelly Nail Paint from chipping after a day. Such a shame because the Barry M colours are so vibrant and eye catching. I also found that it didn't prevent the Maybelline Super Stay 7 Day Gel Nail Colour from chipping. However, I have only tried this once and I was in a mega rush, so it's not really the best test. 

Barry M 

Maybelline 

APPLICATION

For me, this product does not cause bubbling and smooths the varnish to create a glossy finish. 

 

COST

£4.95 for 13.3ml
 

REPURCHASE? 

Yes. 

www.superdrug.com

www.boots.com