Ciate Advent Day 15

It's December 14th, and it's 12° outside. I can't complain, but there's this huge discrepancy between what I see out of my window and what my Christmas song playlist is telling me should be happening.

Anyway. Ciate is taking me out of my comfort zone again with a turquoise blue. Here's Headliner. Check out the bow on this guy! It's drunk.

It reminds me of Essie's Turquoise and Caicos, but probably only because it is the only other light bright blue polish I own. Side by side, they are embarrassingly  dissimilar.

I did go through a phase this summer where I would wear Turquoise and Caicos for a week, take it of and then repaint it again immediately. I like it a lot. So I am less skeptical of Headliner than I would be, had I not "forced" myself to try out the gorgeous Essie.

I realise that sounds so... trivial. Maybe I should join Superfishiality-holics Anonymous or something. We can all get together and discuss how one does not simply wear boots with a sleeveless dress.

NOTD

This is Ciate Vintage, a friend from Advent Day 8. It's great. I love it! In fact, I love it so much, I have it on fingers AND toes. And that rarely happens.

 The picture below is 2 coats. So far I am liking the formula of the Mini Mani polishes, in particular - the brush.

Totally intentionally (ahem..), half of the swatch is in the sun, and half - in the shade.

Ciate Advent Day 14

Friday! Wht joy, I thought it was never gonna come! And we have a bright polish to commemorate this December landmark, as this is the last Friday I am working this year!

Speed dial is an in-your-face orange. How fun! It isn't particularly seasonally appropriate (and I am known to suffer from seasonal colour-matching), but I may just do a cheeky pedicure to wave around in Pilates.

Who am I kidding, this girl aint going to no Pilates over the next few weeks, just hand me a fork and move those roast potatoes a bit closer.

Ciate Advent Day 13

December 13, and I am running out of ways to introduce these posts. Today's polish is called Glass Slipper.

Glass Slipper is the first straight up glitter from the Mini Mani Month collection. Beautiful dense blue glitter in a clear base.

True blue is probably the rarest colour out of any that I wear on the nails. I simply cannot rid myself of the associations with frostbite. I haven't tried a blue glitter though, so maybe this one will push me over the edge.

Ciate Advent Day 12

The other day I told my boss I had a nail polish advent calendar. If he still had any faith in my sanity, I suspect it has now been shattered. Reminds me of the occasion when he thought he heard me say I owned eighteen nail polishes. "Dear Lord!" he said, "EightEEN!" To which I replied "Ahem, that would be eightY".. And that was quite some time ago too.

As for my newest friend, here is Twilight.

Twilight is black with fine golden glitter running through. The polishes from the last three days follow a similar 'black-n-gold' theme, all go nicely together and the bottles look great side by side.

The glitter in it is somewhat multi-coloured - it has that slight olive flash that Ladylike Luxe from two days ago has. 

Ciate Advent Day 11

Day 11, and I can't believe we're not even half through the Mini Many month! As in, my lineup of curvy bottles is going to more than double. 

Another caviar, appropriately named Bumble bee. 

It's a mix of golden-yellow and black beads. It looks absolutely great! I wish the party outfits I have planned for the next couple of weeks don't  lend themselves to golden tones.

Жжж

La Roche-Posay Offer

Just in time for my sudden awareness of how much I need the Effaclar products from La Roche-Posay, Boots is doing a 2 for £15 promotion. Which means that you can pick up the skincare celebrity, miss Effaclar Duo (usually £13 for 40 ml), and grab another product from the range (or two of the same, for that matter) for just £2 extra. 

La Roche-Posay is a French skincare brand, 'committed to the dermatology and committed to the environment', as they themselves promise. I think it owes its popularity to its middle-of-the-range price point that appeals to people wanting to upgrade from the likes of Clean and Clear, but don't want to go all in either. Not to be overlooked, the products themselves deserve their good reputation.

The Effaclar range is designed for sensitive oily skin that is prone to clogged pores, uneven surface and post-acne scarring. You don't see many products geered towards helping this skintype; often supposedly effective oily skin treatments are as harsh as dipping your nose into washing up liquid. 

So there I am, reading the enticing claims and unison reviews one minute (rapidly understanding that I immediately require every single one of the Effaclar representatives), and next - I'm in the queue in Boots. By some Christmas miacle, I've managed to get my hands on the most coveted item of the range - the Duo, as well as their foaming cleanser to go with my Clarisonic. And let me tell you, I've never been so quick to rush to the sink to remove my makeup as I was today, eager to try out my purchases. 

With such outstanding reviews, I expect no less than to wake up looking as though I've slathered myself in Photoshop. In the mean time, head out to Boots to make good use of the offer, and collect triple points while you're at it. 

Ciate Advent Day 10

It's December 10th, and this month is really flying by! Only 21 days left till 2013, which doesn't even sound like a real year.

Ciate's offering for today is Ladylike Luxe, which is an unusual gold.

Ladylike Luxe is a golden metallic with silver shimmer running through. It has an almost olive antiqued gold look, which makes it unusual in my collection. The olive undertone was hard to translate into pictures, but it somewhat shows up in the darker picture above.

Ciate Advent Day 9

Advent day 9, and my polish armada is looking rather mighty! Today I received a bright orange-tone red, playfully named Mistress. 

Mistress is the colour that comes up if you Google 'red', but me and Google have been known to disagree in colour judgements (I could host a whole debate on the 'fuchsias', 'magentas' and 'hot pinks').     When I opened the polish window this morning in dim light I assumed the colour was orange.

As I've mentioned before, orange-reds aren't my favourite to wear on my fingers, perhaps because they accentuate the yellow tones in my skin, making my hands look like I've been peeling potatoes. These shades do make a lovely toenail polish though, especially with a Dita-esque peep toe shoe.

Ciate Advent Day 8

It's December the 8th, and today I've retrieved a chique polish by the name of Vintage, and let me tell you - it is beautiful.

 

Ciate describe this one as a 'rich, deep and majestic grey', but it is more than just that in real life. At first I thought it leaned green, then I decided it looks kind of blue, and obviously grey. It's all of those colours, and will show up uniquely with every different skin tone.

Vintage is a nice variation on the ongoing grey nail trend. I am totally embracing greys this winter, so I like this shade ever so much.