Doodles on a chalkboard (Ciaté chalkboard manicure)

Hey there!! I said in a previous post that I would be showing the Ciaté chalkboard manicure and yeah I'm gonna go ahead and do that now haha. Not gonna lie I like it.

So I got the pens and just did some doodles which I suppose is the idea like a chalkboard. Got some stars, polka dots, rain, chevrons and an anchor. I took some of the ideas from the booklet, not gonna pretend I knew what I was going. I really like the polka dots, the more colours the better. But drawing it was fun and generally it was super fun to wear :)

So you get these pens and you just draw really, the nibs were pretty thick but that wasn't too much of a problem. Getting the pens starting to flow was the hard part, especially the pink one (which was not a hot pink as the pen suggested) seriously sat there violently stabbing the nib onto a pice of paper for quite a long amount of time, I gave up and did all the other colours before going back to the pink. I got it to work!!
After you're done you matte topcoat it (super legit matte topcoat, I've been using it a bunch), unfortunately the white smudged but that could've been my fault as I should've waited longer.

So all the stuff comes in the kit and it has instructions and ideas of what to paint. the idea is that water can rub out mistakes before you topcoat, Don't know how legit this is but I would just paint over the errors with the black.
See I like to do so many different things that I don't know think I'd do this again but I think I can find ways to incorporate the set into my nail art. But drawing it was so easy, literally like you're just drawing on something um easier than nails haha.

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a lovely day!! :)

Black Nails: Ciaté - Chalkboard Paint

Hello there cool dudes(?)!! Man I haven't written in ages, I've made it through the first week of exams and not gonna lie it's been a rough week. Like really rough, exams are hard :( This is my intellectual comment I have to impart. So the backlog has been massive for ages so I'm trying to tackle it bit by bit. Starting with this swatch, this was my last polish to swatch but then I um bought more polish and those swatches will go up at some point ("some point" cause who knows when?). My best friend got me the Chalkboard manicure set for my birthday (which was another while ago) and I've done the set and it's cool, that'll go up at some point too haha :P

Chalkboard Paint is a matte black nail polish, a so-called chalkboard effect as is intended. Does what it says on the tin, black has never really been my colour. It's just so...not bright, which if you didn't know is basically my favourite things ever.

I don't know what interesting things to say about Ciaté that hasn't already been said, maybe this chalkboard manicure idea was stolen from a blogger but I don't know and don't get involved. In TK Maxx Ciaté is heavily discounted so like in the end I win :P

This chipped like nothing else, the chips were so massive and I attempted to paint those patches back but you can still kind of see it. The formula was pretty runny but pretty sure you can get full opacity with 2 coats. The chips were so horrendous though, it wasn't just tip wear like a chuck of a quarter of the polish would come off and I wasn't doing anything too crazy. See I probably won't wear this again (unless I do the chalkboard manicure again, and that is pretty cool) not only because of the colour but because of the ridiculous chips.

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a really great day!! :)

Blue Nails: Ciaté - Regatta

Hello you!! Happy Christmas eve!! I'm very excited now :) It's a swatch day/night here, I do like a nice swatch day/night. My dear best friend got this for me for my birthday and I'm here to show it. She got me some other nice nail stuff so you'll be probably be seeing that in the future (who knows how long, I'm a busy gal).

With topcoat, it's nicer with topcoat

Regatta is a dark grey-ish blue with lots of silver visible shimmer, it's got a suede-ish finish which is very interesting. It's very nice, I do love a blue and this is genuinely unique in my collection.

I want to like Ciate but then their brand is totally dubious what with stealing ideas from bloggers and charging a high price for it. But then that kind of stuff doesn't really affect me cause of the small scale round here so I say it's just polish. Plus like TK Maxx sells it for a discounted price so I say I win in the end, i've never bought a full priced Ciate.

The formula is solid, I used 2 coats and it was opaque and the formula was gliding very well. I suppose this chips easier cause it's matte and stuff but topcoat it and there shouldn't be issues and it'll look nicer.

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a nice day!! :)

Yellow Nails: Ciate - Loop The Loop

Hello there lovely one, hope you are well. This is my first ever yellow nails post, I guess yellow just isn't my colour (also it really doesn't suit me). This was a gift from my bezzie (very many thanks to her) with some caviar beads and who knows when those will see the light of day. I know I said I'd be posting less due to exams but I'm actually posting a decent amount, I guess I've got a little bit of myself together (let's not mention the state of revision).

Loop The Loop is just a very nice pale (but not too pale) yellow. I wasn't sure if I'd be a fan (didn't look all that special in the bottle) but surprisingly I am!! It's a very pretty shade I found myself looking and thinking it was lovely which is pretty rare for me and yellows. It's somewhat clean if you get me.
It might become my go-to yellow (which isn't all that prestigious to be honest), as my Barry M (Lemon Ice Cream) is gloopy as anything, w7 (Sheer Lemon) is too pale and requires too many coats and the Rimmel (Sunshine) stains. Also helpful that this Ciate is very aesthetically pleasing.
And just saying that I'm very pleased with my swatch, it looks legit.

I'm not sure how I feel about the brand Ciate, I will very graciously accept the gift and free gifts from magazines but I'm not sure if I'd ever buy any with my own money. None of them really get my attention as personally I don't think they're particularly magical. Also I don't like them taking others ideas then putting an extortionate price on it. But I really like this polish and Ciate's "ethics" don't really bother me all that much.

The formula wasn't perfect (which was a reason I thought it wasn't going to be all that great), the coats are a combination of quite opaque and streaky. Some patches covered and others just not. 3 coats was definitely required, but I don't think anymore would be needed. I used 2 thick coats and 1 thin. The brush of the polish was a bit messed up for me (one of the bristles was sticking out) but it didn't affect anything.
I was totally cynical when applying but honestly for a yellow it's pretty good and I'm just glad it's not gloop city for once and actually applied smoothly.

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a great day!! :)

Beige Nails: Ciate - Cookies and Cream

Oh hello there!!! I don't have a 31 day challenge post today, so I'll be behind from now on haha. I did say there'd be a point where I'd do this challenge on my own terms and that is now!! Hey, I did 16 days in a row!! I do actually have my design today ready but I didn't take pictures in time so no post today, so I have a "filler" "swatch" today.
I think this is my first neutral nails post cause I never post neutral nails. I got this polish in June with a Marie Claire magazine along with some Ciate caviar beads (Shooting Star). It was the only reason I bought the magazine. I am not really interested in fashion so these magazines are wasted on me, but free nail polish is not. It came in quite a cute box too. But the labels on both bottles are mixed up (e.g. Cookies and Cream has a label saying Shooting Star on the back).

I'm just so meh about neutrals, I think this is a pretty colour but it doesn't do anything for me. It would be a great base for nail art I guess (on that note I do have nail art on this). I just can't bring myself to love a neutral (also I prefer Nails Inc - Porchester Square). These snazzy brands with their nice neutrals are wasted on me.

First Ciate polish, not many polishes from the brand interest me. They're nice, but in my opinion dupable and not worth the price. Also I find cheaper polishes tend to be nicer. But the name is super cute!!

I used 3 coats, 2 probably would've been enough but there were some streaky patches. And yeah there are bubbles on my pinky, my fault, obviously I should've been a bit more patient. It applied great, glided and the brush fit my nails well. Oh this is a nice polish just not my thing.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a lovely day!! :)