Ciate Mini Advent Calender

Hello my lovely readers, well we are officially in 2016 I hope you all had a great New Years Eve if you were celebrating. Mine was spent in bed, ever since becoming a mum I can not stay up past 8 if i do I'm like a zombie not able to concentrate on anything and feeling awful. I really wanted to get this post up before the New Year but unfortunately there was not enough time.1

This post might be quite large as there were 21 polishes and 3 nail art items inside the Ciate advent calendar my friend brought for me. It was so lovely to be able to open a different window each day of December and find a beautiful mini polish hiding behind it. Now unfortunately my organisation skills and brain were missing in action through out December, so I  didn't take a picture of the actual calendar or make note of which polish was behind which door. So lets just get into the swatches and review of each polish. 

The first polish I have is Beach Hut this is a fiery orange metallic opaque in 3 coats, the formula is easy to work with a builds up well considering how sheer the polish is. This originally comes from the bottle sunshine collection. 

Blizzard has a clear base with green micro glitters and medium sized gold hex glitter, this reminds me of money. It is opaque in 3 coats but would look great layered over a dark green polish. Formula was easy to handle and you didn't need to do any fishing. 

Butterscotch is a milk chocolate brown creme with golden shimmer, this becomes opaque in 2 coats. Formula was great and this would be the perfect colour for a reindeer. 

Cabaret is a fuchsia creme that leans more to the purple side, this becomes opaque in 2 easy to apply coats.  

Chalkboard is a black creme opaque in just 1 coat, formula was easy to work with and it is always lovely to have another black creme to turn to. This polish does dry Matt, so you will want a good top coat if you want a more shiny finish.

Island hopping is a blood orange with gold shimmer, this polish is opaque in 2 coats and would be perfect for summer time either on nail or toes. 

The next polish is called locket this is a clear base with silver micro glitters and hex glitters it also has a few purple hex glitters too. This is so gorgeous by its self and would make a fantastic accent nail, this becomes opaque in 2 coats and was very easy to apply.

Mine's a Mocha is a dark chocolate brown creme, I am not a big fan of the colour brown but this is quite a nice shade and would be great for nail art if you were painting a tree trunk. This polish is opaque in 2 coats and also has an easy to apply formula. 

Members only is a very sheer nude creme with a golden shimmer, this is a great colour if your wanting your nails to look nice a neutral. It would be perfect for the work environment, this polish is opaque in 3 coats. 

Naughty or nice is another glitter polish, this one would not become opaque on its own but is a gorgeous glitter topper. It has a clear base with small pink and purple glitters along with some silver micro glitter, 

Pecan pie is a milk chocolate brown creme opaque in 2 coats, the formula was easy to work with and didn't have the problems of brush marks.

Rollercoaster is a another glitter packed full of periwinkle blue micro glitter and small blue hex glitters, this will become opaque by itself in 3 coats. This is a great winter colour just looking at this polish makes me think of ice and cold weather.

Sass pot is a dark purple creme with a gold shimmer, in some lighting this polish actually looks black on the nail. This is opaque in 2 coats and has a great formula, I recently used this for the base of my New Years Eve Manicure.

Speed Dial is a sheer orange creme opaque in 3 coats, this is a great colour for the autumn months and especially good if your looking for that perfect pumpkin orange.

Tweed and Tails is a moss green creme polish opaque in 2 coats. 

Twilight is a black creme with golden shimmer, this becomes opaque in 2 coats and the shimmer looks beautiful on the nail. This is a great colour if you wanting black nails but just want that extra it sparkle instead of going for just a normal black creme polish.

This barbie pink creme polish did not have a label so I am not sure of the name of this one (if you know please leave the name in the comments section below). This builds up to full opacity in 3 coats, be careful when applying the polish as it can sometimes leave brush strokes. I managed to get a good even layer when I used the three brush stroke method.

The last coloured polish in the advent calendar was Velvet Tuxedo, this is  silver metallic opaque in just one coat. 

The other 3 polishes I received are the cement base coat, this is supposed to be great at stopping staining to your nails. I also received the Underwear base coat which is suppose to grip the coloured nail polish to your nail for a longer lasting manicure. Then the last polish was the suspension top coat, this seals in your designs and I have heard is good for making decals. It can also be used to create your own glitter polishes as the glitters won't sink, it is supplied when you buy the Ciate nail lab.

The last three items are for nail art, there are green, white and red caviar beads to do the perfect Christmas caviar mani. Then you have pink and purple micro glitter and the last item in the calendar are the pink, red and gold sequins.

If you have made it all the way to the bottom of this post, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Overall I think this advent calendar is fantastic and will definitely be purchasing one again next year. Having never tried Ciate before this was a great way for me to get an idea of the brand, and I will definitely be picking them up if I see them in TKMaxx or on my travels. 

I hope you are all having a great nail day, hopefully will have my Christmas haul post up soon. Take care and chat soon.