This is actually my first year with the Ciaté advent calendar, and my first experience with any Ciaté polish in general! I've always admired them from afar but could never find them in brick-and-mortar stores, and I wasn't enamored enough with any of their shades to justify an online order. That is until my mom gifted me this calendar for my birthday! Thanks mom, I love it. ♥
This calendar also features Ciaté's brand new Plant Pots. Not only are they enriching for the nails with a formula featuring bamboo, biotin, and bakuchiol, they're environmentally friendly -- the glitter is biodegradable. How awesome is that? As somebody who tries their best to recycle and do good for the earth, I love this!
How this will work: I will wear every nail polish on its designated day. I'll take a pic for each day, and split this up over 3 posts. Why am I doing this, you ask? Cuz it's fun, that's why! :P
Here we go!
Color: Soft shimmery pink with small gold & pink glitter
Number of coats: 2
Wow, okay. I was NOT expecting this shade to cover so well. There's a bit of VNL in person, and 3 coats would totally remedy this -- I just like it slightly sheer. What a wonderful shade to get me into the Christmas spirit! The gold flash is definitely the overarching feature of this polish, as you can see, but the baby pink base and sparse pink glitter (seen more accurately in the bottle) spruce it up a little. I'm definitely a fan!
(P.S. This totally doesn't need top coat. Not only is it quite shiny on its own and free of any grittiness, it dries lightning quick! I'm really loving this formula so far.)
Day 2: Amazing Gracie
Number of coats: 3
Well, I guess they can't all be winners...
After yesterday's spectacular sparkly kickoff, I was expecting something a liiiittle more interesting. This is just your run-of-the-mill so-pale-it's-almost white pink creme, and not a particularly noteworthy one. Of course, it's got that awesome fast-drying formula, but that's about all I can give it. It’s painfully boring, it brings out the red in my skin, it's patchy even after 3 coats... I remember now why I tend to avoid pastels like this.
(My only compliment? It has a slight thinning effect on my hands IRL.)
Color: Um... it doesn't have one
Number of coats: 1
As I was opening up day 3's door, I muttered to myself, "please don't be pink". I guess I got my wish! It's just a clear base coat, and a watery one at that. Well, whatever. I guess it's good to get a look at your natural nails every now and again.
(I promise my nails aren't this yellow in person!)
Day 4: Violet Haze
Coats: 2
Now here's something fun! This is a really hard color to try and describe. It veers blue, but it's most definitely purple. It's vibrant, but not bright. The color is quite rich. See how attempting to describe this reduces me to baby sentences? I definitely have some comments to make about the formula though - hard to work with, patchy, and stinky. I don't know what it is about colors in this niche (vibrant blue/purple cremes) that always smell so much... it must be something to do with the pigments. Oh, and it also doesn't dry as fast as the others, so quick dry top coat is recommended. While I wasn’t a huge fan at first, this color definitely grew on me with time... I think I’ll be revisiting this one.
Color: Vibrant coral creme
Coats: 2
Oh, how I wish they'd have saved this for day 7... that would have been too perfect! Anyway, this is a nice color. Not something I'd usually choose, but cheery and fun nonetheless. Nice fast-drying formula, kinda patchy and uneven but I don't feel like adding a third coat. Not much to say about this one.
Day 6: Top Coat
Color: none, again
Coats: n/a
I just skipped to day 7...
Day 7: Moondust
Color: Medium purple with abundant golden microglitter
Coats: 2
Now THIS is what I'm talking about! So, so, so pretty. The heavy shimmery glitter almost cancels out the purple base, but it's thankfully still visible. The glitter is so rich, and it could just be my eyes playing tricks on me, but I think I see a few errant blue and pink particles mixed in. I'm actually really happy that I opened day 7's door early, so now I get to wear this for 2 days!
Day 8: Peachy Cheeks
Color: Terracotta creme
Coats: 2
Ehh... it might make a nice nude if you've got darker skin. On me, it's just... not great. A little too warm. It's opaque in 2 coats and has a good formula, but aside from that... I don't have much to say about this one.
Going forward, I think I'll open these on their designated days but swatch them all on one day. I just don't like the damage that taking off nail polish every single day is doing to my nails. Even when I use non-acetone, I feel like my nails are crying out to be left alone. And while it's fun to paint my nails with a new color every day, I'd rather they be healthy and undamaged. So I'll still be posting about this advent calendar, but the swatches may be a little different. I might also post about my manicures in between these swatches.
Anyways, thanks so much for reading. And until next time... PEACE! xoxo
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