Ciate Power Dressing

Ciate Power Dressing

This color was a bit of a surprise. I applied it inside one evening very low-light conditions and thought it was going to be this lovely dark eggplant-y purple. Then I go outside the next day and realize that it's a rather blue blue. I also realized that four coats wasn't enough to make it opaque. I don't know how many times I have to make this judgment error before I learn to turn on the light when I apply nail polish. Probably before some important job interview when I've accidentally applied a neon yellow thinking it's some mauve color. :P

Ciate Paparazzi

Ciate Paparazzi is one of the English polishes ilexica sent me. It's a vampy the exact red-brown colour of blood, somewhere between a creme and a jelly. Perfect in 3 coats, very shiny finish. This is with Seche Vite on top:

I really wasn't expecting to like this one so much - in the bottle it looks murky and boring, but on the nail it's clearly dark red and not black. One of my pet hates is when a dark polish needs so many coats to destreak that it just looks black on the nail... what was the point of that?? Huh??

This really does look the colour of a blood bag. The only real complaint I have is that if you get it on the cuticle and don't clean up properly, it makes your nails look inflamed. My left hand looks ok, but... my poor, poor right hand. >.<

I really love the Ciate bottles - it's the perfect shape and size to grip between my knees, which is my preferred polishing position! Sitting on ground in front of my computer (which is on a coffee table), knees up, bottle between knees, fingers on knee. Which brings me to something I've always been curious about - how do you polish? Where do you place your hands and polish bottle?

Terrible olympic nail art

I was expecting to be a total humbug about the Olympics (I think every British taxpayer has spent the last year wincing every time the word is mentioned) but I've actually really enjoyed it. It has happily coincided with two weeks off work for medical reasons where I've been stuck on the sofa, so it's been nice to watch all the sports, and in my home city. So I succumbed to the inevitable and donned some flags.

I am crap at nail art at the best of times. I am even worse at nail art when Small Naughty Cat has stolen both my clean-up and striper brushes (I tuck them into rolls of cotton wool, which she then abducts from the bathroom and hides around the house). Nonetheless, I had a go with an orange stick and regular nail polish brushes. The colours are Kiko 266 (which I got for the princely sum of £1.50), Ciate mistress and Illamasqua Scorch.

Are you all enjoying the Olympics? What's your favourite sport?

Vamps for October: Ciate Burlesque

I freaking love this polish. It practically applied itself. The brush was perfection and after two coats of thick, flowing opacity I had hardly any clean up to do. With a coat of Seche Vite it is ridiculously shiny and flawless, and it wore like teflon without chipping at all.

Even better, the colour is totally glorious. It is dark, but never black. Like an Eggplant purple but with a touch more blue. I would wear this polish again and again, and I really enjoyed wearing this mani.

Until, that is, I had a go at water marbling, and covered it in what looked like slug trails. I'm too embarrassed to show you all, but trust me, it was BAD.

Ciate Sharp Tailoring and Mojito

Today, one of my favorite Ciate polishes and one of my least favorite Ciate polishes...

Ciate Sharp Tailoring

I thought this was a very elegant color: a light greige with silver shimmer. (The shimmer may be gold, it's hard to tell.) It applied wonderfully in two coats. I wore this for four days and I believe this photo was taken on the third day of wear: virtually no tipwear and no chips at all with Gelous basecoat and Diamont topcoat. Oddly enough, I've had less time to do my nails during this summer and have been wearing my manis for longer than the regular school year.

Ciate Mojito

This one was definitely not worth the $13+ I paid for it. Four coats, still not completely even or opaque. And then it refused to dry and got all smudged and ruined two hours after I applied it. I love greens but because I love them, I have a thousand of them... and because I have a thousand greens, I don't want any not-completely-fabulous greens.

Thanks to everyone for their encouraging words re: my freaking out about my impending talk. I'm such a terrible public speaker... sometimes. Sometimes I'm actually pretty good and I can be very entertaining... but those are usually talks that I don't care about. I think I do well in them because I'm relaxed. I usually suck very much at talks where I really care about how I'm sounding. Take my second year talk: I fit a sixteen minute talk into the span of ten minutes. Uh, nerves get to me. This is the first time I'm facing a bunch of strangers and talking. Smart strangers! Scary smart strangers. That is, they are scarily smart... and they may just be scary. It'll get better with time when I start knowing people in this field more -- then there will always be a few friendly faces -- but this is throwing myself into the deep end. Glub, glub.

All serious concerns aside, I've been considering getting my nails Shellac'ed so I don't have to think about them the week leading up to the conference. There's one salon near me that does them... I think. They are listed on the CND website but I can't find any web presence (not even Yelp reviews) at all.

Ciate Refresher

LOL, looks like we're on a baby blue kick here at Polish or Perish...

Ciate Refresher

Pretty periwinkle creme. If you are careful and use slightly thicker coats, this can be a two-coater; I used three coats. I really like Ciate brushes: the bristles aren't that long but they are flat (without being too wide). Also, the formula usually does what you want it to do. Unless it's Lemon Sherbet or Mojito -- such frustrating polishes. But most of the other Ciate polishes I've used have been simply wonderful. I like this brand a lot for all that they cost a little too much and then with shipping from the UK factored in... *shudder*

Ciate Ladylike Luxe

I usually do my nails at night. I often take my showers in the morning (after which my nails flatten and my cuticles look destroyed for at least an hour). And I often have to be places other than home with my camera when sunlight comes creeping across my balcony. ...and I don't like taking photos of shimmers (or glitters) in my lightbox. So what happens is that I end up eating breakfast with an eye on the balcony for when sunshine starts creeping in enough for me to stick my hand into it for a shot. And when there is just enough sun, I run out and snap a pic real quickly...

Which is why some of my shots come out looking all crooked-like with uneven light.

Ciate Ladylike Luxe

This one needed sunlight though or else it would've looked pretty dull. It's a fairly ordinary gold that seems neither excessively warm or excessively cool. But it does become nice and shiny in the sunlight. It was opaque in two coats, though one nail needed a third coat. Dried quick. Easy application. My typical experience with Ciate so far. It's so non-essential to nail polish but I do love that little bow on the bottle. :)

Oh, and I forgot, Ciate having a 15% off all orders from their website. Code: CT15DS, expires: July 24th, 2010. I've had great experiences ordering from them: the last time I did (during this sale), they shipped (from the UK) only a few days after I put in the order and it got to me half a week later!

And now to celebrate the SO's birthday with his family! I'm currently in their hometown but he and I will be flying back home to the West Coast tomorrow.

Some miserable but beautiful yellows: Ciate Lemon Sherbert, Milani Totally 80s and Sally Hansen Expresso Yellow

I love yellows. I love buying them. I love forever being on the lookout for a great yellow. NONE of these yellows I am showing you today qualify as "great". Actually, they were all pretty miserable, application-wise. But they are so lovely!

Ciate Lemon Sherbert

Five coat misery. I was ready to throw this out the window at the fourth coat but persevered and it REALLY paid off. It's a lovely soft yellow and netted me a ton of compliments that day. Granted, I went outlet shopping that day and the saleswomen were all trying to sell me stuff but they could've complimented other things!

Milani Totally 80s over FingerPaints Papier Mache

There was no way this was going to get opaque in less than four coats so I went ahead and put a two layers of FingerPaints Papier Mache (a stark white) under it. Then I put three coats of the Milani on top of it. Still, I had yellow streaks on top of white streaks. So not sexy. The color was obviously brighter in person, as neons tend to dull when photographed. :(

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Expresso Yellow

I don't understand the name at all, besides that it rhymes. What really tweaks me is that Insta-Dri polishes are supposed to be one-or-two coaters and this one took six to become opaque AND non-streaky. Plus a LOT of topcoat to even it out. I'm actually cool with the Insta-Dri brush and generally am okay with the formula, but this was terrible. Looks fantastic and my nails are, like, hard as bone with it on... because there's like an inch of nail product on my nails right now.

Old NOTD: Ciate Apple & Custard

Ciate Apple & Custard

I just adore this warm celadon creme. It applied perfectly in two coats -- par for course for Ciate cremes, I'm finding -- and wore beautifully with Diamont topcoat. Not much else I have to say about it besides: I LOVE! :D This is quickly becoming one of my favorite brands for the quality of their cremes. Also, the cute little bow on the bottles.

School starts again tomorrow. Unfortunately, I managed to come down with an awful cold again: my throat was so sore last night that kept waking up from the pain. :( I guess it'll be a lot of sleep for me today.