2013 Ciate Advent Calendar

The Ciaté Mini Mani Month Advent Calendar was the first advent calendar I had bought. Unlike the purpose of an advent calendar (counting down the days 'till Christmas), I ended up opening all the little trinkets the day I bought the box. I had never bought or tried Ciaté nail polish before, but I always thought their colors were lovely.

I'm all for mini nail polish sizes. For all the options and nail polishes we buy, I wonder how many of us can finish the whole bottle before it goes all icky and gooey? And the collection of nail polishes keep piling up and soon, you start feeling guilty for spending and buying so much before even finishing them! Bleh. So, I suggest a smaller sized nail polish which allows consumers to buy more, try more, and spend less. Voila!

So, this Ciaté mini nail polish set was ideal for me. The price was affordable ($58) for 24 nail polishes you get to try. I've tried about six or seven of them already. I've picked my favorite four of them (going left to right):

• Tweed and tails - a perfect military khaki green
• Main Stage - plum, plum, plum is all
• Snow Globe - best extra layer of sparkle texture/ it looks like glass in your nails
• Boudoir - the reddest of the red, the truest of them all/ reminds me of Marilyn Monroe
• follow my Instagram and you can see how the colors look on my hands aka swatches

The box also came with the little filter looking plastics so you can use the caviar pearls without spilling them all over. I still haven't mastered how to wear them and make them look good, but they are pretty to just look at!

Ciaté in general has lasting-power (like really long lasting-power), great easy to use brush (by far, one of the best), and lovely colors. It is pricey, but if you get it as a set like this, I think it's quite worth the money. 

I am sure to pick another one of these for next year! It probably is also a perfect gift idea to give to a friend :)