I'm an absolute nail addict and one day one of my friends mentioned Ciate nail polishes. This was a brand I'd never heard of which lead on to my curiosity of who they are. Having looked at their website my friend suggested I buy the Ciate Nail Lab because the fact I love to make things and that I love painting my nails strongly lead me on to buying it.
Last week I posted this video where I did a quick tour of what's inside the Ciate Nail Lab:
I also bought the Ciate base coat called "underwear" and their speed coat which is their fast drying top coat. I'm a nosey person so I wanted to see what their nail polishes were like and went ahead with the Mini Paint Palette which is a small collection of their mini nail polish shades.
Another thing that took my interest was their Chalkboard Manicure because I'd never seen anything quite like it. I only saw this after I bought the Nail Lab and Mini Paint Palette so I decided to treat myself to it at some other point.
Quick note:
If your order is over £40 you get free delivery. Mine came to almost £50 so it wasn't that bad (plus there was a sale) so it was well worth it.
This is how the Nail Lab looks like at the front. It has three drawers (which I will show you as you scroll down on this page) and each drawer has different tools you can use to create your own nail polish shades.
It also has six nail polishes with two nail polish slots to hold your nail polish bottles upright and a round tube slot in the middle. In the green round area you simply place your plastic petri dish on it (as directed) and use it to mix your nail polishes on it so you can test out what kind of shades you can make.
Below: Side views of the kit from the outside
Even the back of the box has a paint palette which I think comes in handy if you'd like an idea or some inspiration on the different colours you can make.
One thing that surprised me a little bit here are that there are only two empty bottles that you can use to put your own nail polishes in and the rest are top coats. I'm not sure why this is but if you're thinking about buying a top coat from their website and bought this kit there's no need to (which I think is good in a way but it would be better if there were only one or two top coats and the rest of the bottles can be for your creations).
This second drawer has some glitter and two empty bottles alongside it so that you can mix the glitter if you wish with the small funnel provided in the last drawer.
Below: A closer view of the glitters
In this last drawer you get some nail tools on the left and two tubes for you to mix glitters (if you don't use the bottles for it). Your trusty petri dish on the bottom right and six metal nail polish balls so that you can mix your nail polish colours while they're in the bottle. You can use one or two but I like using two to get a better mix.
In my opinion this kit could have been better if they didn't give you the cosmetic sponges because it's so widely available although I understand that you might want to use it for the ombre looks it still didn't seem worth it. Not a big deal but just a minor adjustment they could have made.
Quick note: Don't use nail polish remover to remove nail polish from the petri dish. I think it could have been glass instead of plastic because once I finished mixing my nail polishes I ruined the bottom part of the dish with nail polish remover.
These are all the nail art tools that were on the left side of this kit and I think what they give is reasonable but just make sure to take good care of these tools for the best long lasting results.
Above: A close up of the tools in this kit
And now for the verdict
Pros
- The designs on the nail cards are pretty simple to do and the instructions are easy to follow so it would suit a beginner at nail art.
- The layout of the drawers is organised and doesn't look too cluttered.
- A good amount of glitter is given which allows you to create as many combinations as possible.
- Top coat is included in the kit so that you can seal your designs.
- On the top drawer there is a designated area to mix your nail polishes and position your nail polish bottles and tubes. This avoids spillages and helps to be more organised when creating your nail polishes.
Cons
- This kit was originally £65 and I bought it on sale for £25 so if you're not willing to pay the full price it can be expensive.
- The petri dish is plastic and can corrode if you put nail polish remover on it so avoid doing this if you don't want to ruin your dish. I did this and was quite surprised to see it got damaged.
- Some of the resources in this kit I feel are unnecessary such as the nail file and the make up sponges because they're cheap and easily accessible elsewhere such as a drug store, supermarket or even a pound shop.
Thoughts
- At least four extra empty bottles could have been given instead of suspension top coats (which I don't understand why there are so many) as I think it would give people more of a chance to create their own nail polishes.
- More metal mixing balls could have been given as I don't think six is enough. Eight would have been ideal.
- I think a glass petri dish or any other materials that won't get damaged by nail polish remover would be hugely beneficial instead of a plastic one.
- Instead of a metal cuticle pusher a plastic one would have been better as it's softer on the nail and not too harsh.
- A double ended nail art brush would have saved space seeing as the other two tools are double ended as well.
- A colour wheel would have been a good idea so that people can get an idea of what kind of colours they can achieve if they mix certain colours together.
- A base coat would have been useful to protect and avoid damage to the nails.
Mini Paint Palette
On the Ciate website I noticed that they didn't show the specific nail polish shades that you get in their Mini Paint Palette set so I'm going to show you what you get in this kit.
You can also watch my video that I made below this post where I give you a demonstration of how each colour looks on your nails.
Subscribe to my channel while you're over there :)
I thought the colours could have been more limited edition and the reason I say this is because I found three of the same shades from the Nail Lab which made me feel like I bought the same thing twice.
The three shades that the Nail Lab and the Mini Paint Palette have in common are Mistress (the bright red shade on the right), Power Dressing (the dark blue shade next to Mistress) and Amazing Gracie (the light pink polish above Power Dressing).
Pros
- The polish is long lasting up to a week. Always make sure to use a good base and top coat to avoid damaging the nails and prolong your nail polish.
- The formula is smooth and glides on beautifully.
Cons
- Almost half of the kit has transparent glitter nail polishes which doesn't give the opportunity to try more colours in such a small kit.
Thoughts
- The colours could have been more varied as there are three shades of red including the glitter polish and not enough of a distance between the colours. I feel that green, yellow or purple would have been a nice twist.
So overall I'd say both of these kits would benefit anyone who loves good quality nail polishes and is a nail maniac (like I am). I think the light colours are really versatile with nail stamps because I stamp my nails a lot.
For those of you who've never heard of nail stamps before take a look at this video below:
In the next 24 hours I'll be posting my new video based on this blog post so if you want to see it come on over to my channel and subscribe while you're over there :)
If you have any questions, thoughts or comments leave a comment below or contact me
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Love Nina xXXx
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