An Early Christmas Present & Ciaté: Cupcake Queen Review

Good evening everyone! For all of you college students, let's celebrate the end of a fantastic semester! If you've been following my site for a while, you know that I've been a little MIA lately, business school will do that to you! Now I'm back home with my family for the next couple of weeks to relax and prepare for another intense few months of school. I'm hoping to switch up some of the upcoming posts, I hope you guys will like them!

Yesterday I was surprised with an amazing early Christmas present from my boyfriend, who I won't be able to see until New Years Eve. We both exchanged gifts early so that we could celebrate some holiday cheer together. I was so excited to see something that I was sad I had missed out on as I unwrapped his present... the Ciaté Mini Mani Month Advent Calendar.

The advent calendar features 21 mini Ciaté nail colors as well as three bottles of micro beads for a total of 24 days of polish. I opened up all but the 24th color, and there's an impressive variety of colors and types. I just think this is such a cool idea, seriously, one nail polish a day? You can sign me up for that anytime. I'm a big sucker for packaging, and Ciaté has excelled in this department with a beautiful box and adorable bows on each bottle. I decided to wear the first nail polish Cupcake Queen, a hot pink with subtle blue shimmer, on my nails today. It looks like I have candy on my nails! 

Consistency was great, I was able to get full opacity with two thin coats. Very even and easy to work with. One thing I do think could be improved is the shape of these tiny bottles. They're quite skinny and easily knocked over. I'm not familiar with the full sized bottle, so this may just be a problem for these minis.

two coats accompanied by Seche Vite top coat

Overall, I think a nail polish advent calendar is a fantastic idea and a wonderful gift. This is my first experience with any of Ciaté's products and I'm impressed so far! I hope more of these show up next holiday season. I hope every one's holiday is going splendidly!

China Glaze: Pink Plumeria

Neons have been all over the place this summer. Although I love bright colors, they've gotten a little bit redundant. The new colors coming out for fall have been a welcomed change and I can't wait until I can get my hands on some of them! As I was losing hope that I would ever find a unique neon, I found China Glaze's Summer Neons collection, which has shimmer in the colors, making these different from the countless other neons everywhere. Pink Plumeria is the polish I chose to get from this collection, because, well, look at it!

Pink Plumeria is a beautiful orange based pink. Leaning towards coral, but also a super Barbie pink in some lights. The superfine gold and pink shimmer makes this more unique than the other neons floating around, and also just give this such a beautiful depth and sheen.

I don't know if it was just the fact that I was painting my nails at three in the morning or that it was 90 degrees with a humidity of 98 percent outside, but I found the consistency of the polish a little bit thick and hard to work with, which is something I've come to expect from China Glaze neons. Also as a note, this dries matte so a top coat is necessary. Overall, I love this, what a gorgeous color!

Did anyone else decide to pick up this color, or any other colors from the China Glaze Neons collection? 

Zoya: Rica

My days as of late have been full of beaches and bonfires, which has been great, but sometimes you just need a good day to yourself. Today I've been busy watching loads of  Supernatural and eating junk food. Once in a while, the best feeling is that of being lazy! Something I love to do while watching my programs is nail painting of course, and today I chose this gorgeous little number: Zoya Rica.

Rica is a sheer hot pink based laquer filled with orange-gold, glas fleck shimmer that catches the light in every kind of atmosphere. These photographs really don't show how dazzling this color is. If there was ever a polish designed to depict the tones of a beautiful tropical sunset, this would be it!

two coats in direct sunlight, Seche Vite top coat 

two coats indoors with flash, Seche Vite top coat

Overall I love this color for summer. It's one of my older polishes and I haven't found another color like it. With its wonderful formula, two coats is just enough to be opaque. I've never had a problem with Zoya polishes, and it continues to be one of my most favorite brands at only $8 a bottle. Gorgeous color and such a steal! Hope your summers are all going wonderfully!