5 Ciate favourites

December just gone I finally got my hands on a Ciate advent calendar (you can see my review here). Behind every door I got such a variety of different shades, colours, glitters and shimmers. It was such a lovely advent calendar so I thought I would share my top five shades from it with you. When I put them all together they actually look super pretty next to each other, which I was secretly pleased with. I have previously tried Ciate nail varnishes so I know they are great quality and worth it.

The mini size of these nail varnishes are great! It actually means I may finish one for once! They are super cute and easy to take a few more with you than usual when you are travelling. As I mentioned the range of colours I received was incredible and I could have chosen many more for this post but wanted to stick to five. So onto the shades I picked as my favourites..

First on the far left is a shade called 'pillow fight' which is a muted purple/grey colour. It's such a beautiful colour and perfect for this time of the year. Next to that shade, up the top, is a similar shade but in blue which is called 'chinchilla'. If you follow me on Instagram (@natalieellis23) then you will have seen my post wearing this exact shade. Again perfect for this time of the year. Underneath that shade is a glitter called 'snow globe'. It has iridescent chunks of glitter included and also small pieces too. It is honestly the prettiest glitter shade and would look perfect over any of the two polishes I've just mentioned. Back up to the top is a shade called 'starlet'. I don't know if this kind of polish has an exact name but it's kind of pearlescent and in different lights it looks different colours. Such as grey, blue, purple and gold. It's such a beauty and I'm not sure any photo would do this justice. The final shade is called 'fit for a queen' which is simple a plain silver shade. The glitter is intense and just looks amazing by itself on the nails.

There we have it, 5 Ciate favourites which fit into the January blues category pretty well. They will cheer up any girls nails this dreary month. I honestly cannot wait to continue testing out the rest of the nail varnishes I received in the advent calendar. I'd love to hear your favourite Ciate polishes and I hope you all had a lovely weekend :-)

Bourjois Laser Toppings in Aqua Purple

After having 10 days off from work going back to it has certainly been difficult! I had a lovely time away just simply chilling with friends and family. I didn't want to go back as I'm sure many of you will understand but hey I have and am already feeling the tiredness. But anyway before I went away I quickly stopped at my local (work) Boots and picked up some goodies. Bourjois had a 3 for 2 offer on so I easily picked up three, this nail varnish top coat being one of them.

Laser Topping is a new range from Bourjois consisting of three colours and is a clear varnish which contains different coloured strips of glitter which Bourjois refer to as light reflecting fibres. The one I got is called Aqua Purple which contains flecks of pink and purple glitter. I've always been a sucker for glittery top coats and different effects so when I saw these I just had to pick one up. Mind you I was stood there for rather a long time deciding on the colour!

I paired this with my 17 Lasting Fix varnish in 'Woo Me' which is a lovely pale lilac. I really like the contrast between the two varnishes and also think over black or white this top coat would look really effective. I definitely think a nail varnish is needed underneath simply because the fibres are relatively sparse although I do think compared to other glitter top coats these do come out more so than others which surprised me. In the pictures above I used two coats of the Laser Toppings and was very happy with the outcome.

I did apply a top coat as I always do with my nail varnish as I find with this kind of top coat that it can leave a slightly rough finish on the nail. Also I found that a few of the fibres can sometimes poke straight up over the edge of your nail so I tended to try and use the brush to alter this or when it's dry just snip them off! The brush on these varnishes are quite wide which I like as it covers your whole nail in one sweep.

The other pain of glitter top coats is the removal. Now I can say this lasted up to around 6 days if I remember correctly which I was very impressed with. Then one night before I was heading out with my friends one whole nail of varnish just came off in one go! This annoys me sooo much (as I then had to pick all the others off) so I can't comment on the removal with nail varnish remover but the fact that they all peeled off nicely just before I headed out was a bonus.

Overall I really enjoyed using this top coat and found the look of it really interesting. It really caught the sunlight and glistened which was lovely. These are £5.99 in Boots which is a pretty reasonable price and would definitely recommend trying them and experimenting with what colour varnish to put underneath :)

I'd love to know if you've tried any of these polishes and if you've got any pictures on the different colours you used! xo

Floral Swing Dress

 

Dress: Asos

Watch: Michael Kors

Tights: Primark

Lipstick: MUA Shade 2

It feels like forever ago since I last did a post, it's been one of those weeks where I feel like I've got loads of new bits and bobs to blog about but literally just haven't got round to photographing anything. So here I am on my day off finally getting around to it! And I also apologise for the quality of the last picture, my camera decided to give up on me half way through taking these pictures so had to turn to my trusty iPhone but I only tried to use one of the pictures from there.

The weather is finally starting to look a bit more spring like out there *fingers crossed* and in this outfit post I have a long sleeved dress and tights on, error. If you follow me on twitter (@natalieellis23) then you may know that I sneakily did a bit of shopping on Asos the other night, but I couldn't resist they currently have a 70% off sale which is pretty darn amazing! I literally had to narrow my shopping bag right down before I even allowed myself to check out. 

This dress is one of the bits I ordered, I instantly fell in love with it. Although the black isn't so spring/summery I love the pastel lilac and mint flowers that cover the dress entirely. It's a gorgeous swing dress which I think is so versatile, in the pictures above I've literally just chucked it on but I think this could also be worn with a belt around the waist to give it a bit more shape. It also has a cute peter pan collar and I love collars so that's a winner with me. Although I've paired it with tights it's a nice length so can also be worn without them in the summer months to come. I've just made this look extra casual and when I popped out this morning I simply paired it with my converse. But the versatility of this dress is amazing so I think it can be totally dolled up for a night out with heels too.

Now I'll tell you the best part about this dress.. it was in the sale for £10!!! I'll give you a moment to compose yourselves... I know, I couldn't believe the price when I saw it and the fact that it was still in stock in my size was a total surprise. It was reduced from £28 so it was a huge bargain and who doesn't love a bargain hey! I also got another bargain whilst shopping from Asos that I will feature in another outfit post soon, if I decided to keep it, I'm humming about it at the moment! But also with free postage from Asos it's a total bargain so I'd head down there asap ladies :)

Are you a fan of the swing dresses? Hope you're making the most of the sunshine that has finally appeared xo