So as we all know, it’s our good ole Queen’s Diamond Jubilee this weekend. I love celebrating being British, and I have a lot of respect for much of the Royal family. I decided to attempt Union Jack nails… they look a LOT worse in the photos than they seem to in real life, I suppose because you tend not to scrutinise real life nails like photographs allow you to! My brother thought I had nail wraps on, which is good enough for me!

If you look at my nails out of focus then they don’t look so bad 😉 This is the illusion real life has given my nail art 🙂

I used:

• Barry M Navy
• Barry M Matt White
• Boots 17 Knockout Red
• Rimmel Pro Superwear Ultra Shine Topcoat
• Nail Art Brush set

Now I am not blessed with ambidexterity. I struggled using my dominant (right) hand for this so, if you want to see how my right hand turned out, well, prepare yourself for a nail fail!

I didn’t even bother to clean up – sadly I am walking round with my right hand still looking like this. Ah well.

What nails are you sporting for the Jubilee?

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Disclaimer: Everything mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.

I’ve never really been a lover of taupey shades. But this one has won my heart over! There are three Ciaté shades being given away free with this month’s Marie Claire, in ‘Bon Bon’, ‘Jelly Bean’ (pink with blue shimmer) and ‘Purple Sherbet’ (lilac creme). I accidentally picked up all three – oops! Though for £3.70 you really really can’t go wrong – I always say that Ciaté have unbeatable quality and are worth every bit of the £9 they retail at, so this is a total bargain!

The three Ciaté shades free with Marie Claire are all ‘new’ shades, in that you can’t actually buy them usually, Ciaté have produced them specifically for the magazine. But, unless I’m very much mistaken… they are all very similar to three shades in Ciaté’s permanent line. I think Bon Bon is pretty similar to Ciaté Iced Frappe – can anyone confirm this?

I love this shade, it’s ever so flattering and I think it will look fab on all skin tones. It’s very office-friendly and work appropriate, and also very subtle for those of you who don’t like to wear bold colours on your nails. I reckon this would make a super-sophisticated pedicure!

Application:

One word: flawless! The photos all show 2 coats – the polish was pretty much opaque at one but the shade is buildable – at one coat it is a paler, pinkier finish and at two we have the shade as shown in the photos. The polish dries quickly, and dries to a high shine. As always with Ciaté, the brush handle makes for good control of the polish and the brush itself is the perfect width, thickness and shape for a neat, beautiful application.

Would I pay £9 for this shade? I’d have to save up, and I personally don’t tend to go for taupes but this one I would most probably splurge on! Would I pay £3.70 for it? Absolutely!

Have you tried any of the Marie Claire x Ciaté shades yet? Which one is your favourite?

x

Disclaimer: Everything mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.