Ciaté Own Brand : Mini Mani Month Review

Mini Mani Month advent calendars I think are exceptional value for money, providing you with 24 different polishes to try before you buy.  Getting the opportunity to try out 24 shades for £42 is extremely fantastic value for money, considering each full polish will set you back £9.  2013’s Mini Mani Month held high expectations with 2012’s green giant sized shoes to follow.  Needless to say, I became very disappointed very quickly, which was a shocker to me too – I’m an avid Ciaté nail varnish user!  I first pre-ordered this as soon as they were announced on the Ciaté website, only to discover later on in the year that there 2 different versions, one with QVC and one with SpaceNK.  This did rattle my cage a little bit, if I’d have known this I would have probably waited and tried a different version, but I stayed with this version.

The advent calendar arrived and I couldn’t wait to start opening up the windows and see what goodie greeted me each day.  As December fast approached it was out on my dresser ready and waiting!  The time had finally arrived, which was almost as exciting as eating the roast on Christmas Day, however, it turns out  nothing can actually beat that roast...  A wise word to others, please note, it is highly important to open your advent calendar first thing in the morning before looking at your Instagram or Facebook as Ciaté had a tendency this year to reveal the image before I had opened my windows for a large majority of the days which ruined the surprise factor a little bit.  Once over the shock I took a look at the pictures seeing which colours had been provided in the other calendars, I can safely say, in my opinion, the Ciaté Own Brand Mini Mani Month provided the least variation and boldness in colours this year.  They were mainly nude colours or extremely very pale colours, which don’t get me wrong are great, but comparing this calendar to 2012’s and the others available in 2013 I wasn’t best impressed.

My family and friends even had a rest and didn’t have to hear me rant and rave about the calendar this year, in my opinion, it really didn’t live up to its expectations.

Behind window number 1 held my absolute favourite polish, snowflake, which really did look like snowflakes on your nails when painted over a base colour.  (Click here and you can see this on my nails with Emerald Green as the base).  However, there were a large amount of nude colours which would require an awful lot of layers to hold any pigmentation, providing that strong colour.

(There is one bottle from my calendar above, I gave it to my mother as she has just discovered the Speed Coat and I had half a bottle left!)

Here’s a list of the colours provided in this 2013’s Ciaté Own Brand Mini Mani Month:

Snow Globe - 5ml

Boudoir - 5ml

Ferris Wheel - 5ml

Hopscotch - 5ml

Sugar Plum - 5ml

Fit for a Queen - 5ml

Kiss chase - 5ml

Amazing Gracie - 5ml

Pepperminty - 5ml

Encore - 5ml

Party Shoes - 5ml

Confetti - 5ml

Members Only - 5ml

Play Date - 5ml

Ivory Queen - 5ml

Locket - 5ml

Pillow Fight - 5ml

Speed Coat - 5ml (quick drying top coat)

Underwear - 5ml (base coat)

Caviar Pearls – Frost Yourself

Caviar Pearls – Christmas Tree

Glitter – Jingle Belle

Sequins – Miss Mistletoe

Pink Glitter - full size (13.5ml)

The Ciaté Mini Mani Month, a reason enough for Christmas to come flying around each year.  The thought of opening a magical window each day to reveal a stunning nail polish for a whole 24 days, unbelievable!  I first purchased the Mini Mani Month in 2012 and was absolutely besotted by it, my friends and family were probably sick of me going on and on about it, but there weren’t enough words to tell you how wonderful it was.  The colours were bold, nude and just stunning, a wide variety of bespoke caviar blends, some festive glitter polishes and even a sequin to take your fancy from, what was there not to like?!  Clearly a lot of other Ciaté lovers felt the same as the calendar sold out extremely quickly, flying off the shelves everywhere!  I ended up buying mine from QVC, the only place that had them left, thank you QVC!  2013 however, there seem to be a lot of Mini Mani's still to be sold, and I'm sorry Ciaté but I can understand why after opening my 2013 advent calendar.

I’m a little startled myself to be writing a not so positive  review of a Ciaté product as I have had no problems or issues with them before, they’re my favourite nail varnish brand, however, unfortunately this year I wasn’t taken blown away by this version.  My pearl of wisdom to any other nail polish addict who loves the sound of this advent calendar for 2014 is to wait and see if Ciate bring out any sister Mini Mani Months and take your pick, don’t just rush on and place a pre-order!

Going by the Instagram pictures which Ciaté themselves posted, I think that the SpaceNK Mini Mani Month in 2013 offered the most variation in colours and surprises!

If you fancy giving this calendar a go and making up your mind, then check out the Ciaté website for their own brand version at a sale price of £21, the Space NK for their version (this one is still full price at £42), or the QVC website where their calendar is priced at £37.50.

Elaine xo