Recently I picked up Marie Claire magazine which had two free Ciate nail polishes. The shade I choose was Strawberry Milkshake along with a clear topcoat. This is my first Ciate product I've tried and I hope it's not representative of their other nail polishes since this one nearly drove me crazy while I was applying it.
Firstly the name Strawberry Milkshake is perfect for this shade, in the bottle it's a milky pale pink but on the nails it's a brighter, slightly darker pink if a topcoat isn't applied on the same day (as seen in the photo above far left.) In general I found that Strawberry Milkshake takes a long time to dry properly and set. The first time I wore this I didn't apply the topcoat for three days and by then the nail polish had time to dry and the topcoat didn't fully change the colour. The second time I wore this I applied topcoat about 80-90 mins later and the polish hadn't completely dried and the topcoat made the nail polish look lighter- a milky pale pink shade like you see in the bottle. The polish is opaque in two coats which isn't bad for such a light shade. However you will need three coats to stop it looking streaky. It also goes on unevenly as well. I realise this is mini sized nail polish and so the brush may not be as good as the full sized version, but I have read a few other unfavourable reviews for this particular shade.
The polish had some good points, the finish is very shiny and the second is that it lasts for quite a long while without chipping. The first time I painted my nails I went three days without a top coat, with only minimal wear and no chips (including typing and washing up dishes without gloves - I really should know better by now!) The Ciate Top Coat dries very quickly, much faster than my usual Butter London P.D. Quick topcoat and sets as hard as a rock. However it doesn't really protect your manicure from surface scratches and marks which was disappointing. My first manicure lasted 6-7 good days wear with less chipping than I normally experience with other polishes. The second time I used this applying the topcoat the same day the manicure lasted around 4 days before chipping.
For such a high end brand I expected the application to be much easier and the formula more easy to work with. However the lasting power does make up for this a little. I'm hoping that it might just be that this shade that isn't as good as the others. It hasn't put me off trying Ciate's other nail polish shades.
Let me know what other Ciate nail shades should I try in the comments.
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