MY PICKS FROM THE CIATÉ MINI MANI MONTH

I thought I had resisted the whole 'beauty advent calendar' thing, but when I went to the Clothes Show Live on the 9th, the Ciaté stand were selling off the Mini Mani Month for £10. Yep, a tenner. I couldn't resist, and now I think I have enabled an annual tradition for me... Oops.

24 mini polishes are included, ranging from caviar, glitter, sequin, pastels, brights, and dark colours, and I will be sharing my favourites of the bunch with you.

L-R: Dallas Dolly, Snowglobe, Twinkle Toes, Pink Caviar

Starting with the 'effect' ones, my favourites have to be the Sequin in Dallas Dolly, which is just full on festive, with a range of glitters in gold, red, and olive-green tones. Another I like, but am yet to try is the Glitter in Twinkle Toes, a holographic glitter, which would be messy, but I think would be worth it for a New Year's Eve accent nail. The caviar ones are still waiting for my seal of approval, I like the effect, but they didn't last long. One I do like is a topcoat, which is called Snow Globe full of iridescent flecks and flakes, almost a pastel version of Gosh Rainbow.

L-R: Sugar Plum, Pepperminty, Hoopla, Candy Floss, Chinchilla

The pastels basically owned it in this calendar, and they will be getting a lot of wear throughout spring. I am slightly obsessed with mint green, so Pepperminty got me very excited when I opened the door. Hoopla is such a cute colour. It is peachy, pinky and just incredible. I don't even know how to explain it, I just love it. Another one is Sugar Plum, which is a pastel, pale, lilac-purple colour, which adore. The other 2 pastels are also stunning, and go by the name of Chinchilla and Candy Floss.

L-R: Playdate, Hopscotch, Main Stage

Onto the brights, and there are only 3 I would class as all that 'bright'. The first is Hopscotch, which is a true orange, and believe it or not, I don't actually own any of those (I have an OPI, but it is slightly more red I believe), so this will be worn a lot in the summer. Another is Main Stage, which isn't even all that bright, but I included it in this section anyway. It is a nice medium-dark pink/fuchsia colour, and is Playdate which is a bright, slightly red pink, which is just so summery, and I want to slather it all on my nails now. 

L-R: Starlet, Tweed and Tails, Encore!, Boudoir

Onto the dark colours from the bunch. First up, is Starlet a duochrome bottle of magical-ness. You think it's purple, then it is slightly olive, then it is full on emerald - love. Boudoir is just a classic red, which suits me really well (sadly a rare occurrence for me and red polishes), and is just so classy. Tweed and Tails is something completely original in my collection, being what I would describe as a dusty khaki, and is so Autumnal. Finally, we have Encore! which is a slightly darkened and muted orange, which is another autumnal one, although you could definitely make it work all year round. 

It seems I've been bitten by the beauty advent calendar bug, but I guess we will have to wait another year to find out if I buy one..