Nails | Ciaté velvet manicure

I love Ciaté’s innovation kits and in the past I’ve tried the caviar manicure and colourfoil kit. I bought the velvet manicure last year but have only just got round to testing it out. I have to admit that I’m the most impatient person in the world and usually want to give up halfway through but that really wasn’t the case with this kit. Of all the variations I’ve tried, this one is definitely the easiest and virtually mess-free. If your impatience has prevented you buying Ciaté’s textured manicure sets, try this one first and then maybe work your way up!

In each box, you receive:

1 x 13.5ml Ciaté polish
1 x 8.5g tube crushed velvet
mini brush
plastic tray

I bought the kit in mink cashmere. The polish came in shade cream soda – a dull grey colour – with the velvet also grey. The mink cashmere kit is only currently available at Selfridges, but you can buy blue suede direct from Ciaté.

Firstly, ensure your nails are totally clean – I recommend wiping each with a little nail polish remover. Using the kit is incredibly simple and instructions are included within the kit.

1. Paint each nail with one coat of the polish provided and leave to dry
2. Work on each nail at a time and a second coat of polish
3. While wet, sprinkle a thick layer of the velvet fibres over the nail, using the plastic tray provided
4. Brush away the excess using the mini brush
5. Repeat stages 2 and 3. Leave to dry for 15 minutes

There’s no need for a top coat (obv) and once dried, the results are incredible. I really could not stop touching my nails, as weird as that sounds... The only downside to this kit is its longevity. I’m not sure how long I was expecting it to last, but after three days, they started to feel abrasive. Obviously it’s difficult to keep them protected when you’re in the shower or washing your hands, but at £14, you’d expect a bit better than that.

I do have to say there is SO much velvet though, so you can always re-paint – once I’d applied the product and tipped the excess back into the tube, barely any of it had gone. 8.5g sounds like very little but it’s great value for money when you consider how many times it can be re-used. I imagine my polish will run out before the velvet. It’s just a shame the effect is short lived.

Have you tried Ciaté’s velvet manicure? What were your thoughts?