Weekly Recap 31 January – 6 February 2022

Hi there! Happy Sunday! Today’s post is about the posts I’ve written this past week. Continue to read if you’re interested. x

Monday 31 Jan – January Favourites

Monday’s post was about my favourite products in January. Click here to take a look.

Tuesday 1 Feb – January Empties

On Tuesday I showed you which products I said goodbye to in January. Click here to read the post.

Thursday 3 Feb – Ciaté Liquid Velvet Oh Honey, Ciaté Eyeshadow Fierce (12 Days Of Ciaté London Calendar)

I didn’t post on Wednesday, but Thursday’s post was about 2 products from Ciaté’s 12 Days Of Christmas Calendar. Click here to read my review.

Friday 4 Feb – Small Haul! Boots, Wright’s, Little Soap Company, M&S, Botanical Lab & Nivea

And on Friday I posted about what I bought recently – 15 products in total. Click here to take a look.

And this is it for this week. Thanks for stopping by! On another note, next week will be face mask week, so I’ll be posting face mask reviews only. xo

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Ciaté Liquid Velvet Oh Honey, Ciaté Eyeshadow Fierce (12 Days Of Ciaté London Calendar)

Hi there! Today’s post is about 2 products from Ciaté’s 12 Days of Ciaté London Calendar – Ciaté Liquid Velvet Oh Honey and Ciaté Eyeshadow Fierce.

Let’s start with Ciaté Liquid Velvet Oh Honey which would have been “behind door number 1”.  On the front of the pack there’s the number 1 and a star, and on the back of the pack it says “Put on some lipstick and live a little”.

Oh Honey is a matte lip cream in a rich brown shade. It’s definitely not the most suitable shade for pale girls. Also, the name of the shade “Oh Honey” is just… 🙄 I might mix this shade with a lighter one but based on the formula, I’d prefer other lip creams, i.e. the cheap ones from Manhattan Cosmetics.

Onto Ciaté Eyeshadow Fierce! This eyeshadow would have been the 11th item in the calendar. The front of the pack displays the number 11 and the words “Beauty Shop”. On the back of the pack it says “Too glam to give a damn”. OK then!

When I freed the eyeshadow from its sleeve, I was disappointed to find a small eyeshadow tester. Not very glam! I appreciate the entire purpose of the calendar is to give an impression of what the brand has to offer. But the calendar was rather expensive (well, if you paid full price – mine was 50% off), and this kind of plastic tester isn’t really what most women would consider to be glamorous.

Personally, I love cheap stuff and I’m not ashamed of being a bargain hunter. Expensive fashion, beauty and jewellery have no appeal to me. But even I thought this was the cheapest looking eyeshadow sample I’ve ever seen. I must admit I felt some second hand embarrassment for Ciaté! 🤭

Since the packaging isn’t the most important thing about a product, let’s review the actual product. Looking at the eyeshadow in the tester pod, you’d expect a beautiful, velvety deep wine shade – rich and shimmery. Unfortunately, once applied, this shade turned out to be more of a colour-shifting rosey shade. It’s not a terrible shade, but it’s not what I wanted or expected. On a more positive note, the eyeshadow is highly pigmented and I haven’t experienced any fallout when I wore it.

If you’re interested, the photo above is what the calendar looks like. I will continue to test and review the remaining products!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Nail Of The Day – Revlon 040 Fuchsia Fever, Ciaté Showtime & Stamping With Maniology BM-XL217

Hi there! Today’s post is a Nail Of The Day post.

For this mani I painted my nails with Revlon 040 Fuchsia Fever (thumbs, index and middle fingers). This is a great polish. I love the colour, and I’m obsessed with the formula and the quick drying time.

For the images I used my Maniology (formerly Bundle Monster) BL-XL217 stamping plate.

The black polish I stamped with is Revlon Colorstay 270 Stiletto.

On the ring fingers and pinkies I used Ciaté Showtime (3 coats).

I liked the girly look of this mani. However, I didn’t enjoy removing the glitter. It’s normal for glitter top coats and polishes to be a bit more difficult to remove than regular nail polish, but this glitter polish was an absolute nightmare. I think I might have to buy peel-off base coat (in case I’ll ever wear this glitter polish again).

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Ciaté Liquid Velvet Delight, Ciaté Bamboo Bronzer Palm Island (12 Days Of Ciaté London Calendar)

Hi there! A while ago I bought this half price 12 Days Of Ciaté London Calendar. I don’t even know why I bought it, but since I have it, I thought I’d start giving the products in it a try. And today’s post is about 2 of the products from the calendar – Ciaté Liquid Velvet Delight and Ciaté Bamboo Bronzer Palm Island.

But before we get to the first 2 products, let me quickly show you the back of the calendar, so you can see the other goodies that I’ll be testing soon.

I’ve randomly picked 2 products to review – day 7 (Ciaté Liquid Velvet Delight) and day 9 (Ciaté Bamboo Bronzer Palm Island).

Ciaté Liquid Velvet Delight is a matte look lip cream. It would have been behind door number 7 in the calendar. On the front of the little box it says “Merry Kissmas”. On the back it says “On a bad day there is always lipstick”.

I’ve been wearing this lip cream on and off for a few weeks now, and I think it’s OK but nothing special. It also doesn’t dry properly, so it comes off rather easily. If you’d ask me to choose between the cheap Manhattan lip cream and this one, I’d pick the cheap Manhattan one because that one actually dries properly (and it still looks good).

Onto Ciaté Bamboo Bronzer Palm Island! This bronzer came in a little box with a London bus image on the front, and the phrase “Success is the only option because I like expensive makeup” on the back. Strange statement. 🙄

I don’t care for this bronzer at all. It has a strong orangey tinge which wouldn’t flatter anyone. I tried to use it as a blush, but it also doesn’t look good if used sparingly on the cheeks. Sorry, but this bronzer will go in the bin.

I’m more than happy to explore the other products in this calendar, and I’ll review them shortly!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Nail Of The Day – Ciaté Maybe Baby & Stamping With MoYou London Mexico 04

Hi there! Today’s post is about a mani I did last week. I haven’t done any special manis in a while, but I thought it’s more than about time for one again.

For this mani I painted my nails with Ciaté Maybe Baby (2 coats). This is a basic medium-brown polish.

I don’t really care for the shade, but it came with one the Ciaté Christmas calendars, so I thought I should at least give it a try. Result? Meh.

For the images I used my MoYou London Mexico 04 stamping plate. The black polish I stamped with is my beloved Revlon Colorstay 270 Stiletto.

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Nail Of The Day – Rimmel I ♥ Lasting Finish 702 Marshmallow Heaven & Ciaté Snow Globe (Nail Fail)

Hi there! I’ve got a Nail Of The Day post for you today.

For this mani I painted my nails with Rimmel I ♥ Lasting Finish 702 Marshmallow Heaven (2 coat). This is a great polish. I just love the colour and the formula.

The top coat I used is Ciaté Snow Globe. I had high expectations for this top coat, but it turned out to be a disappointment. It’s on the goopy side, there aren’t many flakies in this top coat, and those few that make it onto the nails are VERY stand-offish, so they get caught in everything.

I didn’t care for this mani at all… Onto the next one!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Nail Of The Day – Rimmel Lycra Pro 425 My Denim & Ciaté Party Shoes

Hi there! I’ve got a Nail Of The Day post for you today.

For this simple mani I painted my nails with Rimmel Lycra Pro 425 My Denim (2 quick and easy coats). This is a beautiful blue polish. I love the colour and the formula. And despite the intense colour, it doesn’t stain.

The glitter top coat I used it Ciaté Party Shoes (1 coat). This is a so-so top coat. The glitter is actually really cute, but the top coat has a strangely dull finish, so it requires an extra layer of clear polish or regular top coat on top. 🤦‍♀️

All in all, this mani looked alright. My husband liked it a lot, so I have no reason to complain.

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Nail Of The Day – Ciaté Cabaret & Foils

Hi there! Today’s post is a Nail Of The Day post.

For this mani, which I did about 2 weeks ago, I painted my nails with Ciate Cabaret (2 coats).

I’m not the biggest Ciaté fan, but this colour is really lovely. This particular bottle is finished now – well, there’s about 1ml of goopy polish left, but I can’t do anything with it. 🤷‍♀️

For the colourful accents I used some of my leftover rainbow foil.

I really liked this mani. I even filled in the tips and applied top coat daily to make the mani last longer!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Nail Of The Day – Galaxy Nails

Hi there! Today’s post is about a mani I did.

For this mani I painted my nails with Ciaté Reign Supreme (2 coats). This is an almost black purple shade. Really pretty!

I used a cheap white nail polish (I can’t remember which one) to sponge random white blobs onto my nails.

Then I sponged pink and purple nail polish on top of the white blobs – I used Ciaté Kiss Chase (pink), Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro 370 Wild Orchid (milky purple) and Ciaté Reign Supreme (purple).

The glitter top coat I used is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear 450 Ice Pop.

This isn’t my best galaxy mani, but I haven’t done any in a while, so it’s not too bad. I do need practice though!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Nail Of The Day – Ciaté Kiss Chase & Stamping With Pict You PY-J034

Hi there! Today’s post is a Nail Of The Day post.

For this mani I painted my nails with Ciaté Kiss Chase (2 coats). I’m not a big fan of “cute” pink colours like this – and that goes for pretty much everything – clothes, nail and lip products, accessories, etc. But I thought it would make a good base for stamping.

For the images I used my Pict You PY-J034 stamping plate and Revlon Colorstay 270 Stiletto.

I liked this mani very much, and I’m glad I was able to dig up this stamping plate again.  I have 200+ stamping plates (I should give some of them away). Looking for a certain stamping plate is needle in a haystack territory. But that’s 100% my fault!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde