Ciate Velvet Manicure Berry Poncho

I have nothing to disclose. This item was a gift.

 Today I have something fun to share with you. My sister got me 2 of the Ciate sets for Christmas and I just never got around to trying them out so this past week I took out Berry Poncho.

(This is a picture of some of my Christmas goodies from my sister.)

This was my first time working with flocking powder, and I'm definitely going to have to buy more of it. It was pretty easy to work with although it did make sort of a mess. I was impressed with how quick the polish dried, also. The directions said to wait 15 minutes after application to touch, and it really did take less than that for my nails to set up.

 The directions state that you should sprinkle the "velvet" onto your nails. I found this very difficult to do. The stuff just didn't want to come out of the container so I said screw it, took the lid off and gently placed each nail inside the container. With the little brush that was included in the set, this was no problem to clean up.

I do want to mention that the polish included in this set, Cabaret, was very very.. well, smurfy. It definitely stained my fingers and made a mess trying to get it all off. The color itself is pretty unique.. it's very pretty and looks quite different in different light. Sometimes it looks more raspberry purple, other times it looks more of a wine color.

(here's a shot in the shade.)

(and another in even darker light.)

So, I ended up following the directions mostly to a T with this, but then I didn't think there was enough fluff on my nails so I ended up doing a second coat. It worked out just fine. This manicure lasted about 2 days before it started to mildly chip, and I actually was able to wear it for about 4 or 5 days. When I removed it, I still had most of the fuzz on most of my nails.

There's just a couple of problems with this product:

A) it's Ciate, and I know they're infamous for stealing blogger ideas and then claiming them as their own products.

B) This set is EXPENSIVE at about $20 at stores like Bloomingdales, Sephora, etc.. if you're thinking about venturing out into the world of flocking, do yourself a favor and buy some flocking powder online or from craft stores. You can get a large set like this one for a lot less, and you'll get a range of different colors. I definitely need to pick up some more flocking powder myself one of these days.

C) everything sticks to these nails, be warned! here's what happened when I was picking homemade noodles off of my kitchen table. Fortunately just the flour stuck to my nails and not the noodle dough!

Have you tried flocking powder yet? What do you think of it? Also, have you tried any of Ciate's other sets? I still have 1 more to try out sometime!