Thursday was an exciting day in the world of the beauty fanatic as it was the day that July’s women’s glossies hit the shops!  There were some great freebies this month but being the pauper that I am I couldn’t have them all, so I went for two – Glamour with the free Benefit Bad Gal Mascara sample (which I’ll be reviewing tomorrow… I may also pick up another copy for the Porefessional), and Marie Claire with a free full size Ciaté Paint Pot!  I have been wanting to try Ciaté nail varnish for AGES so I was sooo excited when I spotted this.  The freebie comes in three shades – a beigey pink colour, a bright pink called ‘Jelly Bean’, and the lovely lilac ‘Purple Sherbet’ that I went for.

Out of all the nail varnishes I own I think this Ciaté Paint Pot is my favourite in terms of looks.  The large curved bottle, tall slim lid, Ciaté logo and cute black bow are really elegant and would look lovely on any nail varnish display!  I’m also really impressed with the amount of product you get in each bottle.  Most of the full size varnishes that I own contain somewhere between 7ml and 12ml of product, but the paint pots are all a whopping 13.5ml.

When I applied the Ciaté paint the first thing I noticed was that it didn’t smell horrible!  As I’m sure you know, a lot of nail varnishes smell very strong, but Ciaté’s are all 3-free so there are no nasty chemicals to stink the room out and make your eyes water.  They’re also not tested on animals which endears me to them even more!

Now, the application itself was absolutely beautiful.  The paint is very creamy and the perfect consistency so there’s no running or glooping.  I usually find that pastel nail colours need three or four coats to create an opaque look, but with this I only needed two, which is great as it means the bottle will last me even longer!  The brush is quite wide so it applied easily with no streaking, and it dried fantastically quickly. It has a jelly finish too which is my all time favourite finish :)

The above picture was taken a day after I applied it, and I’m not wearing a top coat. It still hasn’t chipped or peeled either which suggests amazing lasting power!!

I’m also really impressed with the shade of this ‘Purple Sherbet’.  I’ve tried pastel lilac colours before and they’ve had a grey or blue tinge, making them look a bit dull, but Ciaté’s has a gorgeous pink hue so it looks nicely girly.  My mum is in love with the colour too and wants some for herself!  I better hide it I think.

We all know really that companies give products away with magazines as advertising, and this time it has worked on me – I am now a complete Ciaté convert!  I know I’m going to have to buy some more at some point.  Ciaté Paint Pots usually retail for £9 each, so they are DEFINITELY worth the £3.70 that you pay for the magazine…  Oh and there is also a 25% off Ciaté voucher code printed in the magazine as an extra bonus, but you might as well just buy a few copies of Marie Claire if you want more than one colour!

Which glossy mags did you buy this month for the freebies?

Naomi xx