Ciate Rainbow Caviar Set Swatch and Review

It was my birthday this weekend and pondered the question every lacquerista ponders during their birthday, "so, uh, birthday nails?"... Then I gazed at my massive pile of untried polishes and sets and the choice was clear: Ciate's Rainbow Caviar. It's PERFECT! One of my best friends picked this up for me for Christmas and I was THRILLED! They look like cupcakes and it makes sense!

So, here we go. (Also, it's the first time I've tried using a black background and I think I like it! Hope you do too.)



Here's the packaging it came in and it's so gorgeous. The photo is awesome! It's a little silly because the beads are definitely not supposed to be used on the face whatsoever but it's such an awesome photo and definitely close to some of the candy ideas I've had floating in my mind for photoshoots.

The set comes with: 1 bottle of rainbow "caviar" micro beads, 1 bottle of "Strawberry Milkshake" paint pot nail lacquer, 1 funnel, instructions, and the plastic casing the bottles are stored in can be used as a bead catching tray.

The formula on Ciate Strawberry Milkshake is very smooth and dries fast. I don't think I've worked with a formula quite like this. It's very milky! You get a very good foundation with 1 coat, but I used 2 for full coverage.

As for the caviar part, it is suggested to work with one nail at a time. Paint one coat, let dry, and on the second coat, while it's still wet, sprinkle the caviar microbeads with the tray underneath to catch the excess. This part was surprisingly very fun. You're then instructed to "Press gently to secure the beads" and this part for me was kind of tedious. Maybe my fingers get sweaty or something when I am painting my nails, but when I pressed down (even gently), I would pick some of the beads up. It wasn't too bad though, I didn't get many bald spots on my caviar highlight nail.



I used Seche Vite top coat on the Strawberry Milkshake nails but left the caviar highlight nail without top coat. It is recommend that if top coat is a must, to only use it on the tips. Just as an experiment, I used top coat afterwards and it looked awful. The colours were lost and the nail felt weighted. Definitely do not use top coat.

It says the manicure lasts for 48 hours but I personally could not handle having it on for more than a day. It was really pretty and fun to look at but I just kept picking at it! I think the Ciate caviar sets are great for perhaps an all-day party. I am sure that it's quite possible to get 48 hours and maybe for some, even more but I would rather not have the little beads lost, especially if you have pets or kids around the house.

Anyway, I had quite the birthday find! I FINALLY found the liquid sand polishes from OPI's Mariah Carey collection! I already swatched them but I've got more to post from the pipe this week so perhaps I'll post em next week.