Ciate Marie Claire Freebies - Pocket Money and Sand Dune

Perusing the magazine section in my local Asda a couple of days ago and I happen upon the May issue of Marie Claire. I don't normally read fashion magazines - I'm what people would politely term "plus size", haha - but I do like to have a nose and see what freebies are on offer. Thats how I got my first Nails Inc polishes after all.

This month's freebie with Marie Claire is one of two full size bottles of Ciate, in either Pocket Money...

... or Sand Dune.

I decided to have a go with Pocket Money first, as I'm quite fond of the whole Clay Rose colour. Its a nice, interesting colour that can either be worn quite plain for work or serious occasions, or jazzed up with accents to form the base of super pretty manis.

It looks a bit more pinky in the bottle than it does on the nail, but it goes on really well. The first coat is a little streaky, but the second fills it out amazingly, leaving it opaque in only 2 coats. I added a third out of sheer habit, and then topcoated with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri topcoat. It had quite a nice shine on its own, but I have an awkward bit of my ring finger nail that bends oddly and shows up really strangely on photos so it needed top coating to fill that out.

End result - a gorgeous work or base colour for a mani, sophisticated and refined and really good for application. Plus, who can say no to a £9 bottle of polish for free with a £3.80 magazine?

Obviously, I didn't stop at just one magazine. 

With a little Scotch tape to tape off my accents, I jazzed up Pocket Money with Sand Dune. The gold looks great against the fairly neutral background, and the coverage on Sand Dune is great. It is a quite rough polish without a top coat though, however its not really a down side - not only is there the contract of colour, but also the contrast in texture as well.