Ciate Velvet Manicure in Blue Suede

Thursday I stopped into Sephora to pick up the Nails Inc Sprinkles Collection and a helpful sales associate showed me this new collection from Ciate.  Similar to their Caviar Nail Kits, the Velvet Manicure comes in a kit that includes one bottle of polish, "crushed velvet powder" in a corresponding color, and a small brush to dust off excess powder.

The kits come in three different shades: a berry, a deep blue, and a gray.  The kit I chose is called Blue Suede and the photo above shows how the kit is packaged.  (Also within the kit is an extra tray that is meant for you to use to collect the excess powder that falls off when you are applying it to your nails.)

Now in case you haven't seen this trend before, in the same manner as a caviar manicure, you paint on one coat of your base color on all your nails and let it dry.  Then, going one nail at a time, you paint on a second coat of the base color, then quickly try to sprinkle the powder over the whole nail.  Top coat would change the effect, so it is not recommended to add.

I've included a few different photos for you to see how the effect looks up close.  Because these photos are macro photos, you can also easily see how messy this can become - there are still numerous little blue "velvet" hairs on my fingers and the nail polish bottle, even though I used the brush in the kit to dust off the excess powder.

In the below photo you can get a better sense for the soft-look this gives nails.  Although this photo is a bit out of focus, it demonstrates how appropriate the name "Velvet Manicure" is, because this look leaves your nails with a soft, fuzzy-looking quality.

Now just for comparison purposes, I have tried using flocking powder on my nails before, and while that gave a similar effect, I feel that the "crushed velvet powder" in this kit is a bit more fine than flocking powder you can find at a craft store, making it a bit more appealing to wear.

Each kit retails for $19US and is now available in Sephora stores, or you can check out the complete selection on Sephora.com HERE.

The positives of these kits include:

• The powder to go on the nails matches the polish color perfectly
• The small brush included in the kit is useful for brushing off excess powder (including the stuff that ends up getting stuck down the sides of your nails)
• I particularly like the color options available, and although I've only tried the Blue Suede kit, I know I'll wear the nails polish that came in the kit (3am Girl) by itself, so you can get use out of the kit even without incorporating the powder aspect of it into your manicure

The negatives of these kits include:

• At $19US these kits are less costly than the Caviar manicure kits, but this price might still be steep for many people
• The kit does come with a brush to dust off excess powder, but no matter how much dusting you do, you'll still find excess velvet hairs floating around on your hands, clothes, etc.
• This is a fun nail art/trend, but can really only be warn in a temporary setting because of the nature of the crushed velvet powder.  Water and any daily activity will diminish the effect (though in some cases, this may last longer on your nails than a caviar manicure)

So what do you think of this nail kit?  Have you already seen this at Sephora stores?  Do you think you'll be picking up any of these kits?