Manic.Monday: Ciaté's Tweed is anything but twee...

I know I've been raving about how much I've embraced the pastel trend this year, and it's true I've loved wearing pastels both in my makeup and my clothes. But it isn't the only trend this season and I thought I would break up the pastel bonanza with a simple but chic homage to the monochrome. It may be a paradox but as much as I love color, my favorite color is actually black which I guess is really an absence of color. To me black embodies the timeless, stylish and elegant and a monochrome look is all of those things. But there are many ways of doing monochrome and today's look also has an element of the whimsical to it. As a nail polish fiend I closely follow the latest launches from the Big Brands and Ciaté is undeniably one of them, and their fabulous Tweed Collection inspired by iconic fashions houses in Paris was very difficult to resist - so difficult that I just decided not to even try. The collection has six polishes with different effects and colors ranging from textured confetti looks to glitter. Ciaté's Brocade Parade (£9) is a glitter polish with an irresistible mix of matte silver, black, grey and white speckles to imitate a classic tweed look.

When you see the glitter polish in the bottle it look so rich with particles that you can wear it on it's own - and that's how I tried it the first time I wore it, but after four coats (!) it still didn't look right and although it may not be intended as a top coat, but for me that's really how it  comes into its own and in the photos I wear two coats of Brocade Parade on top of Maybelline Color Show Nail Polish (£2.99) in Blackout. The texture is nice and easy to work with, and not in any way gloopy as many glitter polishes can be and you get a good amount of product on the brush to get an interesting distribution of the particles over the nail. You should experiment to see how many coats you prefer for your look, but two or three coats for me is just right to show of the contrasting particles but if you prefer to wear even more you'll be pleased to know that the polish dries very quickly. I can't actually say how long this wears when you wear it on its own, however as a top coat it'll easily last about four days and should you get chipping, you can quickly correct that and the whimsical pattern will hide any touch ups you've made.

Many of us love glitter polishes, but the big question which sometimes decides whether we'll buy a polish or not is - how difficult is it to remove? Well, when I used Brocade Parade on its own it was definitely difficult to take off, BUT as a top coat over whichever base shade you choose, it's much much easier which is another reason why I'll continue to use this as a top coat. I really like this look and I find it sleek and sophisticated but also fun, showing personality without being too outlandish and one thing's for certain this tweed is anything but twee...