Another day, another crazy nail trend! I’m beginning to think someone at Ciaté literally went to an arts and crafts store, stood in the scrapbook aisle and picked out scrapbooking materials they thought could pass as nail art. First was, of course, the Caviar manicure. Now there is the Velvet manicure. Ciaté has not launched their Velvet Manicure kits yet, though they are supposed to land at Sephora within a month or so. The Caviar kits are $25, so I imagine the Velvet manicure kits will be similarly priced.
Anyway, there is no reason to spend $25 to get on the Velvet Manicure bandwagon. I spent less than $7 at Michaels on supplies for these manicures. There is a step by step guide below the jump (and a ton of pictures!)! Make sure to leave a comment tell me whether or not you love this look or think it’s super silly.
What you need:
- Nail polish! Any color will work. I do find creme formulas work best.
- Flocking powder. I got mine at Michaels in the scrapbooking aisle.
How to:
- Apply one coat of polish to all of your fingers.
- Doing one nail at a time, apply a thick second coat of polish. Sprinkle flocking powder over the nail. Press down on the nail to make sure the flocking powder adheres. Repeat on the rest of your nails!
- Make sure to let your nails completely dry before doing anything.
See, super simple! This is alot easier than doing a Caviar manicure. But it doesn’t last any longer! About a day is all your going to get out of this manicure.
A couple of issues I ran into when I was testing out these velvet manicures. If you have a pet, do not pet them! I made this mistake and I had cat hair stuck to my nails for the entire day. Also, if you get anything on your nail, particularly liquid (think coffee or foundation) it’s hard, if not impossible, to remove the stain.
This was fun to do and it was something different. But there is something seriously weird about furry nails!
Don’t forget to leave a comment and let me know what you think about velvet manis!
Polishes used in this post: Revlon Blue Lagoon, Wet n Wild Club Havana, Ulta Snow White
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Haha I agree that furry nails are a bit weird, but I really like it! 🙂
It definitely took a little getting used to!
It looks so fun though! I might try this one day…
Yous should try it if only because it’s a bit different 🙂
Its different, but I could see myself wearing the white one…
I thought the white was really pretty 🙂
Seems very similar in style to the Caviar mani! Ciate seems kind of a ripoff, considering everything. I think I’d love to wear this manicure for pj days at school! What do you suppose would happen if you added a topcoat to this manicure?
Well…I tried to put a top coat just on the tips. The nature of the flocking powder just made it difficult. I had fuzz on my brush and it got kind of clumpy on the nail.
I don’t think I could deal with the texture on my nails (I can’t even deal with matte nails) but I do kind of love this look! It’s really…Muppet-y.
The colored ones do look like muppets!
What about when you wash your hands?…..so strange!
Washing your hands is fine. Just don’t scrub at your nails!
This is so different! Very interesting. How did they hold up after a couple of days?
The flocking powder kind of starts to shed after a day or so. This is definitely a night out kind of manicure!
Neat…Looks great on your nails…
Thank you 🙂
I’m so fixated on what happens AFTER you wash your hands — like how long it takes to dry. What a funky trend!
Haha, The flocking powder doesn’t really soak up any water. I promise 🙂
Is it just me or is Ciate doing a really great job of stealing ideas from beauty bloggers and trademarking them?
That’s basically all they’re doing. I hate that people fall for their crap!
I love This, they are so cute 🙂
I’m glad you like it! Hope you give it a try 🙂
This is such an unusual look, I love it on you but I am not sure if I could wear it myself. Thank you for sharing, though
Thank you! You should give it a try…you might just surprise yourself and like it 🙂
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i think this looks really cute, but i can’t stop thinking that it would be really unsanitary!! also, i really hope no one actually buys a kit for 25$, i can’t imagine that would be worth it!
People paid that much for those ridiculous Caviar sets!
I never thought of it as unsanitary….the flocking powder really doesn’t soak up liquid.
imagine showering – it’d be weird! maybe .. as a pattern of velvet on a nail vs. the whole nail being covered in it?
I’ve thought about doing that. I really want to try an animal print. We shall see!
I think its cool looking but to me .. a little useless , takes forever to dry and lasts a day if that…cool though (:
This is definitely a special event kind of mani!
Your nails look great! I have to say, I think it’s silly and impractical (don’t pet your cat? Poor kitty!) but also fun! I might do it, but then what would I do with the rest of the flocking? Maybe a light spritz with hairspray would anchor the flocking a bit?
It’s completely impractical! And at this rate, I’m going to need to take up scrap booking to justify all the supplies I have around the house.
Omg!!!!! These are FABULOUS!!!! Sooo much more affordable than Ciate! I noticed that Ciate had only 3 colors to choose from…’suede’ (navy blue) ‘berry poncho’ (dark burgundy purple) & ‘Cashmere’ (grayish) Do you know if Michaels sell any other colors of flocking powder? I do love the bright colored look because its Summer!!
Also I tried the DIY Caviar nails!!! I loved them too!!
I cant wait to try this!!!
I think there’s a navy and a gray…not sure about a burgundy. I just gravitated to this particular pack of flocking powder because I liked all the bright colors 🙂
I think its kinda cool and has a funky look to it but I would want it to last longer than a day ! I love all three colours you did!
Thank you!
I think it is super cool.. I would love to try it but we don’t get Flocking powder here in India.. Can someone help??? Can someone get me these??? 😦
Certainly you kind find it somewhere! People all over the world scrapbook!
i may have to try this:)
Let us know how you like it if you give it a try!
what a smart idea! They are cute but I guess they don’t last long…?
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To Sonal: Try Michael’s Online or other craft or scrapbooking sites. Someone will surely ship to India. I think my daughter would love this, and I may try the next time my husband and I go to the clubs
Hey Jean!! Thank you so much I found the flocking powder on ebay 😀 Yay!!!
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When I saw these on another blog I HAD to do them. I went to Micheal’s and had every employee on the sales floor on a wild goose chase trying to find flocking powder since most of them had never heard of it. In the end they only had the Martha Steward brand and I wasn’t prepared to spend that much on something I wasn’t sure I would like, so I bought some on Amazon and I’m waiting for it to come in. I’m so excited to try these. 😀
I’m surprised they didn’t have the Recollections brand! But I’m glad you found flocking powder on Amazon. Hope you love your mani!
wow!!! can you buy that in Europe??? i
The Ciate kit or the flocking powder? Both should be available in Europe.
These look fun. I’d probably be feeling my fuzzy fingernails all day, which would probably contribute to faster wear-off, haha, but looks fun to try!
Thanks for sharing this DIY tutorial! 🙂
You are welcome! And it really is hard not to “pet” your nails.
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How do you take it off?? Just with regular nail polish remover?
It comes off easily with normal polish remover 🙂
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Funny – when these first started to show up this yr I did not like them at all. But now I think I might get some ‘fur’ at the craft store and play with one color. Maybe it was just because I was seeing these textures in spring and summer and they speak to me more of fall/winter – thou who would know it’s fall now since we have been in the 90’s chronically through Oct and now into Nov still – ugh! I am soooo ready for fleece and cool windy off the ocean.
It’s fun to try even if it’s only a one time thing. Not to mention, it’s a great cure for a nail rut!
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These are cute! I really like the look, I think the feel would freak me out a bit, but I do like them. My girls want to try, their nails generally only last a day or two anyway 🙂
Very cute, my girls want to try this. I like they way it looks in pretty much all of the colors, but I think the orange is my favorite 🙂
It looks great in white. I love new trends. Your up close pictures are better than site’s trying to sell. The white looks velvet, other colors are hairy. Too funny: don’t pet your pet. My doggie wouldn’t have that. Glad I found this site. I will be trying this. My polish only lasts a day anyway unless its gel.
My cat was less than thrilled about the whole no petting thing. I felt bad about it!
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Do I need to put a top coat over the velvet ??
No. If you do that you’ll take away the velvet texture 🙂
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I actually tried the ciate velvet nails in sephora. All I can say I started brushing my nails on my face and I kept petting my nails lol they were so fuzzy. There only difference is the flocking powder seems a bit thicker (I haven’t tried the flocking powder but I can tell from the images) the ciate velvet powder thing that comes with the kit is a very fine powder. In a sense that when you put it on your nails it looks like dust. Ew I know but once it dries it feels so weird like fabric or something. I only have one question, can you get “finer” flocking powder?
The way the flocking powder is packaged makes it appear “thick” but once it loosens up it’s really quite fine.
That being said, Michael’s has a hundred kinds of everything so if finer flocking powder is available I’m sure they have it!
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I wanna buy flocking powdwr in various colours
From where cud i get?
I got mine at Michaels….but you can probably also find flocking powder on Amazon.
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Super cool! Great idea 🙂 I’ve been interested in getting Ciatés velvet manicure, but think they’re WAY over priced. This is a really great substitute 🙂 Hope I can find some in Sweden ..
I’m sure you can! Flocking powder should be pretty easy to find wherever scrap booking materials are sold 🙂
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I saw a design that used flocking powder and I absolutely love the idea! My friend said to get it at Michaels and I was just curious how much was the Recollections set you got?
I think it was around $7 or $8, but I can’t remember exactly. Definitely less than $10.
Your white version reminds me of Hostess Snoballs!! 😀
THANK YOU! I stupidly bough the Ciate kit and it SUCKED. The powder would barely come out of the shaker but you can’t remove the top to get to it so your nails just wind up looking kinda smudged. This is MUCH better. Off to Michaels for me 🙂
I’m so glad you found my post helpful! Those Ciate kits are SO overpriced.
Wow, this is really a great diy project, nails are looking very attractive after do that, i love this idea, many thanks for sharing..
Glad you like it!