Last Christmas Mani of 2012

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Hello lovelies! I have to get my house in order for family who will be over on Christmas, so I'll keep this short. I wanted to share with you my last Christmas manicure. I hadn't used China Glaze Ruby Pumps for any holiday manicures yet and in my book, that is a Yuletide crime. So, here is my Ruby Pumps Christmas mani. Sadly, it did not last long. I used Elmer's glue as the basecoat, hoping to get 2 days of wear and it began to chip in less than 24 hours. You can see my messy patches on the index and middle fingers.

Illamasqua Load done matte with subtle stamping

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Hello, lovelies. Do my nails look like embossed velvet? Because that was what I was going for. Let me quickly tell you about this manicure. I painted a three layer base of Illamasqua Load followed by Essie Matte about you. It took a very long time to dry (but I do usually use INM Out the Door fast drying topcoat). Load's application felt a little sticky or stringy, but I did end up with even coverage. I dinged up the polish a bit before stamping the image. I used Revlon Buttercup on Bornprettystore's m60. I then painted some of the details on my left ring finger with Sonia Kashuk Golden Ticket, Revlon ColorStay Rich Raspberry and Bare Bones. I didn't use a topcoat over the stamping or it would have eliminated the matte finish on the base polish.

I did not take this polish off after four days, but it was starting to look a little tired. Oils from my hands and lotion had eliminated a lot of the matte finish and I was left with more of a satin finish. I ended up with one chip on my left middle finger that was easily patched. I was actually very impressed with how well Illamasqua Load fared. All fingers had only the tiniest bit of tip wear and they still looked quite presentable, especially surprising with such a light colored polish and after using a matte topcoat instead of a more protective topcoat.

Do you wear matte polish? What kind of wear time do you get out of a matte topcoat?

I tried to liven this manicure up by topping it with Max Factor Fantasy Fire. I'll show you the results next week. I also plan to do a comparison between Julep and INM Out the Door fast drying topcoats. One of these topcoats already has a big lead in terms of shine, but that's a topic for later.

Check out all the manicure fun at The Nail Files-Week 17. Have a good weekend.

~Alexis

Matte mani without matte polish

Pin It A couple of weeks ago, I went to five shops in search of a matte topcoat. After failing to find it at the fifth shop, I tried to discover if it was possible to gain a matte finish without a matte nail polish. I found advice on The Adventures of Goddess Gorgeous. She suggests that a matte finish can be achieved simply by breathing warm, moist air onto regular nail polish.
I went home to test this method and found the finish to be much more matte than when I did not breathe on the polish. The finish is not as smooth as you get when using a matte topcoat like Essie Matte About You.

These are completely dry swatches of Revlon Midnight Affair; on the left are two coats of polish without topcoat. It is definitely shiny. In the middle, I breathed on two coats of wet polish on and off for about 30 seconds. It has a matte finish, but you can notice along the side, where the breath wasn't as even that there is a little cloudiness. It almost looks like salt stains in the polish. On the far right, the polish was topped with Essie Matte About You. It has a bold, even matte finish.

In my opinion, it is worth it to get a matte topcoat for the very defined matte finish, but if you don't have a matte polish available, you can try out the look by simply breathing warm, moist air over the wet polish for a few seconds.