Meeting Matte- My Newfound Love of Matte Nail Polish

This Christmas, I opened my stocking to find a new beauty item nestled among the chocolate, socks, and lip balm: the China Glaze Matte Magic mattifying topcoat. I had seen photos of matte manicures on Pinterest and couldn’t wait to try it out myself!

Meeting Matte Step 1 - Katie Actually

As my base color, I chose Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear in Mauve Over. I thought a matte manicure would look best on a darker color, but I didn’t want to go as dark as a black or maroon. This was the perfect shade for what I had in mind. Also, I’m quite hard on my hands at work (I’m an archaeologist), and this Xtreme Wear tends to last longer than many other polishes on my beat-up nails. The finish of this polish is quite shiny, as you can see.

Meeting Matte Step 1.2 - Katie Actually

Now for the piece de resistance- the matte top coat. Only one coat would do the trick, but I played it safe and applied two. This is not a fast-drying polish, but it doesn’t stay tacky for the rest of my life like some either. I hate having to sit still and not touch anything for like THREE HOURS after a manicure. Without fail, I always have to pee and destroy all my hard work. -_-

Meeting Matte Step 2 - Katie Actually

I am so happy with the effect! It makes my nails look soft and velvetey and I love it. I can’t wait to play around with other colors, and with mixing matte and shiny patterns. With all the talk of the “90s matte trend” coming back in 2016, I think matte nails follow suit.

Meeting Matte End Result - Katie Actually

What do you think? Will you try a matte top coat?

xoxo Katie

2 Comments

  1. February 9, 2016 / 11:35 pm

    I have also been LOVING matte top coat on top of pretty much all my polishes. I love it most on a nude because it’s so chic and classic 🙂 I did a blog post about my favourite nail polishes too and I really wanna try out this mauve colour from sally hansen 🙂

    Kathy xx
    http://www.alongcamekathy.blogspot.com

    • February 10, 2016 / 8:12 am

      I totally agree, the matte looks so good on neutrals!