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!
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.
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. -_-
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.
What do you think? Will you try a matte top coat?
xoxo Katie
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
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I totally agree, the matte looks so good on neutrals!