All Matted Up!

So I picked up my new Alice & Olivia (by MAC) polishes and was dying to try them out. But before I did, I thought I'd play with my last mani by adding some matte finishes. I've had the Orly for Men matte product for a while and picked up Essie Matte About You as part of a two pack with Wicked. I had originally sourced out the Orly for Men matte as I had read on another blog that it sueded polishes but honestly, despite two coats, it barely took the shine off.

So I pulled out my Essie Matte About You and got the finish I was looking for. (As I did my mani at 1:30 am the only pix I could take were under artificial lamp light so these appear a little darker than original). This mani was four days old, so thanks SV (topcoat) and Instant Artificals (base) as wear was minimal and could easily could have pulled this off for a few more days (but too many polishes are untried...)

I loved the matte results with Essie. Too bad I took the mani off about 5 minutes after the pix so I could try A & O....

Thanks for looking!

"Your Nails are Stunning"

This was the very nice compliment I got on this manicure from the cashier at MAC when I was by today picking up the new Alice & Olivia polishes that I had on hold from last week (but that will be another post!). I'm guessing its because she had never seen stamping before and the fantastic results from it as there are so many more ladies out there that have much nicer nails , apply polish much better and are soooo much more skilled in stamping then I!

Anyhoo, on to the mani! Revlon Top Speed, colour is Bubble. Exact dupe of the Revlon scented polish, colour Bubble Yum - exact but no scent. Two coats, topped with one coat SV.

As I just got my nails filed square I also thought it perfect time to try a Konad tip stamp (well, made it into a tip stamp!) and used Konad IP m57 and m68, black special polish.

Unfortuantely, my stamping skills alluded me and not stamped very straight but not too too bad. Pictures are a little dark as it was overcast when they were taken. An no unstamped image as this mani was done in the wee, wee hours of the am while surfing the net and looking at all the fantastic nail blogs!

Thanks for looking!

PS: I am not conceited and I fully acknowledge that there are bloggers out there with much nicer nails and manicures than mine - just repeating the compliment!