Critique: Matte About You

Haven't posted in a while... There's been a lot goin on in my life lately. Nevertheless I am back! Above is my new favorite find: Matte About You by Essie. If you are looking to try matte polish, I would say this is your very best option. Why buy a Matte color polish when you can transform ANY of your polishes to a matte finish with this one top coat? I got it for $10 at Ulta.

In my opinion, the matte top coat looks best over a shiny/shimmery color. The matte finish makes this cheap outdated color of polish look chiq again! This Sinful Colors polish in Gorgeous took 3 coats to be opaque, and I still didn't love the color. It doesn't look at all how it did in the bottle (Shoulda tryed it on in the store!). 

BUT no worries, one coat of Matte About You and it transformed this outdated color into a whole new look! I loooove it!

And here is a before and after comparison:

I also tried the matte finish on a solid (non glittery or shiny) color. This one is a great new pistachio color called Navigate Her by Essie. I think this still looks cool, but I almost like bold colors better shiny I think. Matte def looks better over a shimmer polish in my opinion. 

Still pretty cool though! I love experimenting with this matte top coat. Such a great purchase :)

Critique: Nail Art Tools

This critique was made for all you nail art lovers that haven’t been having any luck with it. I am providing my knowledge on the 4 nail art tools that I have tried so far. I have them listed from best to worst (also left to right in the above picture).

1. Double up Detailing/Dotting Nail Brush by So Easy- $5.50

I got this double-ended nail brush from Sally Beauty online. One side is for making perfect dots and the other end is the nail brush. This seems like a deal to me for $5. The best part about buying a brush is that you can use it with annnnny polish you want. All you do is drop a few dots of nail polish on a napkin or paper and dip the brush in. You do have to re-dip pretty often though to get a good line. When you’re done all you do is swish it around in some nail polish remover and wipe with a paper towel.  Only draw back is that it isn’t as is of a line as I’d like. But you could always buy thinner nail art brushes! I am even thinking of cutting a few bristles from this brush to make it thinner.

SUMMARY: Unlimited polish color possibilities, double ended, only have to pay $5 once.

2. Stripe Rite Polish by So Easy (.25oz) - $4

This guy really almost ties for first with the nail brush. This polish is super easy to use, draws very thin lines, and gives you a lot of polish for the price it is. Only reason it falls under the above brush is because you have to buy a new Stripe Rite polish every time you need a different color. What I would do is buy this polish in the staple colors that you know your going to use more than once (i.e. white, black, silver, gold). Then for any other color use the nail brush above. These can also be bought at Sally Beauty.

SUMMARY: great control, great value, 30+ colors

3. Nail Art Pen by Salley Hansen (.067oz)- $7

Obviously this pen is the worst value (least amount of polish, highest price). However, It does have some things going for it. First of all is convenience. I am sure you all have seen these pens at Walgreens or Target etc... So this is probably the most popular for nail art right now. Normally, I would definitely tell you to only go with the first two choices for nail art, however this pen is very easy to use/control. If your not the most artistic person in the world, then this would be a good choice for you. Especially if you only want to do a couple nail art dots or stripes every once and a while.

SUMMARY: worst value, easiest control, very convienent, only 11 colors

4. Nail Art Pen by Cina (.16oz)- $6

This pen pretty much stinks. The whole point of a nail art pen is that it can draw thin lines. This pen drew just about as thick as a regular nail polish brush... Sooo no point. Just as expensive as a polish and not useful as a nail art tool. Waste of $6! Oh well, learned my lesson.

SUMMARY: Too thick of lines, horrible value, just don’t buy it haha.

Technique: Argyle Tips

 This technique is a modern take on a classic pattern. The best part is... it’s pretty easy and doesn’t take long to do. Argyle is a cute preppy pattern, but also very detailed and usually needs to be perfect to look good. These tips only use a tiny portion of the pattern so it isn’t difficult at all!

The first step was obvi the base coat. I used a very sheer pink. I needed 4 coats of this pale pink Essie polish to get the color I wanted. I let this dry a loooong time before I did the next step.

Next was the taping! Since this is a look for your tips I had to be careful not to do a half and half diagonal. To do this I made sure that the tapes did not go corner to corner, but a little but higher than that. To the left is the diagonal tips in Mod Square by Essie (my favvvv pink right now).

Lastly was the dots in the opposite direction. The polish I used was Essie in Mint Candy Apple. I used a dotting tool for these diagonal dots so it was pretty easy. If you don't have a dotting tool you can use a pin head or bobby pin. Seche Vite top coat then I was done!

Below is the final look! I just looooove this look and I will most definitely wear it again!

|La