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Actually, get all of the mattes you’d like – they are not only wildly popular, but pretty much every big-name polish company is coming out with at least three. Zoya, Nubar, OPI, and Orly (but, apparently, not Misa) are all releasing mattes, to say nothing of the all-matte lines of KO Knockout Cosmetics and ManGlaze, and matte top coats like the release from Essie.
The first I saw of these polishes was the Zoya MatteVelvet collection on Scrangie’s blog, and ooh, did I want them!
However, after some time went by, and I heard what a pain they were not only to apply, but to even keep on, well, I just wasn’t sure anymore.
But then Zoya had a Twitter code for three free polishes, and, I mean, there are three MatteVelvets, so, y’know, logically. . . .
The first one of these I wore was #498, Loredana - which, for some reason, is a name I can NOT remember.
Even the liquid form of the lacquer looks matte!
As I’m sure you’ve all heard by now, you are not supposed to put this over a base coat. But I get the Heebie-Jeebies at the thought of putting this stuff on an unprotected nail, so I put it over some Nail Tek. This is doubly helpful, because matte polishes are not for hiding imperfections, so anything that helps fill ridges is bound to be helpful, hence the “get even” part of the title.
You may have also heard that this stuff dries fast. You have to be bold and daring with application on these; any pausing or or second-guessing, and you will lose what you’ve just applied as you try and correct it, resulting in some balding.
I was able to put on a second coat, however, after letting the first one dry a bit. And I do recommend not doing just one coat – this was was not “prêt-à-porter” at one. I’ll tell you something else, too; I may well be a bit OCD, but it drove me absolutely bonkers to not put a top coat on this. It’s like that scene in Who Framed Roger Rabbit when he couldn’t stand hearing “Shave and a Haircut” being rapped out without the other shoe of “Two Bits” falling.
(I hunted high and low for that one scene on it’s own, but, alas!, it is not to be found. You can find it here are about the 5:55 mark.)
I did leave it as it was supposed to be for a few hours. As I went about my day, however, I kept obsessively thinking about my hands. This chips easily; act as though your hands are made of glass. This loses it’s matteness easily; don’t wash your hands too often. It’s not designed to last; no applying of cuticle oil or hand lotion.
As much as I enjoy polish, and as forefront as it can be in my mind from time to time, this constant vigilance (as Mad-Eye Moody would say) was making me unable to simply enjoy my lacquer. It was an interesting look, but if all I’m doing is worrying about preserving it, well, something is wrong with this picture.
So, as I had long suspected I would do, I added a coat of Poshe to it.
(Ew, nasty cuticles – please try to ignore.)
How weird am I? Everyone else out there is mattefying every polish in sight, and I have to go and do the exact opposite! But as I’m sure you can see, adding a shiny topcoat brings out an amazing shimmer and depth to the color.
I did like the matte effect, in the end. Maybe it’s like when you’ve had your first baby, and you’re absolutely paranoid about anything and everything within a five-mile radius. By the time you’re down to your third, as I’ve been led to understand, you kind of loosen up a bit.
If there’s only one thing that wearing nail polish has taught me, it’s that nothing’s permanent. No matter how much you like a color, nor how careful you are with your application, well, it just doesn’t last forever. You can try and fix it, but ultimately this falls in the category of temporary art.
So maybe by my third application I’ll loosen up and go about life as usual. And worse comes to worst, well, there’s always Poshe!
