swatch: opi lincoln park after dark suede

hi everyone! sorry for my absence this past week - i got caught up in helping a friend with a cross-country move, yikes! today i'm headed back to california to spend the holidays with my family; while i won't have access to my full stash during my trip, i did prepare a few swatches so that i'll have something to post for the next couple of weeks. and since for the next few weeks i won't be living on the sixth floor of a walk-up apartment building, i may actually be able to do a few outdoor photos as well!

here's a polish i wore as my notd recently, opi lincoln park after dark suede:


imo, opi's suedes are far better than their mattes (which just look like gloppy dried paint to me); their chunky shimmer gives them a unique appearance, and they look very smooth on the nail. they apply smoothly as well - the above swatch is of two coats that went on quite effortlessly and dried very quickly.

unfortunately, when it comes to wear time these polishes fall short. my manicure above was absolutely destroyed after a day and a half - we're talking huge chips and polish rubbed off in swaths on at least half of my nails. boo!

swatch: sephora by opi what's a tire jack? matte

never thought i'd love a matte the way i love this one... another candidate for my top 20:


normally i don't care for matte polish, and i've been annoyed with the number of late-to-the-trend companies that have been putting out collections of mattes in the past few months (when they could have been putting out unique cremes - my true love - instead!). but i've come to realize that while i dislike the vast, vast majority of mattes, a totally flat matte black polish is *so* me.

the gold standard for matte black polish is ko knock out cosmetics' "flatte black," but i was uninterested in paying $19 for a polish i wasn't sure i'd love - especially one with such an unwieldy brush stem. someone on the nb described totally flat black mattes like this one and the ko as being like black holes, sucking in all light, and i completely agree with that description. i think that effect is best appreciated, however, not in close-up nail shots like this one but rather in the larger context of a full outfit, so that the polish is part of an interplay of textures. right now, for example, i'm wearing leather, lamé, cotton, and a chunky wool knit (all in various shades of gray and black), and the flat black polish on my tips adds one more interesting texture to the mix.

what's a tire jack? matte flows like a normal, non-matte polish when it's being applied; however, this can be a bit misleading, as it doesn't even out the way non-matte polishes do... so take care to do an even first coat. also, it does go a bit "satiny" after some wear, but a good matte topcoat can fix that easily.

bf says: "that is a matte finish."

swatch: zoya sloane + rescue beauty lounge matte top coat

as per the request of my loyal reader micah (a fan of all things matte), here's an update on yesterday's notd of zoya sloane:

excuse the photo's low quality; this picture was taken under my desk lamp at two a.m. btw, i received the rbl matte top coat from a very generous friend today, and i have to say - it's amazing, if you like the matte look. super easy application, a very pronounced matte effect, and lightning-quick drying time.

swatch: zoya savita

from the winter 2009 mattevelvet collection. this is really gorgeous, especially with a glossy topcoat added - the shine makes the shimmer really come alive. here it is with two coats:

and here's a photo of savita in its original matte state:

the secret to applying mattes (which i unfortunately only figured out halfway through applying this one) is to load up your brush with polish, much more than you would normally use to apply a regular creme or shimmer. this helps you to avoid the lumps that can otherwise result from their thickness and quick-drying nature. once i got this down, savita was a breeze to apply.