Matte black and flakies

I am going to really try to keep posting while I'm in school, but I'm seeing that my time will be VERY limited (in the past week I had 5 days of class and worked 6 days without any days off...I'm feeling it!).  I have some photos that I've been meaning to get up and am trying to keep snapping them as I polish, so here's a quick look at one I tried (then I have to go read!).
This is one that I found on Pinterest and have been dying to try.  It was created by the incomparable Jen at the PolishAholic.

*1 coat Yello-Out
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*Picture Polish Festival
*1 coat Out the Door
*1 coat Hard Candy Matte-ly in Love

I know, with that macro shot, that I missed a little bit of polish near the cuticles, but in real life it was not visible.  I used a cream black base and taped off the tips (though flakes are kind of imprecise, so you may not really need to tape off) to paint with Festival, a gorgeous multicolored flake glitter.  I was worried that it would not stand out much as I painted and added a fast dry top coat so that I could get to bed a little earlier :)
Once it set I added Matte-ly in Love and BOOM!  The colors of the flakes were instantly much more visible and it dried almost instantly.  I'm still not totally in love with matte finishes, but this looks wonderful on the nail!  The downside to matte polish/toppers is that I've found they chip really easily.  In the future I'd like to make the tips larger or paint the whole nail or half or something so that I can get even more of the flakie goodness on there! 
Have you found some cool ways to play around with flakies?  With matte toppers?  Share your ideas with me!