Crumpet's 31DC: Topper - Non-glitter

This prompt really only left me with one option: matte top coat.
I have a lot of flakies and shimmers, but I felt like those were still in the realm of "glitter," so matte it is.
All of my ideas for a matte mani also included glitter, though.  If you haven't noticed, I kind of don't feel like a mani is finished without it.
As I scrolled through my Pinterest board, I rediscovered this awesome mani by none other than the Nailasaurus herself, Sammy.  Decision made.

*1 coat Gelous base
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*2 coats Zoya Storm
*Hard Candy Matte-ly In Love
*Out the Door

This was nicely straightforward.  Black base, matte topper, then shiny top coat on the tips.
Done!

Matte Halloween

For-ev-er.  You're right, that's how long it's been since I last posted. 

Know that I feel bad, but make no apologies.  I moved, started a new job, quit an old job, injured a knee twice leaving me pretty immobile, traveled across the country, and just found a desire to polish again.  It's been a very different, crazy year for me, but good in the long run.  I just needed some "me" time to stop my head from spinning!

Hopefully I'll spend much more time here now!

I really wanted to start off right with the Crumpet's 52-week Challenge, but really didn't get myself in gear to make the deadlines for them.  I've been sporting nekkid nails for a while now, out of exhaustion, and was ready to dive in.  I got super excited about jumping in for week 3, but apparently the InLinkz is already closed. 
So, I may not be feeling this Challenge...I was excited to have some inspiration to start trying new things again, but I don't really like that it's closed off to anyone who hasn't been accepted into the Facebook group (I think they're pretty open to adding members, though!) and I didn't realize they were going to be such sticklers with the timing of posts.  Please understand that this is NOT a judgement on anyone who is on board (I fully intended to be until about 10 minutes ago when I went to post!), Crumpet's Nail Tarts, or the Challenge itself.  I actually think it's a great idea and may use some prompts, but it looks like I just decided I'm not "officially" participating.

One of this week's prompt options was matte.  I'm not a huge fan of matte finishes (I LOVE the feel of a shiny top coat when I touch my nails), but a challenge should be just that--stretching out of a comfort zone!

So, here's my first Halloween mani of the season:

*1 coat Gelous base
*2 coats Orly R.I.P.
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out (accent)
*1 coat Sinful Colors Pearl Harbor (accent)
*Sinful Colors Snow Me White
*1 coat Hard Candy Matte-ly In Love

R.I.P. by Orly is a black, relatively sheer/jelly base with orange large hex and micro square glitters.  The glitter settled at the bottom of my bottle, but some shaking and resting it upside down while I started fixed that easily.  I used 2 coats, and may opt for 3 in the future due to how sheer the base is, but 2 careful coats are not bad at all!  With a shiny top coat, it gets the depth of a jelly sandwich.
I wanted a little something extra, so I used my black creme and dotted on eyes.  I used Pearl Harbor for just a little extra sparkle on the black.  I like this look a lot with a top coat and will have to do the combo again!
I used Matte-ly In Love on all the nails for the prompt.  While I don't really like the feel of it, I must admit that glitter looks so cool with the matte finish on it!  I'm not converted from a high-shine topper, but I'm not disappointed either!

So, what's your favorite way to rock matte?  Is there something I should try that will convert me?  Do tell!

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!

Back to school...

I've been wanting to try chalkboard nails since the 31 day challenge at the beginning of the year.  A contributor in The Crumpet's Nail Tarts posted some and I forgot to write down her name, so if you posted them back in January let me know!

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Hardener
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*OPI Danke-shiny Red
*China Glaze Mahogany Magic
*Color Club striper in White
*1 coat Out the Door
*1 coat Hard Candy Matte-ly in Love

I fell in love this the pin I found of apple nails Cosmetic Cupcake did, so I added it as an accent.  I used a small paint brush and Danke-shiny Red for the apples and just a dash of Mahogany Magic for the stem.  I left these shiny and like how they turned out.

I used Black Out for my chalkboard base and painted in white over the top.  Things got a little dicey on my right hand, so these did not get worn out in public, but at least I gave it a shot!  I can never quite find the right brush to use when it comes to freehand art.  I was going to use a small paint brush for the letters, but decided to give my striper a try.  The brush on it is very thin but long, and did not give me the control that I needed.  Yeah, that was supposed to be a heart on the pinkie...oh well!

I really like how these looked.  I'm going to give them another go with a little more work on the art part, but if you haven't tried chalkboard nails, I recommend them--they are easy (in theory) and super cute!  More importantly, for me, they are a little love letter to my momma as she starts the first grade!

New 31DC: Pink

"Pink" is kind of a tough challenge for me because it is my favorite color. Ever. I remember being young and not really having a favorite color, so I kind of just said it was whatever other people liked (like teal or purple or black...seriously?). Then, all of a sudden in high school, everything became pink. It hasn't worn off and carries heavily into my polish collection. It's hard to make a choice for today, but I had this pin stashed that I wanted to use as inspiration, so I recreated it.

*1 coat Yello-Out
*3 coats Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Heart of Stone
*2 coats China Glaze Doll House
*1 coat Out the Door
*1 coat Hard Candy Matte-ly In Love

I didn't have the exact same polish as her, so I used Heart of Stone for my base.  I realized tonight that, in addition to owning many (all different, in some way) pink polishes, I also don't own many cream finish polishes.  The vast majority of mine are glitter, shimmer, or foil finishes.  I guess I'm too easily distracted...but this cream is one that I own.  It is rather sheer, so I used 3 coats as my base.
Doll House is another polish that my mom gave me.  I know it's not necessarily the aim of this challenge, but I am trying to work in as many untrieds as I can.  This pretty, light pink hex glitter is much more sparse than I thought.  I sort of swirled my brush in the bottle to get pieces on it and then scooted them a bit to get even coverage.  Trust me, that sounds like much more work than it actually was!

When I saw the mani that she did, I thought that it was a matte finish.  I don't think it actually was, but I decided to make mine one.  I like the idea of matte finishes, but don't think I really like them in reality.  I used a coat of Matte-ly In Love over my finished mani to see how it looked.  I don't know that I'm totally sold on it, but I kind of like how glitter looks under matte.  I still think I'm a sucker for a super-shiny finish, but this did turn out pretty cool!

This looks much more monochromatic as a matte than a shiny finish. How do you feel about matte toppers?  Do you have a color bias that tends to take over?  Do you try to break out of it or give into what you love?