I recently received many of the new 2012 products from NYC for review, so I'd like to kick off this review series by showing you two of the new polishes, which are now available in stores:
NYC Matte Me Crazy Mattifying Top Coat
NYC In a Minute Sparkle Top Coat
(retail: $1.99 each, 0.33 oz)
In A Minute Sparkle Top Coat looks like a maroon-based glitter top coat in the bottle. The glitter pieces are all very fine (no chunky glitter) and smooth to the touch when on the nail. Matte Me Crazy looks like a standard matte top coat in the bottle, but at such a low retail price, I was afraid that it would actually turn out to provide more of a satin finish rather than a true matte finish. So let's take a look at some swatches:
I thought I'd swatch both top coats over a limited edition NYC polish from a few years back: Orange Creamsicle. As you can see, I used two coats of Sparkle Top Coat on the first two nails, and a layer of Matte Me Crazy over one of the glitter nails. On the last two nails, I wanted to show you a before-and-after using just Matte Me Crazy.
Looking at the picture above, I hope it's clear that Matte Me Crazy truly provides a matte finish. This is not a satin finish, which is pretty remarkable given its price (just $1.99!). Matte Me Crazy applies like a dream--it's not thick or goopy and it dries to a matte finish pretty quickly as well.
In A Minute Sparkle Top Coat turned to be much more of a multi-colored glitter than what you see in the bottle. Maroon is not the predominant color once on the nail, and the base is clear. This is actually much prettier in person--the glitter is very fine but it has a lot of nice sparkle. When I first applied this polish, I couldn't help but think of all you nail fanatics who like to franken--I think this would be a fun polish to use in that capacity! (For those of you who don't know what frankening is, it's simply a process of mixing two or more polishes together to create an entirely new polish, like this.)
FINAL THOUGHTS: If you're looking for a true matte top coat that definitely won't break the bank, I would suggest picking up NYC Matte Me Crazy Mattifying Top Coat. It far exceeded my expectations and I can't wait to play around with it and try a glossy/matte French mani like this. If you're "over" chunky glitters and would like a top coat that only contains fine glitters, check out In A Minute Sparkle Top Coat. And if you're looking for a glitter to add to a franken for an extra kick, I think this would be a fun one to experiment with as well.
Have you spotted these new polish offerings from NYC in your area yet? Do you already own either or both of them? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
A
sample of this product was given to Nouveau Cheap for editorial
purposes, either directly from the manufacturer or from the agency that
works on behalf of the manufacturer. All reviews on
NouveauCheap.blogspot.com are the honest opinion of its author and
editorial samples do not, in any way, affect the outcome of product
reviews.
Oh yay, I've been waiting for an inexpensive matte top coat! Thanks for the review :)
ReplyDeleteWow! I'm excited for these. I've wanted a matte top coat for awhile, but didn't want to spend so much, and this seems like a perfect solution!
ReplyDeleteI was wondering how the Matte Me Crazy wore for you (if you left it on long at all)? The matte finish was nice for me, but within hours my polish was a hot mess (an LA Colors orange about the same color orange as yours, interestingly enough).
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for asking that! I completely forgot to mention wear in my review.
DeleteI've never been able to get more than a day or so of wear from ANY matte top coat I own, but I left this one on for two days when I was testing it and, remarkably, it was still holding on pretty well, with only a few marks/dents on a couple of nails! I'm so sorry you didn't have a similar experience. :(
If you don't mind me asking, which matte top coats do you own?
DeleteI LOVE Matte Me Crazy--I tend to use it over a lot of my pink polishes to tone them down a little bit
ReplyDeleteWow, thanks for posting about this! Once my CG Matte Magic runs out, definitely doing to start using the NYC one!
ReplyDeleteI have the matte me crazy works well whn tested but I have still yet to use it
ReplyDeleteI have been looking for Matte Me Crazy for over a month at both Wal-Mart and CVS; Wal-Mart's display looks like they never replenish it. :( I picked up the Sparkle Top last week, but haven't yet used it. Thanks for showing that the base is clear.
ReplyDeleteI always see the Matte Me Crazy at Sears and Target. The ones around me always have plenty. Try taking a look at one of those!
DeleteI bought 2 of these matte top coats a while back. They're so cheap that it doesn't really make me mad when I mess up a mani with them.
ReplyDeleteI bought matte me crazy last week. I love it over glitter!
ReplyDeleteLoving Matte Me Crazy! Where exactly can I go to pick up a bottle?
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a nice matte!
ReplyDeleteThat orangey color is really nice. I admit I don't "get" matte top coats though...I love my nails to look shiny. Matte looks too dull and old to me. But that's just me, obviously lots of other people love it! :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm obsessed with the Matte Me Crazy! I love matte polish but I hate the wear time (since matte doesn't really protect against chips like my regular topcoats). I can get a few days wear out of polish with matte me crazy, and I don't feel horrible about only wearing it for a few days because it's so cheap compared to other matte topcoats.
ReplyDeleteYes! I bought these both when Rite Aid was having their sale a couple weeks ago. I love them both. I tend to use my regular quick drying top coat to dry everything quickly, then I follow with the NYC matte topcoat. It looks just as great, and my manicure lasts just as long as a non-matte manicure!
ReplyDeleteOooh! I hope these become available in Canada.
ReplyDeleteAnd G... my breath caught when I opened your glossy/matte French mani link. I had a feeling but I wasn't sure... and when the page loaded, I was right! That's the SAME look that I've had bookmarked on my computer for months. I'm not even a nail polish girl!
I just grabbed one in Target yesterday! I love how it isnt really thick. It's really handy to have that matte finish for fun colors that you dont want blaring in everyone's face at work.
ReplyDeleteI picked up Matte Me Crazy at Target yesterday for $1.79! Yah!
ReplyDelete@ BooBooNinja me too!! I even emailed the pic to the ladies in my life with the subject "I need this mani in my life". I'm no nail freak either but that one is just stunning. Now I can try it for under $2.
ReplyDeleteI have Matte Me Crazy, and I like it! It's a great, inexpensive matte topcoat, and I'm so glad it's easily available! NYC has such great nail polishes.
ReplyDeleteI've been using Matte Me Crazy for a while now and it is my ultimate matte polish for a great price!
ReplyDeleteWhoo Hooo! And I have coupons for NYC too!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this post - I visited Target this weekend and picked this up. I've been wanting to try a matte topcoat for a while now, but I've only been able to find them online and didn't want to place a big order just now; and didn't want to pay thru the nose for shipping a small order.
ReplyDeleteI found these at Walmart for $1.79. The past few months I always make it a point to check their NYC display. It does always seem a mess and picked over. In three months, I have only seen the Matte stocked twice making for a total of 3 bottles (all they had).
ReplyDelete@Boobooninja - I found the Matte Me Crazy at a Walmart in Calgary, so check the ones near you. The NYC nail polishes were only 2 for $3 at my Walmart - cheap! They also had the glitter one, but I *needed* a green nail polish so picked that up instead. That black manicure is exactly why I wanted the matte top coat!! Can't wait to try it out. I'm going to try putting my good top coat on first then the matte, so hopefully that will extend the life of the manicure. I can get a good week to 10 days from a manicure with the Pro-FX top coat (at Walmart too).
ReplyDelete@CatWoman -- Thanks for the tip. Walmart is off the beaten track for me... and a part of me never wants to purchase anything from the big, bad Wally-mart... but I keep hearing about the great affordable cosmetics it has. What to do?
Delete:)
I love this topcoat and the price ofcourse ;)
ReplyDeletebought it yesterday!
I just bought matte me crazy today at Walmart, and they had NYC polishes at 2 for 3$! I just put it over pink friday by opi and I was really impressed with it, especially at the price.
ReplyDeleteI just found Matter Me Crazy by accident at Target after searching EVERYWHERE for a matter topcoat. I was sure I would have to order from amazon or sephora and spend $10 or more. I actually jumped up & down in the aisle! Great swatches!
ReplyDeleteI own Matte me crazy! from when I first read about matte nail polish, about four months ago, and I fell in love! It can give such a new twist to an old nail polish you are bored of. I have never tried to make nail art with it because, well, my nails are quite short, so I don't have much space to try it! I almost bought the sparkle top coat tonight, and finally changed my mind. Well, looking at your pictures, I'm glad I did! I thought it was more packed with glitter than that.
ReplyDeleteim sooo looking for a Matte top coat... cant fine one?! :/
ReplyDelete