Almost a year ago, the beautiful Kellie Gonzo sent me a random act of kindness package that contained ManGlaze Matt-Astrophe, which is a clear matte top coat. I was (and still am) so grateful, but I've gotta say, it's taken me a good, long while to warm up to mattes (hey, better late than never, right?).
Recently I did a little experiment with some polishes that have caused quite a frenzy over the last few years. I had this idea of putting Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure on top of Orly Space Cadet, and then toping the whole thing off with Matt-Astrophe (I'm sure someone else has probably
done this, but I thought of it one night while trying to fall asleep, so I'm claiming it as my own idea! if I knew of a blogger who has done this and posted photos, I would insert a link here).
The coolest thing about matte top coats is that, if the polish underneath has any type of duochrome inclination, the matte top coat will kind of freeze it. In other words, a regular duochrome (without top coat) can be seen most easily by shifting the nail in certain lights. But topped with a matte top coat, the duochrome can essentially be seen from all angles, in any light, really. It's like it freezes it in time or something. Groovy, huh?
Here is two coats of Orly Space Cadet + one coat of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure + one coat of ManGlaze Matt-Astrophe:
Pretty cool, huh?
For this next look, I used another frenzy-inducing polish from a few years ago: Hard Candy Mr. Wrong. I used two coats of Mr. Wrong, followed by one coat of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure, then one coat of ManGlaze Matte-Astrophe. For fun, I put coat of Wet n Wild Tangled In My Web on my ring finger, just to see what it would look like with a matte top coat:
Do you ever play around with matte top coats? If so, have you come up with any fun or interesting looks? I'd love to hear about them!
Some of the products featured in this post were given to Nouveau Cheap for previous reviews.
I love playing with matte top coats! I like putting them over glittery polishes (:
ReplyDeleteLOVE IT!! I love matte top coat and love putting it over shimmers and glitters. One of my faves is matte over OPI Diva of Geneva. Looks like crushed velvet! Gonna try the Space Cadet one and I also have Galaxy Girl. I have the Nubar version of Hidden Treasure, so gonna have to play this weekend! ;)
ReplyDeleteI love a matte top coat over duochrome flakies. Like you said, it freezes. It's fabulous. :)
ReplyDeleteMy best mani using a matte top coat was two coats of Cult Nails Quench, a coat of Nubar 2010 (SHHT dupe-ish) a coat of Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat in black then matte top coat. It looked like a fresh lava flow, just crusted over then cracked to show the still molten rock under the surface.
Wow!!
ReplyDeleteGreat layering!
Awesome!
Ice queen, that sounds so pretty! I think I'll try that one:)
ReplyDeleteI never in my wildest ideas would have thought about, or even liked, matte nails.
ReplyDeleteThen I became a reader, and soon a creator, of nail blogs. That's when I found out about mattes. And I frequently have fun using it. I just adds another creative outlet for nails.
Your two swatches are beautiful!
My very favorite thing to do is to slap a matte top coat over flakies! It's perfect. I don't have the Man Glaze, but I have several bottles of China Glaze Matte Magic. It looks great!
ReplyDelete