Matte About You

Oh yes, I'm officially mad about Essie Matte About You! Matte About You is a matte top coat that can turn any glossy polish into a matte finish and from what I've seen online, it's best to turn glitter polishes matte so I decided to take a stab at it and try turning some of my glitters matte!









Here are the polishes I have on my nails for the above pictures:
Thumb: TFS BL604 and one coat of Nubar 2010 on top
Index: TFS BL607 with one coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust on top
Middle: LA Girl Color Addict Idol with one coat of OPI I Lily Love You on top
Ring: Essie Lapis of Luxury with one coat of OPI DS Sapphire on top
Pinkie: LA Girl Color Addict Idol with one coat of China Glaze Meteor Shower on top

And of course one coat of Essie Matte About You on top of them all!



For this nail, I've got LA Girl Color Addict Idol and one coat of OPI Sparkle-icious on top and then mattified with Essie Matte About You.

Don't you think Matte About You made the glitters shine even more (such a paradox I know)! I did notice that with holographic colours (DS Sapphire and Fairy Dust), Matte About You made them rather flat so I wouldn't recomment mattifying any holo shades/glitters. Other glitters where the particles are of different colours (but not holographic) will because even more beautiful! Matte About You brought out the pink, blue and green particles in I Lily Love You as well as the red, blue and green particles in Meteor Shower. I particularly love these two shades being mattified because they reminded me of the night sky! I also can't wait for my Nfu Oh flakies to arrive so I can mattify them too! (:

Idolising Lapis and Sapphire

Decided to rock some blue nails and I dug out LA Girl Color Addict Idol, Essie Lapis of Luxury and of course, my new favourite bling bling polish, DS Sapphire!

I have two coats of Idol and three coats of Lapis of Luxury with one thin coat of DS Sapphire on top on my accent ring finger. Took this picture under my table lamp.



And this one was taken in sunlight!



Absolutely in love with the olive-gold shimmer in Idol! And well, the idea of layering DS Sapphire over Lapis of Luxury wasn't exactly my idea. The moment I saw it on Fashion Polish and Spaz & Squee, I knew I had to try it for myself!

YAY! In love with this accent combi! By the way, since I'm talking about blue polish, have you seen Chanel's Les Jeans de Chanel Collection pictures yet? I have my eye on Blue Boy!




Pictures taken from temtaplia!

OPI Mermaids Tears

For our second comparison post, we have OPI Mermaids Tears. This was the first colour that caught my eye when all the bloggers did swatches and I knew I just had to have it!

Mermaids Tears is a dusty green and some people say it's similar to Orly Ancient Jade but I don't have that so I can't give you my verdict on that. I did however dig up some potential dupes and here they are!



From thumb to pinkie: OPI Hey! Get in Lime, OPI Mermaid's Tears, Essie Turquoise and Caicos, Etude House Mint Green, LA Girl Disco Brites Turntable.

I'd say the closest to Mermaid's Tears is Essie T&C although formula wise, Mermaid's Tears triumps T&C ANY DAY. I used four coats for T&C here, so it will be a headache to paint a full mani with T&C (one of the reasons why I haven't done so before). Mermaid's Tears only required two coats! Mermaids tears however, is much dustier than T&C. I would say T&C is like relaxing on the beach where everything is bright and sunny whereas Mermaids Tears is a lazy afternoon at home.

The rest of the colours are visibly different so they're not dupes at all. I think if there's one colour you absolutely must get from the Pirates collection, Mermaids Tears would be it!