Matte-capades

Having never owned a matte polish before, as soon as I got my nail mail from Zoya, I was hitting the acetone bottle to remove my manicure. It took mere moments before I discovered something I absolutely LOVE about mattes - the texture!

Here's a little factoid about me you wouldn't know if I didn't tell you - I'm autistic. I have Asperger's Syndrome (I've seen it referred to as a "disorder" in some places, but to me it's just a label which helps codify all the many ways in which I'm different than "normal" people...different, not wrong, so not a disorder.) The reason I'm telling you this in this context is because I'm very, very tactile. Texture is a big deal in every aspect of my life, in so many little small ways that other people take for granted. I love rhinestone manicures because I run my fingers over the little bumps and shapes over and over again during the day.

So the texture is of course THE first thing that hits me about the matte polish. It's so smooooooth. It feels like somebody filed down suede and put it on my nails. No nap, just that smooth...brrrrrrrssshhhhh feeling. Ya, I know, made up a word there. Can't figure out how else to say it! Regular polish and top coat is a slick silky texture across the nails. This is a rough, soft, smooth texture. It bugs me trying to say that it's both rough and smooth at the same time...hence the brrrrssshhh! :)

Of course, being that my fascination is not in nail polish itself, but in nail *art*, I couldn't just leave it at that. I had to muck with it. Regrettably, I failed to take pictures before I splashed on it, and I apologize for that, but here's the sparkly/satiny/brssshhhh goodness that resulted on my fingers!

I actually thought these pictures were better than they are, looking at them days later. ::grumble:: Ah, well. The base is, of course, Zoya's Veruschuka. I added Sally Hansen Celeb City with a fan brush, and though it doesn't show up clearly in these pictures, I put them on in upwards strokes from one corner of each nail (except the ring finger, which has an all-over light brushing) in sort of fan or feather sweeps.

As you can see on my thumb, I haven't quite mastered the art of clean-up with glitter or glittery polishes. Even after I added the Celeb City, the mani retained its smooth/rough matte texture. It felt sooooo nice!