Sephora by OPI Domestic Goddess Matte: NOTD

Today's NOTD is a bright happy matte - Sephora by OPI Domestic Goddess Matte! Now I know the mattes trend isn't in the spotlight anymore, what with the advent of mint green, lilacs and neons, but there's still something about mattes that makes them look so cool to me. And to me the best thing about wearing mattes/suedes is that they dry super fast, so if I'm in a hurry they're perfect.

Domestic Goddess is a happy, bright purple that is still wearable despite being bright because of the matte finish. I kind of feel like the matte finish seems to "flatten" colours, and makes them less shocking? So while I would never wear Domestic Goddess if it wasn't matte (it would probably be a tad too bright for me), I'd happily wear it as as matte. And I feel like colours like Nails Inc Jermyn Street (here) look tres chic when they are not matte, but just look kind of blah when mattified. I suppose it's all a matter of preferences, but I personally prefer my mattes to be brighter (so that they don't look like blah mattes), and my non-mattes to be more muted (so they don't draw attention from my professors and remind them that I'm "that girl with the bright nail polish who's always late for class").

Here it is:



This is two coats. The first coat was a tad streaky and uneven, but two coats fixed it nicely. It also dries really fast, as is common for mattes and suedes.

Also, while I usually have a problem with wear when it comes to mattes, this particular one was actually surprisingly long-lasting on me, as far as mattes go. I think it lasted for a good 3-4 days (with base coat) before the first chip came on, so in effect it was probably as good as a regular non-matte polish. That's not bad at all. If you are using a base coat with this one though, it is vital that you wait for the base coat to dry before putting on any polish, because matte polish dries faster than normal polish, so to avoid problems with the different drying rates, it's just best to wait for the base coat to dry before putting on any matte polish.

Nails Inc Half Moon Street and $OPI Absinthe Makes the Heart: My Nails are Nubbins!

The main reason why I hate travelling is because it ruins my nails. (I know, I have a problem.) This is what happened after a 12-14 hour flight:



Just to compare, this is how they were before the flight (they were longer, but I was waiting for them to grow out a lil more before I filed them into the right shape, hence the uneveness in length and shape):



That NOTD was $OPI Absinthe Makes the Heart. That one I love. I don't normally like greens, because I'm a colour wimp, but I LOVE this one. It's a greyish green - or a greenish grey - with super cool foil effect, and a good amount of glitter. I really love how it looks, and I think it would look cool with a matte topcoat over it too. Somehow, my skintone seems to draw out the extreme colour possibilities in it - on me, sometimes it even looks positively emerald green, while other times it looks like a metallic gunmetal grey. I really like this one. It's like, deep, jewelled green with tons of grey. Cool. It applied a little sheer, so this is 3 coats. 2 would have covered most areas, but I wanted to cover everything.

Anyway, back to the sad state of my travel-worn nubbins. They're all short and uneven now. I'm hoping they'll grow out soon. It just makes me want to cry, because that was 3.5 weeks of growing out my nails down the drain (yes, my nails grow slower than snails move, and they break and peel, so that was my record length so far). If only there was a way to travel that wouldn't ruin my nails...I'd love travelling so much more.

But since I'm all stuck with short nails for however long they take to grow out, I'm going to wear all the bold and vampy colours I can while the nubbins last. So, you know, the next few NOTDs are going to be bold and dark! No more nudes!

So for now, my mani is Nails Inc Half Moon Street. This is an exclusive I believe, but I cant remember what exactly it was exclusive to. I believe it was one of those "Wow-you've-spent-so-much-money-on-our-stuff-so-here's-a-little-something-for-you" free gifts they give you if you place a big order on their website, which would absolutely explain how and why I have it. Its also very beautiful. It's a glowy magenta-pinky-red type of colour, with a lit-from within look, and a finish that defies description. I'd call it a shimmer with a metallic leaning. It has superfine silver shimmer that shows up as a sort of metallic glow. Very lovely. I don't really like bright pinks in general, but this one really has me staring at it all day long.

Application, as is usual for Nails Inc, was a dream. This one was very pigmented and smooth. I did two coats, although if I had better skills I could have gotten away with one coat. Love this one.

Here it is in artificial light, and you can see the shimmer in greater detail here:



And because I do so love this colour, here is a close-up shot of my nails. Take a look at the glowy goodness emanating from this thing!



I'm really starting to like Nails Inc a lot. With the exception of Elizabeth Street which was a dud (and I'm thinking it may be a dud because it was the free polish that came with Glamour Mag, and maybe they cut corners for the freebie), every Nails Inc polish I've tried has been nothing short of fabulous. The only thing is, most of their interesting colours tend to be exclusives, leaving the permanent line of colours a little dull. They've only just started coming out with mattes, months after all the big players have made their moves, and they've yet to come out with a duochrome, a flakie, or a holo. Awww come on, Nails Inc, I'm tired of waiting already!

And since we're hurrying the world along, while we're at it, let's tell my nubbins to hurry up and grow out! I'm waiting! And my polish stash is waiting!

KOTD: Sephora OPI Metro Chic, Konad Special Polish White

Today's KOTD is $OPI's Metro Chic, and I used Konad's Special Polish in White for the design.

$OPI Metro Chic has been all over the blogosphere and back. It's a much overexposed, much over-reviewed little thing, but I do like it very much. I love these purply-grey-brown, mushroomy colours. They're probably my favourite colours for nails. Anyway, this isn't really good OPI - but then I've been told via hearsay that $OPI polishes are not actually made the same as OPI polishes, they just have the OPI label slapped on them. No idea if that is true or not though. This was 2 coats, although 3 would have been optimal. It's a litle sheer and streaky, although 2 - 3 coats covers nicely.

This was plate M36, I believe. Once again, sorry for the lousy lack of skills, as well as the raggedy cuticles - I'm very much a noob in the nail department, and I swear, I'm chronically plagued by terribe cuticles.