Patriotic Nails

Yesterday was the Festival of Stars here in my hometown of Ninety Six, South Carolina.  There was a fireworks show and all, so of course I had to have a mani to go along with the Celebration!

I used China Glaze Frostbite as the base of all of the nails, followed by China Glaze Love Marilyn as the accent nail on the ring finger. To finish it off I put a matte top coat, using the NYC Matte top coat.

I actually like how simple this is.

Don't forget about my giveaway! It ends on July 15!

XOX Caitlin

Review Matte-n-a Mystery

I found this polish in a local Beauty Supply in an almost full display.  The Polish is Mystery From Makeup Cherimoya  and the line is Matte-n-a-.  As the name suggests the whole line of these polishes are matte.

First I would like to say that these polishes stink to high heaven.  The smell is worse than Kleancolor, It is so strong and just smells like it's not 3-free.  For some reason I can not access the Cherimoya site to see if they are or not, so for right now I will assume they are not.

In the bottle Mystery has me sooo intrigued.  Then when I polished my nails with it, it really was a mystery.  I liked the polish before it turned matte.

Here is the polish Matte on my nails:

 I thought it was a really pretty and the shiny-ness of it made me think it would be great for stamping, so I also stamped it on my one nail to see how it would do.  It stamped well, but I had to work fast, because the matte pigments make it dry super fast, so I had to move quickly. (I used Cheeky Plate CH5)

 Then I wanted to add a top coat to see the amazing shiny-ness that amazed me at first, and I was not dissappointed.  I think that these polishes should stay shiny instead of matte, because it's so much prettier in my opinion. 

Also, the Seche Vite I used was old, and smeared the stamp, which was a disappointment, but I didn't have enough on my brush and my brush swiped against the stamp, so that was mainly user error.

Here is a bottle shot if you are interested:

Final Thoughts: I don't think I will be purchasing any more of these, they just stink too much for me, and at $2.99 I don't want to pay for something that stinks that bad.  I am also not a fan of the already matte polishes, because I have a matte top coat, so i feel like I could add the matte if I wanted it to be mattte, but that is just me.  And I think that these polishes are so much prettier before they are matte.

What do you think?

XOX Caitlin

NOTD

This morning I decided I wanted to do a black matte, but not just any black matte. I wanted to do an awesome black matte. wanna see what I came up with?

Of course you do! because its awesome. :P

I know... glitter on my cuticles.. but it comes off in the shower...

Anywho, back to these awesome nails. I used Seche Base(so it doesn't stain), 2 coats of Wet N Wild Ebony Hates Chris, I concentrated some Ulta Pinata-yada on the base and placed the others around it, and then I used Essie Matte About You in two coats to give it that extra something.  And that extra something is awesomeness.  ok enough talking and on to more picture spam! (I got a little carried away with my camera. :)  )

What do you think?  Let me know in the comments!

XOX, Caitlin