A couple of days ago, I felt like pulling out some black polish and going a bit goth. Goth wasn’t enough though, and I straight-up wanted to look badass. Enter: matte top coat!
The only one I own right now is by Joe Fresh (again, $4 a pop) and it’s decent. The matte effect is certainly effective, although you may need two coats to avoid streakiness. Longevity is another issue. After a day of wear, the tips of my nails inevitably brush against cloth, skin, what have you, and the matte finish polishes itself to a dull shine. It’s actually an interesting ombre effect, with the matte being strong near the cuticle, and fading into shininess at the nail tips. But I wasn’t having it that day.
I whipped out my top coat, ready to polish each nail back to glossy inky blackness. But I decided to try something different! Behold:
The easiest nail art ever. Seriously. And it looks so cool! Before the top coat polish globs flatten out and dry down, it looks almost like water droplets! This is all you need:
- Nail polish of your choice – preferably a dark one, because I think the contrasting textures pop more than with light colours. I used OPI’s Black Onyx.
- A mattifying top coat (again, Joe Fresh)
- A regular shiny top coat – I would suggest a non-fast drying one. When you create the dots, fast drying top coats tend to dry faster (duh) when they come into contact with air. You can be left with weird blobs/indentations, or bits if stringy dried top coat. Not fun. I used Nails Inc. Kensington Caviar top coat, which is fast-drying and not ideal for this. Still looks okay though if you can work quickly enough.
- Something to make dots with. You could get a nail art dotting tool – you can choose one based on how big you want your dots to be. I ended up using the end of an old crappy concealer brush.
So simple. Just apply regular polish, apply the matte top coat, then dip your dotting tool into the shiny top coat and dot away! The effect is fun and edgy, but requires little effort. Give it a try sometime, and let me know how it goes!
This looks super cool! I’m so glad it’s easy to do cuz I suck at nail art, but I can totally get on board with this. I’m gonna try it ASAP!
Do it and show me a picture! :D
Super cute! Love it… I wanted to try the Joe Fresh matte top coat but being that I live in ny there’s limited supply of joe fresh nail polish. The store I went to had very few shades. I was disappointed with not getting Twilight. But good thing I own Essie’s matte top coat, think I’ll try this out it looks so cool, great idea!
Do try it! How do you like the Essie matte top coat?
I really love this idea! I wonder how this would look with a dark shimmer polish, say OPI Teasy Does It? Can’t wait to give this a try, thanks!
I’m sure it would be pretty! The shimmer would add a cool effect. Definitely trying it sometime!
Wow, this is one of the most striking nail art designs I’ve ever seen. Good for you!
Thank you! :)
I tried it with a purple I already had–Nabi Magnetic#05 but did not magnetize–and Sallie Hansen Clear Dries Instantly. Easy and looks sweet. Thanks!
Awesome! I’d love to see it :)
Looks great, especially with black!
This is so nice. I love that its easy too!
Being impatient, I didn’t bother getting a dotting tool and just used the brush from the glossy clear. It turned out alright, but it gave me a great idea. If I had the skill, which I don’t, making an animal print (leopard or stripes), would be really cool too…