Categorized: Matte

Nicole by OPI Gumdrops is a new collection including six textured shades.

This limited edition collection features a shimmery sugar-like texture, glittery bits, and a matte finish. Some have more obvious glitter in them, making them stand out. Some have more of that fine sugar or sand like appearance.

The formula was pretty good for all of these. All of these covered nicely with just two coats. They dry quicker than a normal polish and do feel a bit gritty to the touch, as textured polishes will. If you want to keep the matte effect, no top coat!

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Note: Cruelty free

Cult Nails In the Garden is a new spring collection featuring five new shades in various finishes.

In the Garden is really a perfect set of shades for spring. It’s very reminiscent of what is actually in MY garden blooming right this second!

There are three wax finish shades here, which dry matte. They are thicker and a bit harder to work with but not impossible. They look great either matte or with a top coat and I’ve shown you both below.

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Note: Cruelty free

Zoya PixieDust is the latest collection from the brand for spring, and it’s not like anything we have seen from Zoya before – it’s textured!

Indeed, I think we are going to be seeing a whole ‘lotta textured polish in the near future, and I for one am on board!

PixieDust features six new shades in the pebbled, sand-like finish. It’s a rather fine texture, so no worries about your nails looking like they have large chunks of sand stuck to them! It’s finer and not as gritty as say the OPI Liquid Sand ones.

No base or top coat required, and you get a matte yet still sparkly finish. I used three coats on the first three shades, and then two coats on the last three (the darker shades).

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As you probably know by now Mariah Carey by OPI is a new limited edition eight-piece collection out for spring. This collection features eight shades, four of them being a new finish called Liquid Sand. What the what??

Liquid Sand is basically a glittery polish that gives you a textured sand-like finish. You don’t wear a top coat with it, so it’s pebbly and matte when it dries. Now normally I am not a fan of textured nails…but only when they aren’t meant to be textured. I honestly didn’t think I would like these, but I really do! I wore one of them right away after swatching it and really like it. It’s not as “snaggy” as I assumed either. In other words, I didn’t wind up with cat hairs attached to my nails at every turn.

And just to toss this out into the world, I REALLY wish a big brand like OPI would partner with a non-pop artist one of these days for a collection. How about a Nine Inch Nails or Marilyn Manson collection? Maybe A Perfect Circle could do one and it could be called “A Perfect Collection”? I dunno, but it would be cool I think to have some variety!

A Butterfly Moment, Pink Yet Lavender, Sprung, Anti-Bleak

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Illamasqua has a new limited edition nail varnish collection out called Rubber Brights. This collection was inspired by the dominatrix rubber boot girls in the 1920′s in Berlin. Gotta love where they get their inspiration!

Rubber Brights features six new shades with the matte rubber-like finish: Nurture (candy apple green), Optimist (warm yellow), Aorta (scarlet red), Devotee (candy pink), Serenity (bright turquoise) and Prosperity (rich purple).

I really like this finish. It’s not a flat matte, and has a slight sheen to it. You don’t need a top coat otherwise it will look like like a regular finish.

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