Black Matte & Shiny French Mani

I clearly need to work on my steady hand, but since this mani isn't the most long lasting, I wasn't too bothered! This is definitely an 'occasion' design, since I think it only lasted about two days - I think the matte top coat shortens the life span, unfortunately.

For this I used Sally Hansen's Double Duty as a base coat, NYC Nail Glossies #245B (two layers), 17 Matte top coat (two layers) and Seche Vite on the tips.  It takes me absolutely ages to do since all the different layers have to dry!  But doing it whilst watching Glee takes the edge off it... NYC Glossies polishes seem to be floating around discounted sections online (for example, here), and for the price they're great quality!  They contain vinyl shine and pro vitamin B5, which means they glide on well, dry quickly, leave a lovely gloss to the nails and don't seem to ruin nails either.  Perfect!  The brushes aren't as good as Rimmel Pro or OPI polishes, but for the price (rrp £2.50) you really can't complain.

I used the 'tape trick' for this, which doesn't always work perfectly, but I think it's mostly down to practice.  Saying that, I think I'll do a tutorial for how I do mine in the next week or so, if anyone's interested?

xx