Lack Luster Finish for Nails
By Melanie Parker

Bucking last year's trend of high gloss patent leather, is this Fall's matte nail lacquers. OPI, Zoya, and Essie have all jumped on the matte nail trend originally reserved for men's manicures.

The leader of the pack in terms of color stories for their matte line is Zoya. The limited edition Matte Velvet trio includes Loredana, Dovima, and Posh. The polishes appear to be shimmers when wet and are in a unique frosted glass bottle. The lightest of the set is Loredana, which is a metallic pewter polish.


Dovima, is a deeper, more saturated charcoal gray. I originally thought this one would look like black velvet on the nails. A better name for it might have been Char or Smoke, as it is not a true black. However, I do like the unique, smoky look of this color. But on someone with square-shaped nails, you might run the risk of looking like you have mini charcoal briquettes on your tips.


My favorite of the trio is Posh. This pinkish red polish reminds me of flushed cheeks and velvet. I would have named this one Iron Maiden. The frosty finish held up well. This picture was taken on day 3 of the trial and there is no chipping and minimal tip wear. Despite the instructions, which say no base or top coat, I wore NailTek Xtra as a base treatment with it. Should you choose to wear a top coat, the polish will be shimmery, just like it is when it goes on your nails wet. Although the dry polish looks like it might have a fabric feel, the polish is smooth. It feels more like a polished stone than velvet. I liked the feeling. It made me feel like my nail were extra strong.

If these darker colors don't appeal to you, you are in luck. Essie has launched a Matte About You finisher product that will turn any of your polishes into a matte polish. This would replace a clear top coat during the manicure process.

I'm not ready to turn in my glossy top coats yet, but this is an interesting trend for Fall. Zoya Matte Velvets are available at http://www.artofbeauty.com/scrpt/scr.dll/ShowLine?cat=4&line=622&brand=2.

You may also want to check out ManGlaze polishes for black or grey shades at http://www.manglaze.com/buy.html.

And just because I love it so much, here is a swatch of Dashing Diva Northern Light. This polish appears to be peacock blue with a gold shimmer in the bottle, but it dries a darker teal with lime green shimmer that makes it look like a metallic jade. Love, love, love it! I cannot give up the shimmer and shine or a polish like this for more than three days.