The ladies of Makeup Wars plan their topics out far in advance. So I had plenty of time to decide which polish I wanted to feature for my Favorite Fall Mani. However, as soon as I picked up China Glaze Howl You Doin’ at ULTA, I knew I had to use it as part of my mani!
The idea for this mani, however, came about when I decided to compare China Glaze Howl You Doin’ vs. OPI Merry Midnight. Merry Midnight has always been too sheer, in my opinion. Howl You Doin’ was far from sheer (see it here), but it lacked the gorgeous flakies of the OPI. What’s a girl to do? Layer, of course!
I started with my favorite basecoat, Salon Sciences Instant Artificials, then added one coat of Merry Midnight, one coat of Howl You Doin’ and another coat of Merry Midnight. I topped that off with a layer of Seche Vite. It was perfection!
Then I added a matte top coat. I love mattified flakies! But then it felt too dark. Drab even.
So then I added two layers of Formula X Effects Top Coat in Kaleidoscope, followed by a layer of CND Air Dry. I did these nails last Thursday, and I love this combo so much still wearing it as I type! Five days is practically unheard of for me, but it's so dazzling I don’t want to take it off.
It’s held up remarkably well. Which makes sense, considering how many layers of top coat I used! That’s 9 layers – 3 layers of color, and 5 layers of top coat. Excessive? Maybe! Love it? YES!
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