China Glaze - Stone Cold matte / glossy

2 coats over Essie Grow Stronger. No top coat.

This polish is from the Hunger Games collection and represents District 2 (Masonry). I've had this polish since it came out back in the spring but never wore it since it didn't feel very spring to me. 

I really love the color and finish of this polish. It is technically a matte but has silver shimmer in it which gives it a nice sheen in the light. It reminds me of the OPI Suede polishes (I don't own any but looks like it has a similar finish from what I've seen on other's blogs). 

In terms of formula this dries extremely fast which is typical for matte finish polishes. It is quite opaque so it could be a one coater if you are very careful. You would need to be careful not to go over any spot twice, or go over it very quickly before it starts to dry. Otherwise if you go over a spot again while it's semi-dry it will drag and create a bald spot. I unfortunately wasn't fast enough so I needed a second coat once it was fully dry to fix the bald spots and lumpiness. 

I was annoyed that although it seemed 100% dry (felt dry, lost it's shine and became matte) it still dented really easily half an hour after painting. There is a bit missing on my ring finger near the cuticle. On my right hand, the polish on a few nails became pushed back from the edge. I ended up with a bit of white at the tip and wrinkled polish behind it. It was weird. (You can't see this in the picture below because one of my nails broke the next day so I trimmed them all before taking the picture below.) I'm not sure if polish maybe does that normally without Seche Vite? I haven't worn a mani without Seche Vite in probably 3 years lol. I don't think I would've got into nail polish if it weren't for the magic of Seche Vite! Also the tip wear with this polish was atrocious. But again, maybe it was the lack of Seche Vite and not the polish itself. I can't make an accurate judgment since I never wear polish without Seche Vite. I really love this polish but don't know if I would wear it often because of the chipping/tip wear I experienced with it. It would definitely be on my list of favorites if I could figure out a way to make it last longer while keeping the same look. I tried to add Deborah Lippmann Flat Top matte top coat over it since I've found that always lasts about a week without chipping, but it took away the pretty sheen and just made it a flat gray.

Below I've shown it glossy. I applied Gelous over my ring and pointer nails. I'm not sure how, but the Gelous actually dragged off some polish in one spot. I applied it a DAY (yes full 24 hours!) after I originally applied the polish. I picked a picture where the shine hides the bald spot. Also because I broke a nail I trimmed them before taking this picture so you can't see the horrible tip wear I was talking about earlier. 

Personally, I prefer it without anything on top of it. I love the subtle sheen from the shimmer. With a glossy top coat it looks darker and the shimmer definitely comes through more. It definitely looks nice glossy as well but I prefer it's original finish since it's more unique.

Which do you prefer? Matte or glossy?

Any suggestions on how I can get this beautiful polish to last longer without chipping?