This is my second time wearing Smokin' Hot, by Essie. I didn't get pictures the first time around, though, because it was kind of a disaster.
I think it just had to do with the particular combination of base and top coat I used with it the previous time, but it took forever to dry and bubbled like crazy. It was massively fugly.
At any rate, this is two coats, and it applied so beautifully! This time I used two coats of BB Couture for Nails Hard On Nail Strengthener as my base, two coats of Smokin' Hot, and a coat of Seche Vite. Presto magico - everything turned out great this time.
I don't usually use Seche Vite as my top coat, but I decided to go for it because I wanted it to dry as fast as humanly possible (I had to hang up laundry and also needed to go to sleep soon) and also because I was worried about bubbles and SV seems to do a good job stopping, lessening, and/or preventing them.
I needed a good break from all the Christmas colors and glitter, too, so this was a very nice, refreshing change of pace. I adore this color! It's dark, but it's not black. It's almost gray and almost purple (two awesome colors), but not really clearly one or the other.
This mani pretty well survived a busy day at work, so that's great! I only have a small chip on the very edge of the tip of my right middle finger nail. I think it's passable enough that I might wear it again tomorrow.
Maybe I'll throw on a coat of glitter for funsies, though. We shall see.
