Black Comparison and a New Way of Mattify-ing

I love black nail polish... I don't know what it is, but it looks so classy in an edgy sort of way, and I just love it. So here are two of my black polishes swatched normally with not top coat, just glossy all on their own. On my index and middle is Orly Liquid Vinyl, and on my ring and pinky is China Glaze Liquid Leather.


The Orly is more pitch black than the ChG, which is much more of a charcoal jelly that builds to a black in two coats. Honestly, I CAN tell the difference in person, but I doubt anyone else would notice. The ChG looks deeper, like you're looking into a black pool, while the Orly is darker and looks more like a shiny black surface like patent leather or vinyl.

Now here is my new way of mattify-ing polishes. Honestly, I never got into the matte trend much, but I like it sometimes. Usually I'll take an existing color and use ChG Matte Magic over it, but I hate how it always seems to lighten the color or make it cloudy looking. I got this new buffing block that feels like the buffing surface is just the foam, and not a separate piece of "sandpaper" like on some. I just lightly buffed the topcoat (in this case, Seche Vite) once it had dried in long sweeping motions. Here is the result:


I REALLY like how it comes out. Yeah, it doesn't come out too matte - more like a satin finish, but I think I prefer that anyway - and it shows a bit of buffing stroke lines, but the best part is the lack of cloudiness! I've been considering getting Illamasqua Scorn because of how gorgeously dark it is for being a matte (or satin) black, but I may have found a new way to satisfy the craving.

Here is a picture of the buffing block I used:



What do you think of this way of mattify-ing a polish? Have you ever tried it before? Do you have a favorite matte topcoat?