Cuticula Mic Drop Base Coat: A Quick Ramble & Review

The best-smelling brand in the Indieverse, Cuticula, is releasing a shiny new basecoat: Mic Drop. I was asked to take it for a spin, and now with my semi-retirement schedule mostly established, I had the time to devote to the project. If you don't want to read the whole essay, just know that I give it an A grade.

(promotional samples ahead)

Let's start with the details here. This is a "3 in 1" base coat. It fills ridges, gives a sticky base for nail art and polish, and nourishes your nail bed. Ridge fillers are great because they hide a multitude of "sins". Everyone had ridges, some more than others, and they can look rough under a fully cured manicure. Buffing is out of the question, so a nice plushy base is a handy thing to have.  Sticky base coats are a godsend for me, as a terrible stamper. Sometimes a sticky base is the only reason I can get a good stamp on. Nail art is hard. As for nourishment...well, that is obvious. Everyone likes happy , healthy nails.

I got the scent "Sparkling Mint Blossom". I am not generally a fan of scented products, but I have a soft spot for mints. This one is crisp and a little sweet...but not cloying. (I paired it with the PPU scented topper, and I love the combo. The September PPU scent is described as "... a fruity blend of blackberries, peaches, watermelon, and green apple." I really dig the combo.) The sweet, minty scent lasts for about 36 hours on its own and is slightly muted under nail polish. 

It has a soft pistachio tint to it, which I was a bit worried about if I am honest. But I didn't find that it was too much on my free edge, which is pretty bright and opaque. When it dries down, you can see that it has a slightly rubberized finish. That is the sticky grip. I prefer that when I am wearing semi-natural looks like this. Super glossy bare nails give me the creeps.

I know. Weird. 

I used one medium coat for these pictures. Amanda recommened two, but I do what I want. It was very plush and squishy. Since changing my nail shape, I find myself wearing nail polish almost constantly again...even if its just a look like this. My new nails are damned sharp. The only thing that saves me from scratching my freckles off is a proper layer of something on my nails. The other benefit of using a base coat as a manicure is that when you finally decide what color you want to wear you can just slap it right on! 

I wore this for a few days alone, and under a couple of miscellaneous swatches throughout the week. It survived without any peeling or flaking. Sometimes base coats will crackle on me without a polish or topper, but this one didn't during my quicky test. 

You can grab this base right now in the Cuticula shop for $8.50. There are 7,000,000 scents, plus unscented. I really endorse the Sparkling Mint Blossom. Especially when it is warm outside.