Swatchin Saturday on Monday - Mentality

Before I get it to the swatchfest, I want to acknowledge something.  I stated that this would be up on Saturday and now it is Sunday.  I could make lots of excuses....Had to work on Saturday then had a girls night out and drank a bit too much and then there was the whole "what polish is this" situation (I will explain later) but truth be told, this post was a huge undertaking for me (who has only done one previous swatch post) with tons of pics and TWO self made gifs.  Whew, but I hope you think it was worth it, I do!

One more thing, did anyone notice that I passed the 200 post mark?

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Yes, even Patrick is...excited?  But more thrilling than that.....my one year blogiversary is just around the corner!  Watch for a huge giveaway going on mid November to celebrate!  Now on to the polish.

Look at all these purdy little bottles just waiting to be cracked open.  All of these, except the middle one, were purchased by yours truly (Don't tell the hubby!).  Mentality Not For Sale was a free with purchase and, as stated in the name, cannot be purchased.  This special polish is being saved for the blogiversary giveaway, so you will not see any swatches here, but you know how to Google, don't ya?

When I first saw these mattes used in nail art at Gnarly Gnails HERE they went straight to my Indie Wants pin folder.  In the comments I put "matte metallics - MUST OWN".  Within 24 hours I had searched their whole Etsy store, added to my cart, searched my stash to see if I had anything similar, removed from cart, added more, removed more, checked the polish budget balance and had the insane desire to cry because I couldn't purchase EVERY SINGLE Collection!  I'm serious!  Words cannot begin to describe my love for this Indie Polish, but you know me, I will try anyways!

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Mentality is created by a husband a wife team.  This isn't totally unusual in the indie polish world, but what makes this team different is that Danny creates the polish while Hillary manages the business.  I think it is the testosterone influence that makes these polishes unique, kinda like ManGlaze only better.  If you want to know more about this partnership, check out their blog HERE.  

As you can see above, some of the collections are studies in shades of color and they produce several mattes.  I can't wait to do some gradients with these tonal studies.  Most of the polishes are dark colors right up my alley.  At this moment I am on a bit of a brown kick, so I got several of them.  So I will stop gabbing now and show you what you came here for....the swatches.  

Application on all of these polishes were excellent with no cuticle flooding.  The mattes surface dry quickly but take a bit longer to fully dry, which means they stay dentable for longer, as witnessed by the dents in some of these swatches.  This is normal for mattes and they always trick me with their seeming dryness so don't let my impatience throw you off.  Lets start with the browns.

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This is two coats of Mentality Hope, although you may be able to get away with one.  Hope is a brown matte polish that leans gold in some lights and bronze in others (as you can see below).  I LOVE this because, although it is a "gold" shade, it is not an *in your face* gold.  Because of the metallic finish, it tends to show brush strokes....kinda like a pearl finish....so don't overwork it.
  

Here I have added top coat to the tips so you can see how versatile their mattes are.  Leave them matte or add top coat for a totally different look.  I have always been of the opinion that I would rather top coat a matte polish than matte coat a regular polish as it seems to me that the matte coated polish never looks as good as a matte polish and the top coated matte has such a gorgeous depth/finis.  This, of course, is just my personal opinion with no facts to back it up.  Hmmm, I feel a comparison post percolating at the back of my already full to the brim brain.  Yep, there is one of those dents on my middle finger :)

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Mentality Rebel is another matte.  "Hi, my name is Tina and I am a matteaholic."  "Hi Tina."  (Tee hee).  Application on this was better than Hope in that it didn't show brush strokes as much.  This is two coats again.

 Here we have a funky french with top coat.  Ooooo look at that sparkly maroon leaning brown.  Once again, can you hear my heart go pitter pat?  *sigh*

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Mentality Prim is one of their "stampers".  It has a satin/semi-gloss finish.  Although I haven't tried stamping with it yet, I think it looks gorgeous on it's own.  Just look at that holo under the flash.  Don't quite see it?  Well how about here?

  
I would consider this one a scattered holo.  I feel like this is very unique because of the satin finish.  So purdy!

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This is the polish I like the most and it is the one I did not order.  If you saw my last post you know that there is some question as to what this is.  It is labeled as Raucous, which is what I ordered, but I suspect it is Foxy, another one of their stampers.  Either that or it is a one off polish, unique unto itself.  Wouldn't that be fun!  I have to be honest, this was a happy mistake.  This is my favorite of all I received!  It is a rusty brown satin holo and I am in love, no matter what it's name!  And as it is a holo, of course there is a gif!

*Full of warm fuzzies*  <== Me right now!  Words escape me and that is pretty unusual in and of itself.  As soon as I know what this is, I will let you know.  Hopefully it is Foxy so you can get it too!  Now on to the non-browns.

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Mentality Courage is another matte, this time a red-black.  It is dark and vampy, just like I like 'em!  Once again the formula was great and no application problems.  This is two coats.

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Striped with top coat you can see the beauty of this!  Oh how I love this!  It is one that I can see me using matte AND top coated...and often!  Once again, words escape me so just gaze at the pictures a bit more :)

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Mentality Resilience is my favorite of the mattes I purchased.  It is a teal leaning black and you know how I love me a dark polish.  Ready for some top coat?

I loved this so much that I had to do a little something special with it, hence the dotticure flowers.  That is Ozotic 510 in the middle.  Oh, and did you notice the stunning teal shimmer under that top coat?  *Swoons*.

So, what do you think of these?  As infatuated as I am?  You can purchase these and tons more at their Etsy store HERE or Big Cartel shop HERE and follow them on Facebook HERE.  Oh, and by the way, they have their Red, Blue and Pink Ombre Mattes ON SALE for $5 until tonight, 12/14/13, at midnight PT at their Etsy store.  PLUS they have free shipping within the United States.  Yep, you know I got me some more matte beauties!