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!
*Please note: I was contacted by Hillary from Mentality Polish and notified that this is not Raucous. We are trying to figure out what exactly is, possibly a mislabeled Foxy or maybe even a one-off unique polish. I will let you know as soon as I know. In the meantime, don't purchase Mentality Raucous and expect this.
From the moment I saw the list of prompts for The Crumpet Nail Tarts 33 Day Challenge, I knew what I was going to do for the prompt Indian. Why? Because every year Bria saves her money so she can get a henna tattoo at the state fair. When I think of India, I think of Bollywood, the women in their beautiful saris and intricate henna tattoos. By the manis posted in the challenge, it looks like I am not the only one! Here are my nail tattoos.
I love how these turned out, so there are several pics :)
Source: Cheers Beauty
If you don't know what henna tattoos are, they are "temporary tattoos" made using a paste of a botanical dye used to draw intricate designs on the skin. The paste is applied, dried and left on the skin for at least 4 hours causing a deep reddish brown staining. The longer you leave it on, the darker the staining. Traditionally it is an Eastern "feminine art" applied and worn by women on their hands and/or feet during ceremonial and celebratory occasions such as weddings and religious festivals.
I started with two coats of Julep Jennifer, a lovely sheer, pale nude that still has enough coverage in two coats to hide all the hideous nail stains (tee hee). This is more opaque and has a more delicate pink tone than my favorite nude, Avon Ballerina.
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The next challenge was to find a polish to match that distinctive henna color. When I received my Mentality polishes I knew that Raucous would be perfect! Make sure you check back on Saturday for my Mentality haul/swatches. You don't want to miss it, as these are my new favorite indie polishes.
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Mentality Raucous is a gorgeous MATTE satin/semi gloss reddish brown HOLO. Really, don't neglect coming back on Saturday to see this unique lovely in all it's glory!
Now, I certainly couldn't get as intricate as the sample above, but I did try to get a lot of detail on those little canvas'. I went with a more traditional design that I found online....but I am not going to show it to you because I am pretty proud of this and don't want you making comparisons (tee hee).
I haven't been this happy with my nail art in awhile! I am always most pleased when I have succeeded (in my eyes) with my freehand skills.
I love how it not only has the right shade, but also, because of the matte quality, looks like the paste used. Alright, I will stop gushing!
Tell me what you think. Did I succeed, or do I have to high an opinion of these (tee hee). I love hearing your thoughts! And don't forget to check out all the different interpretations of "Indian".
I am a day late for the CNT 33DC, but I think it is worth it. The prompt was/is chevrons. Since discovering some tips for water marbling I have been dipping my fingers again and again (tee hee). I will be sharing what I discovered worked for me very soon.
This started with one coat of my go to black, Finger Paints Black Expressionism.
Next I did a water marble with China Glaze Strap On Your Moonboots (blue holo), China Glaze When Stars collide (purple holo) and Maybelline Bold Gold (uh, if you can't figure out which color that is, you need help). I learned how to do the chevron design by watching THIS VIDEO by SimpleLittlePleasures. Yes, those are water bubbles on my index and middle finger. I am still perfecting the art.
I now wish I had layered this over white, I think the colors would have popped more, but I kinda like how subtle this turned out, especially for wearing to work. This is my thumb, which I thought turned out the best.
As always, thanks for looking and commenting!
Tina
Instead of putting witches on my nails, I decided to do what I thought witches would wear on their nails. My first try I loved, but it did not translate very well in the pics, so I tried again. That means that today you get two manis! First let's start with the one that did not photograph well.
This started with Finger Paints Black Expressionism sponged all over with China Glaze Agro.
Next I sponged near the cuticles with Glitzology Sherwood Forest, a clear polish filled with glitter awesomeness in shades of green and brown. You can kinda see it in the bottle or you can check the post HERE. This has to be my all time favorite glitter polish! Finally I sponged on China Glaze Howl You Doin' for a pop of purple. I think it was all the glitter that freaked my camera out. So then I came up with this.
You know that a lot of witches are portrayed with green skin, so I thought this grinch green would be good. I started with two coats of OPI Don't Talk Bach. I have to admit that I love this "ugly" pee green color. It has a nice shimmer and applies like butter.
Next I sponged with Zoya Yara, another lovely/ugly shimmer filled green. And finally I sponged with OPI Indulgence, a sparkly orangish red that looked a bit like blood to me.
This is what was under my zombie mani. So, what do you think? Which do you like better? Let me know in the comments.
Home sick from work today, so I am doing some catching up while watching previous seasons of Supernatural on Netflix to prepare for the new season. Can't wait!
The prompt for today's post is Zombies. I was happy with this before I saw the pics. Now I realize I should have added some "blood". Oh well, there is always next year.
I started with a full mani under this. You will see it later today. Then I covered it with two coats of Ulta Set the Nude and one coat of Seche Vite. The great thing about this mani is that I did not have to worry about clean up! Now you can see how sloppy I really am when I do my nails. Then again, this polish is a huge cuticle flooder.
I waited until everything was dry to the touch, but still dentable and then pushed everything up from the base of my nail. The idea was that nails still grow when you are dead so a zombies nails would be nice and healthy at the ends, but what was growing in would be....well, icky.
The mani I had underneath I had underneath had a glitter gradient, which I hoped would show up since I had it on for two days before going over it with this, but when I pushed up the polish, everything went with it. Oh well, lesson learned. Next I sponged Mentality Rebel, a matte brown polish that I will be reviewing this weekend, on the tips and up onto my fingers. I thought it gave a perfect "dirt" finish. Like I said, I wish I would have added a bit of blood. Guess my zombie has not given in to the flesh eating thing yet (tee hee).
Bria allowed me to use her as a "victim". Once again, wish I had added blood. Oh well. Check out the rest of the zombies.
Ever have one of those days? They start out bad and only get worse. Yep, that was my day today. But I am determined that I will not let it stop me from my challenges! Today's prompt for CNT 33DC is "Art with oldest untried". My nail obsession is just a little over a year old and my stash is bigger than I could have ever imagined. Despite feeling like I own every color in the rainbow, every season there are new and unique polishes released that I "must" add to my stash. The result is tons of untrieds. I tried to find one of my oldest.
This is Piggy Polish Make Waves. It is a gorgeous "glow from within" sky blue. When I first purchased this, my polishing skills were not quite up to par. I think this went so long unused because of the frost finish on it. As you probably know, frosts are notorious for showing brush strokes so I was not confident in using it
Once again, the blue freaked my camera out. The first pic is more color accurate. It also shows the nail patch on my ring finger. Not to worry though, a bit of french stamping will do the trick.
I stamped with Finger Paints Black Expressionism and Sugar Bubbles SB 015. I really love this image and can see using it at the tips (like here) at the base, even from the side. I love it!
Glad that I have one more untried....well, tried *tee hee*. Now check the other untrieds.
I was determined not be on the end of the InLinkz list this time. I had the mani done already so I figured it couldn't be too hard. At 1:00 am when I finished editing my pics, I decided that my sanity was more important than getting it posted early! As they say, best laid plans and all.
When I started getting ahead on my manis for this challenge, this was one of the first themes I did. I LOVE textured polish! I don't mean the flat plain textures (yes, I am talking to you China Glaze) but the depth filled ones that OPI and Zoya put out. Plus I love mattes, rubber finish and suedes. Basically anything out of the norm calls to me. So today I have one of my all time favorite textured polishes (so far), not to mention one of my top 10 of all time favorites! It should go without saying that this is going to be a bit pic heavy.
Have you noticed a theme with my "help me hold my hand in a non awkward position" stone? If you have, let me know in the comments!
This started with two coats of the beautiful OPI What Wizardry Is This. Wizardry is right! Okay, this is pic is indirect indoor light, but let's look at the other side of this unusual polish.
Yep, there are the sparkles in the sunlight. Yes, an outdoor photo, can you believe it!
One more....I just can't help it! Does anyone else think of polishes as having personalities? Not all of them, just the special ones...maybe that is what makes them special. This feels to me like a handsome man you see across the room and then you meet him....he's witty, charming and empathetic and you fall...hard! Yep, this is the perfect boyfriend, right here on my tips. He has an English accent too (tee hee). Go ahead, say it, I am crazy!
The only downfall of this handsome gentleman is that it takes awhile for him to dry. You can see the dent on my pointer finger for confirmation of this. Oh well, all men have their downfalls, and if this is his only one, I am happy to wait for him to dry!
To be honest, I didn't want to do any art with Wizardry. Who has the perfect boyfriend and then tries to hide him? No, you want to show him off, right?
I finally settled on this polish exposing image from one of my new(er) Sugar Bubbles plates, SB 007. I LOVE the Sugar Bubbles plates. the images are large enough and well etched. So well etched, however that they tend to shred my cotton pads. I stamped with my favorite black, Finger Paints Black Expressionism. No top coat for this one, it would cover up Mr Perfect's rugged strength (texture).
I am thrilled with how these turned out. Perfect fall mani, it reminds me of a rich embroidered fabric. *Sigh* I would wear him all the time if I could. One last one, this time in profile (tee hee). Look how he sparkles!
Oh please, please, someone comment and tell me that I am not crazy....or at least not the only one that feels this way about polish!
As always, thanks for looking, commenting and listening to my crazy ramblings!
Tina
Before the 33DC started, I started doing manicures. Determined that I would not be doing and posting a every day, I worked ahead on the list. Inevitably, I did the ones I was excited about and the ones that I had no idea on were left to be done later. Suddenly I was faced with the prompt "Mexican" and I had no idea what to do and little time to do it. I immediately did a Google image search. Tacos, peppers and sombreros littered the web, so I decided to do a little "sombrero" mani. Here is what I came up with.
My stamping stash is filled with stamp I never use....the dreaded french tip patterns. Why dreaded? No matter how hard I tried, I can't get them lined up properly on my nails. You may be saying "But Tina, these are lined up!". You're right, they are....because I used the stamping decal technique. Here is an image to give you an idea how it is done. One of these days I will remember to do a step by step tutorial, but in the meantime, there are tons of them out there. That is what Google is for, right?
The orange "thing" I stamp on is a silicone baking mat. I tried plastic sandwich bags, but never was very successful with them. This silicone mat is miraculous. The decals peel off so easily, no more ripped decals! These can be found all over the place, including Target, Walmart and Micheals, just to name a few. I wish it was a different color though, like white....but who is going to use a white baking mat for cookies? It will only end up looking dirty, even when clean. So if anyone sees a light colored silicone mat around, let me know where!
I started with two coats of China Glaze Kalahari Kiss. For the stamping decal I used BM-219 colored with OPI Schnapps Out of It (orange) and Zoya Monica (purple).
I ended up really liking these! I still need some improvement with the decal technique, but that is true of all my nail art skills at this point (tee hee).
Thanks for looking and commenting! Check out the other south of the border manis.
Tina
It has officially started! I tend to go a little challenge crazy this time of year with Halloween/Fall/Winter Challenges. Since I started this little blog in November, I missed out on the Halloween challenges last year, so this year I am making up for it by doing two! The first is through The Nail Challenge Collaborative and there are only 4 posts in the month and no prompts other than Halloween. The one I will be starting today is hosted by Lacquer Dreams. Posting is Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout October, so it fits right into Crumpet's 33DC.
If you are interested in this challenge, feel free to join. More information is available HERE.
Today's theme is ghosts, so I decided to freehand some ghosts. I have never been shy about what I think about my freehand skills, but I can't improve if I don't practice, right? The nice thing is that ghosts are sketchy anyways, so if things seem a little shaky, I can just say it is part of the design (tee hee).
I am really disappointed at how poorly these photographed. All the work I put into making the ghosts shimmer and shine did not translate in the pics. I started with two coats of OPI My Vampire Is Buff and then sponged with China Glaze Dandy Lyin Around and finally added one coat of Essie Nude Beach. It looked GREAT on the nails, you just cannot see ANY of it in the pics I took and, of course, I had already taken it off by the time I realized. Oh well :(
After it was all dry, I added the ghost outline with Finger Paints Black Expressionism, filled the rest of the nail and dotted with the same.
How are your freehand skills? I hope better than mine! Now that is over with, check the other ghosts. And as always, thanks for looking and commenting!
