The Dark Mattes for Men

Hello, everybody. It is good to write again. It is my wish to use this blog to introduce you to the thoughts and persons behind the Mentality Nail Polish Brand.

Our goal is create an affordable alternative nail art palette. There are so many great stand-alone nail polishes out there, but not all of them work together when doing a manicure. The polishes that make it into our production line are designed to work with the other polishes in its collection, and with the entire Mentality product line.

This time around I present the Dark Matte Collection. This is a line of blacks that dry to a matte finish and cover the color spectrum in 8 steps: red-black, copper-black, gold-black, olive-black, green-black, teal-black, blue-black, and violet-black. The matte formula is quite durable after curing. You can even fix minor dents in the polish while curing by pressing on the dent and/or gentle polishing such as seen in the forthcoming Withstand swatch. I used a bit of saliva on the end of my finger tip and burnished the dent smooth, which is only a little bit gross. lol

This line reminds me of after-hours parties. These dark colors seem to me so formal but scream rebellion. I could see this line worn by a color conscious goth man or woman tired of the same old blacks. I could see these polishes at home at a concert or a club. The classic nature of the color black also lends to formal settings and the deep colors remind me of luxurious fabrics and dinner dresses. I can also imagine a myriad of Cosplay characters that would need appropriately matching nail polish.

The opaque nature of this line also lend to use as a cosmetic cover. Many of my friends have worked as bartenders and used nail polish on their toe nails to cover nail discoloration from constant exposure to beer yeast. Many sports are dangerous to fingers and toes as well. Nail bed bruising can be dreadful to look at and these polishes would be well suited to visually covering the damage. I suggest no medical benefit, only cosmetic. And by all means, if there is something wrong with your body, go to a doctor or a pharmacist and find out what's wrong or how to fix it. Come on, I'm a guy too. There have been numerous times that I have come back in from outside to my wife saying, "Honey, you are bleeding". My response is usually, "Where?"

~ Danny

This is Courage, a red-black matte nail polish:

This is Strength, a copper-black nail polish:

This is Hope, a gold-black nail polish:

This is Endeavor, an olive-black nail polish:

This is Persevere, a green-black nail polish:

Shown as one coat of polish.

This is Resilience, a teal-black nail polish:

This is Withstand, a blue-black nail polish:

*You can see the shiny spot in my index finger where I burnished a dent. It contrasts a bit to the matte finish on the other fingers.

This is Valor, a violet-black nail polish:

We are constantly amazed by the color combinations and nail art submitted to our Facebook page by our fans, and there are extensive swatches of these polishes and others available at the end of a quick internet search. Check out the nail art that others are doing with Mentality Nail Polish and what those people have to say about our nail polish.  

The Matte Collection for Women

Today, I'd like to show you some of the polishes from the Matte Collection, as presented for women.

All of the polishes have similar formulas. All of the pictures show the polish with two coats and no top coat. Most of them were opaque in one coat. Application tip: put down a thin coat and then don't mess with it until it's dry. The matte finish shows up before the polish is cured and may lead the wearer to think that the polish is fully dry before it actually is. As with other matte nail polishes, it is easy to ding until it's fully cured, but the wear time is fantastic. My wear test revealed four days of wear before removal, and it was taken off to swatch, not because it had chipped.

On to the swatches:

Rascal is a matte black and pictured with two coats and no top coat.

Mischief is a matte grey polish; shown two coats and no top coat. 

Vicious is a matte red; shown two coats no top coat.

Ruffian is a matte blue; shown two coats no top coat.

Visit our store at http://mentalitynailpolish.bigcartel.com/ for purchase or to browse other colors. The Matte Collection retails for $6.50 each. Shipping is always free to the United States. International shipping rates apply.

The 420 Collection for Men

This blog features the 420 Collection as presented on male hands. 420 is a term used in the marijuana community. The collection name and individual polish names are intended to spawn conversation regarding the social issues surrounding the efforts to change legal restrictions regarding the use of marijuana.

Educate is a dark red holographic nail polish with green accent flecks.

Legislate is a dark gold holographic nail polish with green accent flecks.

Medicate is a dark green holographic nail polish with green accent flecks. The holographic pigment overwhelms the base color in this lighting and it does appear similar to Regulate here.

Regulate is a dark blue holographic nail polish with green accent flecks.

Visit http://mentalitynailpolish.bigcartel.com/ for purchase or to view other swatches.

Thanks for reading!

Nail Art ~ Male Hands

This blog is a nail art picture for guys. The nail polish base is Regulate from the 420 Collection. The top coat is Matte Holo and the stamp is Scoundrel. I used the RA 116 plate from Red Angel for the stamped image on the middle finger.

Matte Holo gives an appearance of finely chewed aluminum, and reminds me of the ground aluminum that can be found leftover from an aluminum milling job. There is an interesting chase of light across Matte Holo, because of the holographic pigment, and I chose Scoundrel, a semi-gloss, to make the stamped marijuana leaf stand out against the Matte Holo.

The inspiration for this manicure is my 1914 Conn alto saxophone. I polished it once to a bright silver and immediately missed the patina that had built up over so many years. I have not deep cleaned it again and love the patina.

Thanks for reading!

Nail Art Projects ~ Male Hands

The following images are visual art projects. They feature Mentality Nail polish on my hands. I believe that fingernails are the perfect canvas on which to display messages. This can be as simple as a smiley face meant to encourage the wearer to let go of sorrow, or as a message to all those who see it.

I call the following image "Superhero" and it pays homage to the superhero that resides in all of us. There are times that I feel that I can take on the entire world, as well as those when it feels as if the world is out to get me. It is up to me as a survivor to never give up. The manicure uses Vicious, a matte red polish, with a black "S" painted freehand with Rascal, a matte black polish.

The following image is political art. It features a red, white, and blue manicure that used, Vicious, Ruffian, an equal sign in Rascal, and the white is Matte Holo. The image suggests an Air Force service member's funeral and is meant to make the viewer uncomfortable. The  lines and angles of the composition lend to the viewer being unable to find a place to rest, except back to the message displayed. I tweaked the image several times to give a warm, faded appearance with heavy contrast, such as might be seen through eyes heavy with tears, except for the equality banner which received its full colors. The connotation that I intended is that sexual preference is irrelevant when it is your child that has given a life in service, because it is only a family member of a deceased veteran that ever gets to see a flag presented in this manner.

More art projects will follow. Thank you for reading. ~ Danny

The Matte Collection for Men

This is collection of matte nail polish that has been put together with the subtle taste of men in mind. 

A word of note: I have purposefully left my hands and nails in their usual rough state. I am hard on my hands and use them like the tools that they are. This blog entry features minimal clean up to mimic conditions that men might experience in real life.

That brings up a valid point. Painting nails is like painting a deck. Preparation of surface and product is important. You may want to buff your nails to ensure a longer wear. Shake the bottle of paint first, or roll between your hands to mix.Apply a thin even coat starting from the base of the nail and spread to the tip quickly and evenly. Do this type of stroke in the middle, then to each side of the middle paint. Let the paint dry completely. Too thick a coat will take too long to dry. Wipe your brush off well first and then dip for just enough paint to do a layer. You don't have to get it exactly right. The extra paint on skin or cuticles will come off in the shower after the polish dries.

Nail polish is a bit different than auto paint. It is plasticized, which means it’s designed to flex with your fingernails. Automotive paint will chip off finger nails and is quite thin and not designed to flex, although it dries quickly. Nail polish is thicker and as it dries, a chemical reaction takes place that creates an immediate shell across the surface of the paint, and then the interior of the paint dries to cure. This takes a minute, even for a thin coat. Multiple thins coats give better results than a thick coat. I still have issues with application. My wife, however, is a genius with that little paint brush.

This blog features pictures of me posing with my Fender DG-7, which I keep in the garage to jam on as my daily beater. My left hand finger nails are usually shaped to accommodate playing, and I have mostly permanent callouses on my finger tips. I peel the callouses off when they become too thick. My right hand usually has longer finger nails so that I can finger pick, Travis pick, or claw hammer. I am classically trained and have widely varied musical interests.

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This is Mischief, a matte grey polish. I like the subdued color against the fingerboard.

This is Mischief with a single coat of Suede topcoat. Suede has a matte finish and adds surface texture.

The suede top coat is matte and adds a texture that is very similar to hammered metal surfaces. I did an acoustic jam and solo bit over Thriftstore by Macklemore while wearing this polish.

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This is Vicious, a dark matte red. The color is an eye-catcher without being flashy.

 This is Vicious with a coat of Suede top coat.

I like the hammered metal feel. I did a bit of impromptu jamming to Justin Timberlake's Suit and Tie and jacked the freshly painted index. So be it.

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This is Ruffian, a bold matte blue polish.

This is Ruffian with a coat of Suede top coat.

I really like this combo. I was jamming again, this time to Tennessee Boltdriver's version of Driving my Life Away. I love playing blue grass.

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This is Rascal, a matte black polish.

This is Rascal with a single coat of Suede top coat.

This last picture shows the top coat perhaps a bit more shiny than it was in real life. I may have been a bit rushed since I wanted to jam to Scream and Shout by will.i.am and Britney. I have minimal preference for any particular style. I just love to play music.

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Follows is a swatch of Scoundrel, a satiny finished black to compare finish.

Follows is Scoundrel with a coat of Suede top coat. It shows how the matte top coat changes the finish.

I hope you all enjoyed reading the blog. The Harlem Shake is queued on my Spotify and I am going to go stand in the corner and swing my arm around in a circle, until the chorus starts, which then I am going to just freak out a bit on the dance floor... I mean in my garage. Hope you enjoyed reading.

The Dark Metallics for Men

My hands are jacked; plain and simple. On an actual serious note, as the maker of Mentality Nail Polish, I do also actually practice martial arts and a whole host of real-life things that destroy my finger nails. I’m a guy. Guys are taught that our hands are heavy-duty tools. I would say that my hands look horrific most of the time and thinking about it, it's kind of surprising that my wife wants to hold them.

I am also a speed skater and that has destroyed my toenails. The first time that I used the nail polish that I make on my toes for a wear test, I was dumbfounded to find that my pinky toenails had grown back together. They usually grow with multiple splits in them and stay that way because I spend so much time on my feet. Nail polish fused my toenails in place so that they could regrow as a single nail again. Crazy. Perhaps I might see the end of me accidentally stabbing my wife in the legs with a jacked toe nail.

This blog features the Dark Metallics collection as presented for men. The listings feature another dose of humor for the listing and I am wearing all-cotton Muay Thai style fist wraps in the pictures. The collection features shimmery golden tones and the polish dries to a satiny metallic finish. These colors are perfect for the man that wants to something more than a matte finish and grey scale colors. These colors are reserved and mature, but scream out, “Hey, I can color coordinate too”. The polish-jobs in the pictures are either a single coat, two coats, or a putty paste-job with some polish to fix the spots that I messed up. There is minimal clean up so that I could keep the look realistic. I'm a guy. When I'm through here, I am probably going to go do situps, the lawn, or dig a trench. I can never be sure.

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So there I was, wrestling an alligator in an Amazonian river with a pack of Piranha nipping at my toes when a Kodiak bear comes roaring across the banks at our melee. That was when I thought to myself, “What is a Kodiak bear doing in South America and did it manage to track me here after I arm-wrestled it for that salmon yesterday?” He too must have had the Hunger.

Hunger is a red-toned dark gold shimmer and dries to a satiny metallic finish

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A multitasking man, I like to practice my Karate chops when I go gold panning in my spare time. Long hours spent breaking rocks with hammer fists, while looking for the riches of gold can really drive up a Thirst.

Thirst is a dark gold-toned shimmer and dries to a satiny metallic finish.

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Down, up, left, left, right, up, down and the crowd goes wild. A perfect combo is more than worth a perpetual thumb callous or the occasional gamer’s elbow. It’s the irreplaceable glory of victory for which men Yearn.

Yearn is a green-toned dark gold shimmer and dries to a satiny metallic finish

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Real men are sensitive creatures. Take the average barbeque for instance, and the chorus of vocal pain that can be found roaring in unison at the loss of a hamburger mistakenly sent flying on a poorly aimed flip. It makes a man’s heart Ache.

Ache is a blue-toned dark gold shimmer and dries to a satiny metallic finish

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Zeal, seriously, what is zeal? The dictionary says it means having good energy to get things done. I say it means bow hunting the monster from Predator with one arm tied behind your back. Yeah, now that says Zeal.

Zeal is a purple-toned dark gold shimmer and dries to a satiny metallic finish.

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Thanks for reading ~ Danny