Mentality 12K Gold

Mentality 12K Gold

I like gold leaf nail art a lot, although I always use torn up bits of real gold leaf to get a more dramatic look (as in this mani here). I've been around for silver or white gold leaf for ages, so when I spotted Mentality's 12K Gold topcoat, which is white gold leaf,  I couldn't wait to try it. I've bought a few Mentality polishes recently (mattes and microglitters), and I've been really impressed with the colours and formula. And the price is also extremely reasonable!

Mentality 12K Gold

I used just one coat of Mentality 12K Gold over Rescue Beauty Lounge Jane for this mani. 12K Gold is incredibly easy to use, no need to fish around for the gold leaf in the bottle. One coat of Seche Vite to finish this off, and I had a subtle and elegant design that I've been wearing for the last four days. I think 12K Gold would look fab over a dark plum or navy base, or over a bright colour. I'll be sure to be trying other combinations soon!

Mentality 12K Gold

I purchased Mentality 12K Gold from Sally Magpies. Mentality have their own website and shop, it's just so much easier to buy from Sally in the UK!

Gradient with Mentality Duchess and Manglaze Lesbihonest

Mentality Duchess and Manglaze Lesbihonest

Just a bit of fun today! I love pinks......and gradients, and mattes............ so here's a combination of a lovely new pink matte I bought recently (Mentality Duchess) and an old favourite (Manglaze Lesbihonest). I love how this worked out - and it's great to know that the Mentality Mattes (which I've just discovered recently) work well in gradients with my collection of Manglaze shades.

Mentality Duchess and Manglaze Lesbihonest

To create the effect I used one coat of Duchess all over my nails, then added the gradient using both colours painted onto a slightly damp makeup sponge. I like matte gradients - matte polishes seem to blend nicely together and the sponging gives a nice finish too.

Mentality Duchess and Manglaze Lesbihonest

I purchased Mentality Duchess from Sally Magpies and Manglaze Lesbihonest is an old favourite from my collection. Manglaze polishes used to be a bit tricky to get hold of in the UK but Sally started stocking this brand too recently - which great news for UK matte polish fans.

Mentality Cantankerous ............. stamped with MoYou Explorer Collection no 5 plate

Mentality Cantankerous stamped with MoYou Explorer #5

I've made two fab new discoveries in 2014 already.......... Mentality polishes and MoYou stamping plates. I've been pondering and procrastinating over both for a few months now, but I bit the bullet at last and placed an ordered a few Mentality colours and a couple of MoYou plates.

I loved Nailventurous Floam and its relatives (although I've not worn any of these for ages - the only one I've used since I started this blog is Humblebee and that is ages ago!), so I was immediately drawn to the Mentality microglitters. This one is Cantankerous - a mix of black, white, yellow and red in a clear base. This shot is in the bottle:

Mentality Cantankerous

And on my nails:

Mentality Cantankerous

I just used two thin coats of Mentality Cantankerous straight over basecoat; I wanted to see how easy it was to get full coverage without undies. Although you can see my nails through the glitter in these big photos, in real life this looks full coverage.

Mentality Cantankerous

I needed several coats of basecoat to get this smooth enough, although I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to getting a smooth finish on my nails. But totally worth the effort - I love this polish and wore it on its own for a couple of days before I added the stamping!

Mentality Cantankerous

Mentality Cantankerous

I stamped this with MoYou Explorer Collection plate #5, using the banner print from the top of the plate. The all-picture nature of these plates makes them great for longer nails, when most of the 'older style' plates need double stamping or some other fudge to make the pattern fill the nail. I think they're also great fun and very versatile too - as you can use more than image on a single nail or pick different parts of the image to use on different nails o make a co-ordinated skittle mani (I did than with this plate in this mani here the other day).

Mentality Cantankerous stamped with MoYou Explorer #5

The MoYou plate was great to use, every image stamped just about perfect first time. I used American Apparel Hassid for the stamping since I couldn't find my Konad black polish - Hassid stamps just as well as Konad and is a lot easier to clean up. Maybe I'll be using this as my go-to stamping black in future!

I'm super impressed by the MoYou plates and I've already placed my second order! No doubt I'll be ordering more Mentality polishes soon, but I will wait until I've tried the two I still have waiting on my desk! I wore Mentality Brute last week - I loved that colour too; hard to say whether I like Brute or Cantankerous best so far!

Mentality are based in the US and have their own store and ship internationally (larger orders).  I purchased my Mentality polishes from Sally Magpies - Sally has a great range of indie and overseas polishes made easy to buy in the UK. I purchased my MoYou plates from MoYou London.

Mentality Brute........ with Nail Art :)

Mentality Brute with Manglaze Matte is Murder

My first foray into Mentality polishes! I've always loved matte polishes, so I don't know how these stunners from Mentality managed to pass me by, but I'm really glad I found them. Better late than never!

Here is Mentality Brute alone; this is two coats. Application and coverage are perfect, and this colour just glows!

Mentality Brute

I added some geometric nail art with Manglaze Matte is Murder, since I've just joined FingerFood's Theme Buffet  nail art challenge, and this weeks theme is geometric.......

Mentality Brute with Manglaze Matte is Murder

For all of my nails except my ring finger, I taped off the parts I wanted to stay blue with scotch tape, then painted over. This is the first time I've tried taping in this was; I got the idea from Lucie's tutorial at Lucy's Stash. I deliberately left less of my nails exposed between the tape than Lucie did, since I wanted more of the blue in the end result. I'm pleased with how this turned out and I'm definitely adding this to my library of nail art techniques!

I purchased Mentality Brute from Sally Magpies; Manglaze Matte is Murder is an old favourite from my stash but Sally has just started selling Manglaze too. Outside the UK, Manglaze are available direct from the Manglaze website and Mentality from the Mentality BigCartel store.

Check out the other super geometric nail art in FingerFood's challenge - I love geometrics!