Mentality Maven

Maven by indie polish maker Mentality is one of six lacquers that make up their Pink Matte line, a collection of matte polishes in various hues and tones of pink. Maven is the next to darkest shade, combining pink, grey and purple into a color called steel pink. It's very difficult to describe. It's kind of like you took a medium cool pink, added a few drops of purple and then ever so slightly blackened it. Very unusual, I have nothing like it in my collection nor have I seen anything similar.

Application was interesting. When I swatched it on a palette it was very thick, and I noticed that the finish developed one or two fissure-like cracks almost like a crackle polish would, so I thinned it out considerably. The consistency was fluid and light and flowed evenly over the nail. Pigmentation was very good considering that I added quite a bit of thinner to it, and I achieved complete opacity and bottle color in two coats. Maven surface dries naturally very quickly and the smooth matte finish develops as it does. The polish beneath is still wet though, and will take another five or so minutes more to set up and dry completely.

I decided to topcoat Maven immediately after I applied it. Photos show two coats of Maven over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of HK Girl.

Mentality Maven

Mentality Maven

Mentality Maven

Mentality Maven

Mentality Maven

Mentality Maven

Mentality Maven

Mentality Maven

Mentality Maven

Mentality Maven

Mentality Maven

Mentality Maven

I think this polish is super flattering on my pinkage and find the color fascinating. Actually, I've been fascinated with the composition of all the colors I've tried from Mentality. With their relatively large pigment particles, they remind me of the pointillist paintings of the neo-impressionist movement in the latter half of the 1800s, like this famous one from Georges Seurat:

A Sunday of La Grande Jatte, Georges Seurat, 1884 (source)

If you study Maven closely, you can actually see all of the pigments that went into creating the final color. This gives the color complexity, visual interest, dimensionality and an artistic sensibility that is unusual. It's not simply a flat color. Although it may register at distance as a greyed-out magenta or purple, it's more than that. And even though this might not register consciously, I believe it does on a subliminal level.

It makes me happy to be wearing this uniquely composed color, and makes me feel proud of Mentality and indie polish makers everywhere for using their skills and creativity to bring us new ways to express ourselves through nail polish.

love,
Liz