Mentality Nirvana
Mentality Nail Polish is an indie polish maker owned and run by spousal team Hillary and Danny of Modesto, CA. They have a large diverse range of offerings in colors across the spectrum and finishes of all kinds, arranged by collection on their website, here. The number and variety of polishes they keep in stock is truly amazing. It's way too easy to lose time on their site perusing all the possibilities and picking out potential favorites -- I've done it many times! For my February polish buying spree I was was able finally to select a good double handful for purchase and I'll be swatching them over the next week or so.
The first polish I picked to swatch is Nirvana. Nirvana is part of Metality's Brilliants line, a group of polishes that feature colors with a sparkling holographic finish, and is described as "a sparkling orange toned bronze holographic polish with copper accents." In person, it possesses a robust golden bronze color with subtle tones of smooth sandy brown and creamy taupe running beneath it and a glowing, scintillating finish with what looks very much like golden and copper glass fleck particles. Holographic pigments show their influence more in discreet nuances of rich color rather than a conspicuous prismatic flair, although a subtle flair is there when you look for it. This is a modern grown up gold with a modern grown up holo finish, contemporary and elegant and luxurious, more sumptuous and sparkly than a traditional linear or scattered holo. If lions wore nail polish, they'd wear this!
Application was dreamy. Mentality polishes feature a medium flat paddle-type brush that is a perfect size and shape for quick easy application. Nirvana has a dense, fluid consistency that flows smoothly onto the nail and stays where you put it. It is one of those polishes where shimmers disperse across the skin during clean up so don't be surprised to see some sparkling nail environs in my photos. This polish has a degree of translucence so coverage must be built up over multiple coats, although it applies so evenly that it could be worn at one coat for a sheer magical look. I used three coats to achieve an opacity and color I was happy with. Nirvana dries naturally in very good time to a satiny smooth finish.
Photos show three coats of Nirvana over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of HK Girl.
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I'm a silver person and usually avoid gold, but I adore this polish and love the way it looks on my nails! The golden and copper sparks give it an opulent visual texture. Such a classy polish! It reminds me of the character of Nicole Diver from F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night for some reason....
If you love gold polishes, this is one is a delight!
love,
Liz
This is such an interesting and unique shade of gold. I really like it!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed Nirvana, Melissa! I think it's a fabulous polish. Mentality has a lighter gold shade in their Brilliants collection called Euphoria -- it has the same type of sparkling finish, if you like golds check that one out!
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