Mentality Velle

Velle was released by California-based indie polish maker Mentality as part of Hilary and Danny's line of Tetrachrome polishes earlier this year. I'd been avoiding the Mentality website because I find the sheer variety and vastness of the offerings completely overwhelming, but when I saw some of the Mentality Tetrachrome and Jellychrome polishes swatched by Anne on her wonderful blog Betty's Beauty Bombs, here, I just had to act. Three polishes later, which qualifies as a micro-spree, I was the proud owner of Velle, Agere and Hoopla. Today I will show you Velle because, hey, one more green for the road!

Velle is a multichromatic glass fleck shimmer polish in a black-tinted base with color shifts primarily in the gold/green/blue spectrum and a dramatic scintillating semi-metallic finish. You can see a bit of purple in the bottle as well, and some orange on the nail in certain circumstances, but the predominant color is an olivine green. I don't normally think of this color as a bright, but it certainly is flashy with the shimmery semi-metallic glass fleck finish. The shift to blue is easiest to see at oblique angles in direct and indirect light. In shade, the gold shift kind of combines with the green to produce a really vivid yellow-green, but you can also see the gold alone in bright reflected light. Because these are kind of analogous colors, the shifts are more blended and subtle than I've seen in some multichromes, but the glass fleck formula, I think, is a natural for multichromatic shifters. The nature of the flecks and the way they appear on the nail lend them to this sort of light play and dynamic coloring.

Application was great. The consistency of Velle is fluid, full-bodied and fluffy with glass flecks. It's a thicker polish, but not overly viscous or difficult to work with, with a smooth, self-leveling flow over the nail. Pigmentation is very good with full bottle color and a nice depth reached in two medium coats. Cleanup is a bear, though. Those little glass flecks just go everywhere at the touch of acetone. I tried my best to brush them away, but you'll still see some sparkle to my nail environs in the photos. Velle dries naturally in average time to a smooth, shiny finish. 

Photos show two coats of Velle over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Mentality Velle

Mentality Velle

Mentality Velle

Mentality Velle

Mentality Velle

Mentality Velle

Mentality Velle

Mentality Velle

Mentality Velle

Mentality Velle

Mentality Velle

Mentality Velle

Mentality Velle

Mentality Velle

Mentality Velle

Mentality Velle

I love the dappled visual texture of chunky glass fleck shimmers and the way they appear to float on the nail. Velle is a fabulous demonstration of this, especially (as with most glass fleck shimmers) in the shade where the flecks are thrown into relief against the base. It's just so interesting and delicious to the eye!

love,
Liz