Man Glaze Mayonnaise

It's been a long time in the making, but now it's finally here. ManGlaze has released their newest shade: Mayonnaise.

Over a year ago ManGlaze sent some of us a teaser picture of a white matte prototype topped with some silver glitter and it looked amazing. Now I can see it with my own eyes. I like.

ManGlaze Mayonnaise. It's a matte white- a nice clean matte white without yellow tones in it like actual mayonnaise would have. It has a slight pearlescence to it to keep it from looking like pure white-out.

He sent along a bottle of Hot Mess so I could duplicate that original white/glitter look:

One coat of Hot Mess over three coats of Mayonnaise.

And with topcoat, just because:

The formula on this was pretty good. If it were normal polish I'd probably say it was too thick, but since it's a matte it has a different set of standards for me. I didn't have any trouble with application- it was thick but not unmanageable. Since it's white it can get streaky and that's why I did three coats. As long as you have plenty of polish on the brush and never let the brush or nail get too dry while applying you won't have a problem. It was easier to apply than KO White which is the only matte white I can compare it to. Not as easy as OPI Alpine Snow matte, but that's basically pure white-out so, apples and oranges. The only complaint I have about the formula of Mayonnaise is that it takes a lot longer to dry than Fuggen Ugly or The Death Tar. I wasn't prepared for that and ruined my first manicure. Just give yourself a little extra time with this one.

Another thing that seems different about Mayonnaise compared to the other ManGlaze shades is that the bottle is tiny. I don't know if it's a mini or if this is the normal bottle size for this shade. I can't find any info on the size or volume of the bottle online to know for sure. I wasn't expecting such a petite bottle- no Costco industrial sized drum of Mayo here! EDIT: Mini is a mini, the one you'll purchase from the website will be normal sized.

In case you've never used a matte polish before, or maybe you're just having trouble with them, here's how you should apply mattes:

Apply basecoat and let it dry COMPLETELY. If it's not completely dry it will cause the polish to crack like those old Cover Girl crackle polishes. Though, you should try it at least once, cause it looks pretty cool.

Get a really big bead of polish on your brush- it will seem like too much, but trust me, you'll need it. Apply the polish in a gentle pushing motion, as if you were pushing the bead of polish down your nail instead of a painting motion. If you use Seche Vite topcoat, this is also the same method you'd use to apply that, if that helps you imagine the motion. Don't stop the brush, don't press down hard, don't go over the same spot twice. You want it to be one fluid motion, from cuticle to free edge, for each stroke you need to make to cover the nail. Aim to cover the whole nail in two to three brushstrokes keeping the brush wet at all times (you may need to add more polish to the brush between strokes).

It is very important not to press down too hard with the brush. It'll cause streaks and ridges. You want a very light touch and you want the brush to stay very wet. Try to use as few strokes as possible. This will give you a smooth, even, ridge-free matte application.

Overall, I'm rather impressed with Mayonnaise. Application was easier than I anticipated. It's not yellowed looking like KO White, but it's also not a stark white-out creme white. It's definitely wearable. It doesn't remind me so much of mayonnaise as it does of royal icing. But, royal icing doesn't sound as nasty as mayonnaise so I don't think that name would have stuck.

(This was sent to me for review.)

First attempts at the 'Ruffian Manicure'

Since I'm always swatching I feel like I never get to play around or experiment much. And then when I experiment or do things just for fun, I feel like I've wasted valuable swatching time! But, I decided I wanted to try this Ruffian thing cause I like the way it looks. Here's a couple combinations I ended up with:



My very first try. I was already wearing this gorgeous Chi Chi Moondust (thank you Kaz!) and decided to put a little China Glaze 2030 on. I like the blue and gold together! I'm going to have to do this combination again!

But I'm not really sure if you're supposed to let the polish on the sides show, or how far down you're supposed to go... Or how wide it's supposed to look?

Instead of taking the whole thing off, I wanted to see what it looked like with a third color, so I added some China Glaze GR8 (can you tell I had my Konad supplies nearby? lol)

Looks kinda cool with the holo!


Wanted to try it with some brighter colors so I picked out some Color Clubs. I can't get that green to photograph properly, it just turns this stupid pale color! Argh! But it's really darker than that, and neon, not pastel.

And before I took that off I wanted to see what it would look like with a third color again:

Can't capture these neons properly! So frustrating! But for once Pucci-licious looks like it's supposed to in a picture! Something about being next to a blue helped... Odd. And if the orange and pink look thick, it's cause they are. There's about four coats of those because the blue showed through too much, plus Seche Vite on top and to make it even worse it's still wet in these pictures. Would look a lot less thick and bubble nail like when it's dry. I like the multicolor look, but to me it looks like lines of gumdrops on my nails! Which reminds me, I had a box of Candy Corn flavored Dots around here somewhere...


Thought matte/glossy would be a good combination so I did ManGlaze Fuggen Ugly on top of Essie Limited Addiction. Looks cool, I like the contrast! But it also looks like my nails are being ripped off my fingers, doesn't it? Like the cuticle is all bloody and my nails have slid halfway off? Gory!! I might have to keep this in mind for Halloween!

And because I couldn't leave well enough alone, this abomination happened. It is really fuggen ugly.

Now I want to try every combination of colors and finishes I can think of. I like this look. It's like a moon manicure but different and easier! I'm going to go try another one right now, actually.

New stuff from ManGlaze

We've been hearing for a while now that ManGlaze was up to something... Creating new products... hearing the whispers and rumors. The time is finally here to see some of the new stuff they've been working on, and I was fortunate enough to receive a few samples to review. So, here are ManGlaze's new creations!
Hot Mess matte glitter topcoat, Matte-Astrophe matte topcoat, Matte is Murder. ManGlaze always has excellent artwork on their bottles- these feature work by Joe Simko and Jason atomic. You can click these for a closeup.


Hot Mess. Matte silver glitter. This is a really dense silver glitter that dries completely matte. You can use it as a topcoat to add glitter and mattify, or wear it alone as I'm doing here. Matte glitter is one of my favorite looks in the universe, there's just something about it... It looks like frozen metal platelets or something. Like stones under a layer of ice?


Matte Is Murder. Matte black shimmer. This replaces the original Matte Black / The Death Tar. The Death Tar is now discontinued. Matte Is Murder is really pretty similar, but it seems a touch blacker in matte form, a more visible rainbow shimmer and a slightly more matte finish than the original. It's also vegan.


And... the obligatory topcoat shots!


Hot Mess with topcoat. As you can see, this is an extremely sparkly glitter. Like a little disco ball on each nail. And, as an added bonus, it's very very smooth. Glitters usually leave a bit of grittiness on the nail, and this really doesn't, even without topcoat. Something about the matte finish makes all the glitter particles lie completely flat on the nail.

Matte is Murder with topcoat and Hot Mess matte accent. Hot Mess looks really cool over matte black... it's so dense that you can only see a bit of the black through the silver, which kinda gives it an overall grey look. And the Matte Is Murder with topcoat? Gorgeous. It completely transforms with shiny topcoat... From a badass matte asphalt black to a deep glossy black filled with tons of rainbow sparkles. There is a lot of holographic/rainbow shimmer in here. Click the picture to see it up close. It reminds me of Bloom Mena once there's topcoat on it.

I didn't get a chance to use Matte-Astrophe in these pictures because... well.. the polishes are matte to begin with. But, I did use it for a manicure later that day, so I got a chance to test drive the formula.

Matte-Astrophe is a matte topcoat that can be used either to restore the matte finish on your ManGlaze or other matte finish polishes, or to mattify a glossy color. I used it on top of Sally Hansen Burnt Sienna and it was amazing. Burnt Sienna is kind of a golden-olive-brassy type shade, so when the Matte-Astrophe was applied it looked like antique metal, old brass or even a frosted glass Christmas ornament. (I'll get pictures soon, as well as include this in my Matte Topcoat review.) The one tricky part about Matte-Astrophe is that is *must* be used on dry polish. If the polish is wet -at all, even just a little!- it will cause a crackle effect. This can be used to your advantage, actually... It looks pretty cool when done intentionally. My topcoat crackled on my ring fingers, somehow my polish wasn't quite as dry as I thought it was. The effect it gives is of little rivers of glossy color breaking through a matte surface- kind of how lava looks when the molten red rock shows through the cracked black top. I enjoy it and I plan to experiment a lot more with it.

The formula on all of these is on par with the rest of the ManGlaze line. Perfect. Smooth, opaque, dries extremely fast. I did two coats of each of these colors, you might be able to get away with one if you are more careful in your application. These don't dry while you're applying them so they're extremely forgiving with sloppy application. I didn't have a single problem- the polish went where it was supposed to and brushes fit my nails perfectly. An interesting feature of these particular bottles is that they click closed. When you've closed the bottle tightly enough, you'll hear and feel a little click. I've never experienced that before on a polish bottle, so I thought it was worth mentioning! EDIT: I've just received word from ManGlaze that the clicking isn't an intentional feature- mine might be a fluke! So if yours don't click, don't try to force it :)

The price has gone up quite a bit for the topcoats- Matte-Astrophe and Hot Mess are $13.13. Ha! Love it. (Not the price increase, cause that's a bummer, but the fact that they're $13.13) Matte Is Murder is still $6.66.

Also worth noting: These are a limited run and there are fewer than 1500 bottles available of each. They are numbered as well, which I think is pretty cool. Gives a really personal touch to the product.


Overall, I love these as much as I've loved any ManGlaze product. Like I always mention in my ManGlaze reviews, I really appreciate their sense of humor, their awesome artwork and the fact that they're totally my style. The formula is good, the finish is good, the brushes and bottles are good, I have no complaints.

As far as I'm aware, ManGlaze can only be purchased online at ManGlaze.com and at a few select boutiques. (And while you're on Manglaze.com, check out the picture of Lajon Witherspoon wearing ManGlaze polish. Now that's a celebrity endorsement I can appreciate!)

ManGlaze Revisited

It's about time I re-did my old, blurry sideways pictures of these.

This seems to be the year of the mattes. Everyone's doing them now. KO, OPI, Zoya and MAC are all coming out with more mattes soon and I'm sure a few other companies will jump on board before the end of the year.

I have been enjoying matte polish for a very long time. My old 'signature' shade was Maybelline Matte Olive. (Thank you, kind-hearted friend -you know who you are- for allowing me to enjoy this polish once again!)

If you are a matte lover like me, you'll know it was impossible to find any matte polish at all after the Orlys, Maybellines and Cover Girls were discontinued. All hope was lost. And then, ManGlaze was invented.

ManGlaze is marketed mainly toward men and it's not for the faint of heart. It is truly a rock star polish. It currently comes in two shades:

The Death Tar. Formerly called 'black' (and I think it even had another name before that). It's an asphalt-black matte. It's not just a plain, flat black. It's flecked with shimmer and little particles that make it look like a little piece of blacktop on your nails.


Fuggen Ugly. Formerly known as Grey (and something else before that). Matte grey with the same shimmery flecks and particles as The Death Tar. This shade makes me think of metal. It reminds me of the time I put a non-dishwasher safe part of my coffee maker into the dishwasher and when it came out, all the shiny coating had been removed. That's what this looks like. Raw metal.


The whole point of these polishes it to be matte. Their tagline is "Glossy has been cancelled." But... I just couldn't resist seeing what they look like with topcoat, and they're truly a sight to behold.




The Death Tar with topcoat. You're going to want to look at the full size images for these. It's awesome. It seems like the topcoat makes the black in The Death Tar even richer and deeper. Applying topcoat seems to release a multitude of multicolored sparkling particles. This is so sparkly that it almost looks holographic. You can see the colors shift in the shimmer- red, blue. orange, green... Perhaps they're tiny, tiny holographic flakes and not just rough silver shimmer?


Fuggen Ugly with topcoat. Just like The Death Tar, this one comes to life and becomes richer and more vibrant with the topcoat. The sparkles are outrageous. It's glittery but there's no glitter. It's smooth as glass. These pictures seem to show the prismatic effect of the shimmer a little better.

The application on these is fantastic. They're right in the middle of thick and thin texture-wise. They don't run or streak or bubble. They need two coats for optimum opacity. The drying time on them is super fast. You don't use topcoat with these polishes (that would destroy the matte finish) but even without my beloved Seche Vite, this polish dried completely within ten minutes. Out of all the mattes I've worn, these seem to wear the best. They resist chipping and tipwear very well, but depending on how rough or gentle you are on your nails, wear time can vary. I don't usually wear polish for more than a day or two, but every time I've worn these for more than a day they haven't chipped.

A few people have asked me about the texture of these once they're dry, and the best I can describe it as is paper. Like rubbing your finger across a sheet of printer paper. It's smooth, but not glossy smooth like photo paper, and not rough like construction paper... It's about the texture of plain printer paper or notebook paper.

I love these polishes. I love everything about them. I love the artwork on the bottles, and even the ingredients list that comes inside the shipping box. Take a look at your address bar when you visit the website. This company has a sense of humor and that's one thing that is SERIOUSLY lacking these days. I really appreciate that about ManGlaze. Above all, ManGlaze is pretty badass and that scores major points with me. It also helps that the guy who did their label, Joe Simko, also did artwork for a bunch of my favorite bands. It was love at first sight.

On top of the great product, they have really great customer service. Friendly and very quick to respond. Another thing that most companies lack.

ManGlaze is big three free and does not do animal testing. You can get ManGlaze directly from the company's website. Right now it only comes in two shades, The Death Tar and Fuggen Ugly, but a little birdie told me that there are more shades in the works.