Essie - Comfy in Cashmere

Hello all!

Purchased by Me

Today, I just have a quick look at one of Essie's new Cashmere Matte shades.  Essie came out with a small collection of suede matte shades last month and I was intrigued.  I really enjoy a good matte polish but I am not a huge fan of Essie.  I just find their formulas unpredictable.  I heard mixed reviews about the formula on these mattes as well, but I had to try them for myself.  "Comfy in Cashmere" was the first one that I tried.  It is a grey/taupe base with a lovely shifty shimmer.  The shimmer in this polish sort of shifts from blue to purple.  It looks amazing in the bottle!  You can definitely see the shimmer on the nail and I am positive it jumps out better with a glossy top coat.  But I wanted to wear this polish in the intended matte suede finish it came in.  So no glossy shot for you guys, sorry!

For this manicure, I wore a base coat of OPI Nail Envy and did three coats to Essie "Comfy in Cashmere".  This polish did not self-level out very well at all, so I had to be extra careful with the amount of polish I used.  I had to use a little skill to make it look completely even.  I thought it was going to be a disaster, but once it dried completely it seemed much more uniform.  This dried very quickly, which is likely why it didn't self-level.  I really liked the satin sheen of this shade and the purple undertone the shimmer gave the neutral base color.

My overall impression was pretty good.  I thought the color was very interesting and I loved the suede finish.  The formula could be better though.  Hopefully, the others in this collection that picked up will behave!  How have you guys liked this collection?  Did you have any issues with the formulas?

Thanks for stopping by!

Amy McG aka McPolish

*this product was purchased by me*

ManGlaze Butt Taco

Hi everyone! I'm back from my vacation and ready to blog like crazy! I have so many new polishes to show you, and I'm so very excited for the next month.

Since I haven't had much time for swatching lately, today I have the mani that I wore to my friend's wedding last weekend. This is ManGlaze Butt Taco. Butt Taco is a gorgeous coral-orange suede. The base color is much more coral than it looks because the silvery shimmer really brightens the color to an orange.

The formula was perfect for a suede, like other ManGlaze matte polishes. It dries quickly enough to be fast and convenient, but slowly enough that application is a breeze. This is three coats, although it was opaque in two. I added the third coat to add durability since I wore this mani for 4 or 5 days (which it lasted chip-free). Unfortunately I was in a hurry so the only picture I grabbed was one with top coat, I'll have to re-swatch this one later. :)

I love this color! It looked gorgeous with my mint lace dress, hot coral shoes and belt.

ManGlaze Mink Mitten

My Stash

I'm back today with ManGlaze Mink Mitten swatches! I promise I haven't disappeared off the face of the planet. I've been a bad blogger lately and it's been ages since I've had a chance to post (I'd make the usual excuses of life being busy, being out of town, and having family issues come up, but you've heard all of that before).

ManGlaze Mink Mitten is a beautiful silvery blue-toned purple suede finish polish. The finish really strikes me as a matte foil finish, it's extremely interesting, and unlike anything else I've seen.

The formula was excellent, just like the other ManGlaze polishes I've used. This is two smooth coats of Mink Mitten and it's perfectly opaque. The wear time was excellent and I wore this manicure for two or three days without noticing any tip wear.

Funny to think of a matte polish as being sparkly, but Mink Mitten definitely sparkles. 

The funniest thing happened when I went to remove this polish. I made a swipe with my acetone and looked down to find that the foil base of the polish was still intact while the color was totally gone leaving a silver matte foil behind. (Photo below shows four fingers after acetone and the thumb normal.) I can think of lots of nail art possibilities with this one!

I can't believe how much I love matte finishes anymore, but I love the unique look of Mink Mitten, it's so beautiful and different in my stash!

ManGlaze Nawesome Sauce Swatches and Review.

My Stash

I don't know why I have a sudden love for matte and suede finishes, but my obsession is still in full force! ManGlaze has to be one of my favorite brands for suede polishes since they don't chip and dry quickly. Suedes are really great when you want a fast manicure and don't want to take the time for base coat and top coat.

This is ManGlaze Nawsome Sauce, a suede finish dark green with just a hint of olive and silver shimmer.  The finish starts out much more matte but wears to a semi-matte finish after a couple of hours (pictured below). The formula was smooth and fast drying, and this is two flawless coats over a base coat. I didn't have any staining from this green (which was surprising considering how dark it is), however, I did use a non-acetone based remover that doesn't cause as much staining as acetone-based removers.

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Nawsome Sauce is just an awesome green (see what I did there?) I love the base shade and the color balance and that special touch that the shimmer adds. Are you a matte/suede polish lover?

ManGlaze Fatty's Got More Blood Complete Review and a Comparison!

I've never been a fan of matte nail polish until recently, and now that I am ManGlaze is the brand to go to! The names are a bit vulgar (so if that offends you, I apologize but they're also pretty funny). These polishes are technically suedes, since they are matte polish with shimmer, but they're gorgeous!

Fatty's Got More Blood is a purple-toned blood red with silver shimmer.

The formula on this one was great! Opaque in two coats and fast drying, you just need to work quickly to prevent the polish from drying mid-nail.

Wear test! 

Manglaze polishes wear amazingly well. Mattes have the reputation of chipping easily but I put this polish through the ringer and didn't get any tip wear what-so-ever! As the polish wore, it got a bit shinier, losing that inky matte look, see for yourself:

Dupe Test:

Since I've been on a matte-kick lately I thought it would be great to compare Fatty's Got More Blood with another of my newer mattes: Layla 07 Queen Bordeaux. They looked similar in the bottle but....

 Index and ring: FGMB; Middle an pinky: Layla 07

No dupes here, although in indoor lighting they look a bit more similar. Layla Queen Bordeaux is a bit of a lighter red with gold shimmer rather than silver. The textures of these two polishes are also very different. ManGlaze is a true matte with a very fine grit texture while Layla Softouch polishes have a grittier texture (that is still soft) and are more sparkly. FGMB wears longer without showing tip wear, but Queen Bordeaux maintains the matte effect longer.  (Please ignore the strange mark on my middle finger, I got distracted part way through application and it left a little bump which I was too lazy to re-do!)

Are you a fan of matte/suede polishes or do you need your top coat? :)

Julep Minka

Hey Y'all, I'm back!

After being gone for a week I'm happy to be blogging again! (I'm also very happy to have my light box and daylight lamps back for photographing polishes. It was rough being away from home for the last month).

Today I thought I'd share with you one of my favorite polishes that I packed for my month-long vacation: Julep Minka.

Now if you read my blog or know me, you probably know that I'm not a fan of matte finishes. I am, however, a fan of Julep Minka. Minka was part of the Julep's Maven November suedes release, which I ironically forgot to skip and ended up loving.


Minka is a pinkish-amber polish with heavy silver shimmer and a matte finish. Matte polish with shimmer equals suede finish! (In case you ever wondered what the difference in a matte and a suede was).  The formula on Minka is nice and dense, I usually only wear one coat, but two coats deepens the color a bit more.

But none of that is the reason I love Minka so much. By carrying Minka and a polish-remover pad (which Julep just happened to include in my November box as a free gift) my bag, I have the means to remove a wrecked manicure at lunch, apply one coat of Minka (no top coat or basecoat) and it's dry in 3 minutes. For someone like me who hates to go un-polished (and tends to pick off my polish when I'm stressed) it's absolutely perfect! Minka is my new go-to 5-minute manicure.


Suedes are nice because they dry quickly, but the wear time on all matte polish is really quite atrocious, they chip so easily.

To extend wear time you can start with a good base coat (I recommend matte OPI Nail Envy for suedes) use one coat of the matte polish, one coat of any top coat, then top it off with one final coat of the matte polish.

What's your favorite go-to polish?

Thanks for reading! I hope you are all having a wonderful new year!