I never thought I was a matte person until I started seeing multiple postings of ManGlaze show up online. ManGlaze is cruelty-free and big 3 free, and made by hand here in the States. The best part is their owner and founder, Marc. That guy is seriously a riot. I mean it. Check out his Twitter page sometime.
ManGlaze was launched in 2007 and claims to be the original matte polish. I wouldn't doubt it, since I don't ever remember seeing matte polish prior to this - not in black or grey. There are 4 stores that sell ManGlaze but unless you live in NYC, Chicago, or um, Greece (not sure how they got the stuff), then you can only find it on their website [official website]. Now I have to have my bonding moment - the name "Man Glaze" came from when Marc's friend Cory came back from a GWAR concert. During the concert, GWAR has these anatomically correct cannons that shoot various bodily looking fluids at the audience. In 2005, I got to go to the Sounds of the Underground tour and actually interview GWAR (this was back when I was a radio DJ and news director for a local tv station), and let me tell you... scariest and weirdest interview of my LIFE. I also got to be in the media pit for their concert and I was THE ONLY PHOTOGRAPHER there. Can you say "easy target"? So I have a very ... frightfully funny memory of GWAR, needless to say.
Believe it or not, their customer base is about 50/50 with men and women. Not only is is rough and tough enough for men, women love matte polish as of lately, and you can use a top coat and ManGlaze has a secret rainbow soft side (more on that later). I really think ManGlaze and Cheeky Monkey Cosmetics need to combine their powers one day. Now that would be something awesome.
Now I KNOW that there is 5 bottles out there of ManGlaze... but they are only selling 4 of them on their website, so you know - I bought the whole line. The one that I didn't get was their "The Death Tar" which I believe is a matte black, but according to their website, the last bottle was purchased in October 2009, and Matte Is Murder was their new, more awful matte black. So I purchased the grey matte "Fuggen Ugly", the matte top coat "#Matte Astrophe", the black matte "#Matte is Murder" and the silver top coat "Hot Mess". Now I don't really know why, but my Fuggen Ugly cap was shorter than the others. The bottle was the same, but as you can see in the first picture, it's got a short handle.
Now these bottles are not for the faint at heart. The artwork is pretty out there, but hey, who's to say all polish is supposed to be pretty roses and whatnot? ManGlaze DOES market to men, with its dark, matte color and finish. I decided to use my AWESOME computer skills to make this animation of the bottle's entire label (and each bottle is covered completely in a label). This is "Fuggen Ugly"
Now a few things that I automatically have loved about this brand.
(1) He answers his Twitter - frequently. Granted he has "only" 1,013 followers, but that's still a LOT of followers to individually be answering a TON of those Tweets.
(2) The bottles are all designed at an angle. As a former graphic designer, I can appreciate the little things like that. Even though the bottles are square, all the artwork is so that you have to put the bottle in a diamond shape to see the label "properly". LOVE IT.
(3) His website takes PayPal (!) as well as major credit cards.
(4) Shipping was FAST. I purchased on May 11th (around 10 a.m.), and it was shipped on May 12 (at 2 a.m.!). I received it by May 15th. Hello, 4 days waiting for nail polish? Very happy me.
(5) Shipping and handling is included in the cost of the polish. Each polish is $6.66 and each top coat is $13.13.
(6) Everything was packed SO well, even to how the packing peanuts were arranged in the boxes. Again, I'm very appreciative of the little things.
Also with my order, I got some free business cards (these rock) and some decal stickers. I'm totally slapping one on my Guitar Hero guitar.
