The Glaze of Manliness Part 1

Well, this is a first - I've been sent plenty of CDs to review, but never cosmetics. But through a series of fortutious circumstances, and a profile picture of Voivoid on my MakeUpAlley account, I've been sent a sample of ManGlaze's two nail polishes for review.

Billed as polish for men, ManGlaze's draw is that its product isn't glossy. The price on the polish is clever, and not too spendy: $6.66. It is "Big Three free" (formaldehyde, tolulene and DBP). The marketing is a little Maxim (a scantily clad female in a collar and Su Catwoman makeup slurping lasciviously at a bowl of milk) meets Big Daddy Roth (the cartoons by Joe Simko channel RatFink quite a bit.)

The first polish I tried was JailHouseRock. It's a matte, gunmetal grey with a definite blue cast that I think makes it wearable for more people than a straight grey. It is not a smooth, creme polish, and while there's some metallic texture to it, it's not a frost, either. (ManGlaze also makes a black, Harum Scarum, which I will report on later.)

I applied the polish in the following variations to 1) test wear under different circumstances, and 2) serve as a safety net as I am not used to "free-bottling" it anymore. The testing involves just the usual knocking about - kitchen cleaning, cooking, drinking, listening to Viking metal, watching American Gladiators, riding the bus - i.e. the usual wear and tear in my action-packed life.

Pinkie and ring finger - just the polish
Middle finger - polish and Creative Stickey basecoat
Index and thumb - polish, Creative Stickey and Poshe topcoat




Intially, it looked very good with a topcoat, which might be defeating the purpose as much as putting a couple of strips of bacon on a Boca Burger. I might have to try it with Chanel Azur (this awesome shimmery blue topcoat) over it.



This should make the ManGlaze guys about as excited as their little sisters dressing up their GI Joes in their American Girl doll clothes and forcing them to have tea with Teddy and Bunny.

The wear for JailHouse Rock, even without base and topcoat was pretty typical for most polishes on me - I put it on a Friday night and took it off on a Tuesday. It had chipped some along the sides, but that's fine for most rockers, teenagers and people who are not compulsive about chips like me. Like I said, I just plain old like Jailhouse Rock's color, and will wear it again. After a return to some more girly colors, I'll report on Harum Scarum.