The Ellipse Palette for Function of Vex
The Ellipse Mixing Palette from Function of Vex is a chrome-finished palette that brings a luxe feel to the usual mixing tools nail artists use for high-level nail art. Artists can store their most-used gel polish colors in fifteen wells of various sizes which are thoughtfully arranged next to a shallow mixing area.
The Client
Function of Vex is a nail art supply brand that’s been creating tools and supplies for nail artists that break the mold since 2022. Starting in late 2024, the brand has been focusing their efforts towards revisiting their top products and creating more sustainable tools and safe, innovative formulas from scratch, putting to use on of their biggest flexes: the fact that they are a nail art brand by a nail artist, in a sea of nail art brands that don’t quite have their ear to the ground like founder Nic Tran.
Services
Product design
Packaging
Wordmark design/direction
The solid zinc alloy material gives a premium feel, while serving the function of weighing the palette down to prevent it from moving while the artist is working. Since gel polish can be kept in the palette for later use, Ellipse also provides a more sustainable alternative for nail techs and artists who use open plastic mixing palettes that they either have to wash or discard after every session.
Packaging
The palette is housed inside a box that touches on the duality of the Function of Vex brand: the professionalism of creating high-end, safe, and innovative products, versus the bright grungy energy that attracts the brand’s “weird-doers” encouraging art and play with a rebellious nature.
In this case, the more buttoned-up side (which still maintains a cool edge) is shown in the dark grey exterior, inspired by brutalist architecture, with embossed elements that resemble the same pattern used on the palette itself. The more brazen side is on the inside, where the user sees an explosion of the brand’s primary orange color that perfectly frames the palette’s ellipse shape.
The Ellipse Mixing Palette is a sister product to the award-winning Parallelo Palette, which gives a customizable, neat on-the-go home to Function of Vex’s cult favorite pressed nail pigments.