Elevation Polish Sample XXH14
Wow, so I haven’t posted in *way* longer than I realized. For those that still check in on me and follow, I’m sorry! I actually have a pretty large backlog of pictures I’ve been taking- I just haven’t been *posting* them. So the good news is- I have a lot of posts almost ready to go! I have a few reviews that are woefully late- thankfully they are for understanding friends- and then just random pretty polishes I’ve been photographing. The end of the year has sort of just flown by so quickly, my kids are finishing school this week, and then it’s just lazy summer.
So today I’ll be showing off some pictures I took in February of Elevation Polish Sample XXH 14! I was SO ecstatic to snag this one during the restock- It’s really hard to get a sample at all, and it’s especially exciting when it’s one of the ones you really wanted. If anyone has been following my lil’ blog since the beginning, you’ll remember I briefly had ‘Flakie Friday’, because I love flakies so much. Well this is a neon purple/pink polish filled with flakies! It’s like Lulu made it for me without even realizing it!
Photos all show 2 coats with KBShimmer topcoat, outdoor lighting.
I originally posted a picture of this sample in some Elevation Polish fan groups on Facebook, and the response was extremely enthusiastic! So much so, that Lulu went back and recreated a very small LE batch of it (not quite identical, but very similar) and dubbed the new version ‘Angels are the Yetis of the Clouds’. <3! Isn’t that name just adorable? While I do not have an extra bottle of my sample or Yeti to give away, Pointless Cafe DOES! You can find her giveaway for Angels are the Yetis of the Clouds HERE. Be sure to check out her beautiful photos of both Angels are the Yetis of the Cloud AND Sample XXH 14 to compare- I sent her a decant of this one back in February, so she’s shown off both!
You can purchase Elevation Polish HERE– restocks are the 7th and 22nd of each month. Samples are available on the 7th- as they are one of a kinds, competition is FIERCE for them, so don’t get discouraged if you never snag one. Sometimes you get lucky!
Elevation Polish: Naughty by Nature Collection
*Press Sample*
Hello everyone! Today I have the gorgeous new polishes from Elevation Polish to show you all! The Naughty by Nature collection was just released on Thursday. I *really* wanted to have this post up on release day- but the universe had other plans! My family was super sick the whole week- and by the end of the week of taking care of them, I was down for the count too. But better a little late than never!
There are 6 BEAUTIFUL colors in this collection- and the exciting part is that they’re all water based! I don’t know about you guys, but my experiences with water based polishes in the past haven’t been that great (though they’ve also been limited). I could barely tell a difference between these polishes and other Elevations! I did notice that all 6 got a bit thick when exposed to air more quickly than my ‘normal’ polish does, and a few were thicker in general. I probably will add a few drops of thinner later (I did not for photos). That’s more of a personal preference- as you can see from the pictures, they all apply wonderfully! I could barely smell a polish smell at all (it was very subtle), and the dry time was just fine. Lulu has really impressed me with these- and that’s just the formula, not the beautiful colors!
First is Forest of the Fog- a beautiful teal jelly polish filled with blue and purple shimmer.
This polish is so pretty! I really love the purple shimmer with the teal base- it’s a fun combination. The shimmer is definitely a little shy- it’s noticeable, but it’s not super in-your-face and instead is more subtle. These photos are outside in the sunshine, which is why it’s cooperating! Inside, you have more of a dark teal jelly polish. Photos show 2 coats with no topcoat.
Then I topped Forest of the Fog with Pitaraq, a gorgeous flake topcoat!
After years of being a polishaholic- my love for flakies of all types has never diminished. So of course, this is one of my favorites of the collection! Pitaraq is a fun topper filled with white, silver, and blue flakies and blue microshimmer! This polish will be PERFECT for the winter months coming up- it feels like I just spread frost over my nails! This is 1 coat (no topcoat) over Forest of the Fog.
Next is a wonderful red cream, Volcanic Dust!
This polish really surprised me and was another favorite in the collection. I’m normally not a fan of creams- I have a good amount of them, but I rarely get excited for them. But Volcanic Dust looked great on, and applied great! Pictures show 2 coats with no topcoat.
Ah, and now for my favorite of the collection- Darkest Storm, a beautiful dark blue holographic stunner!
Darkest Storm is a very dark, almost midnight blue holographic polish. Because of the darker shade, the holographic effect is blinding outside in the sun! Photos show 2 coats with no topcoat.
Next is Black Ice, a charcoal polish filled with lots of shimmer!
Black Ice dries to a velvet matte finish on it’s own. I ADORE how it looks with topcoat on top though! This beauty sparkled so much in the sun that it almost looks holographic. But it’s not! It’s filled with a silver and white shimmer that is always visible, and also with multicolored shimmer that comes alive with topcoat. This polish applied like a DREAM- I didn’t have to do any cleanup at all! Photos are 2 coats with topcoat.
Last but not least is Naked Night Sky, a brown jelly polish accented with aqua and blue glitters!
I actually ended up liking this polish a bit more than I had anticipated- unlike Lulu, the creator, I don’t love brown nail polish (her blog is http://lovebrownnailpolish.wordpress.com/ lol). But I did really like this! On her store listing, Lulu advises to wait for each coat to dry before applying the next one, and I would agree with this completely. This polish is actually the only one that gave me a bit of trouble, and it was because I was initially not following that advice, and the second coat would pull and ruin the first coat. Once I waited, I had no more issues. Photos are 2 thick coats plus topcoat.
And there you have it, the Naughty by Nature collection! As I said earlier, these polishes were released on Thursday- Darkest Storm is sold out for now, but the rest are still available! Elevation Polish restocks on the 7th and 22nd of the month, so Darkest Storm will be available again then. The collection is also going to be launched at Llarowe.com, though I don’t believe the restock date has been announced yet.
Elevation Polish: http://elevationpolish.bigcartel.com/ and http://www.llarowe.com/
Also, Elevation Polish is now on Instagram! Be sure to go follow- @elevationpolish!
*Some products in this post were provided for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*
Elevation Polish Grotte et Cascade, Trift, and Rapa Nui Swatches
Happy Thursday everyone! Have you entered my Blogiversary/Birthday giveaway yet? If not, it ends TONIGHT! Be sure to get your entries in!
I apologize for the lack of posts this past week- I’ve actually been contemplating a blog move from WordPress to Blogger (I’ve already imported all of my posts, so PolishMonster.blogspot.com IS me- I’m just not active over there yet). A more ideal time to make that move would have been *before* my giveaway, but hopefully a lot of you will follow me there! I didn’t want to keep waiting to post until I finalized everything though.
Today’s post I’m going to be showing off Elevation Polish Grotte et Cascade, Trift, and Rapa Nui. I received these 3 polishes as a birthday gift, and decided I had to show them off!
First is Grotte et Cascade.
This is a gorgeous dark brown polish filled with beautiful pink and blue shimmer. The shimmer is subtle- it’s very obvious out in the sun, but when you’re indoors it tends to hide a bit.
Application was great- it went on smoothly and I used 2 coats and Out The Door topcoat for photos. 1 coat gave good coverage, and 2 coats evened everything out.
Then I added 1 coat of Trift on top of Grotte et Cascade!
I’ll be honest- I probably would have never bought Trift on my own. I thought it was pretty, but it didn’t grab my attention like some of the others did. But I am SO GLAD I got this as a present- because I would’ve been missing out on a gorgeous topper!
Trift is a color shifting glitter topper- simple, pretty, and very versatile. This is one of those polishes you can grab to add some ‘oompf’ to any color you own- I can’t think of anything it wouldn’t look good over! Sadly, Trift has been discontinued- BUT there are still some bottles left on the Elevation Polish website- AND it’s only $6.50!
Last but not least is Rapa Nui!
Rapa Nui is one of those Elevations that I never really noticed for a long time- but when I did, I couldn’t understand what took me so long.
It is a gorgeous steel blue grey color with a very strong purple/red shimmer. The shimmer is incredibly strong outside in the sun, it’s a bit more subdued (but still there) inside. When outside, it almost appears to be a duochrome- the shimmer is that noticeable. Very, very pretty.
You can find these beauties at the Elevation Polish Big Cartel Store and also at Llarowe. As I said before, Trift is discontinued, but is still available until it sells out- there just won’t be more once it’s gone. You can also keep up with Elevation Polish updates by following Lulu’s blog, I Dig Brown Nail Polish. Restocks are on the 7th and 22nd of each month, though no restocks are planned for October (be sure to check out Lulu’s Auction site this next week!)
Elevation Polish: Tools of the Trade and an August Sneak Peak!
One of my very favorite indie brands is Elevation Polish- I adore Lulu’s beautiful shimmers and cream polishes. This month, Elevation Polish released the Tools of the Trade collection, which consists of 5 beautiful polishes. I opted to buy 2 of them for now- These Boots Were… and Prusik or Loop it. I also have Echniops, a polish from August’s Wildflowers collection, to show you tonight 🙂
The first I’m going to show off is Prusik or Loop It!
Prusik or Loop It is an absolutely gorgeous deep blue jelly polish filled with strong blue shimmer and white flakes. While it wasn’t the inspiration (that I know of), I can’t help but think of water when looking at my nails with this color on- maybe an ocean, or a beautiful swimming pool.
I used 3 coats or these photos with no topcoat, and though there appears to be a bit of visible nail line I couldn’t see that in person. It applied wonderfully and smoothly.
Next up is These Boots Were…, which were inspired by Lulu’s hiking books!
Oh boy, where to even begin with this color? (which funny enough, Lulu said almost the exact same thing on her own write up of this color) It is really complex and really beautiful. It’s almost a duochrome but not quite- it’s like the polish can’t quite decide if it’s red or purple. There’s red flakes that flash a bit gold. There’s also a strong blue-tinged shimmer that really comes to life outside in the sunlight. My photos can’t quite capture how beautiful this was outdoors.
Though I adore Prusik or Loop It, I really think if you can only buy 1 polish from the Tools of the Trade collection it should be this one. It’s totally different from anything I own! And of course, I’m partial to flakes 😉 I used 3 coats again, but did use topcoat for these photos. On it’s own, These Boots Were… dries slightly matte.
And last but CERTAINLY not least, we have the sneak peek I promised! This beauty is Echinops, from the August Wild Flowers collection!
While this wasn’t sent for the purpose of a review, Lulu sent this as a gift because of a slight issue I had with another polish. Needless to say- I was SO excited! I had seen some sneak peek photos previously and have been anxiously awaiting this collection, and especially this color.
Echinops is a BEAUTIFUL light purple holographic polish. This particular shade of purple is one of my favorite colors, and the holographic effect isn’t blinding but very obvious and pretty. The formula is wonderful and everything goes on smoothly and perfectly- which is pretty typical of Elevation polishes, but worth noting regardless 🙂 This was 2 coats with no topcoat.
In case you’re like me, you may not be instantly familiar with the Echinops flower that served as the inspiration for this polish:
This beautiful polish and the other colors in the collection, Passion Flower and Pea Flower, will be available on August 7th!
You can find these beauties at the Elevation Polish Big Cartel Store. Right now both Prusik or Loop It and These Boots Were… are sold out, but they (and most others) will be restocked on July 22nd. Echinops will be available with the first August restock on August 7th. You can also keep up with Elevation Polish updates by following Lulu’s blog, I Dig Brown Nail Polish.
Smitten Polish Gooseberry Gumdrop and Elevation Polish Haba Xueshan
This mani is what I wore this weekend to my sister in law’s bridal shower- my outfit had a mint green shirt with black slacks and a black 3/4 sleeve jacket, and this added a bit of fun all while matching perfectly!
I was the incredibly lucky winner of Smitten Polish’s Spring Giveaway- I haven’t won many giveaways, let alone such an AMAZING huge prize! I won all of the Berrydrop and Speck-tacular colors- and they are all are so very, very beautiful. This is one of the Berrydrop colors- Gooseberry Gumdrop.
For the Berrydrop collection, think of Illamasqua Raindrops in a rainbow of colors. All of the colors in this collection are very soft, muted pastels filled with fine white flakes. This particular color is a beautiful mint green. I used 3 thin coats- 2 coats may have been enough but there was just a hint of visible nail line. 2 thicker coats would be sufficient coverage.
Then I topped Gooseberry Gumdrop off with one of my other latest additions, Elevation Polish’s Haba Xueshan. This polish was just released in March in the View From The Top Collection. It’s similar to many other black and white polishes- various shapes and sizes of black and white glitter in a clear base. What makes Haba Xueshan unique is the addition of small and large ice blue/green circle glitter. I love it! This is just 1 coat of Haba Xueshan. I had to fish a tiny bit for the circles- they weren’t difficult to find, but I wanted to have many on each nail!
You can find Smitten Polish on Facebook for news and information, and purchase polishes on Etsy for $9.
Elevation Polish can be found on Big Cartel (various prices, $8-$10), and you can follow Lulu’s blog for updates.
Polish Monster 