Elevation Polish Annual Charity Auction 2015: Yeti Is A Scaredy Cat

Yo laqueristas,

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Woah double post today!  And let me tell it is not because I am celebrating the pretend day that to many historians and anthropologists alike (raises hand) recognize as the beginning of the decimation of an entire continent of indigenous peoples and their culture.  Ha! Instead it's because I want to draw your attention to an extremely charitable and awesome annual cause fronted by the wonderful and thoughtful Lulu of Elevation Polish.  Yup it's the 4th Annual Charity Auction run by EvP! The charity is called Chrestomathy, Inc.  Its a Minnesota local day training and habilitation service geared toward adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  Since I spend a large portion of my life living for cura personalis, and of course nail polish cause hey let's be honest, this kind of event gives me some serious happy! That said today I'm going to be sharing one of the gorgeous polishes you can attain through this auction + some nail art cause it's Lacquer Lockdown and that's kinda my bag baby;)

Elevation Polish Journey Told Through Music Collection 2 Swatches and Nail Art Part 1 (Pic Heavy)

Welcome back laqueristas,

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I know it hasn't been all that long since I posted a megathon of art and swatches for Elevation Polish and this month is very special because it brings the return of the fantastic Journey Through Music Collection Part Deux as well another gorgeous one of a kind Yeti.  And if that wasn't enough this month is the Annual EvP Charity Auction!  Unfortunately the collection was so big that I could not swatch and art them all out at once.  It was just beyond me so I decided to split the post into 2 parts. Part 1 will cover 4 polishes and Part 2 will cover the other 3 polishes and more Yeti's.  So a few things - below I have placed the links to all the songs each color was inspired by in the title of the polish; all you have to do is click.  And please forgive me if my swatches and photos are a bit different this time since I got a new camera and I'm still getting the hang of things - eep!  Now let's get started!

Ratatouille Strychnine

A shimmering pink and blue flecked shimmer topcoat inspired by Tori Amos' Mr. Zebra.  This one can be made to wear solo if you are committed.  It will take about 4 coats to reach opacity or you can do like I did and cheat and use a similar colored base color and then top it with this glorious shimmer!  It worked out perfectly it took about 2 coats to make it more opaque and less of an accent, but in my trials playing around with this polish I've found it looks gorgeous over a variety of shades including layered in between semi-opaque polishes.  When this polish hits the light just the right way you see flashes of blue everywhere as pictured below.

Elevation Polish Street Graffiti Collection Swatches and Nail Art (June 2015)

Happy Monday,

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Oh my it's been way too long since I posted some nail art.  I've missed it terribly.  I love talking about stamping plates and products and reviewing them, but nothing revs my engine quite better than actually getting down to the deed of stamping.  I'm behind.  I've realized I'm just going to be behind for a while, though I'm going to make every effort to catch up quickly, however I really can't over do things.  I'm going to have to ask your forgiveness for that and extend my gratitude to my partners who have been so amazing to me! I'm blessed truly and I know it and don't take it for granted.  Now today I have a collection I have been sitting on for far far too long - Elevation Polish Street Graffiti Collection.  Yup - I'm still loving and living for my EPs and I still have 2 more collections to show you, but for today let's take a look at the mean streets of the world ;)

Elevation Polish Streets of Japan Collection Swatches & Nail Art

Hey varnished vixens,

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Its that time again when my heart sings with joy for the latest and greatest from Elevation Polish!  I usually like to have the post up sooner but had a small delay with my parcel so I only had a few days to swatch and create art.  Fortunately the collection in question namely the Streets of Japan was so inspired and so beautiful that it felt very easy to think of at least 10, 000 ideas for the polishes. Lol that was actually the problem trying to tone myself down and create a single look.  I'll tell you a little secret because I have a very hard time deciding on how to best showcase my EvPs more often than not I will create multiple nail arts for a given polis hand post the one I like best.  Yup I'm officially crazy lolol don't you dare call the paddy wagon! Now let's take a look at  the goods ;)

Bejewled Floral Gradient Nail Matinee Nail Art & Tutorial

Hey stamperistas,

I have been a bit quiet here because not much is going on.  I've also been nursing a spring cold or virus something like that - it sucks!  Its been a lot of tea drinking and Vicks Vapor Rub lol I smell like a eucalyptus tree took up residence in my home.  Its not nearly as sexy as it sounds lol ;)  In any case I finally was able to summon up enough stamina to do some photo and video editing.  Oh my!  And so today I have a little nail art I created using Elevation Polish and my new Nail Matinee stamping plates courtesy of Beautometry. If you haven't seen my review for these plates you can check that out here.

Elevation Polish Wyoming The Wild Collection Swatches & Nail Art

Happy post Easter stamp champs,

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Today I have swatches and nail art of the newest collection getting ready to release tonight at 9PM CST from Elevation Polish! Usually I'll try to get my swatches up a little earlier but between call and the horrors of my schedule this last week and this week as well have been hellish.  In any case such is life.  Now get excited as there are a lot of gorgeous colors in this collection as well as a highly requested SBP and just some purely special sparkle.  Get ready to fall in love with Wyoming The Wild!

Elevation Polish Minneapolish Collection Swatches and Nail Art!

Hey lacqueristas,

Time for another monthly Elevation Polish post!  Yay - elevate the world!!! Lol let me stop, but seriously this months' collection, The Minneapolish Collection made me so happy and thrilled even in the heart of winter.  Packed full of what I consider serious color burst and saturation.  As you can guess this collection was inspired by the city of Minneapolis and some of Lulu's favorite plates scattered throughout the town.  It's a reflection of her love for the city and from what I can see while she may travel the world clearly there is no place like home!

Elevation Polish Journey Through Music Collection Swatches and Nail Art

Happy New Year lacqueristas,

Welcome back!  I have a lot of exciting posts coming up but today I'm the most excited to share the newest collection from Elevation Polish which will be releasing this January.  I know some of you are wondering where the hell have your EP posts gone Tamira?  In fact they haven't gone anywhere I have the October and November collections up on Instagram which I will be importing over here along with some nail art.  It was just easier while I was traveling like mad.  December's collection I don't have because of mail snafu.  So hopefully that explains where things have been.  Now today I am so freaking giddy because Lulu really decided to take 2015 by storm!  There is so much holo, blue, blue (yes I repeated it twice), shimmer, and duochrome happening here I nearly died of nailgasm.  But let me stop hyping and just show you the goods ;)  Let me just warn in advance this post will be pic heavy! Also if you haven't already go over and read Lulu's blog post about the inspirational songs behind this collection - read it here.

Christmas 2014: Merry Christmas!

Ho ho ho stamp champs,


Merry Christmas for those of you that celebrate and happy holidays to the rest!  I'm keeping in short and sweet today I just wanted to show off my Christmas Day nail art! Another complex one full of layerings upon layerings and loads of advanced stamping.  Not easy nor for the faint of heart but I'm loving how it turned out!

Elevation Polish Base of Huangshan Neon Triangle Nail Art

Hey lacqueristas,

Yes I am still rocking neons as it doesn't feel even remotely like fall for me yet.  It's hotter than you know what here in the district and regardless of the time of year I can pretty much get away with whatever color I want due to my skintone ;) And I could not resist the secret allure of Elevation Polish Base of Haungshan (BOH) for one second longer! BOH was a small batch prototype from some months ago that I was super lucky to snag.  It's a highlighter yellow so intense it's hard to look directly at it, and since Lulu rarely does neons I knew I had to have it!  It came just in time for me to do some playing as well with some of my never Loja BBF plates.

Elevation Polish Weddell Sea & Messy Mansion Koi Nail Art

Lazy Sunday lacqueristas,

Seriously super lazy Sunday for me.  I'm exhausted since I've definitely been trying to do too much for work and school and the blog.  It all hit me today when I tried to tackle 2 challenges and realized it wasn't gonna happen.  I could do one or the other not both and still have time to study.  Ah such is life.  So I thought I'd show you a manicure from months ago.  Lol all of my Sunday posts have been like this lately ;)

When I received the Elevation Polish Sea Collection Weddell Sea was one of those polishes that stumped me.  Super pretty whitish gray holo with a shimmer in the base.  I could not capture it's elegance and its beauty.  You can see what I did with it previously here. When I tried to do nail art for it I failed over and over.  This was one of the fails.  I called it a fail because I felt when I looked at what I created I'd overwhelmed the base color. Then instead of going with it I stopped halfway deciding not to fill up my somewhat empty canvas.  Looking back on it now though I think it's kind of pretty (lol clearly biased and delusional).

I created this mani using all the polishes from the Sea Collection so all the blues and greens you see swept haphazardly across Weddell are from that collection as well.  To fill in the fish I used Silversword.  I don't think this polish gets nearly enough play. It's still insanely stunning to me months and months later.  What shocked me the most when I was going back through my archives is that I have a TON of EP nail art that I haven't shown.  I'll have to amend that ;)

Mani-louge

Basecoat/Topcoat: Duri Rejuvacote / Sally Hansen Diamond Flash

Basecolor: Elevation Polish Weddell Sea

Accent colors: Elevation Polish The Med 2, Ceram Sea,and Silversword

Stamping polish: Mundo de Unas Neon Blue (#30)

Stamping plate: Messy Mansion MM29

So what do you think? Sometimes fails are fun too because they can really teach you things to not do in the future. This can be related specifically to a plate or a design.  Lol I just had a fail earlier this week. It made me so mad I had to take it off immediately and create a new mani stat.  Unfortunately Weddell Sea is sold out at the moment on Elevation Polish, but it will likely be back on the 7th of September if you want to pick it up.  Thanks for reading and I'll see you next post....  

Elevation Polish Italian Collection Swatches and Nail Art

Welcome vanished vixens,

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To another glorious month of beautiful mouthwatering offerings from Elevation Polish.  Lol it just never gets old with Lulu.  With every collection she reveals a polish, or if you are as addicted as I am several, that make me want to see just what she will come up with next.  The Italian Collection is no exception and as a bonus this month we also get to see a beautiful limited edition Yeti polish!  I don't know about you but I am desperate for any Yeti I can get my greedy little paws on lol.  Ah that Cosmoprof Yeti how you haunt me! Alas in any case let me introduce you all up close and personal like to one of my favorite collections to date from Elevation Polish inspired by Lulu's mani ahem many adventures to the land of romance, pasta, and killer leather goods ;)

Elevation Polish Forest Collection Swatches and Nail Art

Hey lacqueristas,

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Today I have my monthly installment of Elevation Polish awesomeness.  This month's collection is called the Forest Collection and it features a host of soothing deep rich colored polishes that are sure to spike any polish lovers' desires.  As usual Lulu has done an outstanding job of creating a collection that has a little something for everyone.  The Forest Collection is packed full of neutral shimmers, devastating crellies jammed with iridescent glitter and of course holographics.  Coming hard on the hills of the Summit 2 Collection the Forest Collection feels like a twist in the usual offerings we see over the summer i.e. neons, neons, and more neons with a little matte glitter thrown in for flair.  I have to say I throughly enjoyed the change of pace.  Now let's get started...

Pointless Forest 2

Described as a teal glitter polish by Lulu which vastly understates the deliciousness and the rich depth of this polish.  What we have here is a scrumptious deep green crelly finish that leans teal.  It is also packed with gold, blue, purple, and more square shaped iridescent glitter.  

It's hard to look at it directly because the polish feels like it shifts with the light.  It is by far my absolute favorite of this entire collection and is the very definition of complex perfection. I regretted taking this mani off the minute it left my fingers.

Mani-louge

Basecoat/ Topcoat: Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter-A-Peel / Poshe Fast Drying Topcoat

Stamping polish: Mundo de Unas #1

Leadlight polishes: Homemade blends ;)

Stamping plate: MyOnline Shope Jr 16

I tried to capture the subtle hints of glitter glimmering through the polish along with the pastel beauty of a garden.  

Avenue of the Baobabs 

A gorgeous taupe polish packed full of deep raspberry pink shimmer that subtlety shifts depending on the lighting.  Oh my! I cannot tell you how I love polishes like this!  And of course because the base is taupe and essentially a neutral it's immensely flexible as a base for nail art.

 However, because I was so in love with this color I decided to play it nice and soft for the nail art here. If you look closely at the enlarged swatches you can see the shimmer including these intense blue flecks that I didn't notice until after I started editing my photos!

Mani-louge

Basecoat/ Topcoat: Duri Rejuvacote /Sally Hansen Diamond Flash

Stamping polish: China Glaze L8G8, Sally Hansen Color Foil in Titanium Flash

Stamping plate: Konad M63 and M64

In the end I think I still overwhelmed the base color a bit despite keeping the art relatively spare.

Shilin Stone Forest

A dusty grey black flecked shimmer mixed with holo pigment. I love grey polishes! I think they work well as neutrals to high contrast color nail art.  In this case Shilin was so soft it seemed at times to be easily overwhelmed by any change.  The holo pigment itself was difficult to capture lurking even in the sunlight, and as you can see from my photos I got the best depiction indoors in my lightbox.  I choose to keep the nail art for this one exceedingly simple as once again I fought not to overwhelm the delicacy of the polish with too much art. 

Indoors

Outdoors

Mani-louge

Basecoat/ Topcoat: Duri Rejuvacote /Sally Hansen Diamond Flash

Stamping polish: Mundo de Unas #1 

Stamping plate: MoYou London Pro 04 XL and Pro 07 XL

Hinglajgarh Forest

Described as a bright green I think this polish actually leans toward sage green with a strong linear holo.  In my opinion the richest representative the Forest Collection.  I love this one as well! Then again what's not to love? It also happens to be a very near one coater which is always winning in my book. 

Indoors

Because this is the Forest Collection I tried to capture that same feel in my nail art.  I'm not sure of my success, but I love how this one turned out.  It was jungle themed.

Well jungle themed and tribal. I love how this came out!

Outdoors

Mani-louge

Basecoat/ Topcoat: Duri Rejuvacote /Sally Hansen Diamond Flash

Stamping polish: Mundo de Unas #1 and #7

Accent polishes: Elevation Polish Aconcagua, Streetside NYC, and Puncak Jaya

Stamping plate: Winstonia W02

So what do you think?  A rather different collection than we are used to seeing in the summer right? I'm glad to see some pretty neutrals for the summer as well!  The Forest Collection will be available for purchase on the Elevation Polish Big Cartel site on July 7th at 10PM EST and July 22 at 10AM EST. Pricings typically ranges from $8.50-14 USD.  Don't miss out on another great Elevation Polish collection!  I hope you enjoyed the swatches and art and I'll see you next post...

These polishes were sent for my honest review which I honestly would have purchased anyway.  For more information please see my Disclosures Policy.

MoYou London 31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 19 Space

Hey lacqueristas,

The 31 day nail art challenge posts continue lol! You know I'm really proud I was able to keep this streak going and finish the challenge for all 31 days so I have to get the posts up too.  Just so you know MoYou London already announced their winners and sadly I wasn't one.  I was pretty bummed about it, but what can I do? I'm constantly trying to improve my nail art and photography skills. I definitely feel like I've come a long way from when I started so I'll just have to keep it up.  Now onto day 19 and the theme Space.

So part of me is kicking myself for not just reusing that Matrix/Borg style mani I posted a couple months back for this challenge instead.  However I really wasn't certain we could reuse old mani's and I also thought I really love the space plates I have so I wanted to bust them out again.  You all will never know how detailed and painful the decal making for this mani was lolol.  I cannot even list all the colors I used for the decals there were too many. The pinkie alone...oh lord! I started out with a very neutral base color of Kita and Ridnitsohhka because I really wanted the stamping to take center stage.

Mani-louge

Basecoat / Topcoat:  CND Stickey /Poshe Fast Drying Topcoat

Gradient: Elevation Polish Kita and Ridnitsohhka + special edition holo topper from 2 summers ago

Stamping polishes: Mundo de Unas #1, 2,  

Stamping plates: MoYou London Sci Fi 04

What do you think? This was one of my favorite mani's of the entire challenge! The little rocket stole my heart and I definitely want to use it again.  I'm going to keep putting these up so hopefully you'll enjoy seeing all the nail art I created for these challenges.  Thanks for reading and see you next post...

Elevation Polish Yeti's Oceanside Vacation

Welcome back lacqueristas,

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I showed you all the gorgeous polishes from the Elevation Polish The Sea Collection a few days ago. If you didn't see it I highly suggest you go over and take a look here.  This collection is not to be missed! Today I have a new limited edition polish for the month of June featuring the beloved EP mascot - Yeti. Yeti's Oceanside Vacation is gorgeous glitter topper packed full of various colored blue, green and purple glitter in a clear base.

I purposely paired this glitter topper with a neon gradient because I wanted the various shades of matte blue glitter to pop especially over the orange. The formula one Oceanside was flawless as with all EP glitter toppers just sliding right over my nails without any need for placement.  Love!

Mani-louge

Basecoat/Topcoat: Duri Rejuvicote / Poshe Fast Drying Topcoat

Gradient: Orly Ablaze, Orly Colorblast True Neon Pink and Fluorescent Fuchsia Neon

Glitter Topper: Elevation Polish Yeti's Oceanside Vacation

Stamping polish: Mundo de Unas #8, #22 #43

Stamping plates: Cici & Sisi 02

Thoughts? I kept this one very simple so that Yeti could do the speaking for himself ;) Oceanside Vacation will only be available for the month of June during the June 7th and 22nd restocks.  I highly suggest that if you've waffling about getting it to just commit to the awesome because after this month you won't have the opportunity.  Personally, I never want to miss out on a Yeti polish they are very hard to come by!  YOV retails for $12 USD and will be available at Elevation Polish June 7th at 9PM CST and June 22nd 9AM CST.  Thanks for reading and see you next post...

Elevation Polish The Sea Collection Swatches & Nail Art

Welcome back varnished vixens,

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Today I have my monthly installment of Elevation Polish swatches and nail art from The Sea collection!   In general I love Elevation Polish, you know that, but occasionally there is a collection where every color will strike a cord with you and every color will feel special.  That's how I feel about The Sea collection.  Teals, blues, subtle shimmer, holographics, matte glitters, and the best of all lots and lots of one coaters.  The gods have smiled down upon me or Lulu and I just have similar tastes but whatever.  She did specifically say these were colors that she wears all the time and I can see why.  Let's take a look at all the pretty...

Weddell Sea

First off is Weddell Sea.  Of all the polishes in The Sea Collection this one was the one that was the most intriguing and difficult for me.  Weddell is an off white creme based polish full of white and silver shimmer and a mere hint of holographic pigment.  Sometimes this polish leans a slight bluish tinge on me. When you hit a really strong light that's when you can see the holo effect the best, however most of the time it's hiding.

This polish was also the thickest of all the colors in the collection.  Lulu stated that she focused closely on the formula for this collection and thus a lot of them are one coaters.  This one was a bit too thick for me so I thinned it with Seche Vite thinner.  It leveled out nicely after that and I was able to apply it in 2 thinner coats.

Mani-louge

Base Color: Weddell Sea

Accent colors: Elevation Polish Punchak Jaya, Pa'ako, Ceurnos del Paine, Wuyi Mountain, Silver Sword 

Stamping polish: Mundo de Unas #30

Stamping plates:  Loja BBF 15 and 18

I struggled with Weddell a lot because I didn't want to overwhelm the delicacy of this polish and the result was that I ended up creating two different looks, but I'll only show you one today ;)

The Med 2

A teal with green shimmer that shifts from green to gold depending on the lighting. For those that don't know the original Med was a small batch prototype a few months ago. I wasn't able to acquire it though I did drool over it. So I was surprised and pleased to see a reincarnation of the SBP has made it into the regular EP line up.

Mani-louge

Base Color: The Med 2

Stamping polish: Mundo de Unas #30

Stamping plates: Winstonia W01 (square plates)

This polish swatched out exactly like I knew it would - flawlessly.  The color reminded me of those little aquariums you own as a kid or see in school classrooms so I created a little reef and the lone fish to capture that image.

At just the right angle you capture the gold transition but the green is the most apparent.

Thracian Sea

A dark grey creme with heavy purple undertones.  This polish is probably one of my favorites of the entire collection! You may be wondering why but the answer is very simple.  This polish is what I call an homage to perfect formulation.  When I applied it it was literally the perfect self-leveling one coater.  ONE.  I also happen to own more grey colored polish than any other color in my collection except maybe blue.

What I love even more about this polish is that it represents an atypical color that we don't generally think about when we think of the ocean, but anyone who has lived in Maine or New Hampshire can tell you the ocean can most definitely be grey.

Mani-louge

Base color: Thracian Sea

Accent colors: Elevation Polish Puncak Jaya, Mt McKinley, The Med 2, and Weddell Sea

Stamping polish: Konad Special Polish in Light Blue

Stamping plate: Cici & Sisi 01

This grey leans so purple on me it's almost eggplant.  I love it!

Ceram Sea

A green leaning turquoise creme.  Another flawless formulation.  Again another one coat wonder! Please excuse me while I swoon.  In my opinion Ceram is the true teal of the bunch.  It's not a true turquoise because of the way it leans heavily toward the green territory.  Because of this I decided to create a mani with a sharkish theme and I think it played out nicely in the gradient I created using Ceram.

Mani-louge

Base Ceram Sea

Gradient: Puncak Jaya, Ceram Sea, and Thracian Sea

Glitter Topper: Finding Nemo

Stamping polish: Mundo de Unas #2

Stamping plate: Lily Anna 01

The gradient I created using Puncak Jaya, Ceram Sea, and Thracian Sea was art in and of itself.  This turned out so pretty!

This polish is so pretty.  I still can't believe this is one coat only given the opacity. 

Bohai Sea

Bohai is a cobalt blue holo that lies somewhere between a scattered and linear type.  The formula was flawless pictured here in 2 self leveling coats.  This was really the only polish of the entire collection that required two coats for opacity.  So you can see Lulu really did a phenomenal job with the formulations (which IMO she always does but these were on a whole other level).

Mani-louge

Base Color: Bohai Sea

Accent Colors: Elevation Polish Puncak Jaya, Silver Sword, Pa'ako, Streetside NYC, Torres del Paine, El Cap II, SPB Base of Haugusan, and Pahlish Bromance (April LE Duo).  Orly Neon Heat (pink fish)

Stamping polish; Mundo de Unas

Stamping plates: MyOnline Shop Jr 29 and Jr 30

I love this polish! It's festive, bright, and perfect for the summer.  Because the holo pigment is medium this polish manages to stay in a subtle category at least when no in direct light.  And let's be honest have I ever met a blue polish I don't like? The answer is invariably no.  Not possible but whatever lol!



 I went with another ocean look here again which I felt was appropos considering this is the Sea Collection.

What do you think? I know that was a lot of pics because this time there were 5 polishes in the monthly collection.  Do you have any favorites?  I have to say for me Thracian Sea and Bohai Sea were personal favorites.  I'll be getting a few back ups per usual!  Lol.  These polishes will release for purchase on June 7th at 9PM CST and June 22nd at 9AM CST.  Elevation Polish retails between 8.50-12.00 USD.  They can be purchased here on Big Cartel.  I know you are wondering why I'm missing the Yeti for June from this post and that's because I already had too many swatches and art for the Sea Collection.  I created a separate post for the Yeti polish so stay tuned.  Thanks for reading and see you next post...