Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Elevation Polish Echinops

Echinops was released by indie polish maker Elevation Polish as part of the Wildflower collection in August 2013. I have loved this light lavender holo from afar ever since I first saw it swatched by Ida of Ida Nails It, whose beautiful swatch pics are Elevation's official store polish photos. At long last I've finally gotten around to purchasing it and I can share its loveliness with you.

Lulu describes this polish as having a "soft lavender/blurple creme base with medium/low density holographic pigment." The creamy base is a delightful, unmuddied pale lavender that leans to periwinkle in the shade, gently fortified with fine holo pigment, which in direct sun produces a soft, twinkling prismatic flush in pastel hues of yellow, baby pink and aqua. This is not a blow-your-hair-back sort of linear holo, nor would I call it a scattered holo because the holo pigment is more finely milled than what I typically think of for a scattered holo. It's actually a perfect holographic match for the delicate lavender creme base, and offers a bit of delicious, silvery-speckled dimensionality to the color in low and indirect light in addition to the understated prismatic display in direct sun.

Application was quite congenial. The consistency of Echinops is fluid, light and creamy with an effortless buttery glide over the nail and very good self-leveling properties. Pigmentation is also very good with a bit of sheerness on the first coat building easily to wearable opacity in two. I added a third coat to ensure the non-appearance of my nail ridges and was additionally rewarded with an extra bit of oomph to the color. Cleanup was easy and straightforward. Echinops dries naturally in very good time to a slightly flat finish that wants a nice topcoat to make the most of its attributes. 

Photos show three coats of Echinops over Seche Rebuild treatment and Pretty Serious All Your Base basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.


Elevation Polish Echinops


Elevation Polish Echinops


Elevation Polish Echinops


Elevation Polish Echinops


Elevation Polish Echinops


Elevation Polish Echinops


Elevation Polish Echinops


Elevation Polish Echinops


Elevation Polish Echinops


Elevation Polish Echinops


Elevation Polish Echinops


Elevation Polish Echinops


Elevation Polish Echinops


Elevation Polish Echinops


Elevation Polish Echinops

It's always a question whether pale shades like this look good against my medium/cool, ruddy, uneven skin tone. I actually like Echinops quite a bit on me although my fierce pinkage tries to wash it out. It's actually at its prettiest and most richly colorful, I think, on warmer, richer complexions, such as on my friend Thithi of pretty tough nails or on Savannah of Addicted to Polish.

If you're partial to the cool elegance of softer, paler manicures in the summer, Echinops is a particularly chic choice. It has just enough holo to it to give a luxe, dimensional look but not so much that your nails abruptly explode with sparkling rainbows in the sun -- "not that there's anything wrong with that!"

love,
Liz

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