Elevation Polish Mount Cangyan

Mount Cangyan was released by indie polish maker Elevation Polish as part of the View From the Top collection in March 2013. Sadly, this polish has been discontinued to make way for new offerings, but you still may be able to snag a bottle from blog sales and venues like Storenvy.com. Lulu described Mount Cangyan as a complex royal purple with a high concentration of red shimmers as well as shimmers in copper and gold. To me, this polish has a violet-leaning dark sapphire jelly base with superabundant red shimmers that transform the look to purple in the bottle and on the nail. It's a painterly, multidimensional approach to color creation that interacts with light as it hits the nail to produce a stunning almost fuchsia glow in the center that shades to purple with violet at the edges.

Application was interesting. The consistency of Mount Cangyan is fluid and smooth with an even, self-leveling glide over the nail. I found that it developed a bit of stickiness with exposure to air that was easily remedied by closing the bottle and giving it a shake or two. Being a jelly, this is a fairly translucent polish that requires at least two coats for wearable opacity. I used three for this manicure and prefer the look of three coats over two. There was still some noticeable translucence at the nail edge, but it didn't bother me. I think it kind of adds to the dimensional look of the polish overall, but it would probably show wear rather quickly. Cleanup was easy and straightforward. Mount Cangyan dries naturally in average time to a sort of rubbery finish. Topcoat adds gloss and pops the color of the shimmers.

Photos show three coats of Mount Cangyan over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Elevation Polish Mount Cangyan

Elevation Polish Mount Cangyan

Elevation Polish Mount Cangyan

Elevation Polish Mount Cangyan

Elevation Polish Mount Cangyan

Elevation Polish Mount Cangyan

Elevation Polish Mount Cangyan

Elevation Polish Mount Cangyan

Elevation Polish Mount Cangyan

Elevation Polish Mount Cangyan

Elevation Polish Mount Cangyan

Elevation Polish Mount Cangyan

Elevation Polish Mount Cangyan

Mount Cangyan is a scenic area in Jingxing County, Hebei Province, northeast China, famous for its combination of natural mountain scenery with historical man-made structures.

Cangyan Mountain (source)

Cangyan Mountain (source)

love,
Liz