Elevation Polish Darkest Storm

Darkest Storm was released by indie polish maker Elevation Polish as part of the water-based Naughty by Nature collection. I recently swatched another polish from this collection, Forest of the Fog, and had some misgivings regarding thinning it with regular polish thinner. I sent a note about this to Lulu, owner and mixologist of Elevation Polish, who sent me back a lovely reply that I'll include here for those who, like me, have had questions about how to thin water-based polishes:

This is such a great question! Thank you so much for asking. Thinning water based polishes with tap water could add bacteria that breaks down the formula, so I wouldn’t recommend that. If you are wanting to keep the polish as true to the water based formula as possible thinning it with a water based nail polish top coat or clear coat is the easiest way to go about it. Honeybee gardens or my favorite Scotch naturals work wonderfully. There are also a bunch of water based brands out there that would work.

If you don’t mind mixing in “chemicals” usual thinners work just fine with my water based formula. I tend to use Seche, Zoya and OPI brand (the one that is available at sally’s beauty, it’s only got 2 ingredients) however please do not add Sally’s beauty supply brand nail polish thinner. That is the one thinner that I’ve proven doesn’t work with any of my formulas water based or not.

Now you know! Back to the polish at hand (so to speak), Darkest Storm. This is a medium-dark steely azure blue linear holographic polish that includes among its ingredients the trademarked holographic pigment SpectraFlair, so you know this is going to be wowzas in the sun. SpectraFlair is so light reactive that it's difficult to find an environment where it's not reacting to light. Even dim incandescent light produces a linear flare in this polish, where it's at its darkest and reads as a deep midnight blue. This is such a lovely, graceful blue holo! Lulu writes that it was inspired by shafts of light that penetrate dark storm clouds and you can really see this inspiration on the nail.

Application was fantastic. Darkest Storm has a fluid, smooth, dense consistency with a beautiful balance of fluidity and viscosity for painting. It has a silky glide over the nail, very good self-leveling properties and doesn't run, pool or bubble. Pigmentation is also very good, with completely even opacity achievable in two coats. I used three for this manicure as I had some user-error fixing to do after the second coat, but in terms of coverage it wasn't necessary. Cleanup is easy and straightforward with no trace of staining. Darkest Storm dries naturally in very good time to a silky smooth shiny finish. Top coat did not diminish the polish's holographic properties in any way.

Photos show three coats of Darkest Storm over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Glisten and Glow HK Girl. It's a brilliantly sunny morning here and I had all kinds of light, direct, reflected and indirect, coming in through the skylight in my lightbox bathroom, so I've included a mix photos of Darkest Storm in various lights.

Elevation Polish Darkest Storm

Elevation Polish Darkest Storm

Elevation Polish Darkest Storm

Elevation Polish Darkest Storm

Elevation Polish Darkest Storm

Elevation Polish Darkest Storm

Elevation Polish Darkest Storm

Elevation Polish Darkest Storm

Elevation Polish Darkest Storm

Elevation Polish Darkest Storm

Elevation Polish Darkest Storm

Elevation Polish Darkest Storm

Elevation Polish Darkest Storm

Elevation Polish Darkest Storm

Elevation Polish Darkest Storm

Elevation Polish Darkest Storm

Elevation Polish Darkest Storm

As you can see, Darkest Storm is an eminently bendy (as Debbie from The Crumpet would say) dynamic holo, with the prismatic colors nuancing the base color into all kinds of iterations of blue beneath the strongly delineated holographic display. The stronger the rainbow, the darker the appearance of the base with the exception of the center area of the rainbow, which flashes an incredibly bright and exuberant cerulean blue in direct light.

Although this kind of holographic athleticism isn't rare anymore thanks to the profusion of indie holo offerings and even though as a rule I prefer scattered holos to linear, I could never tire of looking at a polish like this one. It makes my eyes happy!

love,
Liz