Lulu describes Just Like Night Time as a navy medium density holographic polish with blue, teal and aqua shimmers. To my eye, the blue is more of a medium-dark sapphire or blueberry shade, slightly smoky and muted in indirect light and shade but stunningly vibrant in the sun where it is accompanied by a flame-shaped prismatic ribbon of sparkling rainbow colors that floats over a central flash of bright cerulean blue. The particulate shimmers are ultrafine, adding a frost-like cast to the base color and giving the polish a singular reserved, aloof, mysterious quality. There's something reminiscent of vintage shimmer polishes to this lacquer that I can't quite put my finger on. It is unlike any other Elevation holo that I've experienced.
Application was a bit stickier than I anticipated, but I think my bottle might have some age on it. It has that kind of feel. The consistency was thicker with some pull to it but still fluid with a heavy, velvety glide over the nail and very good self leveling properties. Pigmentation I found to be surprisingly sheer but buildable. Two coats nets wearable coverage but I think three makes for deeper, richer color and that's what I used for this manicure. Cleanup was easy and straightforward. Just Like Night Time dries naturally in fairly good time to a level of glossiness that makes topcoat seem redundant.
Photos show three coats of Just Like Night Time over Pretty Serious Rock On treatment (which is poised to supplant my heretofore favorite Seche Rebuild as my go-to nail strengthener) and Pretty Serious All Your Base basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. Apologies for so much pink skin -- it's like 107°F with the heat index here today -- and the sprinkling of silver sparkles on my nail environs, loitering traces of yesterday's glitterbomb KBShimmer Alloy Matey!
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| Elevation Polish Just Like Night Time |
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| Elevation Polish Just Like Night Time |
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| Elevation Polish Just Like Night Time |
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| Elevation Polish Just Like Night Time |
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| Elevation Polish Just Like Night Time |
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| Elevation Polish Just Like Night Time |
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| Elevation Polish Just Like Night Time |
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| Elevation Polish Just Like Night Time |
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| Elevation Polish Just Like Night Time |
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| Elevation Polish Just Like Night Time |
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| Elevation Polish Just Like Night Time |
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| Elevation Polish Just Like Night Time |
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| Elevation Polish Just Like Night Time |
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| Elevation Polish Just Like Night Time |
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| Elevation Polish Just Like Night Time |
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| Elevation Polish Just Like Night Time |
Elevation offers another dark blue holo, Darkest Storm, so there's an inevitable comparison to be made. Beyond sharing a general classification as dark blue holos, I don't think they are very similar. Darkest Storm has more green it, for one thing. Despite what I said in my review, it's more of a cyannic shade, a dark cerulean blue, while Just Like Night Time is true azure shade, a sapphire blue. Darkest Storm contains more holo pigment plus a bonus dose of SpectraFlair, so it's very much a classic linear holo with pervasive holographic effects. Just Like Night Time also displays a linear effect in the sun, but the overall holographic effects are stealthier and more self-contained and the base color is not as saturated. And Just Like Night Time contains additional ultrafine particulate shimmers, which add a discreet twinkle in analogous shades of aqua and teal in indirect light.
The formulas are quite distinct as well. For what it's worth, I found the formula of Darkest Storm the easiest of the two to work with.
Finally, each has a discrete presence on the nail, which I consider to be an idiosyncratic sort of cumulative characterization that takes into consideration the composition, formula and application experience as well as the look. Darkest Storm is overt, athletic and immediately accessible. It's a visually dazzling, gregarious charmer. Just Like Night Time is more complex and reserved. It has a somewhat haunting referential nature that is beautiful and sophisticated but less revelatory of its secrets.
Or this could all be a bunch of arbitrary hooey. If Elevation Polish is new territory for you, I'd recommend Darkest Storm. If you're a longtime fan of the brand and a music lover with a penchant for Harry Nilsson, I'd recommend Just Like Night Time (to me, it's a remarkably apt embodiment of its inspiration). That's only if you must choose one or the other. You can always get both of them.
love,
Liz
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