LVX Legendaire

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Where did January go? On the one hand, it went on FOREVER and the other hand, it flew past me. I've been on a purple kick lately, and after wearing Purple Aster and Lavender Sorbet I wanted to keep the purple going so today is LVX Legendaire. This is a gorgeous lavender creme that was part of their Fall/Winter 2012 collection.

LVX Millennial

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LVX is probably the most luxury brand that I own. While it's considered boutique by most bloggers, I know that the owner, Branka, carefully designs each collection based on Fashion Week and has worked very hard on choosing the right ingredients, pigments... all the way down to the specialized font for her packaging. Today I have Millennial from the Autumn/Winter 2017 collection, which is a soft neutral baby pink creme.

LVX Bare

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Today I have the second half of the LVX Naked Neutrals 2019 collection. While Buff was more yellow toned, Bare is pore of a light pink creme.

LVX Buff

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Today I'm showing you the newest polish from LVX from their Naked Neutrals 2019 collection. This is Buff, a sheer buttery beige. It's more beige than Vanille from the Fall Winter 2016 collection but in the same family.

LVX Coquillage

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I feel like I'm finally getting back into the groove of blogging. Granted, I'm doing a lot of it during the night hours when I should be sleeping but hey, who needs sleep?

LVX Seychelle

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I'm continuing on my personal Purge and it's been interesting seeing what colors I tend to gravitate to and what I THINK I like vs what really looks good on my nails. Granted, it all comes down to personal taste but I tend to surprise myself time and time again.

LVX Ashe

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Why hello again! It's been a long three months - a very busy three months in my household but time and time again I realized just HOW MUCH I've missed blogging. So today, my 33rd birthday, I decided that I was carving out time to do the thing that I've been enjoying for 7 long years now and BLOG.

My normally super sunny South Texas was hit with a cold front today and it was a brisk 34 degrees when I got up. My parents used to tell me that the year I was born, it was really cold too. So cold that my Dad had to have a thermometer above my bassinet to make sure I didn't catch cold when they brought me home from the hospital. Because of that, I reached for LVX Ashe, a light charcoal grey from the Fall Winter 2016 collection. I have such a love for greys on my nails so I was excited to try this one out.

I used a base coat of Duri Rejuvacote, 2 coats of polish and finished with Glisten & Glow HK Girl. The first coat was almost opaque enough but I had a few brush strokes so I went for a second thin coat to make everything look amazing. And amazing is just one of the works to describe this polish.

I'm pretty darn happy with it. It doesn't have the blue or yellow undertones to me that most greys can get. I'm in desperate need of a proper manicure but I feel this works for me right now. Not sure if I'll change to something more Christmas-ey for the weekend or not. It's not like I don't have enough polish to choose from.

Overall, this is a great addition to my world. I've been a huge fan of LVX since it first came out and I appreciate the luxury that this brand brings to my collection. I'm also privately happy that they will only be releasing 2 collections per year (instead of 4) so that I can continue to monetarily support them since I'm rebuilding my press contacts after disappearing for so long.

So where is PolishGalore now? On the eve of Kellie Gonzo closing her blog (link here) as well as many other bloggers who have packed up their brushes over the years, I'm here to reflect on why I started this blog in December 2009. I fell in love with polish and I loved being able to paint my nails and shre it with others. Granted, I've gone places I never thought I would - Las Vegas, San Francisco, Chicago and now New York City in the Spring - and I've done some amazing things - magazine articles, print campaigns, online campaigns - but what has really stuck with me is the amazing community that I've been introduced to. I may not have 10,000 page views a month anymore, and I don't even have 5000 Instagram followers, but I've made some amazing friends and have some killer nail polishes and frankly, I enjoy blogging still. So that's what I'm doing. I've finally gotten the ability to place my polish in a pet and (mostly) kid-free zone of my house, I have my light box set up where I think it will serve me well, and I have a patient family who is giving me the time I need to paint and write.

LVX [Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Instagram] is available on their website. It is 10-free to include Toluene and Camphor, vegan and cruelty free. Use promo code POLISHGALORE for 20% off your purchase!

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration. For more information, please read this post.

LVX Vanille

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This week, LVX released their first joint Fall/Winter collection which included Vanille, a buttery beige. I wasn't really sure what to think of this color the first time. It reminds me a little of cake batter but we all know that whites and yellows can be notoriously hard to apply, so I was a bit scared.

I started with a base coat of Duri Rejuvacote, 3 coats of polish and finished with Digital Nails Ain't Nobody Got Time For That top coat. The first coat of polish was a disaster - nothing but streaks and I was worried. The second coat self-leveled quite a bit but I still felt like it was a little patchy in a few places. The third coat of polish leveled the polish out perfectly and had the right level of opacity so I felt confident to top coat. The best part is that the thin coats of polish used dry fast with LVX, so you don't have to worry about smearing or smudging.

I keep starting at my nails and I'm still not sure if this is a ME color or not. On the one hand, I like how it's a stark contrast from my normal purples or pinks but on the other hand, it's not the most flattering look to my eye. Reminds me a little of yellow snow heh. I am very pleased with the formula in the end though.

LVX [Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Instagram] is available on their website. It is 10-free to include Toluene and Camphor, vegan and cruelty free. Use promo code POLISHGALORE for 20% off your purchase!

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

LVX Oasis

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Yesterday the Fall-Winter 2016/17 collection launched at LVX. After I played with stamps last week, I decided that I needed to go out of my comfort zone and wear a green on my longer nails. I mean, they aren't LONG but they aren't as short as I'm used to. LVX Oasis is a classic hunter green creme with blue undertones.

I used a base of Duri Rejuvacote, 2 coats of polish and finished with Digital Nails Ain't Nobody Got Time For That top coat. The formula was a little thin with the first coat but self-leveled to a perfect opacity with the second coat.

What do you think? I'm pretty happy with it and it kind of freaks me out in a good way. I feel like a model, haha. While I'm not sure how much I will wear this polish out, I do want to play with it more on shorter nails. I am getting rather long here!

LVX [Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Instagram] is available on their website. It is 10-free to include Toluene and Camphor, vegan and cruelty free. Use promo code POLISHGALORE for 20% off your purchase!

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

LVX Brique

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When I think luxury polish, I think of LVX. I love how the line is focused on fashion, I love that the glass bottles look great with the black caps. I love that the font used is a custom font with custom kerning so you're not going to find it on a website for sale. While meeting with creative director and co-founder Branka Tomic at Cosmoprof Las Vegas last month, I had to congratulate her on over 100 colors being launched so far. She let me in that starting with their Fall-Winter Collection, LVX was going to move to two seasonal collections per year. This keeps their colors more in line with current fashion and keeps the colors both fresh and concise.

My package originally arrived with this beautiful brick red being smashed, however, LVX immediately sent out a replacement and I knew I just had to wear it to work today. Brique is a bit of a plum undertoned red creme that reminds me of the brick on my own house. I love how sophisticed it looks against my skin tone. I used a base of Duri Rejuvacote, 2 coats of polish and finished with Digital Nails Ain't Nobody Got Time For That. The formula was fantastic and I might have gotten away with one coat but went with two to self-level into my nails.

I love this color. I feel like I should be drinking coffee in Chicago during a brisk morning. Speaking of, I will be a PolishCon in September! More on that later.

Brique and the rest of the Fall-Winter 2016/17 collection launches on August 15th on their website. This is definitely my stand out of the collection but stay tuned because the other 5 are all beautiful as well!

LVX [Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Instagram] is available on their website. It is 10-free to include Toluene and Camphor, vegan and cruelty free. Use promo code POLISHGALORE for 20% off your purchase!

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

LVX Crimson

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I have to take some photos today, and I knew I wanted a cherry red creme since the photos are for professional needs and I'm not the photographer. Now it's not that I didn't want to go with an awesome neon or a crazy holographic, but I wanted something timeless, elegant and classic. After a little hunting, I found my LVX Crimson from the 2015 Winter/Resort collection.

I used a base coat of Duri Rejuvacote, 2 coats of polish and finished with Love, Angeline Topped With Love top coat. My nails are a little long right now and in need of some TLC but the formula for this polish was a dream. One thing I'm learning is to just get your first coat on and don't worry so much about opacity and use a second thin coat to get your evenness.

So when I look at my nails dead on, they look fantastic. Under a little harsher of a light in my box, you can see a bit of visible nail line almost leading towards the the polish being more of a jelly instead of a creme but I'm calling it a creme. Again, this is just a pretty classic red and definitely a good staple in anyone's collection. For those who are tracking like me, this is #63 in the LVX line.

LVX [Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Instagram] is available on their website. It is 10-free to include Toluene and Camphor, vegan and cruelty free. Use promo code POLISHGALORE for 20% off your purchase!

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

LVX Vamp

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I decided to pull another creme from the Winter Resort 2015 LVX collection so today we have Vamp, a dark purple creme with red undertones.

I used a base coat of Duri Rejuvacote, 2 coats of polish and finished with Glisten & Glow H K Girl top coat. Formula was almost a one coater but I did two to be safe and make sure I didn't have any bald spots.

I love this color. When I look at my nails, I TOTALLY see Branka, the female half of LVX. I can see her rocking this color year round and it just makes me smile. Now for myself, I prefer it to be on more nubs (again, me and nubs and dark polish. Winning) BUT I actually like it on this length - I don't think it looks crazy at all.

Best part? No staining when removing, especially with that red undertone - I was worried at first! But I was happy when I saw nothing but bare nail underneath.

LVX [Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Instagram] is available on their website. It is 10-free to include Toluene and Camphor, vegan and cruelty free. Use promo code POLISHGALORE for 20% off your purchase!

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

LVX Mineral

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So I've been noticing that I own a lot of cremes, and as much as I love my glitters and holos, there's something about a classic creme manicure. Pair that with LVX, and you have yourselves a winner. LVX is primarily creme polishes although they have made some metallics in the past. Today I'm wearing Mineral from the Winter Resort 2015 collection which is a grey creme.

I started with Duri Rejuvacote, 2 coats of polish and finished with Glisten & Glow H K Girl top coat. The formula was thin on the first coat but self leveled and evened out with the second coat. I do have quite a few ridges on my ring finger that stuck out at me like a sore thumb while wearing this polish but a ridge filler would take care of that.

This is a really interesting grey. It almost leans teal grey and in other lights it pulled almost green grey to me. It's still not my heart stopping grey that I search for but it's a great base color, palette cleanser, nail art staple polish. My nails are getting too long for me again so I need to trim them down and then I'd really rock this color on my nubs.

Overall I forgotten how much I really liked LVX. The price is up there but it's rare to be disappointed with their formula. 

LVX [Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Instagram] is available on their website. It is 10-free to include Toluene and Camphor, vegan and cruelty free. Use promo code POLISHGALORE for 20% off your purchase!

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

LVX Spring 2015

This February, LVX launched their 2015 Spring Collection - going in a direction we haven't really seen before from this vegan luxury brand.

LVX Winter-Resort 2015

LVX has a soft spot in my heart since the day I met them at Cosmoprof North America. On top of always being fashion forward, it's been fun to watch their brand grow!

M Polish: A Five Free Indie Stamping Polish!

Image provided by M Polish

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This spring, M Polish unveils one of the first independently created, hand mixed, cruelty free and Big-5 free stamping polishes to the nail art world. “I am a stamping addict” says M Polish founder Megan Patituce.  I have a ton of stamping plates but I wanted the ability to make whatever color I wanted and have those colors be 5-free, because I know a lot of people are becoming increasingly concerned about what is in their polish.”

Spring 2015 Collection: On February 17, 2015, M Polish launched their maiden Spring 2015 collection. This 6 piece collection consists of Apple Blossom (light pink), Apricot Delight (light orange), Bells of Ireland (mint green), Snowberry (pearly white), Starflower (cornflower blue), and Sweetclover (duochrome yellow-green). Polishes will be available in individual 11 mL (full size) bottles for $6.50 and 5 mL (mini) bottles for $3.25. Full collections will also be sold at $36.00 for full size and $18.00 for mini bottles.

How to Use: Stamping polish is used in coordination with stamping plates and stampers available from a variety of companies. Paint the stamping plate with the M Polish of your choice, lightly scrape the excess polish off with your stamping scraper, and roll your stamper onto the design. To transfer to the nail, roll the stamper across your nail for a crisp image. M Polishes are designed to work best over dark polish bases.

I was excited to try a few looks but I was super nervous because as you may remember, I'm not very good at nail art. But I was really determined to try!

M Polish Snowberry is a white stamping polish without any shimmer. I was super happy that it was opaque right away. I used a base polish of China Glaze Pop The Trunk from the Spring 2015 Road Trip Collection and used my Konad Plate m64.

CHECK THAT OUT! This was my first attempt at stamping in like... 3 years. Crisp. I was super impressed with how well the polishes picked up on the plate and laid down on the nail.

M Polish Apple Blossom is a light pink stamping polish without shimmer. I used a base polish of China Glaze Boho Blues from the Spring 2015 Road Trip Collection and stamped with my Konad plate m63.

I was really happy with this delicate design. I probably should have used a darker base color to really make it pop but it was still lovely.

M Polish Starflower is a light blue stamping polish with a slight inner glow but no shimmer. I used a base color of JulieG Sour Grape from the 2015 Jelly Beans collection and stamped with my Konad plate m51.

Look how this blue pops! 

M Polish has also launched a special, limited edition Mother's Day Duo called Mama Loves Polish Duo, available now until Mother's Day. The best part is that 50% of the proceeds will be donated to the Avon 39 "The Walk to End Breast Cancer" for Rebekah so you're supporting a great cause. The duo is available $13.50.

M Polish Annette is a coral pink. I used a base color of Love, Angeline Did You Say Peppercorn?! from the Chateau Macaron collection and stamped with my Konad plate m25.

I love how soft and delicate this looks while being able to pick up the entire image.

M Polish Sliver of Hope is a silver metallic stamping polish. I used a base color of LVX Turkoise from the Spring 2015 collection and stamped with my Konad plate s6. 

Look how opaque those squares are! Aces, M Polish, aces.

Notice that my water mark is a little different? That's because I was given the privilege to feature M Polish on Nail It online! Check out the article here.

M Polish already has a summer 2015 collection coming soon which I got to preview and let me tell you - it's going to knock your socks off. If you're looking for a great new indie company to support that specifically makes stamping polishes and is 5 free, here's your girl!

M Polish can be purchased at http://www.mpolishes.com with shipping to the USA and Canada.  Join the conversation! Facebook http://www.facebook.com/MPolishes & Instagram http://www.instagram.com/MPolishes

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

LVX Fall 2014

VEGAN LUXURY NAIL LACQUER BRAND LVX

LAUNCHES THEIR 2014 FALL COLLECTION.

LVX nail lacquer announces the release of their tenth seasonal collection.

LVX Laguna

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The finale of the LVX Summer 2014 collection, as we lead into fall, is Laguna, a beautiful sky blue. I used a base coat of Cult Nails Get It On, 2 coats of polish and finished with LVX Gel like Top Coat. Honestly, this could have been opaque in one coat but I used 2 thin coats to be sure.

So in the sun, this color just wouldn't behave! Look how BRIGHT and brilliant it is!

Meanwhile in the shade, it settled down and showed its true colors. You can see that I had a little cuticle issue but it wasn't from a bad formula - just an unsteady hand on my part.

Inside was pretty perfect too. I love how squishy it looks on my nails - not like a jelly but like a stay puff marshmallow. Would be a great base for clouds or a rainbow nail or just alone. I did not have any issues with staining but did not do a long wear test to double check.

LVX [Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Instagram] is available on their website. It is 10-free to include Toluene and Camphor, vegan and cruelty free. Use promo code POLISHGALORE for 20% off your purchase!

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

LVX Aster

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Finishing up the Summer 2014 LVX collection and this is probably my absolute favorite. This is LVX Aster, which is a beautiful lilac purple. I used a base coat of Cult Nails Get It On, 2 coats of polish and finished with LVX Gel Like Top Coat. The formula applied beautifully!

Look how pretty this creme is in the sun! A lovely lilac.

In the shade, it tends to pull more blue but it's absolutely gorgeous no matter what.

I knot this looks like a totally different polish but it's the same polish, same day! In indirect light, the polish really decides to play nice with the camera and show her true self.

LVX [Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Instagram] is available on their website. It is 10-free to include Toluene and Camphor, vegan and cruelty free. Use promo code POLISHGALORE for 20% off your purchase!

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

LVX Lolli

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We are on the back half of the LVX Summer 2014 collection now! I feel like I've saved the best three for last, starting with the pretty pink creme Lolli.

I used a base coat of Cult Nails Get It On, 2 coats of polish and finished with LVX Gel like Top Coat.  This polish wasn't very well behaved and did flood my cuticles but I cleaned up before top coat.

This is the very first pink for LVX and it's a very pretty pastel pink! The Texas sun just didn't want to cooperate, so this is Lolli in the shade. You can see how it applied well without any brush strokes or unevenness.

In the indirect light, you can see that it's not a Barbie pink but not a Pepto Bismol pink - but rather just a soft happy pastel pink. It's soft enough to be worn all year round but stands out enough to be on toes as well.

LVX [Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Instagram] is available on their website. It is 10-free to include Toluene and Camphor, vegan and cruelty free. Use promo code POLISHGALORE for 20% off your purchase!

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.