Premium Nails Elite Gel Polish Review

I learned of a gel polish brand that I hadn’t heard of before during my trip to Cosmoprof North America.  While walking the trade show floor, I came across the Premium Nails booth and saw that they had a line of gel polish called Elite.  I stopped to chat and learn more about Elite, which is a 3-step gel polish that is LED curable.  They have a wide range of colors, with 72 different color options.  I received their three most popular colors in the Premium Nails Mani-Pedi kits, which include an Elite gel polish color and a matching nail lacquer.

I also received a bottle of the Elite DUALCOAT, which is a base and top coat in one!  This is nice because it saves money and space.  I was eager to do a wear test on this brand and try the DUALCOAT product.  I prepped my nails by buffing and cleansing, and then applied a coat of DUALCOAT.  This product has a very thin consistency and needs to be applied sparingly (or it can spread and pool in your cuticle area).  I learned this the hard way of course, but once I figured that out the application was a breeze.  I also had a really great experience with the color application.  I applied two coats of the pink shade called Love Struck, and it went on from edge-to-edge flawlessly in just two coats.  Gotta love a two-coater!  I also finished the manicure off with a coat of DUALCOAT and was very pleased with the high-gloss shine.  Here’s a quick picture of the DUALCOAT bottle.

I wore my Elite Love Struck mani for 7 days with absolutely NO chipping, peeling or cracking.  My nails felt strong, and the high-gloss shine was maintained the entire time.  Unfortunately, on day 8 I messed them up pretty bad.  I did some heavy work in my garden, in the rain, for several hours.  I had damp gardening gloves on all day.  At the end of the day when I removed my gloves the manicure was ruined… the polish on every nail was peeled up and I pulled it right off.  I’ve never had that happen before, but I’ve also never worn damp gloves for several hours, so I feel that these conditions greatly impacted the wear.

I still wanted to test the soak-off, so I actually re-applied my Elite mani and left it on for a few days before attempting a soak-off.  Since top coats are usually pretty durable and hard to penetrate with acetone, I was worried about how well the DUALCOAT would soak-off.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that it soaked off very easily.  After soaking in acetone for about 7 minutes, the polish lifted right off in sheets with absolutely no scraping needed.  I would have to say that it was my easiest soak-off in a very long time.

Overall, I was very impressed with the application, wear and removal of Elite.  The only drawback that I found was that it didn’t wear well in extreme damp conditions. I had no problems with things like showering and doing dishes, so my experience was probably not common.

---

So let’s take a look at a few of the most popular Elite shades!  This is Love Struck, which is the shade that I did the wear test with.  This is a gorgeous, shimmery bright pink with some purple iridescence. This shade is very similar to BSG Magenta (horrible removal) and Gelaze Purple Panic (shrink-back issues).  As stated above, Love Struck doesn’t have any application issues!

Flawless Diamond is a super sparkly, dense, silver glitter polish.  This one did require three coats for best coverage, but it was also decent with two coats.  This polish would be great for accent nails, or for a holiday party or celebration.  It’s pretty bling-tastic!

First Class is a bright, orange-red shade.  When I see it on the nail it looks very red, but when comparing this shade to my other swatch sticks it actually looks more orange than red.  I guess you could say it’s more of a coral shade.  It’s darker than any orange or coral in my stash, but brighter than all of the reds in my stash.  So even though it may look like a classic red, it’s a pretty unique shade!

---

The Premium Nails Elite polishes come in full-size (0.5 fl oz/50mL) bottles. They can be purchased individually through the Premium Nails website for approximately $15 each, or they can be purchased through one of their distributors.  The Mani-Pedi kits with a matching nail lacquer will be coming out soon, but are not yet available for purchase on the Premium Nails website.

If you’re interested in trying this brand, they have a great deal on an intro kit. For $24.95 you get two gel colors, a bottle of the DUALCOAT base/top coat, and a small bottle of Tri-Bond which is a primer that assists with the gel polish adhesion. I always find that primers help if you have problems with gel polish peeling or lifting prematurely.

Visit the Premium Nails website for more information, or to learn about their other products at http://www.premiumnails.com