Review: e.l.f. Essential 14-Piece Nail Cube - Jewel Tones

For a nail polish collector, the e.l.f. Essential 14-Piece Nail Cube is like being in an ice cream parlor and to be so lucky to be allowed to taste a spoonful of many different flavors of ice cream. I still haven't experienced tasting ice cream with the iconic pink spoon of Baskin Robbins yet, but it should be that feeling. I have never bought an e.l.f. nail polish before and it is great that I get to try nail polishes with different kinds of finishes, glitters, and colors.

There are two e.l.f. Nail Cubes: the Brights and the Jewel Tones. On the e.l.f. Netherlands website, only the Jewel Tones Nail Cube (14 euro) is available at the moment, but on www.eyeslipsface.com, you can find both Nail Cubes ($14). The e.l.f. Bright Nail Cube has two glitter top coats in common with the Jewel Tones Nail Cube, namely the Gold Star and Chic Confetti nail polishes, but besides that, it is the total opposite. The Brights Nail Cube has many bright and colorful nail polishes, whereas the Jewel Tones Nail Cube has neutrals and darker nail polishes with shimmers in them.

The e.l.f. Nail Cube - Jewel Tones*

 Pictures from the e.l.f. website

The nail polish bottles

The e.l.f. Nail Cube contains 14 e.l.f nail polishes in a smaller bottle than the regular e.l.f. nail polishes. These only contain 6 ml. (0.20 fl oz.) of nail polish instead of 10 ml. (0.34 fl. oz.).

"neutral" colors in the e.l.f. Essential 14-Piece Nail Cube - Jewel Tones
Neutrals and a very Christmas like red and green.
shimmery nail polishes in the e.l.f. Essential 14-Piece Nail Cube - Jewel Tones
Shimmery nail polishes.
the two glitter top coats that comes in both of the e.l.f. Essential 14-Piece Nail Cube
The glitter top coats.

Ingredients of the e.l.f. Essential 14-Piece Nail Cube nail polishes

ingredients of the e.l.f. Essential 14-Piece Nail Cube

Nail swatches on a nail polish display wheel

All of these nail polishes were opaque with just one layer, except for Cherry Bomb, which still stays a little bit sheer after two layers.
 
e.l.f. Essential 14-Piece Nail Cube - Jewel Tones
e.l.f. Essential 14-Piece Nail Cube - Jewel Tones

Because I like the shimmery nail polishes a lot, I have two more pictures of those with slightly different angles and lighting.

e.l.f. Essential 14-Piece Nail Cube - Jewel Tones on nail wheele.l.f. Essential 14-Piece Nail Cube - Jewel tones on nail wheel

These two glitter top coats look very similar to two other nail polishes that I own: the Peripera nail polish YE905 has the same muted gold glitters as the Gold Star and the Etude House nail polish PWH901 also has multicolor glitters like the Chic Confetti.

e.l.f. Essential 14-Piece Nail Cube - Jewel Tones, swatches of the glitter top coats
The two glitter top coats
I was quite interested in the Sea Escape and Violet Velvet nail polishes, but these appear to be a case of looking gorgeous in the bottle, but disappointing on the nails. The Violet Velvet looks like a satiny purple in the bottle, but on the nail, it looks like a deep, dark purple and you really need to get the light directed in the right way for the shimmers to show. I had the same thing with the Sea Escape nail polish. In the bottle, it looked like a dark blue with beautiful light blue shimmers, but on the nail, it almost looks pitch black and you really need to search for the shimmers.

e.l.f. Essential 14-Piece Nail Cube - Jewel Tones: Sea Escape and Violet Velvet.

 Nail polish swatches of the Blushing Beauty and the Dazzle Diva

Of all the nail polishes, I like the Blushing Beauty and the Dazzle Diva nail polishes the most. That's why, I have taken these two out to wear on my nails first. During application of the nail polish, the nail polish smell can be a bit strong, but it is doable in a well-aired room. The two glitter top coats have the strongest smell. After drying, the nail polishes look glossy and feel smooth. The smell coming from the nail polishes after drying is similar to the smell of a whole bunch of Crocs shoes (imagine: standing in a narrow storage room filled with plastic shoes). This goes away after about a day, so it is not a big problem. I also didn't experience any chipping for a couple of days, since I used a base and a top coat.  

e.l.f. Blushing Beauty nail polish
Blushing Beauty nail polish

e.l.f. Blushing Beauty nail polish

e.l.f. Dazzle Diva nail polish
Dazzle Diva nail polish
e.l.f. Dazzle Diva nail polish

e.l.f. Dazzle Diva nail polish

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