Lacquer Slacker Liz: Cult Nails Time Traveler and Elevation Polish Aguja St. Exupery

Time Traveler was released by indie polish maker Cult Nails as part of the Super Powers collection for winter 2011. It's described on the Cult Nails website as a "rich, vivid navy blue crème with a flawless finish," and for the most part I agree. I wouldn't describe this deep, dark, powerfully-saturated navy as vivid, but then when is any navy actually vivid and still navy? Navy is the darkest shade (color + black) of blue. It's a cool color and a superb neutral. Like black, it carries an air of sophistication and elegance, and like other dark blues it is often associated with confidence, power and authority. To me, Time Traveler is the perfect navy. It has the appearance of near black in dim light, but next to black it is definitely blue, possessing an almost cobalt tinge in comparison.

Application was fraught with peril as this intensely-saturated color is a wicked stainer. The consistency is wonderful -- a little thicker than other Cult Nails polishes that I've tried but still quite fluid, creamy and dense. Time Traveler has some qualities of a jelly but it applies like a creme. It goes on like heavy silk, with a buttery flow over the nail and excellent self-leveling properties. Pigmentation is also excellent. With a steady, careful hand and a judicious amount of polish on the brush, Time Traveler is easily a one coater. I used two coats for this manicure because as usual I had some lines to even up after the first coat. Cleanup requires patience and caution. Even if you don't need much cleanup, which given the superb formula of this polish is quite possible, the touch of acetone will cause the pigment to run, staining any nearby skin or cuticle, and it's nearly impossible to remove the traces completely when that happens. I expect removing this polish will be formidable. Time Traveler dries naturally in good time to a glossy, jelly-like finish.

Allowing the polish to set up and dry a bit before topcoating and applying topcoat with a good size bead on the brush will help prevent the topcoat brush, and thus the topcoat in the bottle, from discoloration. I actually have two bottles of Seche Vite in use, one that's free of discoloration and one that's slightly tinted from use with dark reds, purples and blues. When I suspect that the topcoat brush may pick up color from the polish, I use the tinted Vite and that's what I did with Time Traveler.

Photos show two coats of Time Traveler over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Cult Nails Time Traveler

To dress up my Time Traveler manicure I have a gorgeous holo topcoat, Aguja St. Exupery (pronounced AUG-zha san TOOX-per-ee, or thereabouts) from indie polish maker Elevation Polish. Aguja St. Exupery was released as part of the Patagonia collection earlier this year. This translucent topper has a shimmery taupey grey appearance in the bottle and contains beaucoup holographic pigment as well as abundant charcoal, pink and gold irregularly-shaped flake shimmers. It has a fluid, smooth formula with even flow over the nail and applies easily. The holo pigment leaves a silvery/golden veil over the base color that produces a beautiful linear prismatic display even in indirect light, with additional sparkle and flashes of color and from the flakies. Aguja St. Exupery dries naturally in very good time to a silky smooth shiny finish.

Photos show one coat of Aguja St. Exupery over the Time Traveler mani above with a topcoat of Glisten and Glow HK Girl.

Elevation Polish Aguja St. Exupery over Cult Nails Time Traveler

I've looked at lots of reviews showing Aguja St. Exupery over a number of different colors, dark and light. The darker the base, the more the prismatic display stands out. The lighter the base, the more the flakies stand out. One of the prettiest manicures I've seen with this topper is from Jenny at Lavish Layerings, here, where she layered it over OPI Skull and Glossbones. Another Aguja St. Exupery post to visit is from Ashley is PolishAddicted, here, where Ashley reviews the entire Patagonia collection and shows Aguja St. Exupery over several different Elevation polishes as well as a black creme.

Aguja St. Exupery has a more substantial presence than I would expect from a holo topper. It does more than turn the base beneath to a holo. It has a sleek swirling sheen to it that is like looking at a densely-woven, sparkling silk fabric. Very beautiful and unusual! It will be fun trying it out over other colors, I expect it will be especially gorgeous over nudes, browns and greys. I'd love to see it over China Glaze Sea Spray....

love,
Liz

2 comments:

MelissaSeptember 17, 2014 at 1:15 PM
I absolutely love how you chose to layer Aguja St. Exupery! It's incredibly stunning. I love how the holo is very intense over a dark base but I also love how it looks over a light creme. I like when a polish is versatile and can be worn multiple ways. I'm happy to say that I own this beauty but now I just need to actually wear it.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Cult Nails Time Traveler and Elevation Polish Aguja St. Exupery

2 comments: