Literary Lacquers Camazotz

Camazotz was released in by indie polish maker Literary Lacquers as part of the Wrinkle in Time collection in July 2014. Amy describes this simply as a "black linear holo with a blue/red shift," so it makes some sense that there's a whole lotta purple goin' on in this black holographic polish. The black is nice and dark and so deep it nearly swallows the prismatic flair in direct sun, which lights up the color-shifting pigment underneath to a semi-metallic purple. In some lights, this polish reads as a blackened blue, in others, a blackened purple. The holographic display, which is strong and linear, is best seen in bright diffused light.

Application was great! Like other holos from Amy, this one has a fluid, creamy and dense consistency, with a velvety self-leveling flow over the nail. When using thin coats, the first one displays a degree of translucence and can be streaky but the coverage builds up easily. Two coats provides wearably opaque coverage but I found that the best depth and richest color for Camazotz is achieved with three thin coats. Cleanup is easy and straightforward. Camazotz dries naturally in very good time to a finish so glossy that topcoat seems redundant, but use it anyway because it will pop the color shifting pigments and bring their magic up to the surface in a flashing sheen of purple or blue.

Photos show three coats of Camazotz over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. 

Literary Lacquers Camazotz

Literary Lacquers Camazotz

Literary Lacquers Camazotz

Literary Lacquers Camazotz

Literary Lacquers Camazotz

Literary Lacquers Camazotz

Literary Lacquers Camazotz

Literary Lacquers Camazotz

Literary Lacquers Camazotz

Literary Lacquers Camazotz

Literary Lacquers Camazotz

Literary Lacquers Camazotz

Literary Lacquers Camazotz

Literary Lacquers Camazotz

This is a fun way to wear black lacquer. The color shifting pigment will keep you guessing whether it truly is black, and the linear prismatic flair is lively and glittering, riding the surface of the polish like a hovering rainbow colored cloud of sparks, beneath which the semi-metallic sheen of the color shifting pigment can be seen. 

Camazotz was inspired by the planet of the same name in Madeleine L'engle's scifi fantasy novel, A Wrinkle in Time, published in 1962 by Farrar, Strauss and Giroux (for whom I very nearly went to work after completing the Summer Publishing Institute at NYU). Camazotz is a planet of extreme, enforced conformity, ruled by a bodiless telepathic brain called IT. The name Camazotz refers to a Mayan bat god associated with night, death and sacrifice, one of L'Engle's many mythological allusions in her nomenclature.

For me, the name Camazotz brings back memories (much stronger than I have of A Wrinkle in Time, shamefully enough) of eating Zotz candy, introduced in 1968 and by the time I got to middle school in the mid-70s, all the rage amongst my coterie of candy aficionado girlfriends. One of us would pop a Zotz and the rest would listen for the audible fizz as the effervescent center was reached. I was under the impression that they'd been eclipsed by pop rocks and other fizzing candies but apparently they are still available and made by the same company that first imported them from Como, Italy. 

Oh, the Places You'll Go! 

love,
Liz