A-England King Cophetua
King Cophetua was released at the end of last month by British indie polish maker A-England as part of the Tennyson's Romance collection. Inspiration for this series of polishes comes from the 1842 poem The Beggar Maid by British Poet Laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-92) and the 1884 painting King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid by British Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones (1833-98). Comparative arts! Both depict the legend of King Cophetua and his love for the beggar Penelophon.
This polish is an off-black with a tinge of green, a Charleston green. It is dark enough to appear as straight black in most circumstances until you examine it closely, with a plush, velvety quality courtesy of abundant ultrafine holographic pigment that softens its appearance considerably and creates a transparent, dimensional sheen of palest gold under incandescent light. In person -- although not so much in my photos, unfortunately -- the green tones come to the fore in direct sun and a delicate, scattered prismatic flush appears, traveling up and down the nail with the light.
Application was fabulous. The consistency of King Cophetua is fluid, creamy and dense with a medium viscosity and a near-effortless, buttery, self-leveling slip over the nail. It's a sublime formula, user-friendly, easy to control and a delight to manipulate with A-England's rounded, flexible brush. Pigmentation is outstanding. One coat nets completely even opaque coverage and full bottle color. Cleanup is fairly straightforward with a bit of pigment travel as you might expect but no residual staining to speak of. King Cophetua dries naturally in good time to a smooth, shiny finish.
Photos show two coats of King Cophetua over KBShimmer Love You Strong Time treatment and Pretty Serious All Your Base basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.
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| A-England King Cophetua |
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| A-England King Cophetua |
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| A-England King Cophetua |
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| A-England King Cophetua |
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| A-England King Cophetua |
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| A-England King Cophetua |
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| A-England King Cophetua |
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| A-England King Cophetua |
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| A-England King Cophetua |
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| A-England King Cophetua |
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| A-England King Cophetua |
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| A-England King Cophetua |
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| A-England King Cophetua |
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| A-England King Cophetua |
The story is that Charleston green, a green so deep it looks black, came about following the
Civil War when Union troops supplied buckets of black paint to Charleston to help with reconstruction. Charleston residents couldn’t bear the
thought of their city being painted government-issued black, so
they tinted the paint with yellow and blue, creating a
signature greenish-black accent color.
It's an unusual color for nails, but an intriguing one -- especially for fans of darker colors. I wish my camera was better able to capture the green tint, it's more noticeable in person. The polish has an urbane elegance on the nail, almost a courtly quality, and is not as harsh as a straight black. Unique!
ttyl,
Liz
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