Cult Cosmetics Nail Polish San Vicente Review, Swatches and Photos

Late last year I cancelled my subscription to Cult Cosmetics Black Box subscription program because I decided with my large nail polish collection, it made more sense to choose my own colours. Cult's "one and you're done" formula is still one I like, so during their recent "buy one, get two free" sale I hauled a bunch of polishes I had been eyeing.

Today I have the new shade "San Vicente" for review ($9.99 US, ships to Canada). Described by Cult as a "hyper-pigmented glitter mahogany polish", San Vicente looks like a slightly red toned, metallic milk chocolate brown in the bottle. On the nails it changes into a metallic silver taupe - it's so packed with silver shimmer that the red and brown undertones are much less noticeable. Photo in natural light, NC 35/40 skin, one coat polish + Seche Vite top coat.

Cult Cosmetics San Vicente (one coat + Seche Vite top coat)

This polish is highly pigmented, is opaque in one coat and flows fairly smoothly onto the nail. Because metallic polishes tend to show brush strokes, you do need to be a little more careful with how you apply this. I did notice that if I didn't "nail" (excuse the pun) the application the first time and I tried to retouch the polish pulled and became patchy. Of course, this would not be an issue if you went with two coats.

This was the "wild card" colour in my Cult haul. Brown is not a colour I typically look for in nail polish, but I knew I didn't have a dupe for it. This polish on the nail is surprisingly flattering - it's neutral but still a little flashy, and I can't help but think that it's the nail polish equivalent of my holy grail eye shadow, the discontinued Shu Uemura ME Silver 945.

Wear time is about 3 days without chipping, but that is standard for me with most brands. Cult's nail polishes are toluene, formaldehyde, camphor, formaldehyde resin and cruelty free.

Grade: B+

J