ALU’s 365 of Untrieds – Cult Nails Let Me Fly
365 of Untrieds is my personal challenge to weed through the polishes in the ALU stash that I’ve been wanting to try but just haven’t gotten around to.
I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend. With the exception of a fierce late night thunderstorm, the weather has been hot and beautiful in Cleveland. Speaking of Cleveland, a reader asked me to recommend places to visit while she is in town so I created this map of my favorite places. If you are planning to visit the CLE, I highly suggest you check it out. Getting back to nails, I read on Twitter that Cult Nails is having a sale this weekend for the 4th of July. All nail polishes are on sale for $7.40 through tomorrow (7/4). Maria from Cult Nails also tweeted that there is very little stock of Let Me Fly from the A Day At The Races collection so I wanted to show it to you before it sells out. |
Formula & Application: Cult Nails nail polish is 4-Free (including formaldehyde resin) and free of camphor, which can be an irritant. The bottle is pretty plain in that it looks like the empty bottles I buy for frankening from beauty supply stores. I’m sure creating a custom bottle is pricey but I hope that the success of the brand will bring a more unique bottle shape.
The big round plastic cap houses a brush that is clearly of Maria’s choosing. It is a round brush of average length and noticeable girth. The bristles are nice and flexible so they fan out easily across the nail plate without causing any dragging. In short, I love the brush. It is definitely in contention for my favorite nail polish brush.
Unlike Cult Nails Living Water, the consistency of Let Me Fly is in no way watery or jellyish. It’s thin and spreadable but rich, creamy and packed with pigment. In fact it reminded me a lot of Essie Coat Azure which has, hands down, the best Essie formula that I’ve worn in a long time. Though Let Me Fly isn’t as thick which makes it even better. An added bonus, it dries super glossy. I normally photograph my polishes wearing top coat but I didn’t use it for this shoot.
Cult Nails Let Me Fly is a cross between teal and cerulean blue with some dusty greyed undertones and irregularly shaped, glass-fleck style, silvery glitter.
For funsies I added some “blackberry bling” to my thumbs with a coat of the Glitter Gal Blue holographic nail polish I showed you a few days ago. As Elle Woods said about spritzing perfume on her resume, “I think it gives it a little something extra, don’t you think?”
Given Maria’s love of polish and brand knowledge I wasn’t surprised to come up dupe-less in my collection. What kind of polish fanatic would she be if she copied another brand’s creation? To give you an idea of how Let Me Fly walks the line between teal and cerulean I’m showing it next to Sally Hansen Fairy Teal and Rimmel Marine Blue.
While Let Me Fly is considerable darker than the other two polishes, I think this comparison gives you a good idea of what kind of color you can expect, should you order a bottle. Sally Hansen Fairy Teal is on the left and Rimmel Marine Blue is on the right.
Bottom Line: Based on my limited Cult Nails experience, there’s not denying that Maria has a unique eye for color and knows her nail polish. Let Me Fly is a snowflake and a color I highly suggest getting your hands on before it sells out. I hear a reorder will be happening but it won’t be in stock until early 2012. Since the world may be ending by then, you might want to jump on it now. I kid about the world ending part of course, but I see no reason to delay getting your hands on this beauty unless you have something against blue-green polishes and then, well, I have no help for you.
365 of Untrieds Stash/Share Verdict: STASH STASH STASH. Did I mention STASH
Cult Nails Let Me Fly is available now on CultNails.com with limited quantity. The nail polishes retail for $10/ea for a .5oz bottle but they are ON SALE NOW for $7.40 through 7/4/11.
Are you planning to snag one of the few Let Me Fly’s still in stock? Thoughts on the color? If you already have it, have you come up with any colors that are similar? If you weren’t part of the “cult” before I first posted about the brand, have you ordered from them since?
Disclosure: A product sample was provided by Cult Nails. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.
Lisa N.
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I think it’s pretty, but it’s not a color I would normally wear. I have a color very similar, but without the flecks. I’ve never worn it lol
I finally converted when they had their big sale of all polishes for $90… I couldn’t help myself! This is actually the first one I tried and loved the uniqueness. It reminded me a LITTLE of China Glaze Custom Kicks, but like you, I couldn’t find a good dupe in my collection either!
Why can’t we get this in the UK? Stupid international shipping laws! -cries-
@Opalline Star: but they do ship to the UK. Let Me Fly is officially out of stock though…
I’m really wondering how similar this is to BBCouture Moon Over Manhattan – maybe MoM might be a tad more blueish?
You know, I haven’t tried any BB Couture polishes so I don’t really know. I keep trying to limit the number of brands in my collection and then a new one, like Cult Nails, sneaks in and my dreams of an “edited collection” goes out the door.
Like you, I have been trying to limit the number of brands in my collection, because I really don’t like having randoms, as it disrupts the aesthetic of my organization – though despite purging 100s of polishes, I still have ~125 different brands. )-: – but I am astonished to learn you haven’t tried BB Couture. They have so many amazing colors, greens in particular. My favorites are Saturday Night Fever, Vampy Varnish, Iced Olive, Grenade, Kelly’s Green, Fuel Injector, Eros, well, pretty much all of them.
Many BB Coutures have this really fine, super pretty, subtle microglitter that I haven’t seen in other brands. “Diamond Dust” is their glitter top coat with that signature glitter.
Some of them also have a nice champagne shimmer that is not too common. Fuel Injector is a bright fern green with that style shimmer, and it’s so cheerful.
You should give them a try! I only wish they had more sales.
Deagans-yesssss. Went there a few weeks ago after hearing glowing reviews from a lot of people, and was even more impressed than I was expecting to be!!! I’m going for Taco Tuesday this week and can’t wait!
OMG their Taco Tuesday is fantastic. One of the specialty tacos a couple weeks ago was shark and before that I had the tilapia and both were out of this world. I can’t recommend the ahi tuna enough. The guacamole on it is delish!
Hahaha, your “Bottom Line” section cracked me up!
This colour looks really special, and they’re on sale now. Ahhh…I’m trying to save money. I keep putting this in my cart and then taking it out.
Thanks! I aim to please
I’ve played the cart game too many times and then regretted missing out on something LE after the fact. Just do it!! Sorry, I’m a terrible enabler. Maybe there should be a PFNPF (Parents and Friends of Nail Polish Fanatics) to talk us down of the shopping ledge.
Oh, wow. This post made me cave. I finally placed my first Cult Nails order. I’m so sad that Captivated was sold out, but Living Water and Let Me Fly are now on the way!
pretty!
To my eye, it looks like ‘Pool Party’ by Essence. Though, this might be more blue-ish. What do you think?
Oh not at all. Pool Party is a bright turquoise, much lighter and brighter than this without anywhere near the smokiness or green tint to it.
I’m SO glad I got my order in before this beauty sold out! I got this, Living Water, and Iconic.
I bought this one yesterday!! I LOVE IT!
This is a very pretty color. If only shipping wouldn’t be so expensive…
I ordered it along w/My Kind of Cool Aid & Iconic a couple of hours ago, and I now see a message from Cult Nails on twitter that they have sold out of Let Me Fly. I’m glad I saw your post.
I own this and I totally love it! Like you said, there is not a dupe to be found. It works well with my complexion, and as a lover of both teal and cerulean polishes, I am immensely pleased.
This looks exactly like Butter London Victoriana, which I happened to put on an hour before reading this post! Teal with microglitter. BTW, Nordstrom Anniversary sale is introducing BL Wallis, and has a BL GWP-Yummy Mummy free with 2 BL polishes.
They’re actually very different. Victoriana is much lighter with more glitter that gives the color a silvery cast. Thanks for the heads up about the BL Nordies release. Wallis is a gorgeous color. Great for fall.
Nordstrom will carry the five new Butter London Fall 2011 polishes on July 15th, when the Anniversary Sale begins, online and in store. Want to see Bluey and Toff.
I just got this recently and it was a dream so put on and not to say the least look at. She really nailed it with this one ;D And I am surely glad that I got it before 2012
i can’t get over the similarity to butter london’s victoriana, and i found someone who did the comparison.
http://thekarend.blogspot.com/2011/06/cult-nails-day-at-races-collection.html
close enough for me that i’m not really interested in owning both, although i do love the cult nails polishes i do own.
Thanks for the link. No offense to the blogger who posted those pics but the colors look very faded on my monitor as compared to what the polishes look like in real life. In person, Let Me Fly is much darker and with more green in its base color. The glitter makes a big difference as well. There is a lot more glitter in Victoriana and it gives off the impression of little ice crystals on the nail. They’re both gorgeous colors but not dupes or even siblings. If anything, they are cousins twice removed.
ah, that’s really good to know. i’d trust you over a lot of people, but that was the only comparison post i could find
I love this, but I just ordered Always Winning and can’t wait to try it. I was really bummed that I missed out on Captivating!
This was one the the colors that finally convinced me that I needed to make Cult Nails part of my stash. I am SO happy I placed my order when I did because Let Me Fly and Captivated (two out of the five I nabbed) both sold out less than 48 hours later!
I bought the Convert pack but haven’t a chance to wear any of the colors yet. This is gorgeous – so glad I got it!
In the pic of the nail wheel, what’s the color on the far right that we only see a bit of? It’s very pretty.
That’s China Glaze Aqua Baby but I didn’t swatch it to opaque. It’s darker in person but really pretty.
Thanks.
I’m going to have to look for that.
I like it for my toes with the specs of glitter. Your bottom line made me laugh.
Oh, wow! I love this shade very, very, VERY much! I hope I’m not too late for the sale…
*sigh* SOLD OUT. Here’s hoping one day you might want to SHARE your bottle.