Finding a method on CA is like belly buttons ... most everyone has one.
Upsides are it is fast and nice and shiny. Downside it can be frustating to apply and it is brittle and you'll find that out when you drop one just right.
Not in a big hurry I can recommend something I teach (I use it on my reel seats and bamboo rods) that gives the same glossy finish as CA but unlike CA if you drop it you don't have strip it down to wood and restart from scratch. Just apply the finish to the affected spot and it is self leveling and cross linking. Another upside it is cheap, a 3oz bottle is around $6.
I'm a big fan of accelerator (non-aerosol) I apply with a perfume bottle for a controlled spray.
Biggest thing is developing a ritual and doing it the same each time.
Only thing I'd recommend is ditching the paper towels. Paper towels act as a mild accelerator and nothing starts the day off right like having pieces of paper towel stuck on your finish and you get to start over.
I do prefer the "Blue" shop towels for applying my sanding sealer and cleaning up spills.
I've been using 2mm or 3mm craft foam that I tie my fishing flies with for years. I can buy a 11" x 18" piece of foam for a $1 and it makes lots of flies and I still have enough left over to give away when I do demos on different finishes I play with at our local Woodcraft and our Pen Turning Club.
Here's a pix of a piece of foam that has done over 100 pens and reel seats and still going strong over the last year or so.