A England-Briarwood: My Red Addiction.

So I like collecting polish, but I'm not one of those people who has 1000+. I tend to keep my collection to under 300, which in the normal people world is insane already. I pick and choose what I own carefully, which is why I have so few polishes I don't love. This is also the reason I have so few similar polishes. Unless it's a colour I use a lot chances are I will have no dupes or even close to dupes.

Unless it's a deep, vampy red with shimmer.

This is the only colour I have a hard time not picking up. It just makes me melt as I love most reds in general. They just have an umph factor to them. A England Briarwood from the Burne-Jones Dream Collection is no exception. It's that deep vampy, shimmery, pigmented red, filled with scattered holographic glitter. Done in a way that only A England could do it. Keeping with A England tradition, this polish has AMAZING formula. I used two coats, but I could have gotten away with one. And photographing this beauty was sooooooo hard. Pictures do not do it justice!

If you are a red lover you NEED this. And if you need a vampy red in your collection, I suggest this be the one you snag! Here are all the places that sell A England: http://www.a-england.co.uk/where-to-buy/

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Artificial light bulb flash

A England - Lady of the Lake: Birthday Nails!

So as you know my birthday was last week.  I posted Doctor Who, Dalek Rave nails.  But those weren't the nails I was actually wearing on my birthday.  I just thought it would be a really neat thing to get to post on my birthday.

A England Lady of the Lake was the polish I was wearing on my actual birthday.  I really didn't feel like doing anything special like cupcakes, or just in general birthday related nail art.  I just wanted simple.  Lady of the Lake is a rich, dark purple with scattered holo.  This is another brand of polish that get's it right when it comes to holos.  But then again my favourite types of holos are the more subtle ones that stand alone as a colour as well.  I used 2 coats on most fingers and 3 on a few because they were patchy.

Overall I LOVE this colour(and all of their polishes).  NEED MORE!

If you would like a bottle(or multiple) you can get this on their website if you are in the UK or from online retailers such as Ninja Polish.  They retail for around $10USD.

Unleash Your Inner Queen...On Your Nails!

Ahoy Valkyries! Let me tell you about these fancy little crown decorations from Born Pretty Store. These pretties are metal with an ivory-coloured enamel detail, and 1x1 cm wide. Because they're metal, you can use them again and again! Value for money, guys.

For a truly regal look, I started with a base of A England Avalon,  the purple of my dreams! Finished off with Essie Good to Go! topcoat.

Application was quite fiddly, using nail glue, tweezers, and swearing. I recommend putting the glue directly on the crown, rather than the nail. This way, the glue kinda drips down onto the nail and creates a sort of "wall" between the deco and your nail. Maybe you knew that, but this was my first time gluing stuff on my nails so it was an "aha!" moment for me!

I LOVE how these look. They take a bit more time and some practice to apply, but they really add something special to your manicure. So head over to Born Pretty Store for these and more great nail art supplies, and don't forget to use our coupon code!

ETA: Because they're so big, I had trouble getting them to stay on for more than 12 hours. But those 12 hours of tacky, glamourous ultra-fab time were amazing. Highlight of my week.

*Product was sent for honest review.

St. Patrick's Day Mani: Brought to you by Power Nap

Well I had an interesting night last night.  It consisted of drink tickets.  Lots and lots of drink tickets.  Followed by stumbling to the boys place at 2am and spent the next half hour apologizing for my drunkness, and asking that the lights in the room be left on(I felt less like dying when the lights were on.  The room spun less.)  It was a pretty fun night! But never again...

Anyways this mani is quite simple but before I went out last night I decided to take a power nap.  Long story short I slept too long and didn't have time to do anything crazy.  But I still really like how this turned out.

I used Orly's Lucky Duck and A England Dragon on all my fingers but my ring finger.  On my ring finger I used OPI's Dating a Royal and A Englands Tristam.  And to complete this french I added a strip of gold striping tape.  I really loved the somewhat subtle differences.  And just an FYI the ring finger is blue because blue was the colour that was originally associated with St. Patrick's Day.

 

And just for fun here is my mani from last year.  Used a real Guinness can for the letters!

 

 So did you celebrate already?  What did you do?  If not do you have any plans for tonight?

Do I like you? I think I do. A England Ascalon

So Oyster duochromes and I have a frosty relationship.  I have never been able to decide if I love or hate them.  Lately, it's been more love than anything.  It was during the biggest love phase that I picked up this and another that I'll show you later.

So A England is my new favourite brand, and this was the only polish of theirs that I found myself hemming and hawing on all the live-long day.  Finally, I relented.

This is two thin coats, and I definitely would NOT try to do one thin one.  The formula is perfect for nice, thin coats like this.

This baby was really hard to capture, and I definitely plan to try again with better light, but I do love the purple glow!

(Also I made paella before I did these swatches, so forgive my saffron fingers)

DRAGONS ARISE(AND BOOTS)!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is what I demand you scream at the top of your lungs, while you extend your arms to the heavens at the stroke of midnight.  Feel free to omit the boots part Deal?  Deal.

This manicure I actually did at the beginning of December and forgot to post it.  It's A-England Dragon and microbeads.  I wore it because I did another one of those fan fiction shows.  This time round it was Game of Thrones*.  I honestly was clueless on what I should do.  So I decided this would be the perfect time to use Dragon!  If you don't understand why it was the perfect timing go read the books(A Song of Ice and Fire) or watch the show.  It was simple and badass.  It was perfect.

Now I was hoping to take some shots in the sun so you could see Dragon in all its glory.  Alas in the 4 days I had the on the sun would NOT come out :(  Oh well.  Despite the fact that I didn't get to show it to you in the sun I would like to point out one of the reasons I LOVE holos like this.  No they aren't crazy and in your face.  In the sun they reveal their inner sparkle.  But even when you go inside while the holo might disappear you are still left with a stunning, rich colour.

 

Oh and check out my new Steve Madden Combat boots!  Courtesy of boxing day :) If you spend any amount of time with me you will quickly realize that my pair of combat boots are my favourite pair of shoes!  I've had them for a few years and decided it was time to upgrade.  I chose these because they were still simple enough to really wear with anything and anywhere. 

 

Last but not least EVERYONE HAVE A FUN AND BE SAFE WHILE RINGING IN THE NEW YEAR!!! So let's keep is classy and try not to start dry heaving on the way home :D

A England Tristam: I lost my virginity! Again! Followed by a heart attack!

Well not my real virginity.  I lost that after a delightful night full of chicken wings.  Because that is how sexy times should always begin.  With food :) This week I lost my A England virginity.

Anyways I almost didn't post this today.  I did Day 1 of Jillian Michaels 30 day Shred, and I felt like death after.  After not having exercised since high school this was hilariously difficult.  I may make some posts about it.  Because I feel like since I've told you guys I've started it I'll have to ACTUALLY go through with it.

Now onto the polish.  This isn't the first A England polish I bough but it's the first I've worn.  Tristam is a deep blue.  It looks like the night sky.  And it's full of scattered holo glitter.  I applied this is 2 coats but I did need to add thinner as it was a bit on the thick side.  Apart from that I would say is was gorgeous.  This is definitely a me colour.  Dark with a bit of something else to it!

Indoor with flash

 Indoor without flash

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Natural light

A England and some fun with studs!

So I recently went on an after-drinking nail art ebay binge... So now I have 46,000 rhinestones, 24 little pots of gold leaf(yes, I'm making a gold leaf topcoat with some of it), a whole bunch of different studs and bullion, dotting tools, and brushes.  So I think I'm gonna have to do some nail art soon to make use of all this stuff, haha.

But the first thing I did was attempt the studded nail look, as seen on The Nailasaurus.  I wanted to test run it for work so I just did an accent nail, but I wore it for three days and none of the studs came off, so obviously I did something right.

I wore it along with some new polish I just received from ninjapolish, my first A Englands(Bridal Veil and St.George, the polish they oh-so-kindly named after me).  And can I just say... I think I have a new favourite brand?  I'm on day four of wear and there's not even any tip wear.  That is UNHEARD OF for me.  I replaced the studded accent nails with St.George so we'll see how long that one wears for(I'll do it as a wear test) until I have tip wear and/or chipping.  But Bridal veil is on day four and looking as fresh as a daisy.

A England Bridal Veil is an INTENSELY pigmented black polish with a scattered holo effect that isn't terribly noticeable unless you're in bright sunlight, but in regular light it appears kind of lit from within, which is actually more appealing to me than the holo.  It's also a ONE COATER.  As is St.George.  I had several customers stop me to check out my nails.

The studs are from a random ebay store.  For my first attempt I think I did pretty well, and I may try a full mani at some point.  I topped them with one coat of Cult Nails Wicked Fast and one coat of Essie Good To Go and they lasted for three days and were still going strong when I removed them.  I wore them over two thin coats of Orly Liquid Vinyl.

The first photo was taken on day 2 of wear.

These two photos were taken last night on day 3 right before I removed the studs.

I am seriously in LOVE with A England after these polishes.  They have by far the best formula I've tried, SO easy to control and they practically apply themselves.  And the fact that they're one coat is the icing on the cake.  I'll show you St.George sometime soon.

Have you guys tried A England?  Any other shades I should try?  I definitely want Dragon...