Polished Casual

Friday, February 3, 2012

A-England Week! Avalon

Remember when I showed you Lynnderella's Love Potion No. 99 and didn't tell you what purple I wore it over? Well A-England's Avalon was it. Strangely enough, I'm not crazy about this one. The shimmer in it is pretty special, but this is a very warm-toned purple (even though some of my pictures wouldn't show that). My skin is pretty cool, so this just wasn't as lovely as it should have been. I used 2 coats here. This was actually my first time wearing A-England ever, and I wore it with the base/top coat combo that's been really working for me lately. I start with Barielle Hydrating Ridge Filler with Silk Fiber, then polish, the Barielle Manicure Extender. My nails have been a lot happier lately with less peeling! However this combination would not let Avalon dry. Not matter how long I wanted (we are talking 2 hours). It was dry to the touch, but the slightest nudge would dent this manicure. Hence the glittery top coat!

So the first set is very color inaccurate. It is NOT this blue.

A-England Avalon

This picture shows it the most color accurate, but totally kills the depth of this polish.

A-England Avalon

Finally, a happy medium. This is pretty close to what it looks like in real life. Not as blue, but oh so shimmery!

A-England Avalon

A-England Avalon is part of the first collection A-England produced called the Mythicals and is readily available from Llarowe or A-England's website for around $12. If you love warm-toned purples, definitely picked this one up.

Oh - and sorry I didn't post this yesterday, I was doing my taxes and totally forgot. Oh well. At least I made it (almost) through January!!!!

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Stash Swap, Part II: China Glaze Glittering Garland

Remember back in December when I showed you guys Orly Meet Me Under the Mistletoe? I wasn't too thrilled with it, because for me it leaned a little too blue. I thought China Glaze Glittering Garland may have been a better choice, but I never had the opportunity to pick up a bottle to try. Rach to the rescue!! She just so happened to have Glittering Garland and offered it to me for our stash swap. WIN!

Glittering Garland is super similar to Meet Me Under the Mistletoe. It's a green that falls somewhere between foil and glass-fleck. Probably closer to glass-fleck. This one's less of a pine green and more of an evergreen...green. It's much more yellow, so it's more flattering for warm-toned girls like me. The major difference though is the formula. Glittering Garland is WAY more pigmented, and it only took me two coats (compared to three) to reach full opacity. The application was fantastic, and it went on like a breeze.

(click to enlarge)

YESSSSSSSSSSSS! Much much better! This is exactly what I wanted Meet Me Under the Mistletoe to be! Don't get me wrong, it was lovely, but this one is just much more flattering for my skin tone. And the depth is just amazing. A huge thanks to Rach for having just exactly what I needed! :-)

I'm such a doofus. I totally meant to take my own comparison shots of these two polishes on the nail before I removed it. I don't know what happened. Too many episodes of Stark Trek: The Next Generation or something. I completely forgot. Forgive me! But here's a side-by-side comparison of the two. Glittering Garland on the left, Meet Me Under the Mistletoe on the right.

SO glad I got to try this one! Definitely satisfied my craving! Again, a HUGE thank you to Rach for (again) letting me play in her stash and keep her polishes for a couple of weeks! You're awesome! It's always a blast!

You guys KNOW we've already started to plan Round 3, right? ;-) Can't wait!!

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

A-England Week: Iseult

Ok, time to take a break from all that color and holo and amazingness with a nice pale pink. I actually wore this to a conference I went to as I was giving a demo and wanted to look "professional." Why can't the world see things they way us nail polish lovers do? Nail polish is just another accessories, another piece of jewelry, and I shouldn't have to wear pink or nude or mauve because someone decided boring is professional....

Ok, ok, off my soapbox.

The things that's amazing about Iseult is that she is not at all boring. The pale baby pink has the most beautiful fine shimmer in it that just make this polish dance. I'm surprised how much I love this baby pink. Its soft and delicate and feminine. Like I said, not boring at all. I wonder how this compares to Nicole by OPI's Kim-pletely in love that i just picked up. I know the shimmer will be different but maybe the base color would be the same? The only thing I don't like about Iseult is that it needs 2, sometimes 3 coats. 1 coat is very streaky! If you are careful, 2 will do.

A-England Iseult

Iseult can easily be picked up for around $12 at Llarowe or direct form A-England (free shippping!!!). It came out with A-Englands inaugural Mythicals collection and it's not going anywhere anytime soon. If you are like me and barely have any baby pinks, this may be a good option for you.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

A-England Week! The Legends Part 3

I'm super excited to bring you the last of The Legends Collection: Bridal Veil and Order of the Garter! But don't worry, we aren't even half way through A-England Week :) so there is plenty more to come. I figured it would be a pretty good way to round up my month of blogging everyday.

Bridal Veil is up first, and while it's pretty, super pigmented, and applies wonderfully, it's kind of bleh. And I'm saying that in context of the rest of this collection. The black shade is pretty amazing, I'm not sure what it is, maybe it's more charcoal, but the base is better than straight up black. It does have holographic particles in it, but it really just gives it a pretty shimmer. I wouldn't even call this a scattered holo, even though that is what I believe it's trying to be. I think the best this about this is it's 1 coat. I wonder how butter LONDON's The Black Knight? I might have to try that soon.

A-England Bridal Veil

A-England Bridal Veil, regular indoor light

A-England Bridal Veil, regular indoor light with flash

The last of the bunch, Order of the Garter, is VERY different than the rest of The Legends, but I think that makes it even more schedule. If you haven't gone over to Fashion Polish yet to read the story of the names behind this polish, GO! Her post is fantastic, as always. It will give you some insight on why this one is different and special in the collection. Order of the Garter is an amazing bright blue polish packed full of lighter blue/turquoise glass flecks. SWOON! I was really shocked how much I liked this one. I expected to think it was pretty but not special. THIS IS SPECIAL. I promise you. Hopefully my pictures do it justice!

A-England Order of the Garter

These two are currently available for $12 each at Llarowe's website. Or you can order them directly from A-England by email. Hope you enjoyed A-England's The Legends as much as I did. Which is your favorite?

Stash Swap, Part II: Eyeko Military Polish

I'm not gonna lie, I've had this next polish on my "stash swap list" ever since Rach posted it as her Veteran's Day manicure (and completely ROCKED it!). No really, read my comment on it at the bottom! After my complete obsession with olive green polishes this past fall, I was dyyyyyyying to get my hands on it! Behold Eyeko Military Polish!

Military Polish (Yeeeeahhhh, there's no real name for this one. Argh.) is this deep olive green creme polish that leans heavily on the brown side. The formula's a little on the thick side, but I made it work with three thickish coats. The harder part was the brush and stem. The bottle is super long and skinny, so, naturally, so is the stem. And then there's a kind of short, stumpy brush on the end. The whole setup kind of reminded me of the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear polishes. It's been a while since I've used one of those too, so it was just kind of like getting back on the horse. :-)

(click to enlarge)

I don't know if it's my lighting or my application or the length of my nails, but something makes this polish SUPER dark on me. Like, six shades darker than the bottle color. D'oh! Somehow it pulls lighter on Rach, so I think it looks light years better on her. I do wish it were a bit lighter on me. Just a smidge! That being said, I did feel like somewhat of a badass wearing this color. It's definitely a "kicking-ass-and-taking-names" kind of color. And it should be if it's gonna be called Military Polish, right?! ;-)

The sad news, from what I gather from Rach's post, is that Eyeko discontinued their polish line last year, AND being a European brand, these babies are gonna be super tough to get your hand on. Your best bet will probably be swaps on MUA. Bob DARNIT, Eyeko!

Finally, if you haven't seen the last installment of Rach's post on our second stash swap, Zoya Mimi, go RUN now! Mimi is definitely one of my favorites and Rach (of course) rocks it like...a rockstar. Sorry, I'm really bad with similes. It's also a really great post on some well-known fictional Mimis AND which top coats may be best (and worst) with your Zoyas! :-)

Monday, January 30, 2012

A-England Week! The Legends Part 2

Alright! Get Ready!!!!! Cause here comes Part 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First up we have Dragon, a beautiful green holo. This one is somewhere between a scattered and linear holo. It pulls the teeniest bit gold, but a lot of that holo reflects blue to balance it out. This was a surprise love for me! I only needed 1 coat! One coat! Can you believe? Just wait until you see the next 1 coater :). My only complain about Dragon is it came with a messy brush that needs to be trimmed. Oh well!

A-England Dragon

Wonky sideways pictures of A-England Dragon

Next up is my favorite of the entire collection: St. George. Words can not express how beautiful this 1 coater is. An amazing scattered teal holo. Swoon!

A-England St. George

A-England St. George under regular lighting

A-England St. George under regular lighting (lower lighting)

If you aren't immediately nuts over St. George, I may have to take your nail polish lovers card from you :) and kick you out of the club. This color is vampy, sexy, and sophisticated all in one. The formula on it is the best of the bunch. Just perfect. :) Get this one, you won't regret it.

Both of these are currently sold out on Llarowe's website but you can still get them straight from England with free shipping if you email A-England! These run about $12 each and are WELL worth it. Happy Shopping!!!!

Sunday, January 29, 2012

A-England Week! The Legends Part 1

Yeah, so in a moment of monetary weakness, I hauled A-England. And I mean hauled. I ordered the entire Legends collection plus some more of the Mythicals. So I'll have to take the polish purchasing very easy for quite sometime. At least until the OPI Holland collection comes out :).

So today I'm going to show you the first 3 Legends: Princess Tears, Princess Sabra, and Ascalon. These are the lightest of the group so I thought they'd make a good post together. Fashion Polish has a wonderful post telling the story of The Legends and how they all fit together!

Princess Tears is up first, and is a really lovely lavender holographic polish. It's pretty much always lavender, but if you catch it in the right light it looks silver because it's so pale. The holo is really pretty and delicate in this one. You can always see it, but it's not super strong. This is actually a perfect holo for work! I am wearing it to work tomorrow!!! Here are a million pictures of Princess Tears (2 coats).

A-England Princess Tears

A-England Princess Tears, outside, low indirect light with flash

A-England Princess Tears, outside, low indirect light

A-England Princess Tears

Next up is Princess Sabra, which is a polish I wouldn't have normally gotten. But you can't very well get 6 out of 7 on this collection. I do like it more than I thought, but not sure how often I will reach for this one. Princess Sabra is a gold holo that leans a little on the yellow-green side. I needed 2 coats on this one. She's an interesting one and the holo is really strong. Check her out, what do you think?

A-England Princess Sabra

Finally we have Ascalon, a steel grey. This one is more of a scattered holo than a linear, but not less gorgeous. This is 2 coats, but if I had been more careful I could have done one. The color on this one is so rich and sophisticated. In the pictures I feel like it pulls a little purple, but it's just to holo particles playing tricks :). A lot of other bloggers think this is a duo or multi chrome. I just didn't see that in real life, but I had limited lighting sources when swatching this one. Once I wear this as a full mani in the future I'll take more pictures.

A-England Ascalon

The A-England Legends collection was literally just released and can be bought from Llarowe's website for $12 each. They aren't up on the A-England website yet, but you can email them to order with free shipping to the US. You do pay 9 GBP for each one though. So far I highly recommend this collection and I know it's only going to get better. The formula is great (as long as you don't use it with Barielle's treatment system) and the colors are unique and beautiful! If you haven't jumped on the A-England band wagon yet I suggest you do today :).