Perceval - a-england

Hi!

Apparently I'm making a bit of a habit of posting at stupid o'clock in the morning? It's a nice little wind-down, I find. Anywho, I am currently wearing one of my most favourite polishes in my entire collection (which is seriously saying something) and one that I always go back to over again. I can't believe it has taken me this long to give an entire post to this polish. You have seen this in various posts at Christmas time last year (here and here) and in some other water marbles, and most recently when I used it to stamp with, here, but it's about time I showed you a-england's 'Perceval', from 'The Mythicals' collection, all on its own.

BEAUTIFUL! Everything about this polish is perfect. Such a rich, saturated, ruby red. 'Perceval' is the most incredibly gorgeous jewel toned red. It's so elegant and makes me feel so good when I wear it. I don't even know if that makes sense. but it's just such a feel-good polish.

MMMmmmm look it! This is 'Perceval' in lower light. The blackened edges give this polish an extraordinary depth and mystery. This is the epitome of a glowing-from-within polish.


In true a-england style, 'Perceval' has a wonderful formula, just to top everything off. One coat gives perfect opacity and is all that is needed (though by now you know the drill - I did 2 coats because my first is never neat enough).


a-england polishes can be purchased from a lot of places around the world. Unfortunately, you can only order direct from them if you are in the UK, but be sure to check out their list of worldwide distributors to find a place close to where you live.

Heads Will Roll - Takko Lacquer

Press Sample

Hi folks!

I have an absolutely fantastical polish to show you today! I have Takko Lacquer 'Heads Will Roll' which is a thermal polish, released in Sheryl's latest collection. I have been on a bit of a thermal kick lately. They're just so fun to wear with them changing colour all the time.

This is 'Heads Will Roll' when it is cold. Um.. hello gorgeous polish. The shimmer in this polish is out of this world amazing!! I cannot explain how beautiful the blue, icy shimmer is AND holo is always a way straight to my heart. Too much beauty for me to handle.

This is 'Heads Will Roll' when hot. I love this side of it too. Again that icy blue shimmer makes it so special. I really love soft cream/white shades like this, I think they can be really flattering.

And now for 'Heads Will Roll' as it is transitioning from hot at the cuticle, to cold at the tips. I can't say enough good things about the beauty that is this Takko Lacquer polish. It was not quite as sensitive as some other thermals I have tried, it doesn't change quite as fast, but I don't necessarily see that as a bad thing, just an observation.


'Heads Will Roll' has a wonderfully easy formula to work with. No pulling or anything like that. I thought it was going to be a bit sheer at first, but it was built to good opacity at the end of the second coat, though I am showing 3 coats here.


Make sure you check out Sheryl's blog to find out about the inspiration behind her polishes, along with other updates. Also keep an eye on Takko Lacquer's twitter for info about restocks. Takko Lacquers are sold from their own shop, but only with US shipping. For us international ladies, Takko lacquers are stocked at Llarowe, Mei Mei's Signatures and Edgy Polish.

This product was provided for review. This is my personal, unbiased opinion.

For more information, see my disclosure policy.

The Pit of Despair - Dollish Polish

Hi!

So I'm carrying on with showing you the Dollish Polish 'The Princess Bride' collection polishes that I managed to snag when Dolly first released them. I've loved them all so far (see the previous posts here, here and here) and I seem to have done a mini art-y feature nail with each polish so I figured I may as well carry that on. Tonight is 'The Pit of Despair'...

I love how this turned out actually. First of all, I like 'The Pit Of Despair', it has a nice mix of glitter. Mainly the glitter is purple, blue and black, but there is also some flakes in there, little holo glitters and even some shimmer too. 'The Pit Of Despair' is pictured over Lime Crime 'Milky Ways'. I love the way the feature nail fits with this mani. For the gradient I used Essie 'Butler Please', Lime Crime 'Once In A Blue Mousse' and 'Milky Ways', then I stamped with Color Club 'Beyond' with Bundle Monster plate BM-201.


'The Pit Of Despair' was ok formula-wise. There was pretty decent coverage. I used 1 and a half coats. I did have to go on a little fishing expedition for the large hex and a square, but I did get squares on other fingers so they do come out, just not on my swatching hand of course!


At the time of writing this, 'The Pit of Despair' is in stock on Dolly's Big Cartel shop, so hop over there and grab it for $10.

Pucker Up - Takko Lacquer

Press Sample

Hi!

Another late night post from me. It has been a LONG day! I had 3 tests today at uni then had to write up a big report tonight. So to make me feel better, I figured, why not post this now instead of in the morning. So tonight, I have another beautiful Takko Lacquer to share with you. This is 'Pucker Up'.

'Pucker Up' is quite a unique colour to my collection. I don't have any apricot-y corals or oranges quite like it, I don't think. It is bright, but not as saturated as some apricot toned polishes can be, which I think makes it all the more wearable, but it's still bright enough to be eye-catching and gorgeous.

The shimmer in 'Pucker Up' is really gorgeous too. I think amazing shimmer is certainly a theme in all of Sheryl's polishes. This polish has heaps of irregular microshards of pink and gold and they catch the light so beautifully. They go so perfectly with the base colour of 'Pucker Up'. The shimmer effect is not too in-your-face, but it is far from shy.


'Pucker Up' had a good formula. Again, not too thick, not too thin. I used 2 thick-ish coats for this. If you use thinner coats, I would probably recommend 3 coats. It is fast drying though and doesn't have any issues with pulling or anything like that so I could get away with slightly thicker coats.


Make sure you check out Sheryl's blog to find out about the inspiration behind her polishes, along with other updates. Also keep an eye on Takko Lacquer's twitter for info about restocks. Takko Lacquers are sold from their own shop, but only with US shipping. For us international ladies, Takko lacquers are stocked at Llarowe, Mei Mei's Signatures and Edgy Polish.

This product was provided for review. This is my personal, unbiased opinion.

For more information, see my disclosure policy.

Being In The Pink - Polished by KPT

Hi hi!

How are we? It is 3am and I am watching Friends after work. Life is good right at this moment :) Anyways, I have another Polished by KPT thermal to show you today. I knew I'd love this one, but I didn't think I'd love it as much as 'Kelvin Bleu'. Turns out I love it more. This is one magical polish. Here is 'Being In The Pink'.

Here is the way that 'Being In The Pink' often looks on my nails and this is why I love, love, love this polish. It changes so readily and so fast that I have most often got various gradients happening. Amazing!

These photos show 'Being In The Pink' at its extremes. The top of these two photos shows it cold and the bottom photo is hot. The purple is so beautiful and rich, the pink is so vibrant and what makes this all that much more spectacular is that it's holo. I don't think anyone needs reminding of how much I need ALL THE HOLOs!

Formula was brilliant. Really easy to apply, not too thin or thick. I only needed 2 coats on my left hand and I left it at 2 coats when I wore this previously, but for these photos I used 3 coats. A coat of top coat really brought out the holo particles.

Polished By KPT polishes are available direct from Katherine's Big Cartel shop if you're in the USA. For those international people, check out this 'where to buy' tab.

Most of all, thanks so much to Mimi for helping me get my mitts on these polishes :D

Muse - Takko Lacquer

Hi folks!

I have an absolutely gorgeous polish to show you tonight (this morning?!). I have to start by saying that I am in love with this polish, but it has caused me some serious grief today! I could not photograph Takko Lacquer 'Muse' today at all. It was as though my camera settings had been completely changed. I couldn't get anything in focus and the polish was just looking crap. Long story short, I went and bought some new bulbs for my lamps, reset my camera, re-top coated my nails and finally everything was back to normal. What happened?

I am so glad that I sorted out whatever was wrong with my setup because that means that I could show you this beauty. This is 'Muse' and it is the purple cousin to one of my favourite polishes, 'The Electric Apple: NYC'. I think that there aren't many, if any, people out there that do a shimmer like this as well as Sheryl. 'Muse' is definitely one of those polishes that glows. As usual with Takko Lacquer beauties, the shimmer isn't shy and even glows a little in fairly low light.


The formula of 'Muse' was a bit different to what I've come to know of Takko Lacquers, but not at all in a bad way. It was a little thinner but so beautifully easy to work with. The first coat was a teeny bit sheer, but the second coat gave perfectly opaque coverage. It's also really nicely self-levelling and dries really fast.


Make sure you check out Sheryl's blog to find out about the inspiration behind the polishes in this collection. Also keep an eye on Takko Lacquer's twitter for info about restocks. Takko Lacquers are sold from their own shop, but only with US shipping. For us international ladies, Takko lacquers are stocked at Llarowe, Mei Mei's Signatures and Edgy Polish.

This product was provided for review. This is my personal, unbiased opinion.

For more information, see my disclosure policy.

Excalibur - Version 2.0 - a-england

Hello!

I have the final polish from a-england's most recent releases to show you this evening. Tonight's polish is 'Excalibur' (version 2.0)...

'Excalibur' (2.0) is a silver foil, but there is certainly a lot of complexity. 'Excalibur' is packed full of bronzey gold particles to give it an almost gilded look. It gives it a slight antique look to me. These photos show 'Excalibur' without top coat.

I decided to do a bit of stamping over 'Excalibur' and this is the final product. I kept the stamping in the family, so to speak, and used a-england 'Bridal Veil' and 'Perceval' to stamp with and LeaLac XL-B stamping plate. Just to finish everything off, I added a couple of studs to each finger.


'Excalibur' was really easy to apply. I used 2 coats here for full opacity. As mentioned, the top photos show 'Excalibur' without top coat and if you were wearing it on its own, I'd certainly recommend top coat (as usual). I really enjoyed the final look and it got a fair few mentions, though people kept asking me if they were stickers ;)

a-england polishes can be purchased from a lot of places around the world. Unfortunately, you can only order direct from them if you are in the UK, but be sure to check out their list of worldwide distributors to find a place close to where you live.

This product was provided for review. This is my personal, unbiased opinion.

For more information, see my disclosure policy.

Schiaparelli - Takko Lacquer

Hi!

Long time, no... blog? I've been sick and unfortunately that has made painting my nails difficult. But, last night I managed to stop sneezing long enough to put on 'Schiaparelli' from Takko Lacquer's latest collection.

'Schiaparelli' is a vibrant bubblegum pink and is exactly what I needed to cheer me up when I'm feeling sick. It's one of those colours where you can't help but feel lifted when you look at it (and wear it!). Also can I just say that I LOVE the new bottles!

There is an insane amount of shimmer in 'Schiaparelli' and it really makes the polish come alive. The shimmer is a sort of iridescent green colour and it is not at all shy. Even in lower light, the polish appears to have a glow happening.

'Schiaparelli' was easy to work with, though was ever so slightly on the thicker side (not a problem). 2 coats was all that was needed for opacity. This polish does dry to a slightly matte finish, so a good slurp of top coat is recommended.

Make sure you check out Sheryl's blog to find out about the inspiration behind the polishes in this collection. Also keep an eye on Takko Lacquer's twitter for info about restocks. Takko Lacquers are sold from their own shop, but only with US shipping. For us international ladies, Takko lacquers are stocked at Llarowe, Mei Mei's Signatures and Edgy Polish.

This product was provided for review. This is my personal, unbiased opinion.

For more information, see my disclosure policy.