a-england - Excalibur Renaissance

Press Sample

Hi!!

I've finished exams! YAHOOO. Although I am not having a break, it is nice to be back in the lab and be able to come home in the evening and relax a bit (and do my nails). I have an a-england to show you today which will most likely be a bit of an old friendly face despite this being a new release. Excalibur was originally retired and revamped (you can see that version here), but recently 'Excalibur Renaissance' was released.

'Excalibur Renaissance' is a gorgeous platinum/silver metallic foil polish. This is quite a striking polish when worn as a full mani. It seriously catches the light in the most eye-catching way. Gorgeous. This is very similar to the original 'Excalibur', but to my eye the shimmer is a little finer. I think that makes this polish a little smoother and less brush strokey than the original.

My favourite way to use 'Excalibur' has always been as a stamping polish as it's so darn opaque. 'Excalibur Renaissance' lived perfectly up to my expectations and stamped just as easily as its predecessor. Here, I have stamped using 'Excalibur Renaissance' and MoYou plate 01 from the Artist Collection - underneath is OPI 'Manicurist of Seville'.


Overall, this polish was up to the usual high a-england standard as far as formula goes. Opacity is ridiculously good with one coat being super opaque. The only thing is that a little care needs to be taken  to minimise brush strokes, but it's not too bad.

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. You can also follow a-england on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to keep up with the latest news from them.

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

For more information, see my disclosure policy.

A Special Mani for a Special Man

Hi all!

Another quick post today. This is a mani I did last weekend for our quick trip to Wellington. Without getting into too much detail, this mani was done to honour someone incredibly special to me…

As the base for this mani, I used Enchanted Polish 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' and I then stamped on top using MoYou plate 11 from the Artist Collection with a-england 'Perceval' and Color Club 'Beyond'.


Thanks for stopping by x

2 Year Blogiversary Mani

Hi hi!

As you know (if you saw my last post), my 2 year blogiversary has just been. I posted that day, but I hadn't had time to do anything particular on my nails at that point. I wanted to do a little 2 year anny mani for it, so that's what I am posting today. First up though, I just want to thank all you lovely people again for reading my blog, and commenting etc, and also thanks to the truly wonderful friends that I've made along the way. This blog is my little escape from studies and work and all those things and it is made just that much better by the interaction that I have with fantastic people from all over the world.

I really love how this mani came out. It is using a whole lot of products that I love which is perfect for this 2 year anny mani :) On my index and pinky fingers I used 1 coat of a-england 'Camelot' followed by 2 coats of Emily de Molly 'Dark Forces'. On my middle and ring fingers, I used 2 coats of Cult Nails 'Fetish'. My ring finger has a stud design using studs from Born Pretty Store. My middle finger is stamped with a-england 'Encore Margot' from the Ballerina collection and MoYou plate 05 from the Pro collection.

I won't get into formulas etc as most of these polishes have been reviewed previously on my blog - long story short, all of these polishes are wonderfully opaque, easy to use and they also wear remarkably well (even without top coat on 2 of my fingers).

Make sure you check out all the links to the stores of everything I used as they all make brilliant polish, plates and accessories!

Thanks again lovely readers xx

Encore Margot - a-england (& MoYou stamping)

Good evening! I have another a-england to show you tonight. This is another new beauty from the Ballerina Collection released recently - 'Encore Margot'.

This is a beautiful polish. It's a silver holo, yes, but it seems somehow more wearable than other silver polishes I own, somehow more delicate? It is quite a pure, white-ish silver, but it picks up all the beautiful colours in the holo effect.

As with the other 2 polishes from this collection I have shown you ('Her Rose Adagio' and 'Dancing With Nureyev'), I did a little stamping on it. It is very hard to tell, but I used both the previously mentioned polishes to make a subtle saran wrap mani underneath the stamping. It was a little more obvious in real life, but mainly just gave just slight changes in hue to the base colour in little patches. For the stamp I used MoYou plate 01 from the Artist Collection and my trusty bottle of a-england 'Camelot'.


The formula of 'Encore Margot' was, as usual, easy peasy to work with. I barely needed a second coat for full opacity and this one didn't pull at all or anything like that. Fast drying too.

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. You can also follow a-england on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to keep up with the latest news from them.

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

For more information, see my disclosure policy.

Her Rose Adagio - a-england

Press Sample

Hello!

I have another of the new a-england polishes to show you tonight that is from the very recent Ballerina Collection. Tonight, I am showing you 'Her Rose Adagio'. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have already seen how I wore this polish, but more about that later…

This is yet another beauty and it is so fitting for this collection in my opinion. This gorgeous rose colour is so perfectly reminiscent of ballet to me - the shoes, the grace and beauty. It's a funny thing, but 'Her Rose Adagio' makes me miss doing ballet every day.

So here's how I first wore this polish. On the 18th of December, a lovely friend, who you have seen mentioned on here so many times, got married and a group of us did manicures in her honour. So this mani, was for Mimi of Makeup Withdrawal and her new husband. Be sure to check out the other talented ladies who did manis for Mimi too (they are all listed in this instagram image). On top of 'Her Rose Adagio' I stamped the images using MoYou plate 06 from the Pro Collection and Color Club 'Beyond'. On my ring finger is a glitter gradient using CrowsToes 'Triple Black Diamond'.


Yes, as usual with a-england polishes, the formula was easy to use. 'Her Rose Adagio' was slightly thick, though not in a bad way at all, and requires just 2 coats for full opacity. One thing to be careful of, make sure you don't do too many strokes in one place with the first coat as it can drag ever so slightly.

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. You can also follow a-england on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to keep up with the latest news from them.

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

For more information, see my disclosure policy.

Dancing With Nureyev - a-england (with MoYou Stamping)

Press Sample

Happy new year lovely people! Hope you all had a fun and safe celebration. We've been so busy while visiting at home. Has been lovely to spend lots of time with family. Anywho, there hasn't been a lot of time for nails and I have been wearing my new a-englands basically the whole time. The new Ballerina Collection is just so beautiful. I have to say that this collection also has an extra special place in my heart because I trained to be a professional dancer. I was so excited when I saw the theme of this collection announced. To start off, I am showing you 'Dancing With Nureyev'.

I knew from the moment I saw these, this one would be my absolute favourite and let's just say I was not wrong. It is just the most beautiful shade of purpley-blue. I'm not sure how to describe the shade of purple (or is it blue?), but just trust me when I tell you that it is perfect and you NEED this polish! The holo is fairly strong and just makes this polish that little bit more amazing.

I did a little stamping on top using a-england 'Camelot' and MoYou plate 06 from the Pro Collection. I quite like how this all turned out and the black seems to play perfectly against the base colour of 'Dancing With Nureyev'.


As for the formula, I'm sure no one is surprised that it was super easy to apply. I used 2 coats, but the second was barely needed. This polish is really nicely opaque and a steady hand may mean that 1 coat is all that is needed.

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. You can also follow a-england on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to keep up with the latest news from them.

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

For more information, see my disclosure policy.

NOTD - Enchanted Polish 'Disco Barbie' & MoYou stamping

Merry Christmas! Hope everyone had a lovely restful break. I spent mine at home with my family which was lovely. It's so nice being at home, other than the fact that it feels like Winter here! I just have a quick mani to show you today that I wore earlier in December when my MoYou stamping plates arrived and I had to test them ASAP.

I used Enchanted Polish 'Disco Barbie' for the base and then stamped on top of it using Color Club 'Beyond' and MoYou plate 11 from the Artist Collection. I used the area around her hair for both of these images.


First up I need to mention how impressed I am with my MoYou plates. Not only are the full sized images incredibly beautiful, but they are easier than I expected to use - as far as getting the part of the image I wanted onto my nails etc. 'Disco Barbie' was also really great. I barely needed the second coat I used, as it was so opaque.


I am really keen to get some more MoYou plates, especially some full sized images, so please let me know any that you recommend! If you haven't seen them, make sure you have a look at their website - fair warning though, you may want to buy EVERYTHING!