I love when I'm wrong about a polish. I'd looked at A-England polishes several times, on several websites, and thought 'eh, nothing special there'. Now I have some in my hot little hands (and on them!) I know I couldn't have been more wrong.
I guess that it was mostly that I have a finite amount of money to spend on polish, and others I wanted much more than this brand. But when someone posted a comment on a facebook page (which I probably spend far too much time looking at during work hours) about there being an awesome promo, well- I couldn't resist.
Polishes were being sold in duos, trios and on their own for great prices. And I had so much trouble choosing, that I decided that I had to at least get all the trios, to really try them out. And then I added a duo, and then a few singles and...this happened:
Oops? In my defence, it was a great deal, and to go to the trouble of ordering from the other side of the world, it seemed only sensible to get, um, fourteen gorgeous polishes. The great thing is that because of ordering the trios, I have some polishes that I didn't think much of when I looked at pictures on the internet, but now that I have them, I can't wait to wear them.
Which is what happened with Tristam. I love blue polish, but didn't love it until I held it in my hand. And I knew I had to put it on straight away. And after I wore it for a day, I ended up using it as a base for my first attempt at galaxy nail art.
Look at that bottle shimmer!
I was incredibly lucky that I received these polishes at all- there's a bit of a snafu going on at the moment with Royal Mail no longer sending polish outside of the UK, and supposedly destroying parcels that do get posted. I'd had quite a long wait from my date of ordering until it was dispatched anyway, so my heart sank when I heard about the issue. I was convinced I was never going to see my lovely polishes!
And yet, despite being posted a week after the ban came into effect, it made it all the way down to NZ. I got a note in my letterbox saying I needed to sign for a package, and I mentally ran through the (five!) other polish parcels that are currently winging their way to me, but had already put A-England from my mind. So it was a wonderful surprise!
As soon as I got home with the package, I took off my current manicure and tried to decide which one to pick first. And something about Tristam just grabbed me.
In the bottle shot above, you can see that it's a gorgeous dark blue holo. I'm finding myself warming to holos more and more, and this polish was just mesmerizing!
This is with flash.
It went on like butter. Gloriously easy to apply and with great coverage. Believe it or not, but this is one coat. And a thin coat at that. That makes this officially the first polish I own that gives full coverage in one coat! I am blown away by that.
This is without flash.
Even without that lovely holo sparkle, it's a gorgeous colour, a deep deep blue- which is why I'm so surprised at it being a one-coater!
I wore it like this for one and a half days with only minor tip wear, and I think in future I'll wear two coats to hopefully make it last a little longer. And I'm looking forward to wearing the other polishes. I think I might have to have a month of A-England, just to get through them all!
If you're like me, and didn't think much of A-England first time around, I hope I've convinced you to try (although, maybe wait until after the whole mailing issue is sorted!) or at least look around at other swatches. While I think A-England's website is otherwise great, and easy to navigate, I feel the pictures don't really do the polishes justice, so I'm really pleased I decided to give them a try. I have lots of ideas of nail art to do with the A-England polishes, and it makes me wish I had more fingers to paint! I also hear they make great polishes for stamping, which is an even bigger bonus.
I didn't take it off though. All day I kept glancing at my nails and thinking about how it looked like I was staring up at the stars- the dark blue, the sparkle of starlight. And I decided that it would be absolutely perfect as the base for some galaxy nail art.
This was my first time attempting galaxy nails. I've admired many, many pictures of galaxy nails over the past year, but never been brave enough to try it. I think I was just waiting for the perfect base colour! I'm really pleased with the results- and it was much easier than I'd thought. A lot of people seem to use a layer of glitter over the top, but the only one I thought would look right was just too big- you can see how I've used it unsuccessfully on my ring finger. I'm a bit annoyed at myself for ruining it! I actually think I don't need the glitter- the sparkle of the Tristam shines through in the background to give it that galactic vibe.
These are the polishes I used to get the above effect. From R-L: A-England Tristam, Holy Grail and Galahad, OPI Alpine Snow, Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh?, Bright's Power and Tomorrow Never Dies, and Nicole by OPI Rainbow in the S-Kylie (used on ring finger only).
A lot of polish, but I think a great result! I can't wait to try this again (without the glitter topper!) and see what other colours I could work in- I'm thinking a nice deep pink might give it a cool nebula-y look.
My favourite nail is the thumb- I was attempting a spiral galaxy, and while I didn't quite capture the Milky Way like I wanted, I still love the effect! What do you think?
I guess that it was mostly that I have a finite amount of money to spend on polish, and others I wanted much more than this brand. But when someone posted a comment on a facebook page (which I probably spend far too much time looking at during work hours) about there being an awesome promo, well- I couldn't resist.
Polishes were being sold in duos, trios and on their own for great prices. And I had so much trouble choosing, that I decided that I had to at least get all the trios, to really try them out. And then I added a duo, and then a few singles and...this happened:
Oops? In my defence, it was a great deal, and to go to the trouble of ordering from the other side of the world, it seemed only sensible to get, um, fourteen gorgeous polishes. The great thing is that because of ordering the trios, I have some polishes that I didn't think much of when I looked at pictures on the internet, but now that I have them, I can't wait to wear them.
Which is what happened with Tristam. I love blue polish, but didn't love it until I held it in my hand. And I knew I had to put it on straight away. And after I wore it for a day, I ended up using it as a base for my first attempt at galaxy nail art.
Look at that bottle shimmer!
I was incredibly lucky that I received these polishes at all- there's a bit of a snafu going on at the moment with Royal Mail no longer sending polish outside of the UK, and supposedly destroying parcels that do get posted. I'd had quite a long wait from my date of ordering until it was dispatched anyway, so my heart sank when I heard about the issue. I was convinced I was never going to see my lovely polishes!
And yet, despite being posted a week after the ban came into effect, it made it all the way down to NZ. I got a note in my letterbox saying I needed to sign for a package, and I mentally ran through the (five!) other polish parcels that are currently winging their way to me, but had already put A-England from my mind. So it was a wonderful surprise!
As soon as I got home with the package, I took off my current manicure and tried to decide which one to pick first. And something about Tristam just grabbed me.
In the bottle shot above, you can see that it's a gorgeous dark blue holo. I'm finding myself warming to holos more and more, and this polish was just mesmerizing!
It went on like butter. Gloriously easy to apply and with great coverage. Believe it or not, but this is one coat. And a thin coat at that. That makes this officially the first polish I own that gives full coverage in one coat! I am blown away by that.
Even without that lovely holo sparkle, it's a gorgeous colour, a deep deep blue- which is why I'm so surprised at it being a one-coater!
I wore it like this for one and a half days with only minor tip wear, and I think in future I'll wear two coats to hopefully make it last a little longer. And I'm looking forward to wearing the other polishes. I think I might have to have a month of A-England, just to get through them all!
If you're like me, and didn't think much of A-England first time around, I hope I've convinced you to try (although, maybe wait until after the whole mailing issue is sorted!) or at least look around at other swatches. While I think A-England's website is otherwise great, and easy to navigate, I feel the pictures don't really do the polishes justice, so I'm really pleased I decided to give them a try. I have lots of ideas of nail art to do with the A-England polishes, and it makes me wish I had more fingers to paint! I also hear they make great polishes for stamping, which is an even bigger bonus.
I didn't take it off though. All day I kept glancing at my nails and thinking about how it looked like I was staring up at the stars- the dark blue, the sparkle of starlight. And I decided that it would be absolutely perfect as the base for some galaxy nail art.
This was my first time attempting galaxy nails. I've admired many, many pictures of galaxy nails over the past year, but never been brave enough to try it. I think I was just waiting for the perfect base colour! I'm really pleased with the results- and it was much easier than I'd thought. A lot of people seem to use a layer of glitter over the top, but the only one I thought would look right was just too big- you can see how I've used it unsuccessfully on my ring finger. I'm a bit annoyed at myself for ruining it! I actually think I don't need the glitter- the sparkle of the Tristam shines through in the background to give it that galactic vibe.
A lot of polish, but I think a great result! I can't wait to try this again (without the glitter topper!) and see what other colours I could work in- I'm thinking a nice deep pink might give it a cool nebula-y look.
My favourite nail is the thumb- I was attempting a spiral galaxy, and while I didn't quite capture the Milky Way like I wanted, I still love the effect! What do you think?
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