a-England Gloriana

A-England Gloriana is a warm-toned red foil with bright gold flakes. This came out in last year's Elizabeth & Mary Collection, inspired by Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary of England's Tudor Dynasty. A-England is one of those brands that I wouldn't feel foolish owning every polish they've ever made. I love the colors themselves and you can really feel the amount of care and thought put into each shade.

The burnished red base of Gloriana is stunning enough in its own right, but when you add on those gleaming bits of gold, then you've got something really special! The flakes are nice and prominent too--no shifting to just the right angle or squinting to see them.

As always with a-England, the formula here is buttery smooth and richly opaque. I used two coats for this mani.

Gloriana is an absolutely perfect fall color and captures its inspiration so well. When you think of Elizabeth, aren't her firey red hair and golden jewels the first two things that come to mind? I trimmed my nails yesterday and I think I accidentaly went too far into nubbins territory, but Gloriana does make them feel a lot more elegant. :)

a-england Crown of Thistles

Have you ever looked at a polish collection and thought, "Yeah, I'm-a need all of that"? Well that was my reaction to a-england's newest collection, Elizabeth & Mary. I was lucky enough to receive two polishes from this glorious collection as a holiday gift from the wonderful Tiffany and the one I'll be sharing with you guys today is called Crown of Thistles.

It's a regal shade of amethyst with a stunning finish. I hesitate to call it a scattered holo; a-england's official description refers to it as "prismatic," which I think is more accurate. Whatever you want to call it, this polish is very glow-y (to use a technical term, haha) and it pulses when the light hits it. a-england Briar Rose has a similar finish and it's just as mouth-wateringly gorgeous with Crown of Thistles' lush purple as it is with Briar Rose's rich cranberry.

Crown of Thistles has a lovely formula that's actually almost a one-coater! I used two here. I wore it sans topcoat and I had some visible tipwear after one day, but no chips.

Born Pretty BP-05 Stamping Plate: Review & Swatches

My stamping mini-adventure has come to an end, 'cause today I'm reviewing the last of my Born Pretty stamping plates! These reviews were my first foray into the world of stamping. It's been fun and it's been frustrating. I can't say I'll ever be a stamping fanatic--I lack the patience and precision to really pull off anything impressive--but the plates themselves are nice quality and it was cool to try something new.

Anywho, the last plate I chose to review was plate BP-05:




I really liked the vine-like design (the one on the left) on this plate, so I decided to do a little accent manicure with it, using a-england Crown of Thistles as my base and then stamping with Essie No Place Like Chrome.

I tried to just do it so the vines were only on portions of my nail, almost like they were growing across the nail. It's nothing that'll wow a stamping aficionado, but I think it came out kinda cute!

If you would like to purchase anything from Born Pretty, they offer 10% off for Nailed readers:

Disclosure: This product was sent to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

a-england Dancing With Nureyev

 a-england makes some of the best holos in the game, period. If you've never tried any of their polishes, you owe it to yourself to experience them. Can you tell I'm maybe a little bit of a fangirl here? 

If you need some further convincing, allow me to introduce Dancing With Nureyev as Exhibit A. The base color is a gorgeous steely blue with a hint of purple creeping in, beautifully topped off by a scattered holo effect. The tinge of purple is subtle but it peeks out at certain angles, almost like a duochrome. Coupled with the holo, it makes for a stunning effect, similar to what we've seen before from a-england with polishes like Princess Tears.

The formula on Dancing With Nureyev is absolutely perfect. It's super creamy and smooth, with no streaking or dragging whatsoever. I used two coats here and then skipped the top coat to keep the holo looking nice and shiny. I've already worn this polish once before and it gets fairly respectable wear time sans topcoat. If I remember right, I didn't have any chips 'til day three!

Dancing With Nureyev is a polish so magical that it could only come from a-england. I hope you love it as much as I do! :)

a-england Briar Rose

If you've never tried an a-england polish, I can't recommend them highly enough. It's easy to see the amount of love and passion Adina puts into her polishes and I am always fascinated by the inspirations behind each shade. The shade I'll be sharing with you today is called Briar Rose. It comes from a-england's Burne-Jones Dream Collection, inspired by artist Edward Burne-Jones' series of paintings depicting scenes from Sleeping Beauty. Adina has also created collections that draw from mythology, legends, ballet, history and poetry. I love how she draws on things she finds beauty in to create beauty of her own, in the form of some truly fabulous polishes.

As for Briar Rose, it is a rich cranberry with a beautiful prismatic finish. At first, I was tempted to label this as a scattered holo but honestly it's more special than that. It's got this ethereal glow to it and while the holo is not super strong, Briar Rose still pulses and shines like it has a life of its own. a-england's holos always have this almost dream-like quality to them, which is one of the many reasons I'm such an a-england fangirl--if you couldn't tell already!

The formula here is stellar. I used two coats and then skipped the top coat, to keep the holographic shimmer fully intact. Even without top coat, I got some excellent wear out of this mani. After three days, I only had one chip and virtually zero tipwear.

Are you an a-england fan too? If you had your own polish line (a girl can dream, right?), what would it be inspired by?

Lumina Lacquer The Snow Prince

For my money, Lumina Lacquer put out one of the best Christmas collections this year. Each of the brand's holiday polishes are so colorful and fun that I found them impossible to resist--and subsequently wound up with almost all of them!

The Snow Prince is a festive glitterbomb filled with white and blue glitters of all shapes and sizes. A few of the shapes I found in my bottle were snowflakes, hexes, hearts and squares. There's even snowmen-shaped glitter, although I wasn't able to fish any out of my bottle this time around. But seriously: snowmen glitter. How can you not love that?! There are also iridescent glitter pieces that flash blue and bronze, giving this polish a beautiful fire and ice look. This is two coats over a-England Tristam, a scattered holo in midnight blue.

The formula is a little thick, but the glitter pieces still spread evenly across the nail without any fuss. I am a little bummed I didn't find a snowman glitter (they all seemed to be handing out around the outside edges of the bottle) but there was plenty of other glittery goodness to keep me happy. This is an absolutely stunning polish that you could easily wear after Christmas too, since it's winter-y without being explicitly "holiday."

You can purchase Lumina Lacquer from their website.

a-England Bridal Veil

a-England Bridal Veil is a black scattered holo from one of my all-time favorite polish collections, The Legend Collection. I've sung the praises of the Legend polishes up and down, but realized I've never shared this one with you! It's a gorgeous polish in its own right, but equally fun to use as an alternative to basic black for layering or nail art, like I did with my mani using the Born Pretty zipper decals last week.

The formula, as usual with a-England's polishes, is a dream to work with. I used two coats here. The intensity of the holo in Bridal Veil is easily the weakest of all the Legend holos, but I like how the holo peaking through the vivid black base creates a "night sky" effect. It's very pretty and the glossy smooth finish of Bridal Veil only adds to that effect all the more. If you're looking for a true linear black holo though, I highly recommend Color Club Beyond from the newest Halo Hues set!

Sadly, a-England can no longer ship outside of the UK directly from their online store (Such a shame because they had some awesome promo deals every few months!) but they do have a very helpful "Where to Buy" page on their website where you can find other sites to purchase their polishes from in your country.

Born Pretty Zipper Nail Art Sticker Water Decals: Review & Swatches

My love for Born Pretty Store's nail stickers is well-documented. I've done two rave reviews on them already (HERE and HERE) and I've been really curious to try out their water decal stickers too. Born Pretty has a ton of different water decal options on their website, but I was drawn to this zipper design. With visions of bad girl biker chick nails in my head, I decided to give it a go!

The decals come in two colors: gold and silver. I opted for the gold set. They work similarly to temporary tattoos: dip 'em in warm water, wet your nail, then press down wherever you want them to go. If you mess up, you can always peel the decals off and wet them again until you get it right. Once you're happy with how everything looks, just put on your topcoat and you're good to go! They're super easy to use, so much so that I was able to do them on both my right and left hands with no trouble at all.  Here's my finished mani!

This has got to be one of my favorite manis ever! I am so pleased with how it turned out. I used a-england Bridal Veil for my base and Color Club Harp On It for the little silver peek-a-boo. I put a sticker on all ten fingers and still had quite a few left over for another mani. At just $2.99, these are a total steal, especially considering that you can get more than one mani out of them!

I absolutely adore these decals! Like all of the Born Pretty stickers I've used, these are eye-catching, affordable, easy to use and high quality. Whether you're a nail art expert or a n00b like me, I think you'll have a ton of fun with these!

If you would like to order anything from the Born Pretty Store, they've been kind enough to offer a 10% off code for Nailed readers:

Disclosure: This product was sent to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Lynnderella The Stars In Her Eyes...

Lynnderella The Stars In Her Eyes... has got to be one of the prettiest takes on star glitter I've ever seen. It's a clear base swimming with blue and holographic silver hexes, plus of course some adorable little silver holo stars. This is three coats over a-England Tristam.

Even in dim indoor lighting, this polish gleams! It's so gorgeously bright and sparkly. A lot of times I have problems with star glitter curling or the edges poking out, but since the stars in this polish are on the smaller side, they're much more cooperative. The overall formula is fabulous.

I like The Stars In Her Eyes... a lot. It's whimsical, yet somehow a bit sophisticated too. It's not your average star glitter!

Twinsie Tuesday: Anniversary Mani

Yes, I know it's Thursday. But seeing as today is the one-year anniversary of Twinsie Tuesday, us gals thought a special anniversary post was in order! I can't believe it's been a whole year since Twinsie Tuesday began! I've loved getting to know all of these ladies and seeing our little nail polish family grow. To celebrate our anniversary, each of us is recreating our manis from our first TT posts.

Our very first TT theme was an international polish. You can check out my post for the first ever Twinsie Tuesday HERE, if you like. I chose the gorgeous a-England Tristam, a deep blue scattered holo, as my international polish. This is still one of my absolute favorite a-Englands!

Tristam, along with its equally beautiful purple counterpart Lady of the Lake, is what started my love affair with a-England. I absolutely adore this polish! The pairing of such a richly colored base with the scattered holo creates a stunning effect, like stars in the night sky. Tristam is not only amazingly gorgeous, but the formula is top-notch too; very glossy and smooth. I used two coats here.

If you've never tried a-England, I cannot recommend the brand highly enough, especially their holos! Their polishes never disappoint!

I really hope all of you enjoy these TT posts as much as I do. While some of our challenges made me want to cut my hand off, (*cough* funky french, color blocked mani *cough*) it's always fun to experiment with new themes and challenge myself to do manicures I otherwise would never attempt. Of course, I've also made some amazing friends along the way! :)

As always, be sure to check out what the girls are wearing for their anniversary manis too!

Amanda at Amandalandish
Anna at Going to the Showing
Anne at Grape Fizz Nails
Ashley at Art Evolve
Brandi at The Collegiate Nail
ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi
Cordia at Seriously Swatched
Elizabeth at Did My Nails
Jamie at Polish, Please!
Katherine at Haul of Fame
Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite!
Marisa at Polish Obsession
Meredith at Polish and Charms
Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails
Rachel at Top Coat It
Sarah at See Sarah Swatch
Tara at Polishy of Truth

a-England Jubilee Delights

Dying to try some a-England--and get it on sale? Well luckily for you, a-England is releasing two value sets for a limited time in honor of Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee! The polishes are re-promotes but that doesn't make them any less fabulous! If you haven't tried this brand yet, I highly recommend it. a-England polishes are some of my all-time favorites! They're really unique polishes and the quality is absolutely top-notch.

And don't forget that in addition to the value sets, international shipping is always FREE from a-England's website! Happy shopping, girls!

a-England 30% Off Sale

a-England founder Adina's cat Tristam is celebrating his first birthday on April 2 and Adina is having a 30% off sale on all a-England polishes going on right now in honor of his birthday! You may recall that Tristam is the inspiration behind the ridiculously beautiful shade Princess Sabra (Tristam Eyes). Simply enter the code "tristam" when you order off a-England's official website to receive the discount.

This code is valid for both the Mythicals and The Legend collections and will run for the next 72 hours. In addition to the 30% discount, shipping (even internationally) is always FREE from a-England's website!


I just thought I'd share this amazing sale with you all because you know how much I love a-England polishes and I think every nail addict should have some in their stash! You can check out all of my a-England swatches HERE if you'd like a refresher on which of these beauties you need in your life right this second!

a-England Ascalon

A-England Ascalon is another duochrome/linear holographic combo from The Legend Collection that I just can't get enough of. The base color is grey with purple duochrome. It's very reminiscent of OPI Not Like The Movies from the Katy Perry Collection, but with some extra holographic fairy dust mixed in. (I'm sure Katy would approve.) The duochrome is more prominent indoors, while the holo comes out to play more in the sunlight, so there's a nice trade-off between the two effects. I always wind up staring at these a-England polishes when I'm super bored in class so I appreciate the extra complexity they have haha.

With flash...

Unfortunately I didn't have the benefit of some strong natural sunlight when I took these pictures but hopefully the flash shots will give you an idea of how much this polish really comes alive in the light. The formula is divine and a pleasure to work with. I love how quickly the a-England holos dry. They are great to put on when you need some extra glam in a hurry! 

This collection continues to be perhaps my all-time favorite polish set. Each one is just perfect and very unique. I can't recommend these lovelies highly enough!

Twinsie Tuesday: China Glaze Luxe and Lush

This week's Twinsie Tuesday theme is a hyped up polish. EDIT: I guess it was supposed to be a hyped up polish we were disappointed by...oops! It may be because I have Hunger Games on the brain lately (I really want to see the movie, you guys!) but my mind went to the Hunger Games Collection. With the immense popularity of the books and now the movie, as well as all the behinds the scenes drama regarding whether or not this collection would even happen, I feel like there was a ton of hype surrounding this entire collection. But I decided to choose the shade I was personally looking forward to the most from the Hunger Games Collection: Luxe and Lush. It's an irridescent flakie with a clear base. For this mani, I layered two coats of Luxe and Lush over two coats of a-england Ascalon, a grey duochrome holo--stay tuned tomorrow for a more in-depth look at that absolutely beautiful polish.

Most of these polishes with shredded mylar in them tend to be a total assache to apply but Luxe and Lush was actually quite cooperative. I had to guide the mylar flakes away from my tips but other than that I didn't really have to place them on the nail since they go on pretty smoothly and dry time between coats was very quick. Luxe and Lush also doesn't have that awful jagged, bumpy feeling that so many of these types of polishes have. I love my Studio M flakies but even with topcoat (sometimes multiple coats of it), they feel bumpy and sharp. But with Luxe and Lush, one coat of Seche Vite sealed in any rough edges and smoothed everything out--not completely but enough so that I didn't have to worry about accidentally scratching myself on a stray piece of mylar.


I'd say overall this polish lives up to the hype, as well as the expectations I had for it. I love how it looks like little embers--very theme-appropriate! Pictures really don't capture this effect as beautifully as it appears in person. I own several clear-based flakies but none like this one.


Want to see how some other polishes fare against the hype? Check out the other Twinsie Tuesday blogs!

Amanda: http://amandalandish.blogspot.com/
Anna: http://goingtotheshowing.blogspot.com/
Anne: http://grapefizz.blogspot.com/
Ashley: http://artevolve.blogspot.com/
Brandi: http://thecollegiatenail.blogspot.com/
ChiChi: http://beautystarr1009.blogspot.com/
Jenn: http://allthatisgorgeous.blogspot.com/
Jenna: http://www.jennafroggy.com/
Katherine: http://hauloffame.blogspot.com/
Marisa: http://marijonails.blogspot.com/
Meredith: http://polishandcharms.blogspot.com/
Nory: http://fiercemakeupandnails.blogspot.com/
Rachel: http://topcoatit.wordpress.com/
Sarah: http://seesarahswatch.blogspot.com/

a-england St. George

I've got another a-England beauty to share today. This one is St. George, a teal holo. St. George admittedly didn't seem to have as strong of a holographic effect as the other polishes from The Legend Collection but I didn't mind too much. The base color is so rich and beautiful that it made up for the more diminished holo.

I also snapped a few shots under the hot lamp I keep on my table for when I do my nails so that you guys could see the holo in a different light.

The formula on St. George was stellar. I love how smooth these a-England holos go on--and the fact that you don't need a special basecoat for them like with Nfu Oh and some of the other specialty holos out there. The wear is great too. St. George, like the other a-England holos, does not chip easily, which linear holos can be notorious for. I bang up my hands a lot at work but this polish stayed put for two days with no signs of wear. I'm sure it would've lasted even longer but you know me: I have to change my polish constantly! This is a truly gorgeous polish and if you even remotely like teal polishes, this is worthy of a place in your stash. Another a-England polish I love--are we surprised? ;)