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A-England

A-England Ballerina Collection

March 24, 2014
A-England, Holos, Nailpolish, Obsessed
14 Comments

Each time that A-England’s creator teases us with hints of a new collection, Adina’s eager fans wait with baited breath for what will be unveiled. The incredible formulas, the colours, the historic inspirations behind each collection…  Many of us have become devotees of the brand! And today I have for you the gorgeous Ballerina collection. (For inspiration details, head over to Ommorphia’s launch post.)

A-England’s Ballerina is a collection of four beautiful, delicate holographic polishes in whisper-soft colours. The collection immediately reminded me of the tulle on dancers’ skirts… how perfect!

aengland_Ballerina_Coll

The first shade, and probably my favourite of the four (though it’s nearly impossible to pick a favourite) is Fonteyn. Fonteyn is a lavender-tinged silver holo with a formula so perfect, so divine, that it was a one-coater. It applied with buttery perfection, fully opaque on the first coat, and drying quickly to an incredible shine. (If you own any A-Englands, you’ll know that this brand is renowned for its high-shine finish!) Here is Fonteyn without top coat:

aengland_Ba_FonteynFull sun

aengland_Ba_Fonteyn2In the shade

 

Dancing with Nureyev is blue-purple holographic with a metallic finish that almost changes colour depending on the light. It is a little more indigo in some light, then a little more purple, but always demure.

I paired Fonteyn with Dancing with Nureyev for a subtle holo gradient:

aengland_Ba_Fonteyn_Nureyev_grdt

And two coats of the gorgeous Dancing with Nureyev, no top coat:

aengland_Ba_NureyevFull sun

aengland_Ba_Nureyev2In the shade

I had to include a macro of Dancing with Nureyev because it is so beautiful:

aengland_Ba_Nureyev_macro

Encore Margot is described as an “icy blue prismatic hue,” a pale-silver holographic that dries to a cool dove grey shade. The holo effect on Encore Margot appears a little softer than that of Fonteyn or Dancing with Nureyev, but the effect is breathtaking. Another amazing formula, a little more fluid than Fonteyn, requiring two easy coats. Below, without top coat:

aengland_Ba_EncoreMargotFull sun

aengland_Ba_EncoreMargot2In the Shade

 

Finally, Her Rose Adagio, a delicate soft pink holo described as “faded roses in a silver prismatic base, as romantic as it is ‘en pointe’.” Possessing a similar soft holo and formula like Encore Margot, I used two coats for the photos below:

aengland_Ba_HerRoseAdagioFull sun

aengland_Ba_HerRoseAdagio2In the shade

 

What always stands out for me is A-England’s incredible glossy finish, and its beauty whether in sunlight or in the shade. These colours are so demure and perfect, so aptly named that it is impossible not to fall in love…

 

A-England is available directly from their website for those in the UK, or from several stockists this side of the pond (check out Where to buy), including Nail Polish Canada (with free shipping within Canada!). Don’t forget to follow A-England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and Nail Polish Canada on Facebook and Twitter!

Have you tried any of the Ballerina shades, and which one is your favourite so far?

If you liked this post, please take a moment to ‘like’ this post and/or comment! I love to read what you think.

~xo

 

 

(Product provided for consideration and review. All opinions are my own.)

 

 

 

Shimmer Polish Gerry (and a beauty named Elaine!)

September 2, 2013
A-England, Nail Art, Nailpolish, Obsessed, Shimmer Polish
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Happy Labour Day Monday!

Today I have a gorgeous, glittery mani for you, and I hope you love it as much as I did. I think I wore this for a week, never tiring of it and always catching myself staring at its sparkly beauty… It truly is gorgeous. I was in the mood for purple when I created this look. 🙂

The base for my glitter gradient was the stunning A England Elaine, a regal purple creme with an insane shine. I’ve used Elaine before (and worn it many times!) and I knew it would be perfect. I used two coats but Elaine can be almost a one-coater:

AEnglandElaineIs that not a perfect, slightly dusty purple?

In order to retain some of the beauty of Elaine, I decided to apply a gradient of Shimmer Polish Gerry, a sparkly mix of violet and blue glitter with some red, black and silver glitters dispersed throughout. If you know Shimmer Polish (and if you don’t, what are you waiting for! See some of my posts here), you know that Shimmer creates some sparkly ultra-fine glittery gems.

Look at how beautiful this purple glitter gradient turned out:

ShimmerPolishGerry_ElaineI love the above pic in the shade – makes Elaine look so vampy while Gerry looks like it’s floating on the nail surface. (Where’s my polish remover… I think I know what mani to do next!)

Here it is in the sun:

ShimmerPolishGerry_Elaine2

And a macro shot (because I love macros so much):

ShimmerPolishGerry_Elainemacro

Get your very own Shimmer Polish here. Be sure to like Shimmer on Facebook to participate in their contests and see more gorgeous photos and new creations!

I usually purchase A England from Nail Polish Canada or from their US stockist Llarowe (but please check out A England’s site to see their other stockists as well).

So what did you think of my regal purple mani?

~xo

(Some product provided for consideration and review. All opinions are my own.)

Colors by Llarowe Part 1!

June 5, 2013
A-England, Colors by Llarowe, Nailpolish
4 Comments

I am so excited to share today’s post with you! In anticipation of tomorrow’s launch, I have for you a preview of three Colors by Llarowe, a brand-new line of polishes by the store of the same name!

The first three colours you’ll see are all gorgeous, holographic polishes, and I hope you will like them as much as I do.

The vampiest is Black Gold, Texas Tea, a limited edition polish collection to benefit the tornado victims in Granbury, Texas. Only a small amount was created, with all proceeds going to a fund for the victims. BGTT is a jet black linear holo, and very pigmented. In order to prevent staining (Leah Ann does warn of the staining potential on her website), I used 2 coats of basecoat, and I had zero staining. One tip: when removing highly-pigmented polish, be generous and use a clean piece of remover-soaked cotton on each nail, let sit for a few seconds, and wipe off with one good swipe. Then use a clean tiny piece of cotton to clean up any edges.

Here are two coats of BGTT over 2 coats of base coat, in the shade:

Colors_BlackGoldTexasTeaShd2Look at that AMAZING black! And that SHINE!!

And in artificial light:

Colors_BlackGoldTexasTeaShd

Now wait for the incredible holographic sparkle in sunlight:

Colors_BlackGoldTexasTeaSun

 

Next up, a tie for my favourite of these three, Rare Bear, from the Cheetoman & the Gang collection, named after her band of crazy kittens. How cute is that?? Leah Ann says that Rare Bear has the most intense blue/grey eyes, which inspired this medium gray-blue holographic. A portion of the proceeds from sale of this polish will benefit the ASPCA.

Another easy application with incredible shine, I wore 2 coats over A England’s base coat for these pictures.  Look at the gorgeous steel-blue visible in artificial light:

Colors_RareBearShdAnd in the sun, wow!

Colors_RareBearSun

Finally, the third polish for today is Sparkles are a Girl’s Best Friend, a hot pink crelly holo base with purple flash and multi colored sparkle. This polish is a tribute to Leah Ann’s best friend Emily. And girly it is! hot pink, fun, summery!

Here it is full sun:

Colors_SparklesAreSun

I just love that shade of pink!!

Unfortunately all my shade shots of Sparkles were slightly fuzzy, so I don’t have a picture for you, but trust me, it is so pretty!

 

Final verdict: I was really, really impressed.  The holo on these was incredible. It was highly noticeable, even on the very first coat. The base that was used is high-shine, even pre-top coat, and the colours were perfect. For a first collection, these are must-haves!

All of these polishes are 3-free and cruelty free, and come in a 15 ml square bottles. The future bottles after the initial launch will have those amazing soft-touch caps that we’ve come to love!

And they LAUNCH TOMORROW over on Llarowe! Don’t forget to follow Llarowe on Facebook, Pinterest and on Instagram!

~xo

 

(Products were provided for consideration and review. All opinions are my own.)

Ozotic 752

June 5, 2013
A-England, Nailpolish, Ozotic, piCture pOlish
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Another week, another beauty from the house of piCture pOlish! Today I have for you Ozotic 752, one of the gorgeous metallic duochromes of the Ozotic 700 series.

If you follow my blog, you know that piCture pOlish has a special place in my heart (and polish stash!). They are such a fun indie company, interacting with their bloggers, fans, customers on a regular basis, and hosting tons of awesome giveaways. Ozotics are part of their portfolio, and the more I wear them, the more I love them! (My love affair started with the Ozotic Sugars – 901 to be exact.)

Back to Ozotic 752. It is described as containing “a special effect known as a ‘colour flop:’ Do you see purple or do you see green?”and piCture pOlish advises to layer over black or white base to create different looks. Though opaque enough to be worn on its own, I wanted to see the magical duochrome effect at its best, and I decided to layer this over my go-to black (it’s actually a deep, blood-red that is so dark it is almost black), A-England’s Lancelot. I used one coat Lancelot, 2 coats of Ozotic 752 between a base and top coat. Application was perfection, even in a polish that can sometimes lead to streakiness. The polish was very fluid, providing great coverage on the first coat, and like all the other Ozotics and piCture pOlishes I own, dried very quickly.

In the shade picture, you can see the lilac-to-green shift perfectly, with a hint of a muted grey in between.

Ozotic_752Shade

I love that the colour shift in 752 is very strong, as you can see above.

Now take a look at the metallic shimmer in sunlight, with a hint of a brighter purple than before amid an aura of green. I love the flashes of green where the light reflects!

Ozotic_752Sun2

A different angle provides a brighter purple yet:

Ozotic_752Sun1

I was blown away by this polish!! It probably has the most dramatic and obvious colour shift I have seen in any duochrome, with a highly-wearable muted base colour.

What do you think of 752?

To get your very own Ozotics, visit piCture pOlish on-line and or visit any piCture pOlish Network member, including Harlow & Co, Llarowe and Nail Polish Canada.

And don’t forget to follow the Girls on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram for all the latest news, giveaways, and more!!

~xo

(Product provided for consideration and review. All opinions are my own.)

Picture Polish Ariel’s Tale!

March 27, 2013
A-England, Nailpolish, nubar, Obsessed, piCture pOlish
5 Comments

Happy Thursday!! I am so thrilled this is a shortened week and I get to have a long weekend… just what I need. I hope some of you get to enjoy a day off as well…or at least a beautiful weekend!

Today I have for you one of my favourite boutique brands, piCture pOlish, made in Australia! I have worn quite a few piCture pOlishes, some that I should probably still share on this blog, but I do have another first for you: my first piCture pOlish glitter polish. And a polish with such a cute name: Ariel’s Tale! I keep hearing “Under the Sea” in my head when I see the bottle. 🙂 Ariel’s Tale is a gorgeous turquoise glitter top coat in a clear base, composed of monochromatic tiny square and medium hex glitters. Simple and gorgeous!

I wanted to wear it over a dark base, so I headed for my A-England Lancelot, my go-to “black” (it’s actually a blackened red but I often use it in place of black due to its beauty and shine). This combo did not disappoint! I wore it as a slight glitter gradient. Here are two coats of Lancelot topped with Ariel on the tips:

PicturePolish_ArielsTale_Lancelot

I received so many compliments on this manicure!! The aqua of Ariel’s Tale is soft enough for an elegant, work-appropriate manicure, even on such a stark background. And it sparkled like diamonds on my tips!

 

For a completely different look, I paired Ariel’s Tale with Nubar’s Into the Wild, a beautiful muted emerald green (with its own post coming soon!).

PicturePolish_ArielsTale_Nubarbtl

And Ariel’s Tale looked spectacular!! Judge for yourself:

PicturePolish_ArielsTale_NubarSunLook at the gorgeous turquoise slightly contrasting against the emerald green backdrop in the sun…

And here it is in the shade:

PicturePolish_ArielsTale_Nubar

I just adore the way it sparkles like the ocean… twinkling under the sun…

I already have some more ideas for Ariel’s Tale, maybe wearing it over a light base…  but which of today’s looks is your favourite?

To get your very own Ariel’s Tale,  visit piCture pOlish on-line and or visit any piCture pOlish Network member, including Harlow & Co, Llarowe and Nail Polish Canada.

And don’t forget to follow the Girls on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram for all the latest news, giveaways, and more!!

~xo

 

 

(Product provided for consideration and review. All opinions are my own.)

Ozotic Sugar 901

February 10, 2013
A-England, Nailpolish, Ozotic, piCture pOlish
2 Comments

So it would seem that I’m on a bit of a piCture pOlish kick… Yesterday it was piCture pOlish Cosmos (which, by the way, is spectacular!!) and today I bring you my very first Ozotic, another Aussie brand that piCture pOlish has added to their portfolio of phenomenal polishes.

Late last year, piCture pOlish introduced the Ozotic Sugars colours, four polishes numbered 901 through 904, each inspired by “adding a tiny drop of food coloring to icing sugar – hence the sugary sweet looking colours.” And sweet and sugary they are!!! A family of topcoat-type polishes, they range in shades from pink to yellow-green. And today I bring you Ozotic Sugar 901, a beautiful iridescent pink in the bottle that magically turns duochrome once applied on the nail, depending on what you layer it over. I decided to go for the obvious this time, and layered it over my favourite near-black, A England’s Lancelot:

AEngland_LancelotLancelot is one of the most spectacular polishes, and one of the few I wear again and again (and again!). A England really got it right with their debut collection…. just look at that shine!!! And the wear on these is incredible. I can go up to 10 days with a little bit of tipwear. Amazing!

Now watch Ozotic Sugar 901 turn this into a whole new polish:

Ozotic_Sugar901

A purple duochrome? Yes please! Click on the picture above to see its full-size splendour… a dreamy, sugary, pinky-purple confection that leans gold or yellow, depending on the light. And the best part? You can add the Ozotic Sugars over even day-old polish, if you like, to give it new life. And this polish dries in moments!

What I really want to do is try this Sugar over different colours… starting with white. And report back to you 🙂

To get your hands on any of the Ozotics, visit piCture pOlish on-line or any of their Network members, including Harlow & Co and Llarowe.

And don’t forget to follow the Girls on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest for all the latest news!

~xo

 

Top Polishes of 2012!

December 30, 2012
A-England, Aphrodite Lacquers, China Glaze, Glitter Gal, Jelly, Kiss Your Elbow, Magnetic, Nailpolish, nubar, OPI, piCture pOlish, Revlon, Shimmer Polish, Zoya
6 Comments

Can you believe 2012 is almost over? This year was a big one for me… I started my new job, recently moved to our new home, started blogging and taking my polish and beauty obsession to a whole new level, and along with that, I met some amazing people in this community.

It’s been a little quiet on my blog lately, mainly due to my big move just before Christmas… I thought I would catch up, not only on a blog post or two, but also share some of my top polishes of the year (with links to the original posts).

Hope this is a fun read for you!

In no particular order, here is Aphrodite Lacquers’ It’s My Party topped with The Icing on the Cake. I immediately fell in love with this hot pink jelly (and its glittery topper), and can’t wait to wear this with a little tan!

Aphrodite_IcingOnTheCake

My most popular post, even garnering a shout-out from Suzi Weiss-Fishman, OPI’s Creative Director, on her twitter chat recently (!!), was the Monet jelly sandwich. This was created using OPI’s Funny Bunny with Shimmer Polish Linna, and it turned into one of my favourite manicures.

Shimmer_Linna_jelly_OPI_FunnyBunny2

Oh Zoya Ornate Collection, how I love thee! After patiently waiting for this gorgeous collection to arrive, I created my very first striping tape mani using Zoya Storm and Aurora:

Zoya_Ornate_nailart-2

Another day, another gorgeous Shimmer Polish! Karina, a deep vampy red jelly, is beautiful and glamorous and oh-so-sparkly!

Shimmer_Karina

I loved the sparkle of this mani: a-England’s Dorian Grey topped with Shimmer Polish Vanessa. Look at that sparkle!

Shimmer_Vanessa

And so you can see why I love Dorian Gray, look at this steely pewter:

AEngland_DorianGreyFlash

This year I also tried my very first Nubar polishes, and I fell in love. Look at shiny Nubar Espresso from the Simplicity Meets Elegance Collection:

Nubar_Espresso_Sun

From the same collection, here is Nubar Rouge, another gorgeous pink I fell in love with:

Nubar_Rouge_Sun

Up next, another of my most popular posts comes courtesy of OPI’s first foray into magnetics, from the OPI Skyfall Collection to commemorate 50 years of Bond films: OPI Magnetic Lacquer Is that Silva? I just love the holo magnetic!

OPI-Magnetic-IsThatSilva-

Blue is my favourite colour though I’ve often steered clear of it in my manicures. But Revlon Royal, especially combined with Aphrodite Lacquers’ Doorman, was something spectacular….

Aphrodite_Doorman

Who doesn’t love a sparkly linear holographic polish? The ladies at Glitter Gal have made holos their business, and let me tell you, Glitter Gal Wisteria does not disappoint!! I loved the subtlety of this light hue…

Glitter_Gal_Wisteria_Sun2

I am a fool for sparkles, and Aphrodite Lacquers Peacock Earrings was distracting. Here it is, layered over China Glaze’s Liquid Leather for optimum sparkle and shine:

Aphrodite_Peacock_Earrings

I think by now you know how much I adore jelly sandwiches. (And I should really do more of them!) Another Zoya collection that I was lusting after, Zoya Gloss, is a jelly-lover’s dream come true. Here is Zoya Frida layered with a relatively new indie, Kiss Your Elbow Polish’s A Drop in the Ocean:

Zoya-Frida Drop in Ocean Jelly
This list wouldn’t be complete without Picture Polish and their Mesh shade Tease, a glittery silvery-pink beauty that I received as part of their Blog Fest for 2012:

picturepolish_Tease_Shade

Next is a sparkly vampy black jelly courtesy of Aphrodite Lacquers, Nebula. Though I love vamps, I don’t always wear straight black polishes, unless, of course, they have a little something like Nebula does. Filled with aqua and silver glitters, Nebula has depth and sparkle:

Aphrodite_Nebula1

And last but not least, the one that started my love affair with Aphrodite Lacquers, Grapetini! I think it’s fair to say that AL is one of my favourite indies, having created a number of polishes that I wear again and again… and Grapetini, with its purple squishiness, was part of my very first AL order that was not meant to be. It has the unfortunate distinction of being my first polish to arrive smashed to pieces lol.

Aphrodite-Grapetini-3cts

And that, dear readers, is my first top… 16 list! It was meant to be a top-12 but there were simply too many that I adore. There are many more that I love and wanted to share, but in the spirit of keeping this a somewhat shortish blog post, not all the beauties could be included… Perhaps I will share another top-12 list soon.

Hope you enjoyed this post as much as I have enjoyed selecting my favourites. May the New Year bring you and your loved ones much joy and happiness, success and love.

~xo

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