Nude and Mauve Ombre with Lacy Glitter

I recently received a package of some current Color Club shades. As I pulled the bottles out of the box, fate took control and lined up four of the shades from lightest to darkest. They looked gorgeous in an ombre together, and I had to oblige the universe's wishes.

Of course, I was still missing a fifth shade, and while I was searching for the perfect polish, I figured it couldn't hurt to add some glitter, either.

So, the four fated Color Clubs that I was destined to use are:
Color Club Blank Canvas (white)
Color Club Barely There (light tan)
Color Club Get a Mauve On It (mauve)
Color Club Midnight Mulberry (plum)

Then, I grabbed A England Elaine for the thumb, and added a layer of Sally Hansen Eyelet from the Luxe Lace line on all the nails. The glitter density was good, but I ended up with a lot of bubbles on the nails. Not sure what happened there.

I haven't done an ombre in a while, but I totally should wear them more often. They're really gorgeous and chic, especially in shades of nudes/neutrals like this. Big thanks to the universe and to Color Club for setting me up to hit one out of the ombre park (IMO)!

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A England - Saint George

It's now time to show the second bottle of A England I got and which I've showed in a gradient here. This time it's time to show it alone and it's very pretty even though the holo is very subtle and not visible in all lights. In my opinion the color feels very much like pine forest and I really enjoyed wearing it. The formula is wonderful to use and below is 2 coats. Perfect for holo Friday, don't you think? :)

Here I have a photo without any holo effect (i.e. natural cloudy light) and I think it still looks really nice.

All photos except the last one is in flourecent light. And the polish was bought from ninjapolish for some couple of years ago.

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Green holo gradient

Here I have something beautiful for you to show; a green holo gradient. Or well, the holos from A England are as usual super subtle so there is more of a hint of holo giving the whole nail art some great depth. I like this color combo, it feels very forest like with the bluish green feeling like pine and the green towards yellow being like leaf trees or something. For more holo polishes, check out Skimmerskuggan with her Holo Friday. :)

Polishes used:
A England - Dragon
A England - Saint George

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A-England Hurt No Living Thing and Excalibur Renaissance

A-England has released a couple of new shades recently: Hurt No Living Thing and Excalibur Renaissance. Read on for my swatches and review!

Excalibur Renaissance is a highly pigmented silver chrome. It has some brushstrokes when applied, but they do minimize as the polish dries down. It needs just one coat, but I've used two here for good measure in photographs. It's highly reflective and really beautiful!

It's also my understanding that Excalibur Renaissance is a reissue of a shade that had been previously retired. I can see why it was brought back!

Hurt No Living Thing is a sheer grey polish with a pink-to-orange shimmer. Unfortunately my camera has some difficulty capturing pinks, so the shimmer isn't as punchy in my photos as it is in person. I applied four coats for the swatch below and you can still see a bit of visible nail line, so I think it's safe to say that it is not meant to be opaque when worn alone.

You can also layer it over other polishes to transform the look. I started with a base of OPI A Grape Affair for the look below, and then added two coats of Hurt No Living Thing. I tried using just one coat at first, but the milky grey base was a little too streaky over such a dark base. However, I found that it did even out with the addition of a second coat.



Excalibur Renaissance is a real winner. The full coverage silver is just perfection. Hurt No Living Thing is nice, but a bit too subtle for my tastes. I wish that the grey base went further in either direction: more opaque for buildability or less opaque to put more of a focus on the shimmer as a topper.

UK residents can purchase directly from A-England, while others can check the "Where to Buy" page to review stockists.

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A England - Dragon, swatch

It's Friday and I figured that I could join Holo Friday with the first A England polish I bought; Dragon. It looked so lovely on swatches. Now it sounds like I bought it recently but it is more than a year ago I bought it, maybe turning into two years now. And it has just been laying in my Helmer drawer, waiting..you see, it looks a bit boring in the bottle..The moss green color isn't boring but I didn't see any holo.

Now I've finally got around wearing it and it looks much more holographic on the nails than in the bottle. However it's a very scattered holo, no lines of the rainbow spectra. Anyhow, below is two of the most easy coats ever, the formula is like butter. As I said the color is moss green and the polish has many faces. In the bottle there is some golden duochrome tendencies but that doesn't transcribe onto the nails, even though I guess the warmness in the color come from that. In clouded shadow the holo looks gray (as holo always do when there's no light to reflect in it) and the green feels cold. All in all it's a beautiful color.

Do you like A England in general, or maybe you even have Dragon? What is your oldest untried in your collection?

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A-England Briar Rose from the Burne-Jones Dream Collection

A-England is nothing if not consistent. Their polishes are always beautiful and eye catching with wonderful formulas. Today's polish is, of course, no exception: meet Briar Rose.

Briar Rose is a cranberry shade with a coarse holographic effect. When it is in direct light, as shown in the two photos above, the holo comes to life, and it glows a gorgeous rosy pink.

When in indirect light, as shown in the two photos below, the holo lends a nice visual texture without greying out the base color too much.

The formula was wonderful, applying smoothly, evenly, and with great pigmentation. I'm sure many of you could get away with one coat. I've used two here.

This polish is from the Burne-Jones Dream collection, and I can say with confidence that the rest of the polishes in the collection are beautiful, too. A-England polishes are available from a number of distributors in the US; you can view a list on the A-England website.

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MINIONS!! - Despicable Me Nail Art

Last weekend I went to go see Despicable Me 2 with my sister, and I just couldn't resist doing minion nail art! I have seen so many cute minion nail designs (most recently from Rebecca Likes Nails, though I don't think she has posted them up yet) and I knew I wanted to try one out for myself.

I had a lot of fun assembling the pieces for each of their faces -- eyes (both placement and quantity), mouth, general expression -- they are all unique!

For those of you unfamiliar with the minions, here's a good YouTube montage of minion clips. The minions are basically the main character's creations, and he uses them to help him execute his evil plans. They like to goof off though, and are a huge part of the comedy in the movies! Very endearing.

For my version, I started with a base of Lime Crime Crema de Limon.
Then, I added the eyes in white, and the irises in China Glaze Call of the Wild. I outlined the goggles with A England Fated Prince and added the strap in black.
The tongues are done with Zoya Renee.
Lastly, I added their overalls in American Apparel Mount Royal, and distressed them a bit with China Glaze Secret Peri-winkle.

The movie turned out to be really cute, and I liked knowing I was watching it with my own little minion buddies!

Plus, we went and got Dairy Queen afterwards... Choco Cherry Love Blizzard!

Have you seen Despicable Me 2 yet?

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To Bee or Not to Bee (ft. A-England and Hex Nail Jewelry)

Gradients: I can't stop doin' them. Today's edition features two gorgeous scattered holographic shades from A-England: Dragon (the green) and St. George (the deep teal). I've worn both alone before. St. George is one of my favorite polishes ever and, in my opinion, is a must have in every polish lover's collection. Dragon wasn't my favorite when I wore it alone but it paired absolutely perfectly with St. George in this manicure.

I also chose to spice things up a little with the addition of a Hex Nail Jewelry Bee no.2 charm! The golden bee adds the perfect amount of excess while still balancing focus with the gradient. To say I'm a fan is an understatement!

If you have been considering making purchases from either of these brands, I would urge you to go for it. The A-Englands are obviously gorgeous but they also have fantastic formulas, too, & Hex's nail charms are just FUN.

What do you think -- to bee, or not to bee? ;)

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