A-England Gothic Beauties: Lady of Shalott + The Knight & The Shield Review

Hello lovelies! Happy Thursday! Just a stones throw away from the weekend!

Today I have another of A-England's Gothic Beauties to share with you. Lady of Shalott is named after a poem by Lord Alfred Tennyson. If you are unfamiliar with the poem, I do suggest checking it out. It is the beautiful, yet tragic tale of Elaine of Astolat, who is afflicted with a mysterious curse which forces her to view Camelot through a mirror (and continually weave images upon a loom), as opposed to looking directly upon it. One day she sees Lancelot pass, and stops weaving, only too look directly out the window, bringing about the curse. She leaves the tower, and floats down the river in a boat that she has inscribed with her name, but dies before he reaches the palace. In an ironic twist, Lancelot sees her as she passes, and thinks her beautiful.

A-England's Lady of Shalott is a breathtaking deepest Sapphire Blue, with interwoven specks of fuchsia and teal. The flecks are very evident in the bottle, yet harder to see on the nail. I actually prefer it this way, since the flecks make this polish literally glow from within when the light hits it just right. To me, this polish embodies the darkness that shadows The Lady of Shalott, as well as the mirror itself (There is a line in the poem that says " And sometimes thro' the mirror blue") and the water in the river on which she floats.

See? This is what happens when a polish addict that was a hairs width from majoring in English (always my best and favorite subject, even through college) polish with literary themes! At any rate, Lady of Shalott is the kind of blue that leaves my little heart pitter-pattering.

All photos are 2 coats of Lady of Shalott over The Knight base coat and The Shield Top Coat (I'll be sharing a bit about these in this post as well). Please forgive my pesky bakdrop - the sun was at the perfect angle to reveal part of my lovely blue backdrop!

Oh but The Lady is beautiful!! I love blue polish, and this is among my very favorites. Dark enough to satisfy my love for dark colors, yet bright enough to still appear Blue.

Formula:
Perection.  Lady of Shalott bears the signature A-England formula, thicker consistency, yet not so thick as to be problematic. No dragging, balding, thickening during use, or glopping.

Application:
Smooth as silk, Lady of Shalott applies like a polish lover's dream. It is a touch streaky on the first coat, but evens out beautifully with the second. It does dry a touch matte, so top coat is a must!

The Knight:
A-England's The Knight Base Coat is, and I'm not exaggerating, as close to perfection as I have come. The Knight applies smoothly and evenly, using very little product. Dry time is quick, and The Knight provides a perfect base for polish adherence. I have less issues with chipping and tip wear with The Knight than with any other base coat in my vast arsenal.

The Shield:
If you love Seche Vite, but hate the shrinkage, then The Shield could very well be your Holy Grail Top Coat. The Shield boasts superior shine to any top coat I have used, literally leaving a shine that resembles liquid glass. Dry time is a touch slower than SV, but I would much rather have a slightly longer dry time than skrinkage and the hassle of adding an expensive restoring agent to my top coat every few uses. This is also my go to top coat for restoring shine to an older mani.

All A-England Polishes, Including The Knight and The Shield, are 3-Free and can be found by visiting A-England's website. Keep an eye out for promos! Right now the Knight and The Shield are available as a combo pack for 10GBP, or as singles for 7GBP.

Have you tried The Knight or The Shield? What do you think about Lady of Shalott?

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber

Ulta Lust in Lace Collection: Let Your Garter Down

Hello Ladies! Happy Wednesday! I keep forgetting that I should be posting Pink on Wednesdays. I haven't been in much of a pink mood lately though. I'm really leaning toward darker colors and the occasional neon. Of course, I'm still behind with my posts. The polish I'm sharing today was one I wore over a week ago! Yikes!

Today I have a lovely blackened blue to share with you. This is Let Your Garter Down from Ulta's Lust in Lace Collection. I found a pack of minis from this collection a looooooong time ago and recently came across them in my stash. They're all blackened polishes, and since I'm in the mood for those, I figured it was worth trying one out.  Let Your Garter Down (LYGD) is a gorgeous blue fleck suspended in a black base. It really is a stunner. I'm always amazed at how much I like Ulta's polishes. They really do have a few gems. I continually pass them over when I'm picking a polish and after wearing one I always swear I won't relegate them to the back of the stash anymore. I should stick to that. :)

Details:
1 coat Seche Recondition
3 coats LYGD
1 coat Seche Vite

I love this polish! I always have been a sucker for a blackened blue, and this girl did not disappoint. I wore this for 4 days and it held up incredibly well. I wasn't expecting much (there I go underestimating Ulta polish again!), but after 4 days of not so gentle wear, I had no chips and just a touch of tip wear. Impressive!

Formula:
LYGD wasn't amazing, but wasn't very problematic. It was a touch runny at first, but did thicken up. It was a touch more sheer than I was expecting, needing all 3 coats for full opacity. It would also look awesome layered over black if you don't like messing with multiple coats.

Application:
As with a lot of blackened polishes, this girl was streaky on the first coat but did even out. After 2 coats it was still a bit patchy, but was perfect after the 3rd coat. It did pool a bit at first since it was a bit runny, but it thickened up fairly fast.

After wearing LYGD I really want to play with the other colors in this collection. Have you seen these polishes at all (I've only seen them in the set of minis and stumbled on them by chance.)?

Thanks for dropping by and as always, Happy Polishing!!

-Kimber

China Glaze Capitol Colours Collection, Smoke and Ashes

Hi guys! Hope you're having a fabulous week!

Today I have my first polish from China Glaze's Hunger Games/Capitol Colours Collection, Smoke & Ashes. S&A is a blackened blue/green glass fleck, very reminiscent of Blk-Bila-Bong. I have a love for blackened blues and greens, and since this polish combines both, it was the first one I grabbed. I'll be honest with you, I have yet to see a swatch that does this color justice. In person the green and blue flecks, although muted, are much more apparent. I was mildly disappointed that the color fell flat on the nail as opposed to how gorgeous it is in the bottle, but in the right lighting it really is beautiful.  Of course, this color combo is being done to death lately, so it's really not a huge stand out for me.

Here she is in the lightbox: (Forgive my fingertips/cuticles! I tried to catch a falling cactus and paid dearly for it. I realized mid-catch that I probably shouldn't be trying to save flying pointy plants, but the damage was done. And I didn't even manage to save the damned thing! It ended up falling right out of it's little pot.)

And a couple in sunlight (still couldn't capture much of that blue/green glass fleck goodness):

I do love this polish, but I really am a bit disappointed that it doesn't translate that well on the nail.  I keep buying blackened blue/glass fleck colors and hoping this will be the one that really shines, and none of them ever translate like I want them to. So far this is the winner, but I'll still be on the lookout for one that outdoes them all!

Formula on this baby was amazing at first - thick, but not gloppy, easy to work with and no dragging or balding. However it did glop up quickly and I had to add a bit of thinner to keep it from glopping onto my nails like tar. Wear was average, with some minor tip wear and one chip on day 2.  Keep in mind that my idea of wear is pretty rough; I work with dogs for a living and have a 21 month old, so I'm incredibly hard on my polish. What wears average for me is usually really good for most.

I'm looking forward to playing with the other 2 polishes I grabbed from this collection. My Sally's only had 4 colors left, 3 of which they had to go hunt in the back for. I'm hoping that they get more in soon since I really want Agro and Electrify.  I did manage to pick up the much coveted Luxe & Lush, that I plan on using tonight. I can't wait to play with that baby!

Happy Polishing!
-Kimber

Spoiled by Wet N Wild: The Parking Meteor Expired

Hi guys! Happy Fat Tuesday!

Today I have another Spoiled polish to share with you, a gorgeous blackened teal called The Parking Meteor Expired. This baby is absolutely amazing in the bottle, black with flecks that shift from teal to blue to purple. However, those flashes of color don't translate to the nail at all. In fact, this polish looks mostly black until sunlight hits it, and it really has to hit at a certain angle to see any of the teal. During application it looked like this baby was going to be amazing on the nail, but it lost it's color once it was dry. I had high hopes for this one, but it's not like I dont have a ton of blackened blue polish, right? Anyway, here is The Parking Meteor expired...

First, in the lightbox. Notice how I was barely able to capture the color here. It looks mostly black:

And here she is in sunlight. You can actually see the color here, but still doesn't have the flashes that the bottle does. I had to wiggle around alot to get the sun to hit my nails just right so that I could actually see the color.

Very pretty, but overall I was let down with how the color translated on the nail. In fact, I layered a flaky over this after a day, since most of the time it just looked black.

Formula was actually nice on this girl. Very smooth, not as gloppy as some of the other Spoileds. This is 2 coats with a coat of SV. I did have some balding on the first coat, but I just used a heavier second coat and that took care of that problem. Dry time was very fast, but.......that brush! This one had that same wonky brush, but it looked like this one had been chewed into that funky shape instead of cut. Very hard to get clean, even lines. Good thing I love these colors so much, or they'd just be gathering dust in my polish cabinet due to that evil brush.

I'm also seeking some input from you guys....Should I keep swatching the other 27 Spoileds I have? Or should I throw in my newer Juleps? Should I swatch some of the new Sinful Colors? Leave me a comment, shoot me an email or a tweet, etc. I'd like to know what you want to see here!

Hope you're all enjoying your day!

Happy Polishing!
-Kimber