Polish Days ~ Geometry

Hey dolls! I was so excited when the theme for this month's Polish Days was released. I had so many great ideas...unfortunately, none of them worked the way I wanted it to. I'll probably show you those fails at a later time. Yesterday I decided to take the easy route of stamping, which in actuality isn't that easy for me since I don't do it often. I started with two coats of Barielle Blossom, a gorgeous peach creme. After Blossom was dry, I stamped on geometrical patterns using Bundle Monster image plate #208 and a-England Saint George.

I'm pleased with the way this turned out even though it wasn't my initial goal. Sometimes you just have to roll with it. I love this color combo and Saint George compliments Blossom well. Make sure you take a look below at what all of the other ladies have come up with!

Reader's Choice Mondays ~ a England Lady of the Lake

Hey dolls! Today's winner was a England Lady of the Lake with 46% of the votes. Lady of the Lake is a deep purple with subtle scattered holographic particles that are only visible in direct sunlight. As with every a England I've tried, Lady of the Lake is very pigmented and was opaque in two coats. The formula on Adina's polishes is one of the best in my opinion.

Lady of the Lake is so dark, it almost looks blue. I had to go back to my pictures of Tristam, Lady of the Lake's blue brother, just to see the differences in the base colors. Subtle holos are definitely my thing, so I like this one. 

For next week's Reader's Choice, I have three China Glaze polishes. I recently picked up Elephant Walk because it was the only shade I was interested in from the Safari collection. Midtown Magic and Rain Storm have been in my untrieds for a while now. Please vote for the one you'd like to see. The poll will close on Friday, August, 17.

Rain Storm, Elephant Walk, Midtown Magic

Reader's Choice Monday 8.13.12

China Glaze Rain Storm

China Glaze Elephant Walk

China Glaze Midtown Magic

View results

Powered by FreeOnlineSurveys.com

China Glaze Rain Storm0%

China Glaze Elephant Walk0%

China Glaze Midtown Magic0%

Create a poll like this

A Englands Dragon & Holy Grail Stripes

Hey dolls! Happy St. Patrick's Day! I don't celebrate the holiday, but I like wearing green nail polish so here is the look I went with for the day. Dragon is the other A England I chose to purchase from The Legends collection. Dragon is a hunter green that is filled with scattered holographic particles. As typical of A Englands, the formula was flawless. It was opaque with one coat, but I added another just out of habit. You'll definitely want to click to enlarge these photos.

 

Dragon absolutely sparkles in the sunlight! I'm so glad I ordered this one. To make it a little more festive, I added some stripes with A England Holy Grail and striping tape. Holy Grail is a golden yellow metallic that was opaque with two coats.

One piece of tape didn't pull up cleanly, but I still like the way this turned out. Holy Grail looks really good paired with Dragon.

Are you wearing green on your nails today?

A England Saint George

Hey dolls, I hope you all won't be disappointed that I'm not wearing pink today when you see this beauty. The two weeks that I waited for my new A Englands to arrive seemed like forever, but I was not disappointed at all when I saw Saint George and Dragon. I decided to wear Saint George first, which is a deep teal with shimmer and scattered holographic particles. Saint George was opaque in one coat, yes, only one coat! It was a dream to apply. I've said this before about Tristam and Avalon, but I must reiterate here that A England has the BEST formula I've ever used!

Yes, I had to include all of these pictures because Saint George is just that amazing! Now I'm wishing I would have gotten more from this collection. I just may have to do that.

For beautifully written and in-depth stories about all of the polishes in The Legends collection and what they were inspired by, please check out these posts by Ommorphia Beauty Bar and Fashion Polish.

Guest Post ~ Pandora's Nails

Today I'm sharing with you a guest post from one of my favorite bloggers, Rebecca from Pandora's Nails. She takes amazing pictures and is the main reason why I'm having a love affair with a-england polishes!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wow!  Me as a guest poster, I am so honoured and would like to give a big thanks to Refined and Polished for having me.

I had a bit of a difficult time deciding what this post should be about, should it be amazing/complicated/artistic/detailed....... and then after a million ideas had came and went I decided best to stick with what I know.

So the post I have for you today is a mani I enjoy to wear and always love it when I do, it is simple and easy to do, yet striking.

First we start with a-england Lancelot which is a black polish with a hint of red. This is 2 coats over the Knight (a-england base coat). No top coat.

 

Then I added 1 coat of Nails Inc Electric Lane Holographic top coat. This is a scattered holo and shown here with 1 coat of the Shield (a-england top coat).

And sometimes I also wear it this way, mattified with Nails Inc Westminster Bridge Matte Effect top coat, 1 coat.

Which way do you prefer Shiny or Matte?

I hope you like my post and thank you again for having me here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is simple, yet gorgeous...my kind of mani! I really like the way it looks matte. Make sure you check out Pandora's Nails to get more of her gorgeous nails and layering combinations. Thanks Rebecca for sharing with my readers!

A England Avalon

Hey dolls, I've been wearing A England Avalon since last Friday and I still don't want to take it off. It is a gorgeous purple that reminds me of all things regal and royal. The formula on Avalon was simply amazing. It was opaque with 2 coats.

Natural light lamp

Never have I seen a more beautiful purple that was so ridiculously hard to capture in a photograph! The first photo is the truest to color in real life. Avalon is one of those colors that demands attention. I've been extremely pleased with my first two A England polishes and I'm looking forward to adding more to my collection.

Have you tried any A England polishes yet?

A England Tristam

Hey dolls, I've been wearing my first A England polish since Sunday just waiting for the sun to shine. Tristam is a gorgeous deep blue scattered holo. The formula on this polish was simply amazing. It went on like butter and is super pigmented. When inside, Tristam is packed with silver shimmer, which is all I saw for the first two days of wearing it. Finally there was some sunlight late this afternoon and I became mesmerized. I now see why everyone adores this polish! This is two coats of Tristam. You may want to click to enlarge the photos to see all of its goodness.

Simply gorgeous! I love that the holo isn't too bam, right up in your face. The color gives off an air of elegance and sophistication, hence the pearls in the inspiration board above. As you can see, I only have minimal tip wear after having Tristam on for three days with a topcoat of Nubar Diamont. I'm really excited to try some more polishes from this brand. My goodness, I hope I'm not getting addicted to these $12+ polishes.

Have you tried A England polishes yet???