Shorty Post--A England Dragon

A England has an excellent reputation for their polish; pigmented, excellent formula, exquisite beauty. I recently tried my first polish from them, Dragon. It is a green-lover's dream with a scattered holo. (I'm learning to use a new camera and a new photo editing program, so please bear with me.)
*I purchased this polish myself and have received no samples or compensation for this post.*

A England definitely lived up to its reputation with Dragon. The photo shows two coats over a base coat and one coat of Poshe top coat and is after housecleaning, so it wore well. (I believe that the top coat may have dulled the holo a little, because the top coat was getting a little cloudy.) The formula was great and easy to apply. If you have short nails, you can get away with one coat of Dragon if you paint evenly.

If you live in the UK you can order from A England directly: http://a-england.co.uk/. Otherwise, they have a long list of international stockists here: http://a-england.co.uk/where-to-buy/. I bought mine from Llarowe; regular price is $10.00. 

Review and Photos--Zoya 'Blaze'

Ah, Zoya--it's polishes like 'Blaze' that make you my favorite!

Outdoors in full sun

'Blaze' is part of the same Ornate Collection as 'Aurora', which I posted about here. (These photos are much better than my photos of 'Aurora', so please attribute the same level of glittery, holographic goodness to 'Aurora' retroactively.)

Blurred to show holographic effect

Zoya 'Blaze' is a scrumptious plummy red jelly polish with glittery, holographic goodness. The holographic glitter is micro fine. In some lights, it looks quite red, but it is raspberry at heart that builds up to red.

Outdoors indirect sun

Application was a dream. I used two coats over a clear base coat, but if you have very short nails you could get away with one with less depth of color. At one coat, it looks lighter, as below.

Partial sun, one coat

Indoors, Zoya 'Blaze' is a pretty polish. Outdoors, it's a stunning polish. I'm glad that the sun was shining brightly today to capture its sparkle.

Outdoors in full sun

I can't say enough good things about this polish. I prefer 'Aurora' over 'Blaze', only because I prefer purple. I also have 'Logan' (green) and 'Ziv' (gold) from the Ornate Collection, so I have high hopes for those shades as well, and will share them with you once I have tried them. 

Outdoors indirect sun

Outdoors in the shade

Zoya polish retails for $8.00 and can be purchased on their web site and at ULTA and other select salons. 

What do you think? Do you like the holographic effect?

*I purchased this product with my own money and I'm not affiliated with nor compensated by any of the brands mentioned above.*

Holographic Damsel Gradient--Essie and Milani

My last post featured the lovely nail polish Essie Damsel in a Dress. As promised, let me show you how I dressed up the manicure. I wanted to add a little something, but not lose the character of Damsel in a Dress. I chose Milani Hi-Res, a purple holographic shimmer (retail: $4.99).

I began, as mentioned, with three thin coats of Essie Damsel in a Dress:

Damsel in a Dress, alone

I proceeded to dabble on a little of the Milani Hi-Res; no sponge this time, just its regular brush. I started from the free edge of the nail and moved partway toward the cuticle.

First step of gradient

Once the first dabbled layer was dry (it dried very quickly), I added some more of the Milani Hi-Res, moving just slightly further toward the cuticles.

Second step of gradient

Finally, I dabbled a very thin amount of the Milani Hi-Res even further down toward my cuticles. I put a thicker dabble of it at my free edge to balance out the coverage. The holographic effect of this polish is not as strong as others I have seen, so it was a little hard to catch in photos, but still very pretty and stronger in real life. You can see it better in the blurred photo a little further down in this post.

Final result

Zoom in on final result

Indoor lighting

A flash and a blur to highlight the holographic sparkle 

I topped it off with Butter London Hardwear P.D. Quick Top Coat  (retail: $19.00). I wore this mani from Tuesday through Saturday without any chips, which I attribute to the top coat. I also have shorter nails than usual, so that probably helps to reduce chipping as well.

What do you think? Do you like to wear one polish at a time, or mix it up by layering another polish or adding nail art?

Photos of Zoya Aurora

Zoya is my favorite brand of nail polish so far (there are many brands yet for me to try). They recently had a deal where you could buy 3 polishes from their website for 'free', and just pay $10.00 for shipping/handling. Since the polish usually retails for $8.00 each, it sounded like a sweet deal to me. I took advantage of the opportunity, of course, to get my latest most-wanted polish, Aurora.

Isn't she beautiful? Aurora is a red-leaning purple with gorgeous holographic sparkles. I used 3 coats for full opacity.

I couldn't completely capture the beauty, but as you can see by the amount of photos, I kept trying.

Bright sun and a little blurring helped to show off the holographic sparkle below, on my thumbnail.

 It appears darker and bluer in the shade, but the sparkle is still intense.

Ah, still lovely in artificial light, as shown above. The artificially lit photo shows the true color quite well, at least on my computer's monitor.

Aurora is from Zoya's Ornate Collection. Check it out here: http://www.zoya.com/content/38/category/Zoya-Ornate-Winter-Holiday-Nail-Polish-Collection.html. My other favorites from this collection are Blaze and Logan.

What do you think? Do you have a favorite nail polish brand? I have heard that Deborah Lippmann and Butter London are fabulous, but I have yet to try them. You will read about it when I do; I own several, they are just Untrieds.