a-england Tristam

I have been admiring a-england from afar, but finally after Christmas, I made my first purchases.  This is Tristam, a royal blue holographic polish from the Mythicals collection.  I used a base coat of Poshe, one coat of polish and no top coat.  Look how opaque this beauty is!  AND THE HOLOGRAPHICS!!!!  Oh man.  Formula was a dream.

Sun overload!  So I finally figured out what's up with my index finger always having opaque problems.  I have a thin index nail.  It just happens - nothing wrong with the polishes I use, just I have a thin nail.

Even in the shade, you can see a bit of the holographic sparkle (barely, but it's there, okay?).

Finally indoors with the flash and BLAM.  Look how amazing this color is?!  I didn't have any staining with this polish but I only wore it for a day, so I don't know if longer = staining.


Tristam (UK£ 9.00) is currently out of stock from a-england [Website] [Facebook] [Twitter], but for those in the US, there are 2 e-tailers.  I purchased my bottle from OverallBeauty for $12 and she has this listed as on back-order.  Llarowe is the other US e-tailer and she also sells it for $12 and apparently has almost 50 available still.

deborah lippmann at Bill Blass

Nails really were the hottest accessory for Fashion Week - please enjoy the following from Deborah Lippmann! All images courtesy of TLCommunications.

Backstage at Bill Blass Fall 2012

For this collection, Bill Blass envisioned a modern nail that was a bit of a departure from past seasons. Deborah Lippmann decided on a duet, which is a sophisticated way to wear nail art by taking a modern approach to a classic French manicure. Single Ladies, a flirtatious bordeaux red, was on the nail with a never‐seen dusty nude shade across the tip. To create a similar look, use Fashion, a not‐so‐typical taupe, across the tip of the nail.


The modern nail, showcasing a crème on crème look, is a new and fun way to play with color. It gives the nail a bit of an edge and playfulness that is easy for anyone to create! We’re seeing a new trend come to life with this duet look.

$16 each, available at www.deborahlippmann.com

Twitter Handle: @DeborahLippmann

Elixir Lacquers A Cool Fool

During a recent sale by Elixir Lacquers, A Cool Fool was given if you purchased 2 polishes.  This is a "holographic" rainbow glitter top coat in a clear base, much like China Glaze Fairy Dust.  Unfortunately, it was super cloudy this day, so you can't see all the prettiness in the bottle, and instead it appears to be a silver glitter.


I decided to use my existing China Glaze Electric Beat manicure, 1 coat of A Cool Fool, and a top of CND Air Dry.

You can see that the coverage is excellent for just one coat.

Loads of indirect sun pictures here - but you can finally see all the pretty rainbows that appear!  For anyone that missed out or can't find Fairy Dust, this is a great duplicate.  I had heard that Fairy Dust was discontinued, but my Sally's Beauty Supply still carries and restocks it, often, so who knows.

Slight blur to see the happy rainbows.

And finally indoors with the flash to show off the bottle, mostly.  Removal wasn't bad but I did have to wash my hands well to get all the microglitter off.

Elixir Lacquers [Website] [Facebook] [Twitter] is available on their website for $10 a bottle.  Please note that every bottle of Elixir Lacquers is made to order, and therefore may have slight color variances.

CND London Daily Nail 2.21.12 Burnt Parchment Manis at Giles

Winding down fashion week from CND - please enjoy the following (all images courtesy of CND)

CND London Daily Nail 2.21.12

Burnt Parchment Manis at Giles

February 21, 2012 - London's calling! The CND Daily Nail brings you the latest CND London Fashion Week runway nail styles created for designers Giles and Moschino:


At Giles, Marian Newman for CND designed a burnt parchment-inspired nail using a combination of colors to achieve the perfect shade. "Fingers and toes were not to match but had to be from the same family of colour" says Marian. "We custom blended CND Desert Suede (75%) with Sophia (25%) giving a 'licked by flame' effect; for toes we submerged into burnt brown combining CND Chocolate Milk, Sophia, a hint of Guava and a drop of Blackjack".

At Moschino, CND's Liza Smith created a Soft Peach semi-opaque manicure by blending CND Colour in Creamy Cameo with Studio White. The designer wanted the nail to mirror the exact colour of a pom-pom neck scarf from the collection.

To read Jan Arnold's daily backstage blog, please visit cnd.com. Track @CNDWorld during Fashion Week, on Facebook, Pinterest and on YouTube.

China Glaze Electric Beat

Another cloudy day, another spring polish to attempt to bring some happiness to my day!  From the China Glaze ElectroPop collection, this is Electric Beat, a light dusty blue that some have said is a lighter version of Secret Peri-Wink-Le.  I used a base coat of Poshe, 2 coats of polish and a top of CND Air Dry.  This polish had the oddest consistency.  It was crazy thick and yet runny at the same time.  You had to wipe the brush carefully so the polish wouldn't pool onto the brush as you were applying.

Despite the weird application, it looks flawless on the nail.  I actually really like this color even though it's a blue (my normal DO NOT WANT) but I'm not sure I could wear it alone.  (More on that later.)

In the shade, I have a bit of lobster hands going on but the polish is still crisp.

And finally indoors with the flash - can we say electric?  Or not... I'm not sure I'd REALLY call this an electric blue just because I think of a brighter color than this, but it's definitely a pretty spring color.

China Glaze [Website] [Facebook] [Twitter] can be found online through several etailers, including my favorite Head2Toe Beauty, Sally's Beauty Supply as well as TransDesign.

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.