A England Nail Polish Haul and Swatches (Pic Heavy)

Happy Humpday!

I was uploading these pics into Picasa last night and I don't recall how long it took me but I just remember dozing on and off on every other pic, LOL. Finally, on the last pic, I turned off my computer and crashed. So yes I felt pretty well-rested when I woke up this morning and I made it to work on time! Woohoo!

Anyhow, I placed an order with A England on January 14th because they had a promo going. I thought it was a good deal and I've been wanting to try their polishes for a while so this was like a great opportunity.
A set of 3 was £14.00, a set of two was £10.00, and Dragon was £6.00. I can't remember what was in which set anymore. Bottom line is my total was £30.00, with free shipping. So in another word, in US dollars that was $49.65 for all six. As you can see by the currency, these came from England.

Typically, I don't order something from oversea unless it's dirt cheap, can't be found here, or there's something cool about it. I blame other bloggers for this purchase, lol. I've seen way to many gorgeous swatches and rave reviews so it's time I discover it myself and tell you if the rumors are true.

I received my polishes this past weekend (almost a month later) due to a delay in the shipping process because they had some issues with their mail carrier. No big deal, I guess. I'm glad they quickly let everyone know about the issue. One thing I was a bit disappointed with is when I received these polishes, they were individually bubble-wrapped like so and they all came in a padded envelope. Fortunately nothing broke but I strongly believe nail polishes should be shipped in boxes and not padded envelopes. I would've be pretty upset if anything broke during shipping. I thought that was rather careless of them considering how far these are coming from. And if anything had broken, I don't know how long it would take them to replace them since they've been having issues with international shipping. So yeahh, I consider myself lucky. I hope no one  else had to deal with broken nail polishes.

Tristam is a deep blurple with scattered holographic shimmers. It looks amazing in the bottle but on the nails, the holos are significantly subdued. It's still pretty though and they shine a little more under bright light. It was almost opaque on the first coat, almost but not quite so I did two coats.

Princess Sabra, I couldn't find the words to describe this shade but on A England's website, they describe it as a golden olive bronzite. This one also has some scrattered grainy holos. They are definitely a bit more noticeable than Tristam. It also required 2 coats.

Tess D'Ubervilles is a deep dark green with subtle green and golden shimmers. This one only required one coat!

Dragon. When I saw the bottle I was like wow! It's a scattered holographic green shimmer with a golden glow to it. Yes this baby GLOWS like a dragon! The golden glow becomes more apparent under bright light. This is quite a mesmerizing color. I only used one coat as well. Definitely, one a nail polish collector should have! It's quite unique. I have not seen anything like it.

Excalibur was part of the trio set. I honestly didn't really care for it but it was cheaper as a set. Now, this one really surprised me. As you can see, from the bottle, it looks like a typical silver nail polish but it's the formula that blew me away. Yes, it was that amazing! It's insanely thick and saturated with silver. I mean seriously INSANELY! I've not come across a silver nail polish this saturated. It literally looks like liquid silver because the pigments are so fine. Though there might be some visible brush stroke, the formula spreads so easily just like butter. I was so impressed! I ended up really liking it. It's so bright it looks almost white yet you can tell it's still silver. Oh yeah, this was an easy one coater.

Saint George is a dark teal with scattered holographic shimmer. Such a gorgeous color and the fact that they added holo shimmers in it just makes me really happy. Let's just say I've seen better swatches of this one. But in all honestly, it's best to keep it looking real so it's not misleading to others. I even heard that people take swatches of nail polish under water because it makes the shimmers look prettier!? IDK about that. Like I said, keep it real. No one wears nail polish under water so why take swatches under water? I'm not sure I understand the point of it. Even if there is a reason behind it, I don't think it's very helpful. Anyways, that's just my opinion. I'm sure some people may disagree.

I found the formula pretty consistent across the board. They totally nailed it! It's one of the best nail polish formula I've come across. It's rich, saturated, and applies incredibly smooth. The brush is round and a pretty good size. It picks up a good amount of product so you can do one layer without having to re-dip it in the bottle. The only flaw is that the bristles are rather uneven. The formula dries a little faster than average, which is great and I really like that.

Each bottle contains 11 ml or .39 oz., a bit smaller than average but since some of these can get away with one coat. I think that's not too bad.

I took pictures of the swatches with natural indoor light and flash so that you get the idea of what it would look in real life. As with any holographic nail polish, keep in mind that you do need a significant amount of light in order to see the reflection of the holos. They are definitely there but they do need some light in order to really come to life.

Overall, I'm very pleased. The colors are gorgeous. The formula is one of the best out there. If you see a color you like, you will not regret it if you buy it. You might want to check with them how long it will take them to ship to you if you don't live in the UK.