I'm, like, two months late to this party. Adina is the lovely creator of a england polish, which debuted with The Mythicals, a collection inspired by King Arthur in late 2010/early 2011 (this was before I got into polish hardcore) to much acclaim. Earlier this year she released another collection, called The Legends, inspired by the legend of Saint George. 6 out of 7 of the shades are holographic and 3 of those are duochrome, so needless to say, I was beyond excited to see swatches. I managed to restrain myself to just one choice, though I'm still dying to get St. George (awesomely glowy dark turquoise) and Bridal Veil (holographic black! aaah!), and Princess Tears (light pink-lavender with grey shift) and Ascalon (darker purple with grey shift) certainly call to me, too, especially given my fondness for lavender polish. But anyways! I ended up only getting Dragon because it seemed the awesomest of the awesome choices. And wow, how awesome it is.
2 coats Dragon
Dragon is just crazy. It's a dark grass green holo with gold duochrome, and it really looks like dragon scales on my fingers. Just look at this and try not to die:
I KNOW RIGHT?! JFC. (PS, don't my nails look great? Thanks, Nailtiques!)
The formula is perfection. It's incredibly opaque, like one-coater opaque (though I used it over Seche Vite Rebuild, which is not particularly holo-friendly, so I had to do 2 coats, but I've worn it before over other base coats and one was plenty), and so smooth and cooperative. It basically painted itself.
BAM! Check out the gold flash at the tips of my nails.
It wears fine, though this most recent time it ended up chipping on a few fingers, but I'm pretty sure that's because of the base coat I used (Seche Rebuild), since the same thing happened on my toes, and it's wonderfully glossy on its own, though I used Seche because I don't have the patience to wait for polish to dry (sidenote: I painted 2 coats of this and 1 of Seche, and less than 5 minutes later pulled my Converse sneakers on with a freshly-polished finger, and it remained perfect. Friggin' miraculous).
Yes, I know, it's blurry, but it shows the holo and gold duochrome really well. Impossibly gorgeous, no?
a england is, unsurprisingly, stationed in England, and polishes are £9 (~$15) for 0.50 oz with free international shipping. In spite of coming from Britain, my package arrived in a week. Let me repeat that, in case it didn't sink in: a england's free shipping got across the Atlantic and the entire US in 5 business days. It takes my Sephora orders, like, a week and a half to get here. $15 for a polish plus fast, free international shipping? Heck yes. Good luck trying to limit yourself to only one, though...
There is honestly not a single thing about this polish that I would change. It is breathtakingly beautiful, especially in sunshine, but the holo and duochrome show up inside, too, and the formula is amazing. That, plus the great customer service, means a england has made another loyal customer. Now go! Order yours! And check out the other swatches online if you're not convinced, because all of the colors are completely drool-worthy.
Overview
£9 for 0.50 oz, available from a england with free shipping on any order
Color: 10 (I would give it 11 if I could, but I refuse to succumb to grade inflation!)
Formula: 10 (ditto)
Brush & Bottle: 5
Pigmentation & Finish: 5
Price/Value: 4 (super pigmented, great wear, and oh right free shipping! That may have given a bit of a bump to this score, but really, it's worth the extra 0.5)
Grade: A+
What do you think of Dragon? Have you tried any a england polishes? What colors do you like best?
