Hump Day Holo: a-England Ascalon

Thanks to a swap with a lovely fellow blogger of mine, The Nail Files, I snagged this lemming and nearly cried tears of joy when I opened the box!

I mean, how could you not LOVE this color? I loved it so much, I had to take a picture of it immediately. That's the shipping box it arrived in behind the bottle.

Dear GOD, look at that holo!

On the nails, it's just gorgeous. Seriously, a-England Ascalon has a nice linear aspect about it, as well as scattered quality, depending on the light. The base of the actual nail polish is pretty similar to Deborah Lippmann Wicked Game/OPI Not Like the Movies/Wet n Wild Gray's Anatomy in that it's a gray-lavender duochrome. But the holographic quality cranks it up to 11.

Polishes by a-England are 13ml bottles and available from their official website and through Llarowe. They retail for $12.50 each.

Swatch and Review: Cult Nails Iconic

Today, I have a polish that I have been looking to snag for a while. So when Cult Nails had their $5 sale, I snatched it up immediately!

Cult Nails Iconic is a rich berry polish with subtle flakies suspended in the nail polish, as well as iridescent gold shimmer.

Look at that macro shot! Isn't she lovely? Mhmm.

Iconic applied wonderfully and took two thin coats to be opaque. This was an indoors picture, due to the rain here for three days. Though, I wish it had been sunny. The nail polish was a STUNNER. Really, is there anything Maria doesn't make beautiful?

Swatch and Review: Justice Magnetic Polish in Purple Shimmer

Lady Polish's birthday was April 7th, so I spent most of my time shopping for her at Justice. But what is it that always catches my eye at the checkout counter? Nail polish, of course.

This time around, I noticed that not only did Justice carry magnetic nail polish with a variety of patterned magnets, but there were also glitters. Since everything was 40% off, I snatched up a purple with red glitter and stashed it in my swatch drawer as soon as I got home.

At $8.50 each before the discount for a 0.25 fl oz bottle, considering China Glaze and Color Club's $10 and $12 price tags, respectively, for a 0.33 fl oz bottle.

The nail polish went on pretty smoothly, though was a little thick. That seems to be pretty common with magnetic polishes, though. The magnet was very strong, so strong that you really have to watch how long you hold it, as the polish is literally drawn up OFF THE NAIL towards the magnet. It was crazy to watch.

The color was pretty, though I wish the red glitter was a little more prominent. It also had a little bumpy of a finish, though I suspect a coat of Seche Vite would take care of that.

I liked the star magnet a lot. You can see that I moved it all around my nail to show you the different ways it looked, depending on where you held it. Like most magnetic nail polishes, it takes a little practice.

In the end, at $5.10, the Justice Magnetic polishes were well worth it at more than half the price of the big brands, like China Glaze, Color Club, Nails Inc, etc. The only issue is that you have to either snag a 40% off coupon OR be in the store during the 40% off everything sale. That being said, those sales aren't exactly hard to come by at Justice, as those of you who have younger siblings or children will attest.

Ten times out of ten, I would opt to buy the Justice Magnetic polishes over the kind of found at Claire's, which was such a disaster that I could not even swatch it. Never dried, lumpy, just disgusting.

They offer Purple Shimmer, Purple, Turquoise, Red, and Blue shades.

So what do you think, everyone... will you be trying these out?

Until later!
Princess Polish

ZOYA ALERT: Birchbox Exclusive Blogger Collection

 

This is a limited edition collection by Zoya for Birchbox, so once it's gone, it's gone!

Exclusive - Zoya BirchBox Blogger Collection by Birchbox - now available exclusively on BirchBox.com for $22 with FREE SHIPPING! Three custom Zoya Nail Polish shades designed exclusively for Birchbox - order your trio at BirchBox today.

Hurry - supplies are limited on this special LE collection! But wait! There's a bonus offer!

You will receive 200 Share the Love Points from Zoya.com! 

Forward a copy of your Zoya Blogger Birchbox Trio proof of purchase (confirmation email showing the purchase) along with your Art of Beauty (Zoya/Qtica) Customer Number (you can create a new  account here) to sharethelove@artofbeauty.com. Zoya will deposit 200  "Love Points" into your account, redeemable for free items!