Thursday, September 29, 2011

A England Lady of the Lake + purple holo comparison

Get ready to meet one of the most fascinating ladies in the Arthurian legends, Vivian, the Lady of the Lake. Forster mother for Lancelot, lover for Merlin, caretaker of Excalibur that she gives to Arthur as long as he's deemed worthy of being king, she is, just like Morgana, a very complex character who, depending on texts and tradition will appear good or evil. I've decided to dedicate some of my Wyrd Wednesday sections to Celtic culture and more especially Celtic women so I won't dwell on that much longer, but I have to share one of best movie lines ever, which happen to mention the Lady of the Lake: 
King Arthur: I am your king.
Woman: Well I didn't vote for you.
King Arthur: You don't vote for kings.
Woman: Well how'd you become king then?
[Angelic music plays... ]
King Arthur: The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. THAT is why I am your king.
Dennis: [interrupting] Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
From Monty Python's Holy Grail.

So, now that I'm done with my nonsense, let's talk about polish. Lady of the Lake is one of the two holographic polishes of a-england's Mythical collection. It's a purple scattered holo, which is a rare enough to combo to make it special and worth having. The holo effect is quite subtle, but even when it doesn't pop out, the shimmer in the polish is beautiful. This is two coats without top-coat. Just look at this glossy finish! and as usual, application is heaven!






Of course, as a purple and holo lover, I have polishes to compare Lady of the Lake with, though I knew beforehand that they would be different. Pointer is China Glaze LOL, middle is Lady of the Lake and ring-finger is Color Club Wild at Heart.

It's no secret that purple polishes are bluer on pictures, so here Lady of the Lake appears blue, but I can guarantee it's purple. As you can see, in indirect light, the shimmer in LofL is more present than in Wild at Heart.





With flash you can see that LOL is a linear holo, Wild at Heart a scattered holo and Lady of the Lake has holo shimmer.
I'm sooo in love with my a-england polishes, I can't wait to grab some more: be it holo, cream or shimmer, the three of them were a pleasure to apply, with very good opacity, super glossy finish and very good wear. It's a total win!!


Préparez-vous à rencontrer l'une des femmes les plus fascinantes de la légende arthurienne, Viviane, la Dame du Lac. Mère adoptive de Lancelot, amante de Merlin, elle est la gardienne d'Excalibur qu'elle confie à Arthur tant qu'il se montre digne d'être roi. C'est un personnage très complexe et comme Morgane, selon les textes, elle peut être du côté du Bien ou du Mal. J'ai décidé de vous parler de la culture celte et plus précisément des femmes celtes dans certains de mes Wyrd Wednesday, donc je ne vais pas m'étendre plus avant, et on va passer aux choses sérieuses: le vernis!!
Lady of the Lake est l'un des deux vernis holographiques de la collection Mythical d'a-england. Il est violet avec des paillettes holographiques, et c'est une combinaison suffisamment rare pour faire de ce vernis un indispensable. L'effet holographique est léger mais les paillettes se voient même à l'ombre et donnent un très beau fini. Vous le voyez en deux couches, sans top-coat, mais vous avez vu ce lacqué? et comme d'habitude, l'application est un pur bonheur.







Bien sûr, étant une fan de violet et de vernis holo, j'avais de quoi faire des comparaisons, même si je savais à l'avance qu'ils seraient tous différents. Sur l'index, c'est LOL de China Glaze, sur le majeur, Lady of the Lake et sur l'annulaire, Wild at Heart de Color Club.


Les vernis violets sont toujours plus bleus en photo, mais Lady of the Lake est vraiment violet et on voit bien que les paillettes sont plus visibles à l'ombre sur ce vernis que sur Wild at Heart par exemple.



Au flash, on voit bien que LOL est un holo "linéaire", Wild at Heart est un holo "scattered" et Lady of the Lake a des paillettes holographiques.
Je suis super, super fan de mes vernis a-england, je suis très impatiente de pouvoir en acheter d'autres: que ce soit des crèmes, des holos ou des shimmer, tous ont été un bonheur à appliquer, avec une superbe couvrance, un fini très lacqué et une très bonne tenue. C'est vraiment un succès total!!

7 comments:

  1. the a-england collection is amazing indeed!! This one is quite unique and such result without applying a top coat is incredible. You said that it had a really good wear, can it be compared to the opi quality? Where can I find this collection?

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  2. I would say the quality is more consistent than OPI, because with OPI you can never be sure how it's gonna be. A-england is only available online on their website: http://www.a-england.co.uk/

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  3. the best way to resist temptation is to give in to it as Oscar Wilde would say.....well, I gave in...again...! I've been looking at your Guenievre blog page many times and found it so precious and classy, but I think the decision maker was the Lady of the Lake! I was enchanted by the colour!
    I've just ordered 4 of them plus The Shield and Knight. I chose Guenievre, Tristam, Galahad, and of course Lady of the Lake that you displayed here...I was mesmerized by the colour and couldn't resist! I think you have all the others except Galahad so I'll probably send you some pics when I receive the consignment...I can't wait!!! Does it take them a long time to ship an order?

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  4. I don't have Tristram either, and I would be interested by side-by-side pic with Lady of the Lake. Usually orders are shipped fast, though I know Adina is waiting for her new collection to arrive so maybe it'll take a couple of days.

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  5. I received the box yesterday ! I have already tried on Lady of the Lake and Tristam....that's HEAVEN!!!! They are sO easy to apply on the nails and they dry so fast!!! The quality is amazing and the colours perfect! The result is glossy and smooth and packed up with so much mini glitter that it feels like the nail polish is 3D!!!This is quite funny but this afternoon I was in one of my classes and I was so bored and hopeless with them that I basically let myself drown in gazing at my mesmerizing nail polish (it was Tristam)! Trust me, for a few seconds I was VERY far away from where I was supposed to be! That's the power of nail polish, isn't it? I will take photos as soon as I can and send them to you!

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  6. Do you know what Adina's new collection will be about??? I'm so curious to see the new colours! A'England is REALLY an amazing discovery !!! Thanks Lelie!!!

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  7. It goes to show that nail polish is not only about colours but also about quality, it can make a world of difference!! I can't wait to possess all those beauties!
    I don't know what theme the new collection will be on, but I've read that it implied green and holo (I know though that it'll be a different legend, though I would have hoped for some "Gawain and the Green Knight" polishes!!)

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