MUG SHOT: The magic of a-england The Mythicals – Lady of the Lake, Tristam, Avalon and Perceval

You witnessed my first encounter with a-england last week at Nail Spa. It was love at first manicure. And you know how much I love this brand? I haven’t worn any other brand since. And for someone who changes her polish as often as I do, that means a lot.

a-england is the newish nail polish brand created by the fabulous Adina Bodana. (You will read more about her on Polish Police soon.) The London-based brand’s first collection is inspired by the rich and colorful Arthurian legend. It is Adina’s hope that polish fans will “crown their hands and feet” with the exquisite, regal and rich colors of a-england.

I have four of The Mythicals to show you today and I love every singe one of them. And that love will explain the avalanche of photos in this post.

Ready?

This is Lady of the Lake. You’ve seen her in my previous post but I still wanted to do proper swatches.

Lady of the Lake was named after the powerful woman who gave King Arthur the mythical sword Excalibur.

Adina describes this shade as “dusky purple with rainbow glimmer and glow.”

That’s pretty accurate. Lady of the Lake is a beautiful purple polish with crazy rainbow holo.

Lady of the Lake is gorgeous under any kind of light.

I love the formula.

It’s super smooth and glossy.

Two coats were perfect.

I had Lady of the Lake on my nails for a few days and I couldn’t stop staring at it. I still have it on my toes.

Outside, in the sun, Lady of the Lake goes crazy.

Check out the rainbow sparkle.

I thought I’d do something fun with my bottles of a-england. They are absolutely gorgeous glossy but I wanted to see how they would look mattified. I figured they’d look pretty cool as matte too.

And so I brought out my bottle of Essie Matte About You. And I was right. a-england kicked my matte test in the butt.

This is how Lady of the Lake looks with a matte top coat.

I love how the holo particles look frozen in time.

And I love that Lady of the Lake is super interesting whether it’s glossy or matte.

Nothing about this shade is boring.

This is Tristam.

Tristam was named after one of the Knights of the Round Table, the knight who fell in love with Iseult. Tristam is extra-special because he shares the name of Adina’s adorable little kitty.

Adina describes Tristam as “night blue sky with starlight glimmer and glow.”

If my night sky looked like Tristam, I’d want to camp out every night so I can fall asleep while staring at the stars.

It’s a breathtaking deep blue packed with holographic micro-glitter.

I love that even if Lady of the Lake and Tristam are both holographic, they look completely different. They don’t look like the exact same polish with just different base colors.

I love the depth of Tristam. I love that I see so many colors when I look at my nails, that I even see a little black there.

Like Lady of the Lake, Tristam’s formula is perfect.

This shade is just captivating.

This is what happened when Tristam met my matte top coat.

From night sky to blue denim.

Mattified Tristam reminds me of my favorite jeans.

Pretty cool.

Meet Avalon.

Avalon was named after the mystic isle that became the final resting place of King Arthur.

Adina describes Avalon as “incandescent regal and royal purple.”

We’ve all seen a thousand purples. But I have never seen a purple like Avalon.

It’s the most purple purple that ever purpled.

The color is so rich and majestic that it actually glows. It’s unreal.

The formula was perfect too.

Smooth and crazy glossy.

I used two coats.

I tried hard but my photos can’t do this color justice. It’s amazing.

And not even a matte top coat can dampen its brightness.

I swear, I’ve never seen matte polish glow before.

How can you blame me for being in love?

With all the holographic craziness I didn’t think Avalon would be my favorite out of the four.

But Avalon stole my heart and refused to let go.

Sadly, we have reached the last color, Perceval.

Perceval was named after another knight of the Round Table who became famous for his quest for the grail.

Adina describes Perceval as “splendid and resplendent red.”

Think of Perceval as Avalon’s red twin.

Yes, Perceval glows too.

Perceval is a really rich deep red.

I love that the edges look darker.

I love how fiery this shade is.

The formula is consistent with the other shades from a-england.

The pigment is rich and application is super easy.

Mattified Perceval looks beautiful too.

I’m wearing this now.

And I will be wearing this combination when I watch the last Deathly Hallows movie, in honor of Gryffindor.

It doesn’t matter if it’s matte or glossy.

Perceval is just sexy, sexy, sexy.

And that’s no surprise. Because a-england is sexy, sexy, sexy.

I seriously want every single color from this brand.

Adina has done Merlin proud – because what she has created is pure magic.

You can get your dose of a-england from a-england’s website or if you live in the Philippines, do what I did – visit Nail Spa. You may use a-england for free with Nail Spa’s Bliss services or for a small upgrade fee with other services. Some bottles are available for sale – they’re ₱700 each. Nail Spa has branches at Unit 106 1st Midland Building 109 Gamboa St. Legaspi Village Makati (8173128, 8300702), The Block @ SM City North Edsa (441-0323), Shangri-La Mall (687-4991, 687-7011) and Level 5 Rustan’s Makati (813-3739, 819-1610).