A England The Legend Collection Swatches & Review!!

Hey Everyone!

Well folks, I’ve FINALLY got A England The Legend Collection swatches to share with you today! Adina has done it again, telling a wonderful story with her polishes. This time she takes her inspiration from the story of St. George and the Dragon.

I apologize for these being so late but you know how that goes. Real life getting in the way of my fun. Plus I really wanted to get some pictures of these beauties in natural sunlight. Silly me, I forgot that I lived in the tundra and that the sun doesn’t plan on showing its face again until May. So I had to settle for “fake sun”, aka camera flash, for my swatches but they still show just how utterly beautiful all 7 of these polishes truly are.

You’re definitely going to need to enlarge all of these pictures, especially the “sunlight” photos in order to see each polish it its full glory! Not only are the majority of The Legend Collection polishes scattered holographics, but a few of them are ALSO multichromatic. Be still my fricken’ heart!

I used A England The Knight base coat and The Shield top coat for my swatches today.

St. George

We’ll start with St. George, an absolutely STUNNING deep teal green that glows from within with scattered holographic green and teal blue shimmer. This was the first of The Legend’s that I tried and I was instantly in love. The pigmentation is so rich that I could have easily stopped at 1 coat. I used 2 for swatching purposes. I got so many compliments while wearing this color, it’s just fabulous. Even in fluorescent lighting at my workplace the polish was still glowing from within.

Here’s St. George in low/indoor lighting. A little less holographic but still absolutely gorgeous.

And a macro shot, just look the depth of color here! It reminds me of a gemstone. ♥

Princess Sabra (Tristam Eyes)

Adina describes Princess Sabra as a “golden olive bronzite”and I’d have to say that the description is fairly accurate. While is stays mostly in the bronze category, the holographic shimmer ranges from gold, to silver, to a very slight green hue. Its alter name, Tristam Eyes, is a tribute to Adina’s handsome furry companion of the same name. His eyes are the same elusive shade of bronze liquid metal.

Here’s a quick picture of Tristam, courtesy of Adina’s twitter. You can see another gorgeous picture of Adina and Tristam on A England’s Facebook Page.

Here’s a shot of Princess Sabra without camera flash. I don’t have another color like this one in my collection. It’s a little sheer but built up nicely after 3 thin coats.

And finally a macro shot of Princess Sabra.

Dragon

Dragon. This color is… WOW. It leaves me breathless, speechless, and in love. If I had to imagine any polish perfectly embodying the scales of a dragon, this would be it. I feel like Dragon has set a standard that any other green polish must abide by, and it is now my favorite green polish. EVER. The polish is a beautiful mossy green, and when the gold pops through I am in heaven. I used 2 coats here.

If any of you have read GRRM’s A Song of Ice and Fire Series you’ll know what I mean when I say this polish reminds me of the mother of dragons: Daenerys and her ‘children’, Viserion, Rhaegal and Drogon.

Once again, I’ve never seen anything quite like this polish. Even in low light it’s still a gorgeous scale green shade.

Macro shot of Dragon. I’m sorry it’s so blurry! I didn’t realize it until I was already editing my photos.

Princess Tears

Princess Tears is the lighter of the two main holographic and multichromatic holo-chromatic (see what I did there?) polishes in this collection. It’s a delicate amethyst shade with a hint of a pale grey in certain lighting. In the latter picture above you can just see the grey peaking around the edges of the lilac. I ended up using 3 coats with this one, but I probably would have been fine with just 2 coats.

Here’s a shot of Princess Tears with camera flash. That’s when you pick up on the green that is subtly spread throughout the polish.

Your macro shot here. ^_^

Bridal Veil

Bridal Veil is one of the blackest black polishes that I own, and it’s filled with holographic glitter that gives it an almost celestial look. I used 2 coats here. This one NEEDS to been seen in person to fully appreciate it.

Bridal Veil in low light. The scatter takes a back seat but you’re still left with a wonderfully glossy and fast drying black. If you’re careful I’m sure you could make this work with 1 coat!

Macro shot of Bridal Veil, it’s like you’re peering into the galaxy. ^_^

Order of the Garter

And now for something entirely different, we have Order of the Garter. OotG is an astonishing shade of royal blue that is filled with shimmering glass flecks. This one took me by surprise, but in a good way! It was a little streaky for me on the first coat but evened out nicely after 3 thin coats.

Here’s a picture of Order of the Garter with camera flash. I can’t WAIT to wear this sucker as a pedicure this summer while I’m dipping my toes is the beautiful (and frigid!) Lake Superior.

Macro shot for ya, click for maximum pretties.

Ascalon

Ascalon is another holo-chromatic polish similar to Princess Tears, but this one is a mixture of a deeper lavender and gunmetal grey. I. LOVE. THIS. ONE. The color transition is strong and I have a weakness for grey polishes that knows no bounds.

This is 2 coats of heaven. I had no idea that this one was multichromatic until I put it on. And then I just oooh’d and ahhhh’d at my nails for hours. *le sigh*

Even in low light the scattered holo effect in Ascalon is fairly prevalent.

You can get a really good look at the color transition in this macro, so click on this baby and be merry.

☻

Final Thoughts:

Well honestly I’ve never been disappointed with an A England polish and The Legend Collection isn’t going to break that trend. All 7 of these polishes are wonderful. Deep pigments, buttery smooth application, and unique colors are the keynotes and I’m once again astounded by Adina’s creative mind. If I had to pick favorites they’d definitely be Ascalon, Dragon, and St. George. But honestly any of these would make a great addition to your stash. So what are you waiting for? Bring The Legend home.

Purchase Info:

You can take any polish from The Legend Collection home by visiting the A-England official website at www.a-england.co.uk, they retail at £9.00 per 13ml bottle of polish and free international shipping is offered. A-England polishes can also be purchased for $12.00/ea through their US stockists, Overall Beauty or Llarowe (check each site for their individual shipping & handling stipulations). They’re also available from the newer e-tailer, Ninja Polish for $10.50/ea.

* The product(s) in this post were sent to me for unbiased review consideration.