A-England - The Legends

Can we do them justice? Probably not. But let's try.

All shown alone, without base and top coats.




Princess Sabra, a k a Tristam Eyes. Any cat owner can tell why. It's the cat eye green we all adore. Three coats.


(Swatching companion.)



Dragon. Perfect green holo with a slight orange flash, which is unfortunately practically undetectable in these photos. Two coats.





Saint George. Deep emerald green, and a personal request from Adina (she does listen to the fanbase!). Two coats!

And while we're at it, although you've been able to read about the myths elsewhere and my post is terribly picture heavy already and I was going to exclude it, let me show you a few Saint Georges of my hometown of Stockholm. That guy is huge here.

Wooden sculpture from 1489, in Storkyrkan, in the most ancient part of Stockholm, called Gamla Stan (The Old Town).

And here is a replica made from bronze, placed only a few blocks away from the church, at Köpmantorget in Gamla Stan. This copy is exactly one hundred years old. Of course I had to find a photo where it's snow-covered - it's Sweden for heaven's sake.

In this case, Saint George, or Sankt Göran in Sweden, is actually Sten Sture the Elder, a regent often referred to as king, who once saved the city of Stockholm from the dragon - the Danish. This was during a period of time when Sweden strived for sovereignty from a pretty loose union with Denmark, ruled by the Danish king. This dude successfully managed to keep Russia out of Finland (which was at the time a part of Sweden), and eventually, after his death, the Swedish struggle made the country a nation after a serious amount of bloodshed. So, in short, Sankt Göran is the symbol of Swedish independence. However, he never managed to maneuver out the already widely used image of Saint Erik as the symbol of Stockholm (don't mess with our Eric the Holy!).

History lession finished, now, let's continue the bling.




Princess Tears. Two, or was it three?, coats. It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a holo, it's a duochrome - no, it's a holo and a duochrome! The holo effect is among the stronger in the collection, and the sheen of pink and barely detectable green over it... And this shade surprised me in a positive way. I've seen violet holos before, but this is bottled magic.




Ascalon. Three coats, but two would have been enough. Like Princess Tears but with a charcoal base. Copy and paste superlatives from the description of Princess Tears here.




Bridal Veil. Two coats. Jet black subtle space in a bottle. I love spaces in bottles.




Order of the Garter. Three coats. The oddball of the collection - it's "just" a plain ol' shimmer. But a pretty one. This is a blue you'll have to see for yourselves, it's not as good in photos as it is in reality. I was positively surprised by this one too. Magnify the macro if you don't believe me!

Also, it matches my jar of snus.


This collection has been widely anticipated, and it doesn't disappoint. Personally, I actually like it even more than I first thought I would. Since I'm known to be much more of a duochrome lover than a holo ditto, the added duochrome pigments to a few of the shades made me a happy lacquerista. I have never been afraid of admitting to being an A-England fan, and my love for the brand continues with this release. Three green holos?! Yeah. And although I asked for Saint George, I'm actually leaning towards Dragon being my favourite of the three. And both Ascalon and Princess Tears are obvious favourites of mine.

Formula was good, as usual, though some are more sheer than others. Three coats of Order of the Garter could still show a bit of visible nail line, but that's okay. Ascalon and Princess Tears are a bit thick and needed some extra effort, but that's okay too.

The Legends will soon be available on the official A-England website, and in the meantime, if you missed out, read this interview with the fabulous and fanbase oriented brand proprietor Adina.

Swedish word of the day:
legendarisk -adjective legendary
These shades will be.