a-England Ascalon ....... and Mattefied

Hi Goddesses  

Let's start today with a quiz question.   What do you get if you mix taupe, grey, a hint of purple and a soupcon of green ?  That's right MUSH.

Question Number 2 - what do you get if you add Adina Bodina to MUSH ??  Magic.   Somehow, some way, she made mush into magic.  Siiiiiiigh.

I love Adina dearly, I truly do.   3 of her polishes from her last collection made my all-time Top 10 (Lady of the Lake, Tristam, and Guinevere) and I was super stoked when I first heard that she would be releasing a new collection (I think she told me in November last year.)  What I was not in any way prepared for, was to look at that photos and think "meh".   Really.  Not one of them sang to me, called to me or even winked at me, and sadly, I thought there'd be no a-England polishes for me this year.

But do you know what?  These polishes are laced with some artistic cocaine that is irresistible, and finally, 3 months and about 493 blog posts later, I caved, and bought Dragon, St George and Ascalon.   How I turned up my nose up for so long, I do not know, for once again, they are laced with Adina's mastery - maybe I was just sulking because in a Collection based on the legend of St George, how could there not be a single red polish ?

Soooooooo, long story, and here we are, with Ascalon.   In the English lack of sunshine, it's hard to do this beauty justice - she's the colour of the cold photos, but with the dazzle that you see under the kitchen halogens.

So, back to the MUSH.   Ascalon changes colour according to the light, almost possessing a duochrome witchery.  More than anything, and don't laugh, this reminds me of a pigeon :)   Pigeons tend to be a warm grey, and every now and then you get a shimmer of lilac or a shimmer of green - that's Ascalon.

Zooming out, a-England are some of the finest quality polishes out there.    To me, there are only 4 brands that have what I would call Grade A holo - OPI, Glitter Gal, Ozotic and a-England,  Everything else, especially China Glaze, just fails in the comparison.  This is extremely rich, deeply intense holo, that not only bends with the light, but *contains* the light, releasing it in shimmery golden glows and waves.  

The thing that impresses me the most ?  Cover this beauty with a matte top coat, and this STILL doesn't go totally flat.  The gold goes into hiding, and the main colour settles into a dusty colour.  However, flex your fingers, and the lilac STILL finds a way to come out and play - how's that for intense ?!

I did not expect to love this so much under a matte top coat, but wow, once I matted it, I just wanted to coooooo and keep stroking it lol.

Super beautiful, beyond artistic - that's the magic of Adina.






Enjoy xx :)