A England Holy Grail, Dragon and She Walks in Beauty

It's the last day of Indie week on All Things Nails, and I have 2 untried A Englands so I thought I'd try something I've seen done by Lucy and Anna

I did a base coat using A England Holy Grail ( this is the older Holy Grail, which is more gold, there is now a new version which is more bronze). This painted on beautifully but is absolutely not my colour on its own, so it will be used under glitters and for my occasional forays into nail art!!

A England Holy Grail

 

What I wanted to try is called a "ruffian", which is bit like a half moon mani but the base part of the second coat is curved in the same way as the base of the nail itself, you just start painting from higher up. I probably haven't described it very well. I painted the whole nail in Holy Grail, and then I added  a coat of A England Dragon, in exactly the same way as I would normally paint my nails but starting about 2mm further up the nail.

I think this would probably have worked better with 2 more similar shades, maybe Princess Sabra with Dragon but you don't know if you don't try! Dragon is a beautiful olive green with  a lovely subtle holographic shimmer, which of course my camera can't see! I will certainly be using this green again soon, it's just gorgeous!

A England Holy Grail and Dragon

 

I then had to have a little play, so sticking with A England I have added a glitter gradient using She Walks in Beauty. This is a combination of pink hexagons of glitter in a gold shimmery base, which I thought would help soften the contrast between Holy Grail and Dragon. I think it was worth trying and it is much prettier in real life, the camera has either ignored the shimmer or made it look too solid: it is much softer to the naked eye. The last couple of shots capture it quite well.

A England She Walks in Beauty gradient

  

 

  

Leighton Denny Little Thief

Today I am wearing one of my favourite pinks. I am not a pinky pink person, when it comes to light colours I prefer nude shades but when I came across this one I fell in love. Little Thief is a dusky pink, and I have it stored in the nudes section of my collection. I also have Leighton Denny Whatever, which is a similar tone but a shade lighter. I love them both.
I got this in a box set with In the Buff, which I wore and blogged a couple of weeks back.
I used 2 coats and coverage was perfect.
Pictured here, with my matching Aran sweater. I think it was this sweater and polish combi that the children at school noticed in their knitting lessons, and commented on that started this idea of trying to match my nails to my knitwear.

  

I had actually been planning to do a gradient manicure over this, had it all planned out, even done a dry run but it just wasn't working for me today, and so I just did a full coat of A England She Walks in Beauty. She Walks in Beauty is an interesting combination of pink hexagons of glitter in a gold shimmery base and until I had done my dry run I wasn't sure about pink and gold, but I'm pleased with the result. Gradient manicure will have to wait.

First picture indoors with flash, second outside in daylight with snow :)

Nails Inc Porchester Square

This is a varnish that I absolutely love, it goes with everything, paints on beautifully and its just perfect.
I had all sorts of things planned for this week, it being Orange week in the facebook group but a job opportunity meant that maybe orange wasn't the thing to wear.
When I used to work, I didn't paint my nails, I just kept them out of sight but once I got into nails I decided very early on Porchester Square would be the perfect interview/meeting varnish. Its a beautiful soft slightly pinky nude, which I prefer to the warmer toffee shades.
And once again, I don't have any nude/beige gloves so its modelled here with grey gloves.

I then had a little play around with A England She Walks In Beauty, and having managed to survive a ring finger manicure last week I have now done another one. I am still not sure it is my style but I felt quite comfortable with it. (But I did redo it back to normal for my meeting!)
This is a beautiful glitter, pink hexagon glitter glitter in a gold shimmery base. I am not keen on gold on nails but this is very subtle and goes well with the nude, in my opinion.