a-England Crown Your Hands and Feet in Tristam

This is my 3rd bottle of a-England, and my first holographic one. I have two others in Galahad and Iseult, and they are both very pretty but flat. So I decided to try one of those oh-so-sparkly ones.

a-England in Tristam

Available: SG Nails, $18. a-England's website, GBP 7.


Volume: 13 ml


Star Properties: Glamourous, unique, alluring, with a passion for England, its gothic charm and glory (taken from a-England website).

Packaging
What really attracts me to this polish is not so much the shape or size of the bottle, but the beautiful silver print of the a-England word that is a manifestation of the gothic charm from palaces, knights, ladies, and princesses from England of old.

Color
I chose Tristam because I have seen too many people wearing the greens like St George and Dragon, and I didn't want to choose red or gold, because I don't normally wear red and gold to work.

Tristam is a midnight purple that leans on blue, iridescent, delightful and sparkling as though you were staring at stars in a deep black night.

Paint Quality
I couldn't apply this well, as the paint was like glue, comes out thick and dries pretty fast. It does not automatically spreads out evenly, like all my OPIs always does.

I didn't have a problem with paint when I used Galahad, which is not a holographic color.

Brush
As you can see, the brush also was not good enough to grab the paint properly, and the paint goes onto my cuticles. But I think it's alright since the stray paint can be easily scratched off under soap and water.

However, Tristam was a big disappointment for me given the hype over a-England polishes.

Finish
The finish is glossy and smooth, not rough at all, as the sparkle are so finely milled.

Quick Dry
Despite the thickness of the paint, this dries really fast, so this is a thumbs up.

I give this 3/5.
It's a beautiful unique color that I enjoy looking at, but the paint quality is bad, and the brush is not helping. Strangely, some people say their Tristam is alright. So I guess it all depends on luck, and whether you want to give it a shot.

To be honest, I really don't think a-England polishes are must-buys, as the color Galahad and Iseult that I have both pretty common and flat 1-dimensional. I am quite sure you will find similar ones in OPI and China Glaze, Deborah Lipmann, etc.

Do you own any a-England polishes? Which is your favorite?

Posted in: 3 hearts,nails,NOTD,reviews