And now, for something completely different

One of the things that amazes me about nail polish is that no matter how many brands you try, there is always something new and amazing you've never seen before. Lately I've been much more interested in trying new-to-me brands, particularly those available exclusively overseas.

It is, of course, possible to get almost anything stateside, whether it's through eBay or a blog sale or a friendly pal in Europe or Asia who will send things to you. Getting polishes across the ocean, however, can require you to throw a great deal of money out the window on shipping. Most of the time that is unavoidable.

Happily, some brands do sales and promotions that make it a little easier to splash out on non-US brands. a-england is a UK brand that's doing a sale this month with totally free international shipping and while the polishes are not what I'd call cheap, I was only too willing to take advantage.

a-england's Mythicals ocllection includes 15 lacquers named after characters in the Arthurian legends, as well as a basecoat and topcoat. I ordered three polishes on June 2 and received them in my mailbox on June 8, which was super awesome especially considering the free shipping.

Lady of the Lake, Tristam, Guinevere

Tristam and Lady of the Lake are holos and Guinevere is a dusty-looking creme. I decided to wear Tristam first because the base blue color is pretty unique in my collection.

These polishes are crazily pigmented and apply really well. I don't have a base coat that's specifically for holos, but I just used my good old Palladio bonding base coat and it was fine.

a-england polishes are £9 (or about $14.60), so these polishes are on the higher end of the price spectrum with Illamasqua or Deborah Lippman. Throw in the free shipping and the price is a bit easier to swallow.

Next I'm planning on trying some Ozotics from Australia and perhaps some UK-exclusive Illamasquas...fun!