Bench Work: A-England Elaine

Hello Lab Partners!

Before we get down to business, let me fill you in on the color used in yesterday's Mystery Mani. It was none other than Cult Nails Quench. Each week, we post the answer to the MMM in the comments section of the MMM post and on our FB page.

Now let's settle down to today's "Benchwork," a review of one of my relatively new a-england polishes. Fairly recently, I  purchased three a-englands from Llarowe, and for my first time out with them, I chose Elaine. I've been slightly obsessed with purple polishes lately, and the description of Elaine as "smoky, voilet-amethyst" sold me.

Elaine applies like a dream--totally streak-free and nearly opaque in one coat, completely opaque in two coats. The brush provides great control. I really like the color, but it's far more blue than I anticipated. In fact, in most lighting, it appears more of a very dark blue, with little to no violet. In other lighting, Elaine is a dark plum. It definitely applies slightly darker than it appears in the bottle:

A-England Elaine. Inside with flash. Here you can see that the color often appears very dark blue.

A-England Elaine. Here in natural light, Elaine is more plum, closer to the shade in the bottle.

Conclusions: Although Elaine isn't exactly what I expected, I adore it nevertheless. It's a great vampy, plum polish for fall and winter. If other a-englands apply anything like this one, I'll be thrilled.

What do you think of Elaine?

Sending lab love,

Allison