a england Order of the Garter

Order of the Garter was released by British indie polish maker a england as part of the The Legend collection in early 2012. It is a medium rich royal blue jelly with tone on tone iridescent glass fleck shimmers. The glass flecks produce a scintillating sparkle in the sun and provide a glowing lit from within look to the polish in shade and indirect light. At close range and certain viewing angles, you get to see bits of magenta and purple flashing from them, difficult to capture in a still photo but lending additional complexity and chromatic depth to this marvelous azure polish.

The polish was inspired by the Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, the highest order of chivalry and most prestigious honor (after the Victoria Cross and George Cross) in England and of the United Kingdom. The order's emblem is a garter, which is sort of like a small belt for holding up stockings and socks, with the motto Honi soit qui mal y pense (middle French: "shamed be the person who thinks evil of it") in gold lettering.

Jeweled star of the the Order of the Garter, with the blue enameled garter encircling a heraldic depiction of the cross on the shield of St. George, the patron saint of England (source)

Application began a bit trepidatiously, only because this polish goes on so sheerly at first. Being a jelly shimmer, that's pretty much par for the course but based on my previous experiences with a england lacquers I wasn't expecting it. However, Order of the Garter builds rapidly to rich color and opacity in two smooth, user-friendly coats. I added a third coat due to small disasters with two nails, which recovered beautifully, and I think I actually prefer the look of three coats at my current nail length. For shorter nails, two coats would certainly be sufficient. Cleanup is easy and non-staining, and Order of the Garter dries naturally to a smooth shiny finish. The addition of topcoat makes the most of the gorgeous color and the sparkling glass flecks.

Photos show three coats of Order of the Garter over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

a england Order of the Garter

a england Order of the Garter

a england Order of the Garter

a england Order of the Garter

a england Order of the Garter

a england Order of the Garter

a england Order of the Garter

a england Order of the Garter

a england Order of the Garter

a england Order of the Garter

There's a certain amount of moodiness to this variation of royal blue that befits the exclusive heritage of its inspiration and gives it the discriminating sophisticated vibe of a true jewel tone rather than the carefree breezy character typically embodied by bright blues. In dim indoor lighting it reads almost like a dramatic bright navy with a cerulean glow, which reminds me of London blue topaz, the deep sky blue variety of the gemstone. I love blue polish so I'm very pleased with Order of the Garter. It's got me wanting to try more of Adina's shimmers.

love,
Liz