When I told you about the very pretty Tristam polish, reader Applegal mentioned about how awesome it would be to have a polish range named for the characters in the A Song of Fire and Ice fantasy series. You may not know the “A Song of Fire and Ice” fantasy book series written by George RR Martin, but you may remember the rage that was the HBO series last year – Game of Thrones. That was just Book 1 in this 5 book series (so far) and I look forward to the coming series.

Well lookee what I found, Applegal! 😀 The A-England polish that I would call “Lannister” or maybe even “Cersei”! 😀 Instead, its called Perceval (or maybe Percival) named after Sir Percival, one of the most virtuous and pious Knights of the Round Table. Ironic then, that the colour chosen for him would be a red like this one.

Perceval is a beautiful red that is just thrumming with life. Its hard to see in pictures, but when you look at the colour in real life, you will see the fire and life in it. A name like “Lannister” will definitely suit this one much better. The sigil of House Lannister is a golden lion on a red background and it is the most powerful House in Westeros and… I can just see the eyes of non-fantasy fans start to glaze over about now…. 😛

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I feel almost shabby following Peach_’s perfect polish application of the Dior Vernis in Forget-Me-Not with this poor rendering of nail polish. But I just had to show you one of my favourite polishes from A-England – Tristam.

I’m a little unsure as to the exact spelling. I used to think it was Tristan who was the Knight but it would appear that Tristam and Tristan and also Tristram are used interchangeably. The reason I place Tristam amongst my faves is the colour. Just look at it.

It is a deep denim blue, with shimmer evenly spread out in the formula and on the nails, it looks like stars sprinkled across an inky dark blue sky. Its a beaut!

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I love the Arthurian legends. I grew up convinced I could pull a sword from a stone… provided I could find one, and that pale arms will appear from the middle of a lake if I threw a sword into it. I wanted a sword named Excalibur and I wanted to be a Knight of the Round Table, and have a wizard called Merlin.

It never once crossed my mind that they didn’t exist. Why shouldn’t it? 😀

Perhaps that’s why I went to England – to see if King Arthur does exist and if there are any modern day Knights of the Round Table (Answer: No and No 😛 )

Anyway, a reader Yin Huei wrote me one day and told me to check out a-England nail polishes. They are a little outfit from the UK and the minute I hopped to the store, I knew I was sold. Every single polish in the store is named after an Arthurian character. Gah! I wanted every single one! Nevermind that I don’t use polish – I’d learn goshdarnit!

I picked up a couple just for testing purposes (there are a couple of sets available for a limited period only), and today I bring you my New Year manicure in a blingy golden silver haze of Holy Grail and Merlin.

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