When I found out about this collection back in July, I was pumped! I LOVE Tudor history...especially anything to do with Henry the VIII's wives. The collection is inspired by the wives of Henry VIII and the iridescent thread of the brocade fabrics they wore.
Anne Boleyn has always been a favorite of mine, I loved watching The Tudors when it was on, and I even frequent a blog about
Anne Boleyn. The collection has four polishes named and styled after four of Henry's wives. He had six wives, but the four in the collection were the four that did not fare so well in their marriage to him.
Catherine
Catherine is named after Henry's first wive, Catherine of Aragon. He was married the longest to her and had one child, Mary I (Bloody Mary) with her. As she aged, and it was obvious she would never bear him a make heir, he grew tired of her.
The polish is a dusty purple with pink, blue, purple, and gold shimmer. My camera made this *slightly* warmer than it is in real life, but it's actually not too far off.
Anne
As I said before, Anne Boleyn has always been a favorite of mine. She's gotten a bad rap throughout history, and it's just recently where some of the myth's about her have been dispelled. RBL's website even calls her a sorceress. She was not. She did, however, have A LOT of enemies in her time. Henry left Catherine of Aragon for her, plus she was very prominent during the reformation of the Catholic church in England. In the end, she was charge with treason (completely trumped up charges I might add) and beheaded. She gave Henry one child, Elizabeth I. I always think it amazing that the woman who was demonized in her time gave birth to one of England's greatest monarchs!
Anne is my favorite polish in this collection. It's so beautiful! It's olive green with gold and fuchsia/pink shimmer. I have a feeling it will end up in my top 20 polishes!
Jane
Jane is named after Jane Seymour, Henry's third wife. It is said that she was his favorite...possibly because she gave birth to his one and only son, Edward I. Throughout history Jane was portrayed as a meek, mild woman. Actually, she was probably as conniving as Anne, just a bit more subtle about it. Henry was betrothed to Jane the day after Anne was executed. Tragically, Jane died from complications just two weeks after the birth of her son.
The nail polish Jane, is a putty color with a very subtle gold/slight green shimmer. My pictures are kind of crappy, so I do apologize. My middle fingernail had a bubble, and I smudged that same nail. But I did like that I caught some of the shimmer. It's MUCH easier to see in the bottle than on the nail. This is totally a color that I normally wouldn't go for, but once I put it on I was able to appreciate how pretty it is!
Catherine H
I don't know as much about Catherine Howard as I do about the other wives of Henry VIII. She was his fifth wife and very young when they were married. They did not have any children together, although it is said that he really was in love with her. He was probably in love with her youth...but unfortunately it was that youth that was her downfall. She was convicted of treason (pretty much she cheated on him) and met the same unfortunate fate as Anne Boleyn.
The color of this polish is really pretty. It's wedgewood blue with purple/blue/pink shimmer. You see the shimmer more in the bottle as it gets lost a bit on the nail though.
The formula and pigmentation on these, like any RBL polish, was phenomenal. These could all have been 2-coaters if I was a bit more careful when applying. I used 3, but I tend to use VERY thin coats.
What do you all think of this collection? I do like every polish in it. Anne, is of course, my favorite. I think I like Catherine H SLIGHTLY more than Catherine, and then Jane is my least favorite (but still very pretty).
Thanks for stopping...Have a great Monday! :)
