Red Obsession: Butter London Pillar Box Red (and Comparisons)

Finally.  FINALLY!  We've made it to the last of the "Red Obsession" reds!  If you've been sticking with me, we've been through Essie Limited Addiction, Rescue Beauty Lounge Chinoise, Butter London Come to Bed Red, and OPI Keys to My Karma.  I now present to you the final installment in the series - Butter London Pillar Box Red.

Can't describe this one too much better than what you see here in the photos.  It's a bright, fire engine (or for you British girls - Pillar Box!) red.  Similar to RBL Chinoise, but we'll get to that later.  It's got a great formula, and applies perfectly in two coats.  I wouldn't say it applies like as much of a dream as its sister Come to Bed Red, but it's pretty darn close.

 (click to enlarge)

 (click to enlarge)

A lovely red.  It looks almost identical to RBL Chinoise in the bottle (and suuuuuper close on the nail), but I promise you it really is a smidge cooler-toned than Chinoise.  For that reason, most folks may find it to be a bit easier to wear.  My skin tone (as wacky as it is) seems to lean a bit warm, so I actually prefer Chinoise, which I fell IN LOVE with.  Pillar Box Red falls a little flat for me.

Now, time for comparisons!  I apologize for two things here:

1) I had to use a "claw" pose.  It's just the only way I could get all five colors in one photo.

2) It's really MUCH easier to tell these colors apart in real life.  I just could NOT get the camera to differentiate any better.  Huge sad.

Thumb to Pinky:  Essie Limited Addiction, BL Come to Bed Red, OPI Keys to My Karma, BL Pillar Box Red, RBL Chinoise

 And, up close of the four closest alike (I swear, there IS a difference between Pillar Box Red and Chinoise!):

(L) to (R):  BL Come to Bed Red, OPI Keys to My Karma, BL Pillar Box Red, RBL Chinoise

So, now that I've hit you with all five at once, here are my overall thoughts:

• Limited Addiction:  Great deep "va-va-voom" red.  A little on the streaky side, but a MUST have in my book.
• Come to Bed Red:  In one word:  AMAZING.  The formula on this one straight up knocked my socks off.  I think it's the best formula polish I've ever used.  Seriously.  Totally worth the $14.  You need this one.
• Keys to My Karma:  I love red jellies, but this one almost leans a little too pink for me.  You can also tell by my cuticles that it doesn't clean up super nicely.  If you're a red jelly hoor (like me), snag it, but otherwise I think you can pass.
• Pillar Box Red:  I think I'm gonna have to say pass on this one.  It's lovely, but for just the color, I prefer Chinoise (even at the higher price tag), and for Butter London, I'd suggest Come to Bed Red over this one any day.
• Chinoise:  If you haven't guessed by now, I LOVE this one.  Great formula, super pigmented.  Totally worth it for me.  I'd buy this one 100 times over.

Well, there ya have it, folks!  Red Obsessions comes to a close, just in time for the imminent release of Spring collections (OMG.OPI.HOLLAND.I.DIE!).  So what do you guys think?  Do you own any of these reds?  What are your favorites?  I'd love to hear your opinions on these!

butter LONDON Slapper

Last up in my new butter LONDON adds is Slapper.  This bright bright turquoise borders on neon and is full of awesome.  I did a quick check and I don't have anything even close to it.  This was two coats because of a few bald spots, but for a dead on creme this went on wonderfully.  Now I know why Courtney loves the butter LONDON formula so much.

I had the WORST time trying to capture this color.  Whats funny is these pictures on Blogger look a little better than the raw ones, but this still isn't close.  So please don't judge on this.  I'd say it's a tiny more green and definitely brighter.  I have a pretty hard time describing this one.  It does remind me of OPI Fly from the Nicki Minaj collection that I saw at my local salon this week.  Not sure if they are dead on dupes or not though.  Unfortunately with this one, if you need to know the exact color you might need to go see it in person.  I took pictures in different lights to try to help you see the truth.

butter LONDON Slapper
direct sunlight, probably the closest to true color
SLR camera

butter LONDON Slapper
light box with SLR camera

butter LONDON Slapper
direct sun, point and shoot camera

butter LONDON Slapper
direct sun, point and shoot camera

butter LONDON Slapper
light box, point and shoot camera

Slapper basically means whore :) which cracks me up.  See?

Slapper   |   slap- er   |  
Brit-speak for ”slut”.


Pretty hilarious.  This slutty polish will cost you $14 at Ulta or Nordstroms!

butter LONDON Knackered

Up next from the butter LONDON Spring 2012 collection is Knackered, which has been described as sheer twinkling oyster shade flecked with micro-glitter particles by creative director Nonie Creme.  Well it's definitely sheer.  This is 4 coats.  The first coat is super sheer, so this would probably be great for layering.  It's a multi-chrome that flashes between lavender, green, and silver.  On top of that, we've got holographic flecks of shimmer.  This polish is so pretty.  I've got OPI's Not Like the Movies, which is similar.  I haven't tried it yet though, so I'll have to compare them.  They definitely aren't dupes, but the question will be do you need both.

butter LONDON Knackered

butter LONDON Knackered

butter LONDON Knackered

Some pictures to highlight those holographic flecks.

butter LONDON Knackered

butter LONDON Knackered

And now moving around to try to show off the multi-chrome.

butter LONDON Knackered

butter LONDON Knackered

So why the name Knackered?  Let's go to our trusty butter LONDON dictionary! So this polish is named after being exhausted?  Hmm...

Knackered   |   nak-erd  |  
To be tired or exhausted. “Wow, you look knackered. What did you get up to last night?!”

Interesting name choice.  This polish certainly doesn't make me feel sleepy, or remind me of a hung-over morning.  Oh well.  It's beautiful and special and I'm happy to have it in my collection.  And you can add it to yours for $14.  Find it at Nordstroms or Ulta today!!!

butter LONDON Disco Biscuit

So butter LONDON's Spring 2012 collection just came out and I happened to be at Nordstrom's Saturday night so I picked up 3 out of the 5.  First up to show you is Disco Biscuit, which is a hilariously fun name, and an equally fun color.  

Let's start with the name.  The handy dandy butter LONDON dictionary tells us:

Disco Biscuit   |   ˈdiskō ˈbiskit  |  
A club term from the rave days of the early 90’s for a tablet of Ecstasy.

Now the color - it's full on party, so the name is appropriate.  It's a bright pink jelly with gorgeous blue shimmer that does not hide at all.  This is SO SO SO fun.  And girly.  This would be a great girls martini night polish.  The formula is pretty great, as jellies usually are.  It flowed perfectly.  On the other hand, cause it's a jelly it's pretty sheer.  This was 4 thin coats.  It dries a little matte, so it dries pretty quickly.  The first set of pictures are without a top coat, so you can see the texture and sparkle.  The sparkly looks totally different when it's got top coat on it.  Make sure you click to enlarge!

butter LONDON Disco Biscuit

butter LONDON Disco Biscuit

butter LONDON Disco Biscuit

Now for some top coat.  I loved this before, but with top coat it is something else entirely.  It's a subtle transformation, but it totally puts this polish on steroids.  Between the shine, the squishy texture, and the way the blue shimmer comes alive and seems to float in the pink lacquer.  Swoon!

butter LONDON Disco Biscuit with top coat

butter LONDON Disco Biscuit with top coat

butter LONDON Disco Biscuit with top coat

Disco Biscuit just came out so there won't be any worries on snatching this up.  You can find it today at Ulta or Nordstroms for $14 a bottle.  I also picked up Knackered and Slapper.  Which do you want to see tomorrow?

Christmas Mani 1: China Glaze Party Hearty over butter LONDON British Racing Green

It's been 23 days since I posted :(.  Epic Fail.

They say the guide to successful change is to set a goal and then go public.  So I'm setting a goal today, and I'm going public so ya'll can hold me accountable.  I will post every day in January.  I have so many untrieds no, changing my mani everyday will be necessary just to get caught up.  Plus I really need to start making an effort to take better care of my nails and cuticles; I've really fallen off the band wagon!

So what better way to usher out 2011 by sharing with you my 1st Christmas mani, which I wore a few weeks ago in NYC for SantaCon.  For those of you that don't know what SantaCon in, thousands (I think) of people dress up as Santa and parade around NYC to different meeting points.  I decided this year to go as a Christmas Tree, complete with lights.  The costume was particularly a big hit once it got darker out and lots of children said "She looks like a Christmas Tree!", which led us to promptly give out my candy cane decorations.  We had a ball, and my manicure was just the icing on the cake.

Blending in with the kin!

I'm a Christmas Tree at SantaCon!

For this manicure, I started off with butter LONDON's British Racing Green, which Courtney reviewed here.  I'd have to say, Courtney did a great job showcasing this polish.  Its a beautiful forest green with shimmer.  I was really really happy with this polish, especially since it's been sitting in my untrieds since St. Patrick's Day!  I also thought it made a really stellar backdrop for China Glaze's Party Hearty, which Courtney just wore as well.  And while you may feel the need to skip on a $14 bottle of green polish when there are so many others out there, skipping out on Party Hearty would be very sad indeed!  Like Courtney mentioned, while it is discontinued, you can still find it.  And I urge you to look :)!

China Glaze Party Hearty over butter LONDON British Racing Green

China Glaze Party Hearty over butter LONDON British Racing Green

I'm a big fan of this.  I think British Racing Green is just the right shade for this combo.  I do like it better than Courtney's swatch of it over China Glaze's Jolly Holly.  British Racing Green can be bought at Ulta or off the butter LONDON website.  Party Hearty will take more work - heed Courtney's advice and snag this one off of Ebay!

Butter London West End Wonderland

Last weekend the hubby and I went to visit my parents in Richmond, Virginia.  It's a yearly tradition of going out to our favorite restaurant, The Tobacco Company for their AH-MAZE-ING blackened prime rib (yummmmmm!) and then riding around looking at tacky Christmas lights.  It's actually been WAY too long since we've been able to visit them at Christmas time, so we were long overdue, but I was super excited!

I wore this sparkly sequined golden top under a black blazer to dinner, so I thought it'd be the perfect chance to wear Butter London West End Wonderland.  It's a golden glitter made up of two different colors - your typical pale yellow old, and more sparse orange-y gold.  You can see both colors in these photos, and it's what makes it so special.  The texture is that super fine glitter (like Henley Regatta) that Butter London does so well and makes it easy to smooth over with just a couple coats of top coat.  You can definitely build this one to opacity, but it'll take you at least 3-4 coats.  I'd recommend layering it to preserve the precious! I used two coats of West End Wonderland over OPI Glitzerland.

 (click to enlarge)

 (click to enlarge)

I'm really no typically into gold tones, but I LOVE this!  It's a more delicate glitter look (thanks to the fine textured particles), but it still sparkles out the wazoo.  I was actually surprised at how much I loved it, and I'd even say it seriously rivals OPI Spark de Triomphe for the title of my Favorite Gold Glitter.  I was head over heels for that one, so I think that says a lot.  I think it'd be perfect for Christmas or New Year's, and it's TOTALLY worth the price for me!

And now for the name!  Apparently (forgive me UK girls, I'm still learning here!) London's West End is akin to New York City's Broadway.  Makes perfect sense that its namesake polish is a golden sparklefest!

Ironically, Richmond, Virginia also has a "West End," and it just so happens to be where my parents live.  It's certainly not anything like Broadway (though there is a Broad Street!), but it IS where I had a fantabulous lunch date with Rach from stuff i (s)watched!  FINALLY met her for the first time!  We met for honey mustard (the food is just a vehicle for the dressing) at O'Charley's, which was decided upon based off a mutual fondness for the dressing that we discovered when Rach posted her review of Barielle Aura Angora.  Check out her post, and you'll understand why!

I had a blast at lunch with Rach, and she's every bit as funny and easy-going as her blog posts.  Surprisingly we didn't talk much about nail polish, but there was much discussed over the awesomeness of Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, and the Jersey Shore (only on our blogs would those three shows go in the same sentence) and the equally terrible turrible Two and a Half Men.  In short, she's awesome, but we all knew that anyway, right?!  :-D  Hold on to your hats, ladies and gents, 'cause we've got another stash swap coming up soon!!

Butter London Primrose Hill Picnic

I admit that usually I have a long, drawn out reasoning behind just about every polish I put on.  With so many untrieds, I have to find something that makes one polish say "Choose me!" over the others.  After a long and exhausting Thanksgiving weekend, and the unnecessarily long removal of Warm & Fozzie, I just needed something quick and easy, and it really doesn't get any easier than a creme finish.  (I really thought there wasn't much methodology behind this choice, but I guess I was wrong, lol.)  It's definitely not a Holiday-season appropriate color, but Primrose Hill Picnic has been sitting in my untrieds for far long enough, so it was time to bust that baby out!

For all of us Yankees across the pond, my trusty Butter London Dictionary tells me that Primrose Hill is a "famous park in North West London frequented by rock stars, yummy mummies, actors, and paparazzi."  Sounds like a place that celebs like to go to be sure they'll be photographed - much like The Ivy restaurant in Los Angeles.  Don't famewhores just make you all warm and fuzzy inside?  Bleh.

Anywho, on to the polish!  Primrose Hill Picnic is a heavily blue-leaning bright pink creme.  Even bluer than these photos show, but not quite as bright.  Definitely not a neon.  Blogger didn't really like this color at all and tried to mutate it into some weird salmon-y color when I uploaded my photos.  Photobucket saves the day again!  Phew!  The formula was perfect (as expected), and I this is two coats below.

(click to enlarge)

(click to enlarge)

Such a gorgeous pink!  It definitely falls hard on the cool-toned side, but I think it's well suited even on my heavily yellow-toned skin.  I actually think it would look PERFECT with a Butter London Blagger pedi.  I'll have to try that in the spring when I can actually show it off!

So, at $14 a bottle, do you NEED Primrose Hill Picnic?  Probably not, but I can't really think of any dupes for this color either.  I find that most pinks lean heavily on the warm side (which looks AWFUL on me - see OPI Sparrow Me the Drama here), so this is a great option for cool-toned girls.  I'd say definitely keep this one on your lists for springtime - it'd make a great pedi color itself!

So whaddaya think about Primrose Hill Picnic?  Love it?  Hate it?  Own it?  On your Christmas List?  :-)

The Black Knight Takes a Trip to Outer Space

Quick post for you guys today!  I try to come up with great layering ideas on my own, but it seems like the truly awesome ones come from others.  When I posted my photos of  The Black Knight on the nail board, a lovely lady threw out a question of what it might look like with Lynnderella Bride of Franken layered over it.  GENIUS!  The bad part?  I no haz Bride of Franken.  :-(

Improvisation to the rescue!  I grabbed the closest thing I had, Sinful Colors Hottie (dupey to OPI Last Friday Night - I guess not really that close to Bride of Franken), and slapped one coat over The Black Knight.  I couldn't have even predicted how awesome it would turn out!  Definitely click to enlarge these photos to see everything that's going on here!

 (click to enlarge)

It's like The Black Knight on steroids...in space!  It's like a galaxy of multi-colored, multi-sized stars on my nails.  I never would've put this combo together on my own, but it was soooo sparkly and colorful, and I LOVED it!  If you own these two colors (or Last Friday Night), RUN - don't walk - to try this combo out!  It's amaaaaazing!

So now, maybe if we all bat our eyelashes at Jessie, she'll show us Bride of Franken over The Black Knight (when she gets it)!  Pretty pretty pleeeeease?  :-D

Butter London The Black Knight

I try not to get the Lemming Monster get to me too bad, but sometimes something so good comes out I just can't help but give in.  I really thought after my big Ulta Buy 1 Get 1 haul in September that I was pretty set on Butter Londons for a while.  Famous last words, right?  Just a couple weeks later the lovely Mary from Body and Soul posted the promo images for Butter London's Holiday collection, and I was sucked in.  Now, Butter London (as much as I adore them) have just as bad a habit as OPI of using these strange "artist rendering" images instead of real bottle photos, but even then I just knew that I had to have The Black Knight!  I feverishly stalked my local Ulta, but impatience got the best of me, so I just ordered it from the Butter London website.

The Black Knight is a mixture of pink, blue, and golden glitter suspended in a black base.  Butter London says that third color of glitter is silver, but I swear it looks more gold to me.  Shrugs.  The base is a little on the sheer side, so you'll definitely need two coats (which is what I'm showing you here), unless you choose to layer it over black.  The application is less than ideal, and that's sugar-coating it.  It's SO jam-packed with glitter that's it's thick as molasses and doesn't spread very well.  I thinned the crap out of it twice and still fought with it to get a smooth application.  And then of course it dries super gritty, so it took one thick coat of Gelous, followed by one thick coat of Seche Vite to smooth it out, and then a coat of my OPI Designer Series top coat the next day for good measure.  The redeeming quality?  It looks like THIS:

(click to enlarge)

(click to enlarge)

Hubba HUBBA!  That is worth the struggle.  I love it!  Sparkly and mysterious all in one!  Heinous application aside, this polish is pretty darn fabulous.  And can we talk about the name?  Hubby loves it because it reminds him of this:

I love it because it reminds me of this:

I'm invincible!!

So, at $14 a pop, do you need The Black Knight?  I'd say if you're not a fan of glitter or if you've got semi-decent frankening skillz (see recipe here at Chalkboard Nails), you can pass on this one.  Otherwise, grab your bottle of polish thinner and grab this sucker while you can!  :-D

The Black Knight always triumphs!

Another Look: butter LONDON Wallis

So after Courtney totally flipped over butter LONDON's Wallis, I grabbed this with a Zappos.com gift card  I earned with my credit card points.  I wasn't so sure about this when I ordered it, but I figured since I had nothing like it, why not try it!  In general I have really loved all my butter LONDON polishes, and while the formula was great for me on Wallis, the color was so NOT me at all!

Wallis is a tarnished green/gold color, and like Courtney said in her review, goes on like a foil.  I particularly partial to foils.  I just really can't get past how gold this looks on me.  The green is there, but barely.  Even in the shade (pictures below), it's still so gold.  What's interesting is looking at these pictures, I don't hate it on my skin tone, but it's just not me and I know I would never wear it.  So unfortunately this one is going in the blog sale pile for me.

butter LONDON Wallis

butter LONDON Wallis

butter LONDON Wallis

butter LONDON Wallis in the shade

Wallis is part of the Fall 2011 collection.  You can still get it at Ulta or at butter LONDON's website for $14.  What do you think about these weird green/golds? Are you a fan like Courtney or a hater like me?

Red Obsession: Butter London Come to Bed Red

Remember a while back when I was so disappointed that I already owned a dupe for Butter London Bluey that I decided to re-home it?  Well, my partner-in-crime Jessie made me an offer I couldn't refuse.  I sent Bluey her way, and she bought me a brand new Butter London of my choice.  Of course this was during the time of my massive red creme haul, so I decided on MUA fan favorite Come to Bed Red.

What a name, huh?!  For once, I don't think I need to give any kind of definition or interpretation for the name.  Come to Bed Red is a get-his-attention, va-va-voom red, so use your imagination!  ;-)  You may be thinking this looks awfully close to RBL Chinoise that I showed you a few weeks ago, but I promise you that's just due to my lighting conditions and poor photo editing.  While Chinoise is a warm, almost orange-leaning red, Come to Bed Red is more of a neutral, true red.  Like, Crayola "Red" crayon red.  As if the color wasn't gorgeous enough, the formula and application on this one was AH-MAZE-ING.  UNBELIEVABLE.  It was super pigmented (almost a one-coater!), but it flowed so smoothly I almost fell off the couch.  I find most Butter London formulas to be smooth and easy to apply, but this was the cream of the crop.  Total perfection!  This is two coats I'm showing you here.

 (click to enlarge)

 (click to enlarge)

It's just lovely!  Incredible formula aside, I think I prefer the warmness of Chinoise on my skin tone a little more, but I love this one so much, I just don't know for sure.  I guess it would come down to the day's mood for which one I'd grab first.  I've got two more reds to go through before I really decide to rank them, and I'll definitely be showing all of them on one hand for you guys, so you can really see how they compare to each other.

I'd highly recommend Come to Bed Red, if you're still looking for your "Holy Grail" red.  It's nice and neutral, so I think it would flatter most skin tones, and the formula makes this one worth every penny of its $14 price tag.  Plus, who could go wrong with a name like "Come to Bed Red"?!  :-D

butter LONDON Blagger

Who came up with the expression "Got the blues"?  Meaning you are sad or depressed?  Cause I tell you one thing, blue makes me happy!  Especially cobalt blue nail polish like Butter London's Blagger!!!!  Sure, this is just a plain old creme, but the shade is just perfect.  It's rich and bright.  It's also a 1 coater :).  You can tell from the pictures that I need a ridge filling basecoat if I'm only doing one coat, but those of you with healthy nails will do just fine.  I've been slowly purging my stash, ans swatched this with some of my other blues, and this one just really blew all the others out of the water.  Unfortunately in my comparison picture I took for you guys, I didn't make a note of which ones I compared, plus it turned out really color inaccurate.  It's way more vibrant and lush than any of my other blues that's for sure.  Oh, and this was also without a top coat.  SUPER SHINY!!!!!

So according to the butter LONDON dictionary, Blagger means a charlatan!  What a fun name for this polish.  Whoever gets to name polishes at butter LONDON has the best job ever.  Seriously.  Maybe I just found my dream job!

butter LONDON Blagger

butter LONDON Blagger

Blagger came out in the spring of 2011 collection.  You can still get it at Ulta or at butter LONDON's website for $14.

Can't Win 'Em All: Butter London Yummy Mummy

Finding the perfect nude polish has been an epic battle.  It seems like no matter what I do, they just don't work for me.  I blame it on my wonky skin tone.  It has strong yellow undertones, so anything too cool-toned fails, but then nudes that are too yellow don't work either.  I don't get it.  I ADORED Butter London All Hail the Queen, but I'm still on the hunt for something a little closer to my skin tone.  You guys know I love me some Butter London, and the brand themselves say Yummy Mummy is "simply stunning on EVERY skin colour."  Who am I to argue with CAPITALIZATION?  I threw in Yummy Mummy with my Ulta Buy 1 Get 1 purchase.

Yummy Mummy is a "medium beige" nude with subtle silver shimmer.  Almost a secret shimmer.  The color is almost a taupe, and I think it leans a little on the cool side (but I'm horrible with the warm/cool thing).  The application was a little subpar for Butter London, but after two coats everything evened out and opaque.  So, is Yummy Mummy my Perfect Nude??

(click to enlarge)

(click to enlarge)

Not even close.  I want to love this, but it just looks weird on me.  Even my hubby told me "it doesn't go with your skin or something."  So right, dear.  I fear Yummy Mummy is just too cool-toned for me.  Sigh.  Wonky skin tone wins again.  Perfect Nude - I WILL find you!

So Yummy Mummy didn't work so well for me, but it is one of their best-selling colors, so if you're on a quest for your Perfect Nude, it's worth giving it a shot.  Hopefully it'll be just what you're looking for!  :-)