Butter London Wallis

Sometime around Thursday(ish) of last week, I heard a buzz on MUA that Nordstrom was having a giant Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale on Deborah Lippmann and Butter London polishes last weekend.  I easily could've gotten at least six from each brand, but I decided to spare my wallet the pain, and just go for one set of three.  I'd been lemming Butter London Wallis, so picking out another two to go with it was a breeze!  I couldn't wait to try out Wallis, so that's what I've got for you today!  :-)

Wondering about the name?  ME TOO.  I immediately rushed to my handy dandy Butter London Dictionary and found that it's named "in honour of the Saucy Yank who ran away with the king's heart."  Being a silly American, I still had NO idea what that meant.  Wikipedia to the rescue!!  I learned that Wallis Simpson was an American socialite from Pennsylvania who apparently struck the fancy of Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII).  Their relationship was a controversial one, but Edward was so smitten with her, he abdicated his throne to marry her.  She became the Duchess of Windsor.  WOW!  Read that article!  She had quite a lot of gossip and controversy surrounding her!  I imagine that to be the equivalent of Prince William abandoning his throne to marry Paris Hilton.  

WELL.  That Wallis sure does have a lovely namesake!  It's a foil polish that has a color that's kind of hard to describe accurately.  It's kind of a deep greenish antique gold?  Sometimes it appears more gold, sometimes more green.   I love that it's darkened around the edges!  It gives it such a gorgeous glowy look.  I had no problems with application, and in true Butter London fashion, it's almost a one-coater!  Two coats was perfect for opacity and evening out any imperfections.  :-)  I couldn't take enough pictures of this!  Definitely click to enlarge these babies!

Under my Ott-Lite:

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 Sunlight:

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Hubba, hubba!  Guys.  I don't know what's up with me, but this is SO not typically my kind of color, but  for some reason I am, like, obsessed with these weird greeny-goldy colors lately!  It's so...sophisticated?  Magnificent?  Beautiful!  I can't get enough!  I LOVE Wallis!  So unusual for me.  *throws confetti*  YAY!

I was curious to see how Wallis compared to China Glaze Zombie Zest (dupey to Orly It's Not Rocket Science).  It took me a good 10 minutes to get this pictures because all the sparklies were freaking out my camera.  Cameras no likey sparklies.  Anywho.  This is two coats of Wallis and three coats of Zombie Zest:

(L) Butter London Wallis, (R) China Glaze Zombie Zest

Initial impression:  NOT dupes!  Yay!  On closer inspection, they're certainly similar, but there's a lot of differences between the two.  Color:  Wallis is much deeper and more complex in color.  Cilucia described Zombie Zest in her comparison with Wallis to be "snotty" in color, and she couldn't have hit the nail on the head any better.  Formula:  Zombie Zest is much sheerer than Wallis.  It would take at least three coats to be opaque on its own.  Finish:  Wallis is a foil, while Zombie Zest is a jelly with glass-fleck style particles.  I suppose we could call these two...kissing cousins?

Wallis available now as part of Butter London's Fall/Winter collection.  You can find it at Norstrom, Ulta, or http://www.butterlondon.com/.  I can see where it may not jive with everyone's skin tone (I was heartbroken when Cilucia didn't love it on her!), but I think if you're thinking about getting it at all, it's worth the $14 to bring it home and try it.  I think it'll be perfect for fall!

Also, in case you were wondering, I also picked up Jaffa and Bluey during my Nordie's sale adventure, so stay tuned for those!  :-)