Tag: Butter London
Tarnished Chameleon
The gold to green shift in Revlon “Chameleon” reminds me of the tacky 70s tarnished brass fixtures in the trailer house I grew up in…to this day, I can’t stand the sight of brass fixtures – but I love it on my nails!
“Chameleon” is sheer, but I got good coverage in 2 coats – no VNL.
To get different looks, I used 2 different top coats that I thought would look dramatically different – but for some odd reason, they look EXACTLY the same. I can barely tell them apart. I used Butter London “Brass Monkey” on my thumb, middle finger and pinky. I used Sinful Colors “Twilight Twinkles” on my index and ring fingers. What the hell? “Brass Monkey” is iridescent CLEAR flakies and “Twilight Twinkles” is opaque gold shards! I used the Revlon Quick Dry Base and Top Coats, which for some reason caused HELLA bubbles with the top coats – especially the Butter London. I guess they don’t play well together…
Tart with a Heart
After several weeks of dark polish, I was ready for some light…
This is Butter London “Tart with a Heart”. Orly Bonder for the base coat + 2 coats of polish with no top coat. I was totally shocked at how the polish looked on my nails – it’s not at all what I expected. Judging from the bottle, I expected a gold glitter with a grayish blue tinge. Nope. It’s a totally fleshy color. It’s SO odd. As my husband said – it’s SUBTLE.
Like “The Black Knight”, “Tart with a Heart” dried exceptionally quickly and has a slightly pebbled finish. This is one of those polishes that you can put on and run out the door 60 seconds later. I like it!
The Black Knight
I’ve been on a dark polish kick lately, I don’t know what it is.
Maybe I’m just lazy. If I know I’m going to be putting on another dark polish, I don’t have to scrub my cuticles so much. I got my absolute LAST use out of my Zoya Remove+ & Target dip-it combo. It was a soupy, maroon sludge that was starting to stain my fingers! Don’t get me wrong, it was still taking the polish off – but I had to spend too much time getting polish residue off my fingers. It lasted me exactly 3 months and was worth every penny!
I tried out Orly Bonder as the base coat. It definitely did grip the polish quite well. I then painted 2 coats of Butter London “The Black Knight”. This polish is EVERYTHING that I wanted Julep “Estelle” to be! The black is shinier and darker…and there is so much more glitteriness. Fuchsia is the predominant glitter, so you know that’s why I love it. It dried amazingly quick and I didn’t use a top coat, so I could run my fingers over the pebbly goodness.
I’m getting a few little chips along the edges, but Orly Bonder seems to be holding it on there well. We shall see how it looks tomorrow…
Ulta Success!
Any excuse to go to Ulta, right?
I went to a different Ulta yesterday in search of Zoya Remove+ – success! They had a dozen bottles…but I just got one.
I also capitalized on Ulta’s 21 Days of beauty special – Butter London 2 for $15. I picked up “The Black Knight” – black, pink, blue, and silver suspended in a black base – and “Tart with a Heart” – pale pink parade of glitter carries a dash of grey.
I also grabbed a Ms. Manicure Buffing Block from the kiosks by the checkout. I LOVE those kiosks – they’re dangerous to me!
Fuck Traffic, Go Shopping
Right as I was packing up to leave work, my husband called to tell me that the highway was backed up – huge wreck. Sigh. When the going gets tough, the tough say “fuck traffic” and go shopping.
My backdoor route to avoid the highway conveniently brought me right past my Ulta – imagine that! The main reason I wanted to drop by was to pick up a new Zoya Remove+, but of course they are still out. My second choice was Orly Bonder, suggested by Angie as an excellent base coat. We shall see…
Although the clearance section has dwindled, I still had to look. I was excited to find Sparitual “Citrine” Luminary Matte Top Effect for $2.97. I was even more excited when it rang up for $1.49, especially since I paid $12 for “Opaline” several months ago!
Finally, I decided to try eos lip balm in “Blueberry Acai”. Erin raved about eos the last time we had a traffic chat, so I figured now was the the time. I was skeptical of rubbing that huge knob all over my lips, but it felt SO GOOD. I thought I would end up smearing it all over my face like Steve Buscemi in Billy Madison, but it only went on my lips.
The $3.50 coupon is back – I hate those 20% one item coupons! I’ll probably hit another Ulta tomorrow to look for my Zoya Remove+, plus Butter London polishes are 2/$15 tomorrow!
Vacay Shopping
Did you miss me?
Or did you just miss my nails?
No one will be surprised that I managed to find new nail polish while vacationing in the sleepy little fishing town of Ketchikan, Alaska. The economy of Ketchikan is built on fishing and cruise ships – the town is comprised of 90% gift shops, 9% bars and 1% everything else. In addition to the many T-shirts, stuffed animals, totem poles and various sundry tourist knick knacks, I found Caribongo Sun Activated fingernail polish. I got blue glitter – “City Girl” – and silver glitter – “Puttin’ on the Glitz”. As far as I can tell, both turn red in the sun.
…and then my sister took me to her favorite store…Simply Bella. Simply Bella is a boutique that has everything – beauty items, cookware and entertaining, gifts, home fragrance, chocolate, jewelry – just anything you could ever want.
I picked up “Royal Peony Rose & Mandarin Musk” Perfume Oil by Lucy B Cosmetics. I had never heard of Lucy B. – but this perfume oil is the real deal. Here’s a blurb from their website: Lucy B. is the only fragrance and colour range in the world to have infused the natural Australian Flower Essences within their products, offering you a taste of the Australian energy & lifestyle.
…so we went back to Simply Bella a few days later and I stumbled across a 75% Clearance Rack.
I showed some restraint and picked up Coco Rose Tinted Lip Balm in “Blush Pink” by Figs & Rouge. Figs & Rouge is a 100% natural lipcare brand from the UK. Can you see the FLAMINGOS on the balm????
I also grabbed a Butter London Lippy in “Pip Pip”.
I was also introduced to John Kelly Chocolates. Jesus, that shit is GOOD.
One last pic…somehow, I managed to NOT paint my nails during my whole vacation. 10 whole days. For real.
I’m still not sick of Zoya “Sooki”.
This is the nasty tear I suffered at the claws of a Dungeness Crab. I fought the crab and the crab won.
I did have the last laugh…he ended up in my tummy!
Fire Duo
I did laundry and washed dishes ALL DAY yesterday. I’m pretty sure my husband assumed it was my way of saying THANK YOU for that late night Ulta trip…but I really just wanted to chip my nails enough to give me a good reason to redo them with my brand new polish.
A quick Google told me that this Butter London set was released for Holidays 2013 and is called “Fire Duo”. “Rebel Fox” is very thin. The first coat looked berry, but it became a deeper, blood red with the second coat. I really should have gone with a third coat – it’s very, very thin. “Brass Monkey” was nothing like I expected. I figured it would just lighten and cloud the base color like Sparitual Luminary Matte Top Effect in “Opaline”, but it was totally different. It’s a clear coat, with coppery flakies that take on the red and turn it into flames. I want to try it on a dark blue…
Good thing I had the presence of mind to take a pic BEFORE going to the pool with the kids. This polish is NOT sturdy enough for the summer – I’ve already got major edge-wear and a few chips. It’s not like I wasn’t planning on painting my nails again tonight, anyway…
Lunchtime Shopping FTW
Some days, you just have to get out of the office and buy something.
Since I realized that there is a Nordstrom Rack close to my office, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I wanted to check out their jeans section, because I had paid full price for the last 2 pairs of jeans that I bought and I figured there have to be deals out there somewhere. I lucked out and found a pair of Lucky Brand Capris for 65% off. After the dressing room, I headed towards the beauty section…
I shouldn’t have done that. They had piles of Smashbox, stila, LORAC and NARS. It was mostly out of season palettes and discontinued colors, but the prices were good. I dug around a little, but nothing really caught my eye. I was rooting around in a display and came across a single 2-pack of Butter London nail polish – Double Take with “Rebel Fox” and “Brass Monkey”. I’ve heard great things about the brand, but was scared away by the price – $15 each. The 2-pack was $12, so I figured I’d give it a shot. I was even happier when I checked out and it rang up for $9. FOR THE WIN!
Late Ulta Post
I was so caught up in my fingernails, I didn’t do my Ulta post last week. As you’re reading this…pretend it’s last Friday…
After visiting Bath & Body Works and Bed, Bath & Beyond, I slunk over to Ulta. I was ready to spend some money! The first thing I hit was the nail polish. I wanted to try Zoya Pixie Dust. No dice. This location didn’t have a Pixie Dust display.
My next stop was back to the front to test high end BB Creams. First I tried Benefit “Big Easy,” which claims to be “Better than BB” right on the tube. It was shit and settled into every pore and crack on my wrist. I moved on to Smashbox BB. It was even grosser. Why do all these high end cosmetics company call their products BB Cream, when they’re plain old foundation? I tried a few more brands, but it was too late – I was devastated…
Then I tried to buy a gift for someone and this location was out of stock of what I was looking for. Fuck.
After aimlessly wandering down every aisle, I finally realized that I couldn’t find a single thing to buy. I think I have a mental block and was unable to buy anything without my bestie there with me. (She had the same thing happen to her at Ulta earlier this week – I wasn’t there and she couldn’t find anything to buy either!) I was sad until I got home and checked the mail…and found my Lucky Mystery Box AND a box of stuff I ordered from Ulta.com last week!
I used a $3.50 off coupon to try Physician’s Formula BB Cream. I freaked out at first when I saw I received “Light/Medium,” until I realized that it’s the lightest color available. I tried it on my face and it is actually a good match, maybe one tick too dark for me. By summertime, it will be perfect. It’s a lighter texture than the L’Oreal and blends more smoothly. It’s not white out of the tube, but it feels more like a BB Cream than the other products I tried that day.
See that cute makeup bag? It was a gift with purchase from Laura Geller. It had Spackle Primer, lip pops Lush Waterproof Lip Gloss in “Sunrise Rose” and Eye Rimz Baked Wet/Dry Eye Accents in “Supernatural Smoke” with a matching brush. Obviously, I needed more primer!
Since I had such bad luck with fragrance sample, I chose mystery samples this time. I got Butter London Scrubbers, Hempz Body Wash and Biolage Shampoo and Conditioner. Interesting…but I probably won’t try them until I travel…