Friday, October 10, 2008

Butter London Nail Polish







My relationship with my bottle of Butter London nail polish didn't start on the best note.

Actually, I take it back: When I first spotted the bottles and the unusual colors with the quirky British names, I had to use every ounce of self control to keep myself from ordering a dozen of them (seriously, how can one resist something called HRH?). I settled for Teddy Boy, that promised to be a vintage dirty rose. It is definitely accurate , though a bit on the dark side (I'm not complaining).

My issue is with the design of the bottle/cap and the brush.

The rectangular box bottle looks modern and sophisticated, but it's not so easy to open (maybe I'm too used to Chanel caps that don't require much work because underneath the outer cap there's a roundish one, that turns normally), and I ended up with polish on my fingers and on the bottle. Then there's the very short and too thin brush, that is a bit hard to control and doesn't carry much product, so I have to re-dip more than I like to cover each nail (an invitation to messy application).

Despite that, the polish goes on easily enough and doesn't streak even if you need three dips for one nail. It's very pigmented and completely opaque, so one coat can be enough, though it takes two if you want to get the exact color you see in the bottle.

The durability isn't the best ever. Without a top coat I saw chipping after the second day (I didn't do anything more damaging than typing and the mildest housework), though a certain level of shine maintained after three days. With top coat (I use Essie), the polish survived nearly five days.

The best part, other than the color (which I love) is that Butter London is free of the worst 3 toxic chemicals found in most traditional nail polishes and it doesn't stink to high heaven.

All the pictures were taken without top coat in several degrees of natural/artificial light.


Butter London nail polish ($12) is available from Beauty.com
All images: mine. Models: Gracie and Giselle
Bonus pictures of Giselle, just because.

No comments:

Post a Comment