Butter London Fall 2011 Wallis, Bluey and Knees Up!

Wow, it's been awhile.  I feel like it was just Halloween and now November is almost over! 
Well, I'm going to try to play blog catch up over the next few days with a backlog of swatches I have and let me tell, you I have TONS to share.  Plus, I'm SUPER excited about my one and only Black Friday purchase of the Cult Nails "Super Powers" collection, featuring the much coveted Unicorn Puke which has been released as Clairvoyant to the masses.  This lemming was snatched up just in time as it's now sold out and who knows when it'll be available again (Thank you facebook for the heads up).   Here's a link for your previewing pleasure: Cult Nails Super Powers Collection.  I'll swatch them just as soon as I get them. 
In the meantime, I have 6 colors of the Muppets Collection to share, Color Club Foiled Collection, part 2 of the Color Club Back to Boho Collection, some new American Apparel colors and Wet N Wild's Behind Closed Doors, which is a red and black masterpiece. Yup, tons of back log.  I'm also thinking of doing a "my favorites" blog, with my favorite general beauty products- not just the products I like for nails.
Now on to the swatches!  I have to say that I love love LOVE butter London polishes.  They are a 3 Free polish company (aka non-toxic) that can be found at your local Ulta store. Aside from the 3 colors that I will be showing you, I have about 5 others that are absolutely stunning as well including No More Waity, Katie, All Hail McQueen, West End Wonderland, Lady Muck and Victoriana.  On my current lemming list is the Black Knight - hopefully I'll get him on my next Ulta run.  I recommend you check out their adorable website for the full collection of colors @ Feast your eyes on butter London! Anywho, first we have Bluey, which is shim-mer-y blue madness!  We'll just the swatch speak for itself.






(This picture is more true to Bluey color-wise.) 



 Next up is Knees Up, which I think has to be one of the most stunning reds I have ever laid my eyes upon.  It is the perfect red satin and I think is a must for a nail polish lovers collection.  Check it out..

Let me just add that the above photo doesn't do this color justice, but as I have learned some colors such as red, are just harder to capture than others.  Application for both Bluey and Knees Up was only slightly tricky, as it can leave streaks if you are not careful and if you are not using even strokes while applying it.  I used 3 coats for each with a top coat of SV. 

Lastly, the Queen of all butter London colors, is Wallis, which is named after Wallis Simpson.  If you don't know who Wallis Simpson is, she plays a big part in British Royal history and a small part in the King's Speech.  This color is almost indescribable, it's so unique and eye catching.  It's like an antique bronzey gold with a greenish hue and speckles of black and is super shimmery.  If I had to play favorites between Chanel's Peridot and Wallis, I think Wallis wins hand down.  Wallis a must more interesting color and is much more affordable, at half the price.  Here she is...

(excuse the tip wear, please)

What did I tell you?  I told you she is GORGEOUS.  Now you will just have to run out an buy yourself some butter London, won't you?  butter London polishes run a little higher than your typical OPI, Orly and China Glaze brands at $14.00 a pop, but I really feel they are worth the price.  Definitely, nail polish investments, as I like to call them.

FYI: butter London also has some really cute nail skins that I am dying to try out, but I have to spread out my nail shopping budget so that I don't end up nail poor.  Maybe for X-mas. 

Until next time...

Candy Corn Mani for Halloween

So I'm a day late, but I say better late than never.  I wore this manicure Sunday and Monday for Halloween.  I must say it's one of those manicures that you want to look at in a Monet-like fashion...which is from far away.  Because up close, it's kind of messy looking, but it was my first try, so I think I get a pass.  Here we go!

You will need a white polish, yellow and an orange polish.  The more saturated and more opaque the polish, the better. 

The first step is to cover the nail with the white polish and let dry thoroughly.

Then, you paint the nail with the yellow polish starting from about 1/4 of the way up or so from the cuticle, covering the white completely.  You may need two coats and it doesn't have to be perfect.  Again, let dry.

Finally, paint a stripe of the orange polish starting at the lower edge of the yellow- where the white and orange meet, taking up the center third of the nail, more or less.  I had to paint perpendicularly against the nail with a super steady hand in order to the get the stripe to be as even as possible and I didn't sweat it when it got on my skin.  On my mani, I had to use several coats of the orange in order to even things out and in order to reach maximum opacity on top of that yellow. 

After all coats are nice and dry, top it off with some SV for super shiny results and then clean up those edges and cuticles and you're done. 

Here are the polishes I used for this manicure.  Sinful Colors are usually available at Walgreens and Target.  I found mine at Walgreen's for $1.99 a piece and the Sally Hansen orange was also purchased at Walgreen's for not much more. 

I can't wait to try something new next year.  :)