Butter London High Tea Preview

The new spring collections are starting to hit stores and today I've got a peek at what we'll be seeing from Butter London! Let's take a look at the collection first and then I've got an interesting tidbit about it to share with you.

L to R: Cheers!, High Tea, Kip

 

L to R: Ruby Murray, Sloane Ranger, Tiddly

Minis set with an exclusive shade, Green Fairy

I've already seen this collection in-store, but the odd bit is that when I saw it on display, there was an empty slot for a full-size bottle of Doily, the glitter topper from last summer's Sweet Somethings minis set. However, nothing I've seen about the High Tea Collection online makes any mention of Doily--I can't even find any info about a possible re-release for Doily. I would love to have a full-size bottle of it though, so here's hoping it pops up!

Essie Comfy In Cashmere

I put a nice chunk of my latest paycheck into polish--surprise! Part of my haul was the Essie Cashmere Matte Collection; I got every one except All Eyes On Nude. So I thought I'd share one of the polishes from that collection with you today: Comfy In Cashmere, a satin taupe with iridescent blue shimmer.

Here it is with topcoat...

....and then a close-up of the shimmer in the bottle.

The formula is alright--a little thicker than I would like and there's some drag to it as well. This is three coats.

I almost didn't get this one, since taupes can sometimes clash with my skintone, but I was intrigued enough to give it a shot. So of course I had to try Comfy In Cashmere on first, because I was so curious to see how it would look on me! As I'd anticipated, the color is kinda "eh" with my skin, but I don't dislike it. The shimmer is a subtle but lovely addition.

Has the Cashmere Matte Collection popped up in your area yet? What polishes do you want to pick up from the collection?

Zoya Bobbi

I often say that pink is my favorite "real life" color, while blue is my favorite polish color. But when it's a pink like Zoya Bobbi? Consider me won over! Bobbi is a gleaming warm-toned pink foil that came into my collection courtesy of the ever-generous Amanda. If you look closely, Bobbi has little gold flecks, which add an extra dash of sparkle to the mix. She is almost red; my boyfriend commented on my "red nails" and we quibbled over the semantics of red vs. warm pink.

Bobbi has a wonderful formula. I used two coats here.

Bobbi definitely looks pretty in the bottle, but I didn't anticipate falling in love with this polish as much as I did! It's such a perfect pink and the shine on the foil finish is absolutely stunning. I guess I'd never thought about it before I wore Bobbi, but really, Zoya makes some of the best foils out there!

Deborah Lippmann Harlem Nocturne

I've had my eye on this one for a while, but I hardly ever buy Lippmann at full price if I can help it. So I waited patiently until this collection went on clearance at my local nail place and then snatched Harlem Nocturne up! This indigo chrome came out as part of last year's fall collection. I was drawn to it right away, as it's not too often we see this type of color in a chrome finish.

Formula-wise, Harlem Nocturne is pretty much your typical chrome. It'll amplify any little imperfections in your nails and you have to watch where and how you place your brushstrokes. The only way Harlem Nocturne differs is that a lot of chromes tend to be streaky or drag-y and this one is surprisingly smooth.

What is unique with this polish though is the color. It's a really lovely, deep blurple with a beautiful metallic sheen to it. I have a decent amount of chromes in my collection--in addition to wearing them alone, I love them as bases for glitter--but I don't have any in this type of shade!

Twinsie Tuesday: Monochromatic Nails

I have to admit that I had no idea what monochromatic nails were. But when I looked it up, there seemed to be two interpretations of it: doing a mani with all different shades of the same color (like an ombre) or black and white nails. I was in the mood to go with the latter, so here's what I came up with:

My base is OPI Put A Coat On! with OPI Comet In The Sky over top. I did a matte top coat, just for kicks, but you can't really tell. I guess the effect isn't as dramatic with black and white. I know there are technically some little hits of color from the iridescent glitter in Comet In The Sky, but hopefully my Twinsies will let it slide. It's monochromatic enough, right? ;)

So yeah, I kinda sorta cheated this week. I honestly didn't mean to, it just wound up happening that way, hahaha. But be sure to give my Twinsies some love with their monochromatic nails!

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amanda at Fashion Footing

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Bridget at A Painted Nail

Chelsea at Nailed

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished
​Lisa at The Polish Playground

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

a-england Crown of Thistles

Have you ever looked at a polish collection and thought, "Yeah, I'm-a need all of that"? Well that was my reaction to a-england's newest collection, Elizabeth & Mary. I was lucky enough to receive two polishes from this glorious collection as a holiday gift from the wonderful Tiffany and the one I'll be sharing with you guys today is called Crown of Thistles.

It's a regal shade of amethyst with a stunning finish. I hesitate to call it a scattered holo; a-england's official description refers to it as "prismatic," which I think is more accurate. Whatever you want to call it, this polish is very glow-y (to use a technical term, haha) and it pulses when the light hits it. a-england Briar Rose has a similar finish and it's just as mouth-wateringly gorgeous with Crown of Thistles' lush purple as it is with Briar Rose's rich cranberry.

Crown of Thistles has a lovely formula that's actually almost a one-coater! I used two here. I wore it sans topcoat and I had some visible tipwear after one day, but no chips.

Born Pretty BP-05 Stamping Plate: Review & Swatches

My stamping mini-adventure has come to an end, 'cause today I'm reviewing the last of my Born Pretty stamping plates! These reviews were my first foray into the world of stamping. It's been fun and it's been frustrating. I can't say I'll ever be a stamping fanatic--I lack the patience and precision to really pull off anything impressive--but the plates themselves are nice quality and it was cool to try something new.

Anywho, the last plate I chose to review was plate BP-05:




I really liked the vine-like design (the one on the left) on this plate, so I decided to do a little accent manicure with it, using a-england Crown of Thistles as my base and then stamping with Essie No Place Like Chrome.

I tried to just do it so the vines were only on portions of my nail, almost like they were growing across the nail. It's nothing that'll wow a stamping aficionado, but I think it came out kinda cute!

If you would like to purchase anything from Born Pretty, they offer 10% off for Nailed readers:

Disclosure: This product was sent to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.