My Butter London Nail Polish Collection: Photos + Reviews

My Butter London Nail Polish Collection

 I have done my Essie nail polish collection and my Julep nail polish collection. I thought it was about time I did my Butter London nail polish collection--even if it is terribly tiny. I only own five colors but I figured that five was enough to warrant a blog post. Butter London is a high end brand that can be found at Ulta or Macy's or online at Sephora.com. The glitter polishes are fantastic (the application is opaque and the polishes doesn't try out in the bottle) but I haven't noticed that Butter London polishes last longer or apply easier than nail polishes that are half the price. The only time I buy Butter London polishes is when they go on sale at Ulta. 

My Butter London Collection: "Trout Pout" and "Fruit Machine"

 "Trout Pout" was a recent purchase. It has received quite a bit of hype in the beauty community and I was hoping that it would convert me into a die hard Butter London fan. Unfortunately, I was doomed to be disappointed. "Trout Pout" is a lovely color (but easily dupe-able) and not worth the $15.00 price tag. Application was nice but comparable to OPI or Revlon or Essie. If you can only buy one Butter London polish, I wouldn't recommend that you choose this one. "Fruit Machine" was part of the recent Butter London Sweetie Shop Collection. All of the colors in that collection were drool-worthy but I finally decided on "Fruit Machine" because it was the perfect color for spring/summer. It is a blue-toned pink polish that is lovely but again, like I said with "Trout Pout", it isn't worth the full price. 

My Butter London Collection: "The Black Knight", "Henley Regatta", and "Wallis" 

 I'm not a huge fan of the cream finish polishes, but it seems that I am a bit obsessed with Butter London's glitter and foil finish polishes. "The Black Knight" was the first Butter London polish I ever bought and I was thrilled with the product. It's a semi sheer glitter (you could use it as a top coat) but it's completely opaque in three or four coats. Want easy to achieve galazy nails? Layer "The Black Knight" over OPI "My Private Jet". It looks flawless whether layered or on its own. While "The Black Knight" was my first Butter London polish, "Henley Regatta" is my most used polish. It is a beautiful  teal blue glitter polish. It's a bit hard to capture on camera but if you get the chance to see it in person, I would highly recommend it. This one is a bit harder to work with than "The Black Knight". It normally takes about five coats until I'm happy with the opacity. And finally, "Wallis". It is by far the most unique Butter London polish. It's an olive green/ golden foil polish. It is one of my most recent purchases and I don't regret buying it for a second. This is another polish that I bought on the recommendation of Allison from amarixe.com and youtube.com/amarixe. Like I've said before, she has excellent taste in nail polish and this time is no different. "Wallis" does have a problem with chipping but add a coat of your favorite top coat and that problem should be solved. 

Butter London  polishes are known for their sleek rectangular packaging but some people don't know that the black rectangle lid is only a cap. Underneath is the regular cap with the Butter London mascot printed on the top. Although I will admit that the additional rectangle lid is a bit of a nuisance, I love the little details that Butter London puts into the packaging. 

Positives

-Glitter polishes are semi-opaque (can be top coats or applied on their own)

-Glitter polishes don't dry out easily

-Cream formula is opaque and easy to apply

-Packaging is luxurious, sleek, and elegant

Negatives

-Expensive ($15.00)

In the end, I don't think that most Butter London polishes are worth the money. The cream finishes are nice but nothing special and most are colors that can be found for a cheaper price from other brands. The glitter polishes, on the other hand, are another story. They don't dry out quickly (unlike many of my chunky OPI glitter polishes) and I love how they're sheer enough to use as a top coat but opaque enough to be worn on their own. If you want to buy a Butter London polish, I would recommend checking out the glitter polishes or "Wallis". They're totally unique and worth the higher price tag. 

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My Essie Nail Polish Collection: Photos + Reviews

Happy Friday everyone! We did it! After two weeks of silence I'm back and better than ever. On Wednesday I published a post about my favorite new spring/summer Essie nail polishes. That was so well received that I thought I'd celebrate and share my Essie Nail Polish Collection. OPI is my true nail polish love but Essie is a close second. Essie has an AMAZING range of colors that only gets better and better with each collection they release. Essie colors cab be bright and bold or subtle and timeless. Essie literally has a color that will please everyone--for a semi-affordable price. What's not to love?

My Essie Nail Polish Collection

Here is a quick overview of my collection. I was able to split the shades into four categories: neutrals, brights, berries, and blue/greens. I will go through each group one by one and give each polish a quickie review (if you want to hear more about a certain color, I've linked to full reviews). I promise to try to be brief. Okay, let's get started. 

My Essie Collection: Set in Stone, Sand Tropez, Buy Me A Cameo, Lady Like, Figi

 Before Essie was known for their bold and bright polishes, they were the master of neutral polishes--especially their wide range of baby pink polishes. Starting from the left, Set in Stone is a glitter polish that I received in my Birchbox months ago. It is a beautiful color to give a manicure a little extra bling. Sand Tropez  is the only nude polish I wear. It is a great polish for a polished and subtle look--but it doesn't give me mannequin hands. The search for the perfect nude is a hard one and I highly recommend this one. Buy Me a Cameo is a shimmery dark nude. I wear this color to formal events like weddings or graduations. It's a subtle glamour. Lady Like is the purple side of nude. It is an interesting color but I don't find myself reaching for it very often. I prefer Sand Tropez or Buy Me a Cameo. And last but not least, Figi. This color is an Essie legend. Everyone loves Figi and for good reason. It is the perfect baby pink color. It does take A LOT of coats but if you're patient, the end product is stunning. 

My Essie Collection: Lilacism, Van D'Go, Tart Deco, Cute As A Button, Pansy

 Now onto the pastels and the brights. Lilacism is another Essie legend. It is the original lilac nail polish that almost all beauty bloggers own and love. In recent years almost every brand from Maybelline to OPI has released a similar shade. Lilacism is a lovely color but there are less expensive optionis out there. Van D'Go is a perfect creamsicle orange. The first time I wore it I was a little wary but the more I wore the color, the more I love it. It isn't available at drugstores but many salons like Ulta still have this limited edition polish in stock. Tart Deco, another limited edition color and another favorite. Even when I abhorred orange nail polish, I loved this one. If you are hesitant about orange nail polish, try this one. Cute As A Button has recently received a lot of attention on the blog-o-sphere and I can say that it is well deserved. Check it out the next time you're at your local drugstore. Pansy is a medium pink color. Quite honestly I forgot that I had this color in my collection. It is a nice color but nothing special. I can think of a half-dozen polishes that are very similar. 

My Essie Collection: Splash of Grenadine, No Boundaries, Watermelon, Head Mistress, Scarlet O'Hara

 Now, the berry polishes. The first up is Splash of Grenadine. As you can see from how much I've used up, this polish is well loved. It falls somewhere in between a purple and a pink. This color is perfect for spring and summer. No Boundaries is a shade that I've recently rediscovered. It doesn't look like much in the bottle but on the nails, it's exquisite. Watermelon as the name suggest this polish is the bright pink of summer's favorite fruit. It is lovely but it isn't anything terribly unique. Head Mistress is a color that has a funny story. I bought it mostly because I was looking for a great winter color. I thought it was perfect because it's very similar to the burgundy color of  Gryffindor and since McGonagall was Head Mistress after Snape, I thought it was extremely fitting. I bought Scarlet O'Hara because I'm a little bit obsessed with Gone with the Wind. I think Rhett and Scarlet's relationship is so iconic (although I think the movie is way too long to watch in one sitting). Every beauty junkie needs a nail polish named after the only woman who can pull off a dress made of curtains.

My Essie Collection: Wrapped in Rubies, Mojito Madness, Turquoise & Caicos, Borrowed & Blue, Dive Bar

And last but not least, the blue greens. The first polish, Wrapped in Rubies, is a gift from my aunt. I'd been lusting after this color for months before she was kind enough to give it to me. It is a lovely duo-chrome red/gold nail polish. It is a color that I love to wear in the fall and winter because it will go with everything. Mojito Madness is the only true green that I own and I love it. It looks wonderful in the spring and I especially love accenting my ring finger with a white and green chevron design. It looks so chic and modern. A lot of women are hesitant to wear green nail polish. So if you're rocking this color during the summer, you won't have to worry about someone matching you. Turquoise & Caicos is another one of those Essie legends. When it was released it was ALL OVER YouTube and beauty blogs. You know why? Because at the time there was nothing like it. Even now, I can't think of any dupes. This color is bold and perfect for the beach. Borrowed & Blue was released ages ago in one of Essie's bridal collections. I don't know if I would ever wear blue nail polish to my wedding but I have no problem wearing it everywhere. I've used almost the entire bottle and I don't think this color is available anymore. Sigh. It really is something special. I picked up  Dive Bar after I saw Amarixe's blog post about this nail polish ages ago. It looked so good on her. And I've learned that this girl knows a thing or two about nail polish. Whenever she recommends a nail polish I know I can trust her opinion. 

My Essie Nail Polish Collection

My Essie Nail Polish Collection

And that was my Essie Nail Polish Collection! I did recently buy three shades from the Essie 2013 Spring and Summer Collections but I decided not to include them because they threw off my organizing system. But you can click here to check them out! I hope you enjoyed this. Leave a comment below if you want to me do a similar post with my OPI or Julep or Sephora by OPI polishes.

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My MAC Lipstick Collection: Swatches, Photos, + Reviews

MAC Lipstick: Myth, Mlle, Viva Glam V, Lustering, and Milan Mode

 Happy Monday! Today's blog post has been one that I've been meaning to do (because it has been requested more than a few times) but have never gotten around to doing it. Today, obviously, that changes. I wouldn't consider myself an avid collector of MAC lipsticks (I prefer to spend my time procuring books and nerdy t-shirts) but I do pick up lipstick whenever a color catches my eye. MAC lipsticks are rather pricey ($15.00) and that is the main reason why my collection is so small. They are amazingly high quality but I don't know if they're worth the price tag---especially when drugstore lip products are comparable in quality and extremely affordable. 

My MAC Lipstick Collection

All of my MAC lipsticks have the traditional black, bullet shaped packaging--no fancy limited edition packaging for me--except for one shade, "Viva Glam V". It is part of the Viva Glam range. This range was introduced in 1994 and every cent of the selling price of these lipsticks is donated to the MAC AIDS Fund which supports men, women, and children living with HIV and AIDS. I find it easier to spend my money when I know that it's going to such an awesome cause. 

MAC Lipstick: Myth,  Mlle, Viva Glam V,  Lustering, and Milan Mode

Myth is a satin finish. Mlle is a glaze finish. Viva Glam V, Lustering, and Milan Mode have lustre finishes. And Cream Cup (which is not picture here because it had an unfortunate accident with a girl I used to babysit) is a cream finish--very surprising, I know. 

MAC Lipstick: Myth, Mlle, Viva Glam V, Cream Cup, Lustering, and Milan Mode

Here are the colors all swatched on my arm. If I had to choose my favorites I would say that Cream Cup, Viva Glam V, and Lustering are by far the easiest to wear. Myth is a lovely color but I find that it is a nude that washes me out unless I wear a gloss--Viva Glam V is an easier nude to wear. Mlle is my least favorite shade. It is very pigmented but tends to look very unflattering on me. I'm sure it would look gorgeous on someone with very fair skin tone but with my yellow undertones, it tends to look a little like something a mod clown would wear. Trust me--it's not a good look. And last but not least, Milan Mode. It is the most recent addition to my collection and it's a gorgeous color on a night out but the chunky-monkey glitter makes it a harder sell for an everyday lipstick.

Positives
-Packaging (sleek and timeless)
-Pigmented and smooth application
-Wide range of shades and finishes
-Lovely scent (not the generic makeup smell)

Negatives
-Price ($15.00)
-Not extremely long lasting (needs reapplication around hour two)
 
As I mentioned earlier, MAC lipsticks are expensive. But I have gotten two lipsticks through the Back to MAC program (return six MAC containers and get a free lipstick). It takes a while to get through six MAC products but a chance to save the environment AND get free swag, you would have to be ridiculous to pass up this opportunity.

In conclusion, MAC lipsticks are excellent products if you are willing to splurge. I'm planning to expand my tiny collection one lipstick at a time. I know this review was pretty brief but I've done full reviews on all the colors. Just check those out if you want to know more about what I thought about each shade.
   

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