REVIEW of Butter London Nail Lacquer in Jack the Lad

Hello lasses,

I don't know why I keep buying Butter London polishes when I don't like them that much. No, scratch that. I do know. It's because of the "discounts." I got this one a year ago at 6pm.com for $6.99, which while not cheap, is a nice markdown from the regular retail price of $15. This is the fifth Butter London polish I've reviewed and I still fail to understand why they think they can charge $15 a bottle when more often than not, their polishes are worse than what I can find at the drugstore.

Color: Jack the Lad is a glitter polish. It has a blackened green creme/jelly base with brighter green shimmer and glitter. It looks very pretty when the light hits it in the right way but I think I have similar dark green polishes that I prefer. I don't think I have an exact dupe but if I want to wear a dark green polish, I have better options in my collection. It also looks quite flat a lot of the time when the light isn't hitting it. The light gives it depth because it brings out the glitter.
Formula: The formula is thin.
Application: The first coat applied smoothly but not evenly because the polish was so thin. Trying to add more polish or even the polish out with the brush just moves polish around on the nail. The base is very sheer in the first coat. Unlike a lot of glitter polishes, this isn't a glitter bomb in the first coat. The second coat and third coats also went on smoothly though I had to even out the third coat a bit. The polish still wasn't opaque in three coats so I reluctantly added a fourth coat of polish. I'm getting pretty damn tired of buying these expensive polishes and then having to apply four coats of polish to get a decent manicure. At four coats, it was basically opaque but not perfect.
Wear: I wore this polish for 4-5 days. I experienced tip wear on my left hand. The polish at the tips of my nails wore away completely but I could have kept wearing the polish if I'd re-wrapped the tips. On my right hand, the tip wear was worse and the polish on my thumb starting chipping on day one for some reason. The polish wasn't easy to remove but it wasn't as bad as other glitter polishes. It just took a lot of Q-tips and more pressure than I'd use for a creme.

CONCLUSION: No, I wouldn't really recommend this polish. It's fine I guess but the color isn't that special, you need to apply four coats to get anywhere near opacity and it doesn't wear particularly well. I need to stop getting sucked in by Butter London discounts.

Click the amazon link. Buy something. You know how this works. ;)

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REVIEW of Pure Ice Polish in Superstar! With SWATCHES

Hello superstars,

I'm sorry I've been neglecting you. I've had a busy month... leaving the house and all. Also, the external hard drive where I store all the photos for the blog before they're ready to go into reviews crashed again so that put a hold on things. Anyway, I thought we could all use a palate cleanser so to say goodbye to (hopefully) the last of the snow this winter, let's talk about Pure Ice Superstar!

Color: Superstar! is a white creme polish. There's not much more to say beyond that. I'd say it's more of a stark white. That is, it's more like white out than the softer, creamier white cremes or the white shimmer polishes I've reviewed. I don't remember Zoya Purity that clearly but it's definitely more of a stark white than Cult Nails Tempest. As always, if you'd like a comparison post, just leave a request in the comments.
Formula: This polish has a thin formula.
Application: The first coat applied without any drag. You do have to be careful about managing the pressure and angle of the brush to avoid making streaks in the polish. It was nice to see that the polish wasn't thick or gloopy at all which is always a concern for me with light-colored polishes. I wouldn't try to even out the polish to avoid pushing polish around because the formula is thin. The second coat also applied a little streaky because of the brush but the actual polish didn't cause any issues. At two coats the polish wasn't opaque but I was impressed with the opacity. While the formula is thin, it's not like working with fluid nude polish or a jelly polish. The third coat applied smoothly. At three coats the polish is opaque though it fails a light test, likely due in large part to how light the color is.

CONCLUSION: I still prefer Cult Nails Tempest which has a better application but this polish was far superior to Zoya Purity. If you want to save money trying out a white creme or you just don't want to spend as much on Tempest, Superstar! will serve you well. The results won't be as perfect and you need a steady hand but for the price, it applies amazingly well for a white creme polish. If you're crazy about white creme polish, you could get both Tempest and Superstar!

I haven't asked in a while, but it would mean a lot to me if you could support the site through one of my amazon affiliate links. It doesn't cost you anything and it doesn't matter what you purchase. As long as you start your shopping trip from one of the amazon links on my page, I will get a small percentage of the revenue no matter what you end up buying. If you're going to be shopping at amazon anyway, I hope you'll consider helping me out. 

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REVIEW of Cult Nails Nakizzle's Shizzle

Hello my loves,

This is a very oddly named polish, isn't it? I picked it up recently when Cult Nails emailed me with a promo code along with back ups of Tempest and Fetish as well as a new polish that I will be reviewing... eventually. Let's not even pretend. You know me by now.

Color: Cult Nails Nakizzle's Shizzle is a bright blue creme polish. I picked this up because it reminded me of swatches I've seen of OPI's What's With the Cattitude which people have been recommending to me ever since it came out and which I've never managed to get a hold of. While I haven't tried WWTC, I think Nakizzle's Shizzle is actually a bit brighter. It's darker than all the blue pastels I own but not as dark as my turquoises and teals. I can do a comparison if you'd like but I don't think I have a dupe for it.
Formula: The formula isn't notably thin or thick to me.
Application: The first coat went on smoothly with no drag. The polish was a little streaky and the results were patchy and not even. The second coat also went on smoothly. This time there was a little drag on the brush. The problem was that third brushstroke. When I went to add it, it became difficult to even out the polish as the polish gets streaky if you apply too much pressure with the pressure. At two coats the polish was still patchy and balding so I added a third. At three coats the polish is more or less opaque with tiny spots of balding from the uneven paint job. It probably wouldn't have been a problem if the first coat had applied more cleanly. The resulting manicure looked fine but not perfect. The polish wasn't applied evenly but because the polish wasn't thick or gloopy it wasn't super apparent.
Wear: I wore this polish for much longer than normal, around 8 or 9 days. When I removed the polish it had dulled a bit but the tip wear was very minimal. I'd say it held up very well.

CONCLUSION: I do love the color of this polish. It's a blue that gets attention and makes you happy without being too bold or an eyesore. It's a cheerful blue that I'm happy to have in my collection and the polish holds up well over a long wear time. But the application really wasn't great. It was manageable but because of the struggle to get a clean application I can't enthusiastically recommend this product. If you're willing to tackle it, I do think the color is beautiful though.

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