butter LONDON Love at First Brush

It was hard to decide which butter LONDON polish to buy first but I managed to choose Wallis because a) I was looking for a gold polish and b) it looked absolutely lovely on all the swatches I found online.

Named for Wallis Simpson, the woman who so beguiled a king he abdicated, is a mature shade which, in my opinion, is pretty work appropriate especially on shorter nails.  It feels like a dark brown/black that's been washed with an almost matte gold layer of shine, not so much shimmer.  Its an absolutely gorgeous color and has sort of got me jonesing for the rest of the line.

Judge for yourself:

The most wonderful thing about this polish is that it only took two coats for me to be happy with it opacity wise.  Lately I've been on a "two coat policy," in which, a polish passes or fails solely based on if I can get it opaque in two coats.  Clearly, Wallis doesn't disappoint. 

I'm always curious to see how shades like this come across on Asian skintones.  For example, I look terrible in most green polishes so I've pretty much decided to give up on them.  The interesting thing about Wallis is that its not a bright gold by any stretch.  Its more of a patina-ed gold that gives it a very interesting olive tone to it.  This actually brings out the red in my skin even though you can't really tell in the pictures.

In the beginning, I wasn't sure if I'd like this polish.  But, in the week or so I've had it, I've worn it three times.  I think that's saying a lot.  I'm not sure about tip wear yet so in terms of longevity, its still yet to be tested, but when it comes to my overall first impression, butter LONDON's Wallis is as equally charming as the Duchess of Windsor herself.

Pop A Cork In It

So I finally succumbed and picked up a bottle of Sally Hansen Glass Slipper for myself after picking up a bottle for a friend in Brazil I'm swapping polishes with.  Its a flakie, not very iridescent -- very much like glass.

Anyways, I was originally only going to repaint my nails Because You're Worth It, but after I was done I thought, "hey I wonder what this would look like with Rock Candy on it," and decided to paint Orly Rock Candy, a pretty, definitely iridescent polish that's fairly transparent and makes for great layering.  It looked nice.  It "silvered" it up a lot and cast a frost on it without making it look 80s (everybody who remembers frost nail polish from the 80s knows what I mean!)  Anyways, trying to get creative, I decided to try Glass Slipper.

Here's how it turned out:

It dented my polish a little and made it look like it had wet spots.  But it also did remind me a little of champagne and those little bubbles that form from carbonation.

But I'm still not really sure how I feel about Glass Slipper.  >_<

Nails Inc Porchester Square or, My Latest Ebay Haul

I have recently discovered the joys [and evils] of Ebay.  You can find obscure and/or discontinued nail polishes, lipsticks, and all sorts of wonderful things and avoid generally paying an arm and a leg.  In my case, the key is, if my total bid after shipping costs as much as walking into the store and buying it myself then I won't buy it. 

Anyways, this haul included a polish I've been absolutely drooling over and is what sent me into a nudes tailspin.  Made by Nails Inc in the UK, Porchester Square looked absolutely brilliant when I saw it first on ThePolishAholic's blog.  She had purchased a bottle of Porchester Square and also Primrose Hill but swatched only the former.  Anyways, I loved the shade of greige and swore I would either get a hold of a dupe or save up all my pennies and buy it from Sephora.

Luckily, as I was browsing Ebay as I often do, I came across an auction that included Porchester Square, Fouberts Place, and Elizabeth Street.  Not only that, but for all three, I could potentially spend less than $20!  Of course I placed my bid and waited.

This is what came in the mail today:

and

I had also bought some NYX lipsticks because I had read they were great little lipsticks and came in a variety of colors well-suited for Asian skin.  :)  A pink lipstick that doesn't make me look strange is always a good thing.

So I went to swatching the Nails Inc polishes.  I started with Elizabeth Street because it was such a pretty shade of pink but it ended up being a pretty sheer polish.  I'm one of those girls that likes my color to be pretty opaque but even at four coats, Elizabeth Street was unmanageable to me.  So much so that, even though I completely swatched both hands, I refused to take photographs of my -- em, lack of handiwork.  Elizabeth Street may be getting swapped/sold.  =/

!I moved on to the piece de resistance.  In ThePolishAholic's pictures, Porchester Square was a lovely grey-beige shade and was nothing like what I had.

This is what Porchester Square looked like on me:

Excuse my cuticles!

It didn't look horrible but it didn't look as nice as I thought it would.  Maybe because I keep insisting on wearing cool tones when I am clearly warm?  I'm not quite sure but it actually looked a little pink on me compared to the other  nudes/greys I have.

Index - Nude 4 (Urban Outfitters | Middle - Glamour Purse (Essie)
Ring - Porchester Square (Nails Inc) | Pinkie - French Quarter For Your Thoughts (OPI)

So it's definitely not a color I have (although, really in the grand scheme of things I don't actually have that many polishes yet) but it is one of those colors that had to really grow on me before I was convinced once I saw it on my hands.  I'm not sorry I bought it; I think it fills a void between Glamour Purse and Skulls & Glossbones that I didn't have before.  I'd also stil really recommend it as a polish to have if you're into nude/grey shades like I am.  It was a thick application but I still needed 2-1/2 to 3 good coats for opacity.  

All in all a great, first polish from Nails Inc.  This is definitely NOT the only bunch of bottles I buy (my new obsession is with Charlotte Mews) which means I'll probably be visiting my local Sephora store really soon.