butter LONDON - Bumster and Flawless Basecoat: Swatches and Review

Today we have butter LONDON Bumster:

butter LONDON - Bumster

Bumster is a peanutbutter/mustard creme that is fully opaque in two coats. It has a marvelous formula and glides on very easily. This is one of those colors that looks good on some and not on others, though. The warm tones in it tend to clash on cooler skin tones. I personally love how it looks on me! Very chic, egdy, and out of the norm.

I was excited to try Bumster, but once I actually got it I noticed that it looks quite familiar. Bumster is a near dead-on dupe for American Apparel Trenchcoat (which in turn is a dupe for Finger Paints Catwalk Queen).

butter LONDON Bumster and American Apparel Trenchcoat

Trenchoat is a tiny bit cooler than Bumster, but if I didn't know I had two different polishes on I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.  Also, you can see the orange pigment has separated in my bottle of Trenchcoat, so it could be even closer than you see here!

butter LONDON also sent me the base and top coats to try out.  I'm not too big of a fan of the top coat.  It dries on the surface fairly quickly, but it tends to leave brushstrokes in the shiny finish as it dries (you can actually see them if you click on the first picture of Bumster above)

However, I'm kind of in love with the base coat (Nail Foundation Flawless Basecoat).

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation Flawless Basecoat

First of all, it's a GREAT ridge-filler.  It fills in all imperfections and gives you a nice smooth base for under your nail color of choice...  if you choose to wear one.  Which brings me to my next point:  I love how this looks on it's own.  It's a nude jelly that dries to a silky finish.  The bottle claims "matte results so beautiful, you can wear it alone."  And I have, and it looks so elegant!  It's a wonderful palette cleanser in between all the crazy colors and glitters that I wear!

I'm notoriously bad at testing wear (because I like to change my nail polish so often), so I don't have a good grasp yet for how well this holds on nail polish.  I have had it on under Expecto Patronum (with a coat of SV on top) for three days now with no chips or tipwear at all, though!

butter LONDON polishes can be purchased off of their website or at Ulta (in stores and online).


(These products were sent to me for review.)

Nailventurous - Floam, Pinkerbell, Orange You Unique, and Humble Bee: Swatches and Review

The polishes featured in this post are all handmade by a blogger friend of mine named Amy from Nailventurous. She recently opened a shop on Etsy and in her first sale she sold out in less than five minutes! It was absolutely crazy! I was incredibly lucky and snagged the set of three (Floam, Pinkerbell, and Orange You Unique) as well as Humble Bee.

Nailventurous - Floam

Floam is one that's slipped just out of my reach a few times, so I'm REALLY excited to finally own it! Floam is a mix of neon blue and green matte glitter (in other words, it's not metallic) in a shiny clear base. It's a bit thick, but it makes application really easy and Floam only takes two coats to be fully opaque. I love this polish so much!

Nailventurous - Pinkerbell

Pinkerbell is a mix of the same blue and green glitter in Floam, but with some smaller neon pink glitter as well. From a distance I think it has kind of a greyish blue look, but up close you can see all the beautiful specks of color. Very fairy-esque to me. Kind of light and dainty, but bright and playful at the same time. It had the same slightly thick formula that covered nicely in two coats

Nailventurous - Orange You Unique

This one, a mix of orange and blue matte glitter, looks to me like a summer day by the pool. At a distance, this one kind of blends into my skin and is a neutral orange color, but the blue really pops against the orange up close. I think it has white glitter in it, but the base is tinted a slightly neon coral color so they look a bit pink. Again, two (kind of thick) easy coats for opacity.

Nailventurous - Humble Bee

This is the one that's not part of the "original three" set. This is one of Amy's newer creations, and it won me over instantly! It's a combination of small neon yellow glitter and small and medium black glitter in a clear base. As much as I was excited for Floam, this one may be in a tie for my favorite one here. I really want to try layering this over a bright blue or coral! This one is two coats as well.

All in all, I'm SO incredibly impressed with Amy's unique frankens and their wonderful formula! It's important to wait a few minutes between coats so you don't drag the glitter around, and a topcoat of Gelous then Seche Vite is required to make them glassy smooth.

As I mentioned, these are a tad bit hard to get ahold of, but not impossible. Amy should be stocking the Nailventurous Esty shop again in the near future (for Humble Bee), and you can also watch out for Floam, Pinkerbell, and Orange You Unique on Ninja Polish (you can sign up for email notifications on both sites).

Pretty & Polished - Jawbreaker: Swatches and Review

This was one of those days where I felt like I couldn't find something that I'd be satisfied with on my nails. Then I decided to try out Pretty & Polished Jawbreaker, and it was PERFECT.

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Pretty & Polished - Jawbreaker

Doesn't it look JUST like those jumbo jaw breaker candies? I love how it gives the jelly/glitter sandwich look in just one polish. This is three coats shown, but it really only takes two coats to be fully opaque. You can also layer it over white to conserve it, but I recommend using a white jelly like Essie Marshmallow to preserve that squishy look.  The glitter is random, but is dense enough that it's not hard to get the nails looking "even" but still unique.  Just a wonderful polish!  I wish I would have gotten the full size instead of the mini...

Jawbreaker is available in mini and full sizes ($4.50 for 5mL and $8.00 for 15mL) in the Pretty & Polished Etsy shop, but goes in and out of stock a bit because they're all hand made. Be sure to check the shop regularly!

Pure Ice Yellow Polka and Catwalk: Swatches and Review

Here is another "set" from Pure Ice: a sunny yellow creme called Yellow Polka, and a yellow shimmer crackle named Catwalk.

Pure Ice - Yellow Polka

Wow. This is the perfect sunny yellow creme in my opinion. More warm and soft but still striking and lit up. All I can think of is summer and how much this color would look awesome with a bikini and a tan on a beach towel in the sun. My new favorite yellow creme.

The formula is pretty good on this one as well. I had only a tiny bit of cuticle drag and it was probably my own fault for not waiting in between coats. I did a thin third coat just to even it out and make it perfect, but it's probably not necessary if you wait for each coat to dry.

Pure Ice - Catwalk (over Yellow Polka)

Here is the yellow shimmer crackle called Catwalk. To be honest, I'm not sure I get this so much. I'm not even sure if it's supposed to be a "set" that's worn together like the Chinese New Year set. It's pretty, but I can't help feeling like anything added to Yellow Polka would take away from the creamy, dreamy yellow finish.

Pure Ice polishes retail for $1.99 and can be found at most Wal-Marts and on the Pure Ice Cosmetics site. If you don't have a perfect yellow creme yet, you may want to pick up Yellow Polka!

(This product was sent to me for review.)

More Jelly/Glitter Sandwiches

After my successful black and white jelly/glitter sandwich I really wanted to try more. Here are some that I came up with:

Deborah Lippmann Yellow Brick Road and Spoiled Trust Fund Baby

I now have a reason to LOVE Yellow Brick Road (if you remember, I didn't care for it too much on its own). This is a coat of YBR then one coat of Trust Fund Baby (close to Wet n Wild Correction Tape, except the black glitter is hex instead of square), then two more coats of YBR. It looks like candy or sprinkles or Easter eggs. So springy and pretty! This is my favorite sandwich I've done so far

New York Summer Hot Baby Blue and Milani Jewel FX Gems (with purple)

This one came out looking a LOT like Deborah Lippmann's candy shop except in a light sky blue. Great if you want the look but don't care for pink (although it's fairly easy and cheap to franken a dupe or a similar effect with whatever base color you like). I liked the overall effect a lot. One coat of HBB, one coat of Gems, one coat of HBB.

OPI Too Hot To Hold 'Em and Love & Beauty unnamed (red, silver, and black hexes)

I'm not usually one for pinks but I do love the hot pink jelly base of this polish, and I like how the silver and red hexes all turned to shades of pink. Very Valentine's-ish. One coat of THPTHE, one coat L&B (which is similar to Spoiled Shuffle the Deck except that StD has slightly smaller black glitter), two coats THPTHE.

Deborah Lippmann Call Me Irresponsible and Lynnderella The Glittering Crowd

This one didn't wow me so much. The Glittering Crowd is such an eye-catching, stunning combination of glitters (the best multi-colored glitter EVER in my opinion), and the purple over top just seemed to wash it out a little. Maybe some top coat would have helped but I'm not sure. It still looked pretty, just disappointing compared to what I'd hoped for. One coat CMI, one coat Glittering Crowd, one coat CMI.

Remember you can always try adding depth to the sandwich by doing and extra glitter coat then another jelly coat.  It's really fun seeing the different effects with various glitters and jellies!



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Mia Secret Tints over Lady Luck

Awhile ago I got some AWESOME polishes from Another Bottle of Polish called Mia Secret Tints. These are seriously awesome. In addition to the five colors (Red, Yellow, Blue, Ocean, and Purple) that it comes in, I was able to franken a couple more: Green, Teal, and Maroon. I've tried them over silver glitter before, and they were pretty cool, but this time I figured I'd try them over Lady Luck to see the effect they'd give over a color.

Mia Secret Tints (over Sally Hansen Lady Luck)

 I think my favorites are the Red, Teal, and Purple, although Green has kinda of a cool effect too!  They look kind of like jellies over the glitter, but I don't think you'd be able to get most of them opaque on their own.  Plus the consistency of them is pretty thin.

Aren't these fun?? I really like them a lot! I've only tried them over glitter so far, but I've been trying to think of other manicures to try them on. Any suggestions?

Edit: I forgot to add that I got these directly from Another Bottle of Polish's blog sale.  I'm not sure how many she has access to, but it's possible you can get some from her.

The 12 Days of Christmas Nails: Day 3 - Spice Drops

This was a manicure I had in mind since Mrs. Claus and Mistletoe Kisses came out last year in China Glaze's holiday collection. I wanted them to look like various flavors of spice drops (you know, the ones you decorate gingerbread houses with?). So here they are!

Spice Drops - CND Sugar Sparkle over various bases

For the bases, I used CG Grape Juice, CG Mistletoe Kisses, CG Mrs. Claus, Ulta Sun-sational, and Revlon Powder Puff, then I topped each with two coats of CND Sugar Sparkle.  This is what I was going for:

I love these candies, but only the ones that are flavored like spices (not fruits).  If you haven't had them, you should try them!  Some of the flavors are anise (purple), spearmint (green), peppermint (white), and cinnamon (red).  I can't remember what the orange and yellow ones are...  ginger might be one?


Do you have any favorite Christmas candies?

Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Amber Ruby Swatch

Here is another of the Sally Hansen Nail Prisms line:  Amber Ruby.  This is one I love so much I had to get a backup bottle of it.  It has a strong duochrome/multichrome shift between red, copper, gold, and green (and apparently it goes all the way to blue, but it can only be seen in the underwater pictures).  I swatched it recently but was unsatisfied in my capture of all of the colors, so I re-swatched it over OPI Royal Rajah Ruby and it seems to bring out the colors just a tad more (two coats Royal Rajah Ruby, one coat Amber Ruby).

Sally Hansen Nail Prisms - Amber Ruby

What can I say? It's just STUNNING. See the beautiful mossy green on the edges? Yes, it does show up like that in person. In low lighting this polish is constantly shifting between all of its colors. It also has a very nice metallic finish without showing brushstrokes. Here's a picture taken at an angle where you can see the mossy green by itself:

And now for the underwater pictures (I love taking these - it's so fascinating!)

*gasp* I can't help it - it's so wonderful.

And here is OPI Royal Rajah Ruby on it's own, which is quite nice in itself!

Deborah Lippmann Yellow Brick Road Swatch

After seeing promos for this one I knew I really wanted it, so I included it in my order of Chanel Peridot the other day.  Of course, I was too excited about Peridot, but I finally decided to try this one for a full manicure today:

Deborah Lippmann - Yellow Brick Road

I'm honestly not sure how I feel about this polish...  I mean, it's such a beautiful yellow, but somehow I don't think I like the visible nail line that's still there at 4 coats (shown above).  Being a jelly finish, I expected it to take a few coats to even come close to opaque, but it's still not.  I'm really not bothered much by VNL with other colors, but not a fan of it with the yellow.  Ah, well.  I will wear it and take it off tomorrow if it really bugs me.  In the future, I think I'll layer it over Essie Marshmallow (my all-time favorite white) to maintain the jelly look.

What do you think of the visible nail line for Yellow Brick Road?  Do you like the idea of a yellow jelly?  Have you tried this one?

Incoco Design Strips Swatch and Review

Incoco recently sent me a couple of their new Design strips for me to try out, and let me tell you, I love them! These didn't come with a name, so I'm not sure what they will be called when they are officially released.

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This appears to be similar to their Bling Bling strips, but with a multi-colored top coat that has yellow, pink, and sky blue stripes. To me it looks very springy and Easter-y! I don't think they seem too over-the-top sparkly (but then again, I LOVE glitter polishes and anything super sparkly). I really like how every nail is different - it's not just the exact same design on each nail.

I have worn Incoco quite a few times now (see my Head Over Heels review here), and from my experience, the glitter strips last FOREVER (well 11 days in my case, when I decided I wanted to do a different color... but they were still in near perfect shape then!). I'll let you know when I take these off and comment on the wear then.

I'm thoroughly in love with Incoco, and can't wait until their Design line is officially released on their website. Though cost is kind of high, I'm looking forward to seeing some unique designs that aren't easy to replicate with stamping (Konad).

Have you tried Incoco? Are you excited about their new Design line?