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The Nail Ninja: Butter London Fall/Winter '10

Seasonal polish collections often reflect the trends of said season. Fall/Winter  '10 is about texture, layering, and depth. Clothes will be delightfully layered (though isn't this always the way in Fall and Winter?). Texture played a large part of the FW shows, especially in my favorite way: chunky knits over sheer fabrics paired with slick leather. Those things really create that feeling of "depth", as also can be seen in the recent hair trend of ombre locks (they fade gradually from a light root to a darker end, or vice versa). These are all some of my favorite things!

Now... how does those translate into nail polish trends? The Ninja suspects we'll be seeing quite a bit of shimmer, interplay between different textures in one mani, and delicious jelly polishes.

Nonie Creme, head of Big-3 free polish brand Butter London, interpreted this Fall's trends into 4 shades:

1. Bumster This unusual shade is mustard, ochre, yellow-brown. It's named after a style of pants designed by Alexander McQueen in 1996 in which the waistband slung low and showed off the wearers' bums.
2. Marrow We know that purple is huge this Fall, and the shimmer in Marrow adds intriguing depth. The original version of this dark purple shade was custom-mixed for the AW10 Vena Cava show. It reminded the designers of bone marrow. By many accounts, though, the color being sold isn't the same as that spotted backstage, which was more greyed-out and murky.
3. All Hail McQueen This is "the tribute polish" in honor of Alexander McQueen. The opaque beige version of Yummy Mummy (a Butter London top seller) is heavily doused with holographic glitter. Note: this is not "a holo polish"; it's a holo glitter. The former would give off a uniform holographic rainbow effect all over the nail. All Hail McQueen has holo glitter, each particle of which shines like a holographic prism.
4. Victoriana The Victorian Age, in color. A "textured vintage blue", to be exact, which apparently is a blue with green tones. Again, shimmering particles add depth and texture hee.

Take a looksie:

I'm sad I didn't get samples to try - they look bangin'! I'm especially intruiged by All Hail McQueen because I'm obsessed with holo glitter, though you know I'm a purple addict so Marrow also calls to me. I'd like to check out Bumster, because though it's not technically a neutral (too warm!), it's an unusual color that will compliment Fall nicely. I'm gradually getting addicted to the all-to-trendy (in the nail world) greens and blues, with my favorites being a mix of the two shades that is particularly flattering on my cool skin. Will Victoriana fit the bill? All Lacquered Up got this collection to review, that lucky Michele; swatches are here.

Each polish retails for $14 (well worth it if these are like the rest of the polishes in the line). Buy them online at ButterLondon.com or check the site for other retailers.

YOUR TURN:
Have you tried Butter London? Like it? Leave it? Do these colors entice you? Are you excited for Fall? Are your pants falling off, or are they securely in place?

Hello, friends! Plus: Butter London teaser

Hi, everyone. The Ninja has been traveling. Secret business. But she's stopping by to say hi, ask you what's new, and tell you a bit about something she spotted.

SO... what's new? Any pretty nail news? Make any great nail art? Tell The Ninja!!!

The Ninja will leave you with this tiny little peek of something potted on another blog.
She's gotten no comment from Nonie Creme, founder of Butter London,  but suffice it to say that The Ninja has never seen a false report from this source before. So, if you like the looks of these colors, save your pennies.

Essentially the text says this: here's a tribute to the gone-too-soon Alexander McQueen. The colors are Bumster (mustard yellow), All Hail McQueen (grey holo), Marrow (dirty purple) and Victoriana (smoky blue).

Yes, The Ninja can count... there's only three shades pictured. Don't shoot the messenger.

Even though that mustard shade will look deathly on the cool, pale Ninja skin, it may come home anyway. Suffice it to say the purple, holo and smoky blue will be here, too.

source

Butter London: Nail Foundation Flawless Basecoat | Best. Basecoat. Ever.

It's gotta be said: Butter London makes the best base coat The Ninja has tried in a long, long time. First, it applies evenly and smoothly. Second, it creates a satin-like finish on the nail, which is cool on its own. And third: it holds onto polish like an angry monkey holds onto his favorite banana*. Have you tried Nail Foundation Flawless Basecoat? $18

*Which, The Ninja assumes, must be "tightly".

Here is a bottle shot from the company.
The Ninja's daughter, Littlest Ninja, may have punted the cap
to her bottle under the couch, hence its display of nudity
in the picture at the top of this article.

A sample of this product was provided by the kind and lovely folks of Butter London.
Please consult The Ninja's About Tab for more information on her review policies.

butter LONDON: Stroppy. Not grape jelly, but still awesome.

The Ninja has a special guest swatcher today. If you wanna see this gorgeous purple jelly polish, you just have to keep reading!

Butter London: Fash Pack

Butter London

Fash Pack

One of The Ninja's favorite colorways, and yet she doesn't know what to call that hue. Some say "greige", some call it "mushroom", some say "putty", others just stick with "taupe" or "brown" or "grey/gray".

Regardless of what you call it, this is an incredibly flattering shade and entirely satisfying. Not unlike $OPI's Metro Chic (a ninja fave!), OPI Over the Taupe, Essie Mink Cuffs (more brown), and OPI You Don't Know Jacuqes, this color placates a restless ninja with it's reassuring and grounded shade that's not quite taupe, and not quite grey/gray.

This type of shade cures the ills brought on by too many glitters or brights or (god forbid) reds. It's a little bit fashionable, a little bit unexpected (in The Ninja's world we don't see a lot of this type of color, though Fifth Ave wouldn't be so shocked by it!). It's also subdued by tough.

Application

DREAMY. The first coat, which The Ninja applied quite thin, was terrifying and streaky. The Ninja knows to expect this from Butter London and it's ok. It's only the first coat, after all. The second coat she put on was a bit thicker (medium-thick, if you take her meaning) and that's all she wrote! Perfect, streak-free coverage in two coats? Who could ask for anything more!?

Wear

Amazing. This time, The Ninja used a Big 3-Free top coat and base coat (as opposed to the Seche Vite she used with Branwen's Feather). No tip wear after 2 days of fairly hard use, and no problems drying (though The Ninja loves Seche's uber-quick dry time, and found it hard to manage the ninja babies and wet nails for the extended drying period). No smudges, no problems. And it seems to be on like iron!

The only problem...

See the green/teal in the bottle above? The Ninja has found Butter London shades to separate easily when left to sit. No big deal, though! A gentle roll between the palms (don't shake!) and it's back to 100%. Just a warning for those who freak at things like that! :)

Disclaimer: This product was provided to me by me.
Technically, by my mother. A fact which did not impact my review in the slightest.
For more information on my review policy, please visit my "About" tab.

Branwen's Feather from Butter London: the real scoop

The Ninja recently realized she hasn't reviewed any of her 3 Butter London polishes. It's time to remedy that, starting with this lovely dark purplish shade.

Butter London

Branwen's Feather

A purple-ish black with loads of depth and shine.
Like a silky raven’s feather at midnight by the Tower.

 

If you get it in the right light, this purple is flashy and stunning.

In all other lights, you see the Clark Kent to that brighter purple's Superman.

You can see a bit of silver pearl
But the overall color impression is duskier than expected

And is best seen in the blurry picture above,
or the one below which also shows...

...the ginormous smudge that happened about
4 hours after topping with Seche Vite!

And the tip wear is about 12 hours later,
after having slept and watched TV only*

*The Ninja had an "off" weekend. Normally weekends are full of crazy ninja adventures, of course.

Thoughts

• Application: Somehow runny and gooey at the same time. This is three coats. The first coat was really sheer and strange looking. The second coat was streaky and brighter. The third coat was... well, this.
• Top/Base Coat: The Ninja used Illamasqua's Base Coat and Seche Vite as top coat. Her working theory is that Butter London and Seche Vite aren't compatible, as she has only very rarely encountered a polish that smudges 30 minutes after the SV top coat, much less several hours later. With the next Butter London mani, she will try a 3-free top coat.
• Wear: Who can tell? The hell if The Ninja is walking around like this handing out her business card. lol
• Color: This color is not at all what The Ninja expected. She was kind of imagining a bit of an oil spill type shade, which is not what this is. Of course, there's no reason for her to have expected the oil spill thing. She read the color description, which said "A purple-ish black with loads of depth and shine". She must have been drunk.
  
  This is a gloriously dusky dark purple. Lovely. There's a tiny touch of shimmer in it, but it's not overt. The Ninja has seen pictures of this polish elsewhere and they show a brighter, more radiant color (like the bottle shot at top). Unless the formula changed at some point, these are not great indications of how this polish looks in all but the most direct of lights or bright sunlight. The Ninja is very careful to show things the way they look most of the time, not just those rare and breathtaking occasional glimpses.

Another note:
Apparently Butter London has changed their caps.
Thankfully, this will no longer happen:

Image of Raven's feather: source
All other Images are property of this blog.
Stealing will give you pimples.

Disclosure: This product was purchased by the author.

Are you ready for some buttery jelly?

How often can you combine a few of your favorite loves? Not often enough, and so here The Ninja blends Butter London polish, lacquer with a jelly finish, Michelle Mismas' All Lacquered Up, rockin' music, and Glee!

image courtesy of All Lacquered Up

The gimick

Sheer, glossy jelly polishes that you wear like a slick of lipgloss. The shades are bright, and remind The Ninja of summer and popsicles! Looking at the bottle pics, the polishes seem to have a bit of a shimmer to them, which The Ninja can't wait to see in person!

The Jelly - Sheer Colourwash polishes are buildable, so you can really go see-through with a suggestion of shiny color, or layer one shade to get more of a liquidy goodness. Or you can, as suggested, combine the colors and see what you get! The Ninja is sure Twee (raspberry) and Stroppy (grape) would look nice layered, as would Chuffed (orange/tangerine) and Twee... but Chuffed + Stroppy would yield... what? Sheer brown? Well, the concept is fun, and The Ninja is excited to see how they pan out!

Read more (including poss. release timing)
and see bottle shots here.