Nails & Needles

Of knitting and nail polish

Archive for the tag “butter london slapper”

25 Aug 2012

House colours

I am a huuuuuge fan of the Harry Potter books (and fond enough of the films, especially the later ones), so a while back I decided to do a Harry Potter inspired mani.

I started off with a coat of OPI Nail Envy as a base coat and let that dry thoroughly before taping off a half-moon on each of my nails, except on my ring fingers. Next, I applied two coats of Butter London’s Slapper (what did I say? Still a favourite!) and then removed the tape while the polish was still wet. I then used my Broadway Nails Nail Art Paint (which, by the looks of things, is exactly the same as Kiss Nails’ ditto, only under a different name) in silver to outline the half-moons and draw patterns on the nails. On each of my ring fingers, I drew an S, for Slytherin, which is my favourite house.

This was my first mani to include blank spaces, but I very much doubt it’ll be my last as I really liked the outcome!

 

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11 Aug 2012

Butter London Slapper

(Oh dear god, please excuse the cuticles! They weren’t nearly as bad as the photo makes it seem, I promise!)

I’ve mentioned Slapper before, so I figured it was time for it to get its very own post!

If a polish was ever deserving of its own post, it’s Slapper. I cannot stress enough how much I love this colour. It’s the colour I reach for now when I don’t really have anything particular in mind, but just want a quick mani. If I’m careful, I can get away with two coats of it, though usually I end up using three, just to be sure it’ll look good.

In my line of work, I meet a lot of people, and I don’t think I’ve ever gotten as many compliments on my nails as when I wore this the first time. I loved it, my co-workers loved it and the customers loved it. It’s an all around success story!

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09 Aug 2012

Depend holographic polishes

Depend has a collection of holographic nail polishes out at the moment, which I knew about, but hadn’t actually seen anywhere until I stepped foot in a Matas a few weeks back. I decided to pick up three of the shades right then and there (and later went back for a fourth), even though they come in teeny tiny bottles (even smaller than the Mavala mini polishes!) and so end up quite pricey. I have not regretted it!

Upon application I found that they require at least three, sometimes four, coats to get rid of that pesky VNL, and that they dry quite matte, so a shiny top coat is really of the essence for maximum effect.

Unfortunately, this summer has been a bit lacking in good ol’ sunshine, so I haven’t been able to get a whole lot of pictures of these polishes where you can really, really see all the holographic glory that they are capable of. Because, in the right light, they sparkle. They sparkle a lot in a whole spectrum of colours. And it’s awesome. Boo for bad weather!

This (and, obviously, the first photo of this post) is #2034 Steel Blue*. Here it’s layered over Butter London Slapper (and I swear that polish will get its own post one day!)), which (I suspect) makes it look more teal than it really is. I’ve not worn it on its own yet, so I’m not quite sure how much bluer it is then.

Here’s #2027 Raspberry* with one of my disastrous first attempts at stamping. I think this is quite possibly my favourite of the four colours I picked up. I didn’t get this at first, but regretted it so much I went back a few days later just for it.

#2026 Sand Grey* is a close second to Raspberry. It’s almost nude on me, but with a holographic sparkle. Awesome!

#2029 Charm Pink* was the last one I tried and I just wish the weather had been better so the holo effect could have shown up properly. I guess this is my excuse to try it again soon… ;)

*The bottles are marked with numbers only, not colour names, but the display case in the store had names on it as well.

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08 Jul 2012

Trout Pout meets Slapper

My second experience with Butter London polishes involved Trout Pout and Slapper. I was originally just going to try out Trout Pout, but while the colour on its own is absolutely lovely, I do get bored quite easily if there’s no shine or sparkle to keep my interest alive. Trout Pout does apply with shine, especially if coupled with a coat of Seche Vite, but in the end I couldn’t resist freehanding a bit of a design with Slapper.

It took three coats for Trout Pout to look non-streaky, which is not out of the norm, so not too disappointing. It lasted a lot longer without chipping than The Black Knight did, too, but I don’t know if it’s just because this is a “simple” cream, whereas TBK is full of glitter, or if it’s because I’ve learnt a few tricks since then. (You’ll notice, for example, that I no longer suffer from Seche Vite shrinking at the tips. I decided to google it, rather than try to find a different quick-drying coat, and I now know how to apply my polishes for maximum lasting power!)

Look! I was even able to get a second day’s wear out of this mani!

On the second day, I added a coat of BK Super Matte to keep my interest alive until I could get home and paint my nails a new colour. ;) Because now, that I know the tricks for making things last, I find that I start itching to re-do my nails anyway! I still haven’t broken my habit of picking at my polish, but unlike before, when a mani lasted no more than half a day before looking icky due to my picking, I now reach at least a day and a half before reaching that stage. Improvement, in other words!

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