Butter London, Billy No Mates

I picked up a Butter London (the bottle, the names, the colors! They intrigued me) from The Fairest, where I essentially got this bottle for free. I'd been looking for a grey for the cooler weather and I assumed this would get me through.

The bottle is, of course, beautiful. I have a thing for square bottles--especially with really nice font. Simple, elegant, but definitely presentable as a bottle in itself. It is my dream one day to own an entire nail polish collection made entirely of square bottles. The color is lovely, too; I'd been itching for the opportunity to try this shade when We'll Always Have Paris chipped (fourth day with base and topcoat and no touchup, for those who want to know), but I was in the middle of my busy days when I wouldn't have the time to wait for lacquer to dry. So.

Oh, and Butter London's replaced their caps! The heavy black square is removable for easier lacquer maneuvering, which is nice. What surprised me was that it held .3 oz--the standard polish size is .5 (which I find gargantuan), but an original fourteen dollars for a .3 oz bottle?

Man, it dang better be impressive. So here are the pictures without cleanup:

indoors--sorry that it's blurry

outdoors in sunlight

outdoors, in shade

further off, indoors.

I think I got a bad brush. Two or three of the strands were sticking out and no amount of gingery maneuvering could get them back to form. I tried to paint thinly, but the roughness of the brush handling lead me to goop on the polish, which in turn made room for bubbles, and. gah. I'll probably trim them later, or something. That said, I found the polish application easy and surprisingly pigmented--two coats to get opaque, one if you're careful and lucked out with the brush business.

All in all, not a bad brand, not a bad brand at all. Just, y'know, fourteen bucks plus S&H. We'll see how long the manicure lasts, and then I'll say for certain whether or not I think Butter London is worth the investment--or whether it's just less pain, hassle, etc. if you get your pile of old standard drugstore polish.

NOTE: Um, guys, Billy No Mates has THE WORST wear. Chipping in two days, and, get this: cracks. I've NEVER had a polish crack in my life. There are little fine lines in it everywhere, where it may eventually deepen and break off from my nail. I'm changing the polish tonight, or tomorrow; depending on how I feel--I am currently sick with flu.

I want to like Butter London. Really, I do--it's so pretty, and I'm such an anglophile it isn't even funny. Still, I expect more from a tiny fourteen dollar polish. Maybe I'll try it again when I'm feeling hopeful?