To be on trend with summer, I have been into painting my nails some pretty random bright colors lately. It’s about the only beauty area that I can have wiggle room at work, considering the Japanese investment banking culture.
I have oily nail beds that fail to hold any color for more than a couple of days, even gel nails that have been cured with UV. And that’s another topic for a bitch fest, since gel nails always peel at the edges but impossible to get rid of once it’s a jagged little circle of color in the middle of your damn nail. I have been forced to pick at it til it strips off a micro-millimeter layer of keratin on my nail.
So I just repaint every couple of days. The other day I was at Ricky’s and found the butter LONDON base & top coat set (for goddamn $40!) I forked out the dough anyway. Economics have taught me that in conditions of uncertainty, price signals quality. So I am a sucker for stupid expensive base and top coat that implies it will make any nail polish last like it’s gel.
Except…it doesn’t really. Now the base coat is super smooth and has helped the SUPER CLEAN removal of nail polish. Usually when I wear dark colors and remove with acetone, it leaves my nails stained a certain color. With the butter LONDON base, my nails are completely wiped clean of all streaks and marks, no staining at all. The top coat helps seal in the polish and seems to make it dry really fast. And yes, it’s really really shiny.
But the gel promise? NAY! It doesn’t last. I shake my fist at you butter LONDON. Oh I also used their yellow polish (Pimms) and it was total crap. Streaky, thick, and cracked in a day!
For this post I used Essie (another hit-or-miss brand. Stick to OPI! My mom owned a nail salon and I’ve experimented with a few brands. OPI and CND Vinylux are the only two worthy contenders by a stretch). The color was “Meet Me at Sunset” which is a very vibrant reddish orange. Very thick and candied in texture, hard to put on, but highly pigmented and true to color on label and bottle.
Sorry about the blurry pics but I took with my iPhone at night. Granny gotta sleep early here. But the color is absolutely true. I am very happy with this shade actually.
So there ya have it. Don’t waste the $40 on this stupid butter set unless you really want the base. It’s actually not a bad base and I would totally buy it separately. The top coat is shiny but for polish that lasts long, try CND Vinylux line instead. I will def pick some of that up next time I’m at the nails & beauty supply shop with my ma.
BeautyandtheCat's Beauty Blog 