butter LONDON: All Hail the Queen & Yummy Mummy

"God attack the Queen

Send big dogs after her

That bite her bum.

Let them chase after her

and rip her knickers off..."

                                              -God Save the Queen, as revised by Eddie Izzard

Eddie Izzard is my hero, and I luff him :-)

butter LONDON offered 30% off online purchases last month, and I took serious advantage of their generosity.  Five polishes were purchased, which saved me $21 off of what I would've paid instore, and that's including the cost of shipping.  Yay, promos!  I've got 2 of those 5 for you today.  All Hail the Queen and Yummy Mummy.  First up, All Hail the Queen!

Bath and Body Works is just up the street from where I work.  

That means I have more of these than I really need.  

Revlon Gold Coast layered over top.  I freaking love Gold Coast.  

Like, for real.

Left hand, with Gold Coast.  Right hand, without. 

I am IN LOVE with this color, which is surprising, because I normally gravitate toward non-nudey shades.  Maybe it's the fine holo particles (or however you'd describe it) that give it that little extra something.  I dunno, but it's truly lovely.  All Hail the Queen pulls pretty taupey on me, but if you Google other swatches, you'll find it's more of a light beige color on some people.  Maybe they use fewer coats?  I've used 3, but it is opaque in 2.  I personally prefer the darker color, at least on my fish-belly skin.  

How about a little Yummy Mummy?  Let's check her out.  

I could eat an avocado every day.

Wishing I had one right now, actually.

Pat yourself on the back if you guessed that I would layer Gold Coast over this (pointer and ring fingers).

butter LONDON wants to call Yummy Mummy a "medium beige", but I disagree. On me, it's more of a grayish taupe color with a subtle pearly shimmer.  That sounds horrid, but it's really quite nice. Of these 2 shades, I prefer All Hail the Queen, but I definitely dig this little lady.  Both are work appropriate, and would likely look good on any skin tone.  

I purchased these through butter LONDON's website, but you can also pick them up at Ulta.  They run $14/bottle, but if you like them on facebook, you can take advantage of the promos they offer for online purchases.  butter LONDON is becoming a favorite of mine; I've gone from zero to ten of their polishes in the span of about 4 months!

**Okay, Blogger.  WTF.  WHY ARE YOU HIGHLIGHTING RANDOM BITS OF MY POSTS?  If someone could please explain this to me, I would really freaking appreciate it.  

Sinful Colors: Poorly Played

Whelp, I was going to post some Sinful Colors swatches today, but then this and this happened.  That ain't right, Sinful Colors.  That just ain't right.

Rescue Beauty Lounge: Locavore

Dude.  I have received 18 polishes in the mail this week, and have bought around 10 or so more in store.  I'm beginning to understand how bloggers have polishes sitting in their "untried" stashes for so long. It's hard to keep up when there are so many new pretties to be had!


Below are 2 crappy pictures of Locavore, an absolutely gorgeous glitter polish by Rescue Beauty Lounge.  This is 3 coats, with 2 coats of Seche Vite.  So sparkly! Formula wasn't bad, either.  

Just look at that pinky!  You see all those pretty colors?  You see them??

Yes, I know almost all my nails are blurred.  I'm posting anyway.  

You can buy this at RBL's website, where it retails for $18.  These (poor) swatches are from a few months ago, and looking at them makes me really want to wear this again!  I'm working on swatching all of my Sinful Colors polishes right now, though.   Look for some of those swatches tomorrow.  If you don't already know, Sinful Colors are on sale at Walgreens for $.99 until Sunday!   

Ermahgerd, Fergie and Flerrrrrrm!!

Hello, People of the Interwebz!  Today I have for you a polish from Fergie's new Wet n Wild collection.  It's a shimmery, teal-colored bit of lovely called Miami Spirit.  I've added Floam to my ring finger for funsies.  

Swatches below are 1 coat of CND Stickey, 2 coats Miami Spirit, 1 coat CND Super Shiny.  Floam finger has 2 coats of Gelous before the top coat. And also 2 coats of Floam.  

With a banana, because that's sort of my thing now. 

With a pack of AA batteries.  Why not?

Indoors, with flash.  Shimmery!

Indoors, no flash.  Floamy!

My fingernails grow so strangely.  The shape starts round at the pointer, then gradually squares off at the pinkie.  

I like this angle for pictures.  Not sure why.  

My middle finger looks like it has a nail polish scar. Must've had a thread on there or something.  

This color leans a lot more to the green side of teal than these pictures are showing.  Why do cameras do that?  These are all taken with my iPhone, but I know proper cameras also freak out with certain colors, too.  The formula was fantastic on this polish.  It quickly dries to a matte finish, but kind of a rubbery matte, if that makes any sense.  The brush is that wide, fat spatula that people either really love, or really hate.  Mark me down in the "Really Love" column.   I bought this at Walgreens, along with another in this collection.  It's a glittery beauty called Dutchess, and I can't wait to try it out!  *Side note: I really hate the way Fergie spells 'Dutchess'.  Makes my eye twitch.   Just like this stupid highlighted text makes my eye twitch.  I can't figure out why it keeps doing this!  I try to fix it, and it just gets worse!  Ugggggggh.  

Essie x 3

A Trader Joe's opened recently and I went with a friend to check it out.  We left with, among other things, Kettle Corn Cookies (OMG, YUM) and Roasted Seaweed Snacks (OMG, WEIRD).  I have munched on both today.  Not together, though.  Ew.  

Right, so today I've got 3 Essie polishes to show you.  Two of them are from the Bikini So Teeny collection, and the third is from the new Mirror Metallics collection.  First up is  Bikini So Teeny!

Out in the sun
*All swatches featuring guest appearance on ring finger by Revlon Gold Coast*

Out in the sun with flash

Indoors, holding my wallet.  I had probably just bought more nail polish.
*Guest appearances by Revlon Gold Coast (ring finger) and Revlon Whimsical (pinkie)*

On my bed, under fluorescent lighting

GAHHH!  GIANT, LAVENDER-HEADED SLUGS!

This color is so weird.  It doesn't photograph accurately for shit, and it looks different on the nail than it does in the bottle.  Sometimes it's that bright, sky blue, sometimes it's a soft pastel blue, and sometimes it's freaking lavender!  There's a noticeable shimmer in the bottle that juuuuust barely translates to the nail.  The formula on my bottle wasn't that great; it was a bit thick and didn't self-level.  Most other reviews I've read didn't have that issue, though.  Do I like this color?  Yes.  Yes, I do.  I especially like it for Whimsical underwear.  

Next up is All Tied Up, which is also part of the Bikini So Teeny collection. 

Indoors
*Guest appearance on ring finger by Revlon Gold Coast*

I'm really digging Gold Coast.  

         

Indoors, holding some peach lip gloss.  You can kinda see the shimmer trying to show itself.

I loved this everywhere I saw it, which is odd for me because I generally don't like mature shades like this.  Check out Scrangie's swatch for a better look at the pretty shimmer!  Formula was great on this one!

Lastly, I have Nothing Else Metals from the Mirror Metallics collection.

Indoors, with flash.  Nails aren't in focus, but it shows the lilac color pretty well.

Indoors, fluorescent lighting

Indoors, fluorescent lighting.

Thoughts on this one: I don't really like it.  I used to love this finish, and at one time had all the old Sally Hansen metallics, but I think I'm over it.  Why did I purchase this, then?  Because it's called Nothing Else Metals, and I'm a Metallica fangirl \m/ \m/  Tip: Make sure your nails are prepped well before using this kind of polish.  Mine weren't, and you can see the poor condition of the tips of my nails showing through the polish.  A base coat would have helped a ton.  So would filing and buffing.  

So, that's that.  I ate 4 more Kettle Corn Cookies while I typed this.   

*Edit* One day I will figure out how to operate this damn thing so that my pictures show up in a straight line and the ends of my posts aren't highlighted.  

Oh, Pinterest

Maggie Mae!

This is my beautiful baby girl, Maggie Mae.  She is a 6-year-old Boston Terrier who absolutely rules my heart.  I'll mention her des temps en temp, so thought you'd like to know what she looks like.  She's pretty cute, yeah?

Keeping an eye on the neighbors through the window

Derp

Snaggleteefs!

Just this morning.  Sleepy pup!!

Smiling at my brother.  

Lip!

Hipstamatic app

Snaggleteef 2!

There have been 3 Boston Terriers in my life since I was 11 years old.  I'd never heard of the breed before then; a dog to me was a lab or a shepherd or a doxie, like my grandmother always had.  Now, I can't imagine life without one!  They're the best dogs ever.  This is a fact.    


**Grrr...can't figure out how this became highlighted!  

Patriotic Nails: Reloaded

Just wanted to show you how my nails looked on the 4th.  This manicure is mostly the same as the previous one, but I did decide to try some freehand work on an accent nail, and do dots for stars.  It's definitely a "full-on Monet", but I'm happy with it :-)  The flag wasn't upside down when my fingers were extended and you looked at them from my POV.  I didn't take the picture that way because I'm really trying to limit your man-hand exposure here.  The claw isn't super attractive, but at least it's not immediately obvious that I wear the same size ring as my dad o_O
  

Red: Sally Hansen Rapid Red; White: Julep Kate, Blue: Sally Hansen Blue It

Patriotic Nails

Aight, yo. I have a quick post for you today. This is a slightly different take on the mani I do every year for our nation's birthday. It chipped off today, after 3 days, so I need to do another one tonight. That ought to be fun!

Red: Sally Hansen Rapid Red; White: Sally Hansen Whirlwind White (streaky nightmare, btw) ; Blue: Milani  Breezy;
"Stars": OPI Pirouette My Whistle 

Normally I do white polka dots on the thumb, but I just bought OPI Pirouette My Whistle and wanted to use it for the stars. I also mattified this mani, which I don't usually do. See crappy photo from my Facebook mobile uploads below for last year's offering. Pretty sure I like the old version better. What do you think?

Maybe it's because my nails were longer?