Studio M Nouveau Vintage

I picked this bottle up at a recent trip to Meijer.  I've seen some people swatching it and liked the uniqueness of the color.  As you may (or may not) know, Studio M is marketed by the same company that produces Color Club polishes, hence the identical name and color. 

So, anyway - I thought it looked unique.  But as you'll see in the comparison shots below - it's not really that unique at all! :)

You can't really tell by looking at the bottle or nail pictures, but Nouveau Vintage is actually gold and greenish glitter in a RED base.  Check out the neck of the bottle while you're applying it, you will see the hint of red.  You can't see the red base once it dries.  I think I applied 2 coats and coverage was good.  It's a nice antique brass-y looking shimmer and a good fall color. 

Now, on to the comparison photos.  I compared this color with others from my stash.  

Left to Right Studio M Nouveau Vintage, Nina Ultra Pro Mossy Britches, Revlon Insta Dri Bronze Ablaze and Butter London Wallis.  The closest match is the Sally Hansen Bronze Ablaze.  Mossy Britches and Wallis have a lot more olive in them with Wallis being more shimmery than the other swatches.  Can you see the hint of red in this comparison shot?

Nouveau Vintage, Mossy Britches

Bronze Ablaze, Wallis

So my final verdict is that if you already have one of the other shades pictured, you can pass on this color.  They are not dupes, but close enough that only another nail blogger could see any difference in color among them.

Cheers!

Butter London Wallis

This is my first experience with this polish brand.  Amanda tried one last week, and unfortunately had an allergic reaction.  We aren't sure whether it was a chemical or dye in the polish and if it was isolated to only that particular color or not.

This went on absolutely beautifully.  It's a tad thin but flows and covers really well - as I would expect from a higher priced brand.  I had complete coverage with 2 coats.  Dry time was excellent - by the time I had polished my 2nd hand the first was ready for the next coat.

Isn't this lovely? It's like spun gold with a slight greenish tint.  I kept thinking it reminded me of some other polish in my collection I've swatched recently and I finally figured out what it is - it is nearly identical in color to Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Bronze Ablaze.  So if you have BA I don't think you need Wallis.

Butter London - HRH Review + Spoooooky Spiderwebs!

I picked up two Butter London's in their BOGO 1/2 off sale at Ulta this past week. I got HRH for me and Wallis for Mama.

I was really really excited to try this. It's the only Butter London I have and one of the most expensive polishes in my collection.

HRH is a beautiful medium purple. The color is lovely, but that's about the only pro I have for this polish. The application on this was less than satisfactory - for a $14 polish, I expect a flawless application and this one just seemed sub-par to me. I have $4 polishes in my collection that apply better than this one did (China Glaze, I'm looking at you!).

First off, it was SUPER streaky on the first coat. The color evened out a tiny bit more on the second and third, but if I went over the same spot more than once it got streaky again.

Also, I let this polish dry for the same amount of time as any other polish that I use and it bubbled up. I rarely have problems with bubbles, but perhaps it was because I had to use such thick coats to avoid the streakiness that comes with this polish.

I also noticed a funky smell with this one? It smelled like polish... just a stronger scent than most of the polishes in my collection. Nothing I can't deal with, just unusual.

And the last thing, the dealbreaker for me on this polish is that it gave me an ALLERGIC REACTION. After I had this on for a bit, I noticed swelling and tenderness at my fingertips. It hurt to type and if I put any pressure on my nails, they hurt. That has never happened to me before! Needless to say, I took this off after about two hours. I'm not sure if it was an ingredient in this polish or a particular dye or what, but these polishes are 3-Free so I know it's not that.

I really REALLY wanted to like this brand. I've heard some good things about them. But the unsatisfactory formula, high price point and the fact that it gave me a reaction is grounds enough for me to pass on this brand in the future. I had such high hopes for it, but I probably will not be repurchasing. Luckily I got this on sale so I'm not feeling as much buyer's remorse as I would've had I paid full price for it. Maybe I will try the one I picked up for Mama and see if I have the same reaction to it.

Alright, now that I got that out of my system, I will show you some nail art I did on top of this before I realized that it was the swollen finger culprit. I thought this purple could be a nice Halloween purple, so I used white acrylic paint and drew little spiderwebs on my nails. And a little grey spider! Topped it with a coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust.

HAUL-o-ween!

These are our purchases from the last 2-3 weeks.

Ulta had a BOGO sale on Butter London last week, so we picked up two lacquers.  The lucky winners were HRH and Wallis.  Amanda will have a review of HRH going up later in the week.

At Meijer I found some novelty Halloween polishes.  I knew by looking at these bottles they weren't really going to be practical to use because of the bottle shape.  And I was right, application was really difficult because the lid is so small.  Coverage was ok.  Voodoo is a semi-matte red jelly with red microglitter and Toxic is a medium green shimmer almost leaning toward a foil-y finish.

This is 2 coats with no top coat

And this is a coat of Rush High Speed top coat over it.

Here is 2 coats of Toxic - no top coat

Phantom Frights Jack O'Lantern bottles.  Aren't these cute?  They are a little more practical than the coffin shaped bottles.  They had lots of different colors and textures - several neons and glitters and even a mini set, which I impulse bought and gave to Amanda.

 

All polishes are layered over Sinful Black on Black unless otherwise noted.  They don't have names so I'll just show you the pictures.  This was the first one to catch my eye as I love glitters and holos.  I originally thought this was a clear base with holographic glitter and large bat glitters in it.  But upon closer examination, I see that it is, in fact, holographic crescent moons.  So cute!

Next is a small multi colored glitter in a clear base.  I could actually see myself using this one for more than just the Halloween season.  It looks really pretty matt-i-fied too.

Next is a clear base with holographic bar glitter.  This polish is plaqued by the same problem other bar glitters have.  The bars tend to migrate around the nail so uniform coverage is difficult.  The base is also really thick and goopy.  Might need some thinning out.

Here is the only polish out of my haul I didn't swatch over black.  This is applied over the top of Wet n Wild Buffy the Violet Slayer (which looks blue in the pictures but is actually a vivid violet shimmer).  This polish has a medium purple base with holographic glitter and blue flakies.  Again, it's much more purple than the picture makes it look.  

Lastly is a clear base with black and orange bar glitter. Black probably wasn't the best color to layer it over because you can't see the black glitter.  Again, its really goopy and the glitter is hard to place.  It ends up really thick and uneven and you'll need to put a top coat on to try to even out the surface.

And here is one of my most anticipated lemmings of the fall season.  This is the Revlon limited edition Expressionist collection.  I'm so excited to wear these!  The colors are (L to R) Facets of Fuchsia (which is a Deborah Lippman Bad Romance dupe), Smoky Canvas, Blue Mosaic and Starry Pink.  Look for reviews of these coming up real soon!