Swatch This! Butter London Fiddlesticks

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Here's a little swatch post for you! Haven't done one of these in a bit so I thought I might start again. Originally the intention was to swatch my entire collection and weed out dupes and colors I don't wear or won't wear.  I'm not sure that's really a viable option at this point -- especially as I'm in the midst of a move -- but it's still a great way to see the pretty colors I have. :P  So this one is Butter London Fiddlesticks.  I believe it was a holiday release but for the life of me I can't remember the name of the collection.  It came out in 2012 along with a plethora of other glittery shades.  This is a perfect shade for fall and for the upcoming holidays so it's definitely a keeper!! What do you think? Do you have Fiddlesticks?

Hello Vuitton

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I recently picked up a whole load of new Butter London pretties...in fact I added nine to my collection in about two days. :/ Oops!! If you follow me on Instagram you've probably already seen them but in case you haven't, my original haul include these:


Stroppy, Fash Pack, Chuffed, Silly Billy, Lolly, Teetotal, Cream Tea, Royal Navy and Wellies. Gorgeous shades all of them.  But then later I was itching to go back and snag some more!! So I did!!


The thing is...when you have so many it's hard to keep track!! So I ended up with some extras! :/ Oops! You can capitalize on my mistakes though, cause I threw the extra's into my blog sale! ;P  In any event I've been wanting to use them so today I decided to try out Teetotal. It's basically just a really pretty brown and even though I love it on my nails I thought it could use some flare.


So I jazzed it up with some gold stamping!  It's the perfect shade for this Louis Vuitton/ Hello Kitty mash up!  I matted it at first but it really dulled the gold so I decided to leave it shiny.  I also switched up my top coat on this one...I normally swear by Seche Vite but I'm running low so I've been using my Deborah Lippmann Addicted to Speed top coat lately and I am IN LOVE. It's still super shiny, slightly thick and it dries WICKED fast. Like faster than the Seche even.  I might have an expensive addiction on my hands!! I hope you enjoyed these nails! :) Thanks for following!

Lucy in the sky

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It finally feels like Spring outside!! Hopefully this time it sticks.  I thought for the warm weather I'd break out the Spring colors.  Also I just picked up this incredible glitter the other day called Lucy in the Sky.  It reminds me a bit of Tart with A Heart but they're not near similar enough that you don't need both! I also successfully completed this tape mani without pulling my hair out!  Although I did have to start over once. I really need to get in the habit of putting down a base, waiting a day and then doing the tape ones. I have ZERO patience for dry time and even with a quick dry top coat it just never works out for me! Hope you all enjoy this fun, Spring look!

Horse Power Nail Compare

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The end has come!! As promised today I'm going to be showing you the difference between using a nail strengthener and simply not polishing your nails. Above you see my final results of four weeks of butter LONDON Horse Power. As I mentioned in my last post I had a bit of peeling but nothing really major and most of it on a previously injured nail. You can see that there's some significant growth and no breaks so that's definitely a plus! On this hand I went polish free with just strengthener for the first week and then after used the strengthener as a base coat under polishes. On my other hand I used NO products. Here are the results of that...

 
Several things to note here.  One is that the color is very different. Even with a good base coat nails will still show some discoloration from long term polish use. You can certainly buff this off but buffing frequently also weakens nails (especially if done improperly!) so it's always easier to prevent! Obviously no peels here either which is pretty typical for me as my nails normally stay very strong and healthy without any treatments. The length is the last thing to note. I do not have pictures of the original starting point of my left hand so while you can see that there is more growth on this side than the other I know some of you out there will say it's a lie since I have no proof of my start. You can take my word for it or you can choose not to but it's really a smallish amount so it's not super important. Here's what I really want to show you. Look at the shape of my nails on my right hand vs my left. The hand I left product free has much wider nails and they seem more square. This is NOT because of shaping. It's because of this:
 


 

The C curve.  See a lot of people, even professionals, want you to believe that polishing your nails does ZERO damage. Well as a professional, a freelancer and a fellow polisher....I want you to know that this is false.  Let's look at this like your hair.  Now some hair products and hair professionals will tell you if you use this product or that or the other, that heat will not damage your hair. But you know this is not true. Heat, dye, even shampoo damages hair. Now if I bleach my hair it's obviously much more damaged than if I simply blow it out. But damage is damage. Acrylics are a little like bleaching and polish is more like flat ironing. But still you can see the damage. I DO moisturize my nails regularly. They get cuticle balm twice a day and lotion at least that and most days more. Previously I've even used a moisturizing base coat but these things will NOT prevent damage. They just minimize it. Some of you may not see right away what I'm talking about so I've drawn some lines to help you on the below pic...
 



Look at the height of my C curve on the right vs the left. It's nearly double. This is caused by the polish. It creates dryness which causes the nail to curve under more. THAT in turn makes it easier to break the nails. Over dryness can make them more brittle which increases this risk. But in general this is simply changing the shape of my nail. It can be more slight on some people than others but I think that most of us are simply too used to the polished shape to realize that it's not the one we were born with!  Is it serious? No. Will it hurt you? No. But is it better for your nails to grow out polish free? Well...let's just say, it will give you a much stronger base to start polishing!! :)  (as a side note: you can also see in this picture that the Horse Power did not add any thickness to my nail!)

Have you ever tried this experiment? What were your results?

butter LONDON Horse Power Week 4

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Well we are at the end of week four on butter LONDON Horse Power and this is how my nails look today. I lost a corner of my index nail but I'm pretty sure it's related to the kitty claw injury I sustained early on. Overall my nails seem pretty much the same as they would if I grew them out without strengthener. I did have some peeling with this one as well. Much less than with the OPI and most of it is limited to my index finger so I can't say for certain it was caused by the butter LONDON because I did have an injury. But I also have a few small ones towards the tip of my middle finger. It did seem to prevent staining fairly well and no scary skin growth like with the Rejuvacote. I also like that it's clear so when you want to reapply over polish it doesn't alter the color. I certainly would recommend it to anyone who wants to try out a strengthener. Overall my preference of the three I've tried was the Rejuvacote but I liked that this applies easily and dries quickly. You also don't need to take weeks off like with the Rejuvacote (although they recommend you do!). I'm going to show you the difference between this hand and the hand I left unpolished next week and I really encourage you to check back with that post because it's important to see what polishing really does to your nails. It DOES damage them (though very minimally) and that's why I always recommend growing them out polish free for a few weeks before you resume your polish routine so you get a nice, strong, fresh base to start with. Have you ever used this product? Did you have good results?

Half past moon...

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Small nails month continues with this cool look I spotted on a model in a magazine!  It's almost a French but then it's not! It's quite simple to do as well and if you wanted you could do a base color to create a really fun layered look. I like this because sometimes French manicures can make short nails look shorter and this is especially true if you're growing them out as a biter and have very different or uneven free edges. You can just drop the line of your French down to about half way and then the little circle pop at the top keeps them from looking stout or heavy. I used butter LONDON Lady Muck for this but I think it could be really fun to do a full white nail and add two neon pops to the tips for the summer! What do you think of this short nail design? Would you rock it?

butter LONDON Horse Power: Week Three

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 It's the end of another week with the butter LONDON Horse Power treatment and it's time for a check in! Still no major changes this week. My nails are growing quite nicely and I don't notice any peels yet. You might notice on my index finger that my free edge is a bit wonky. In a freak accident of sorts my cat got her claw up UNDER my nail bed and hurt like a bastard is really an understatement. It separated my nail from the bed and left a nasty scratch which is still growing out.  Overall though, the progress seems mostly the same as with the other treatments. No peelies as with the OPI but we've still another week to go yet so you never know!  This week I decided to ditch the round shape. I usually only keep it while my nails are shorter as it helps to keep me from snagging them and also it makes them look a bit longer.
 

They look a bit shorter now but I'm happy to be back to squares! Are you getting excited to see the final weeks results?

Drawkcab Hcnerf....

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For today's post I have another recreation of a New York Fashion Week look. This is a simple reverse french. Nude on the top, white at the base. I love this look for a few reasons.  One: It's really edgy and fun.  Two: It's stupid easy. And three: it really works to your advantage if you have smaller nails, ESPECIALLY if they're rounded. Because the focus is at the base of the nail, this draws the eyes away from the short tip. Also, because the rest of the nail is kept nude and the rounded shape and embellished lunula make the nail appear to be more narrow and long.  It's really a win/win!  It reminds me of a look I did last year around the holidays with glitter sponged at the base of a nude nail.


The second look is a bit more subtle and a little more girly but the idea is the same. It really creates the illusion of a longer nail. 

How do you like this look? Do you prefer the half moon or the glitter?

Tart With a Twist

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We're still chugging along with Small Nails month here at Bee Polished! Today I have another NYFW inspired nail look for you!  This one was inspired by the butter LONDON for Nicole Miller nail art look.  They actually used their new lacquer, The 444 which is a champagne glitter but I like the holographic effect of Tart With a Heart so I went with that. This is another look that is really made for shorter nails because the base is very sheer and on a longer nail the super dark tips might overwhelm the look. I also tend to think that dark french tops on nails with a free edge tends to make it look like you have dirty nails!  Although I'll admit I like the edgy side of it and do rock it here and there. I used The Black Knight to do the tips and these nails sparkled like nothing else! Glitter is also a great way to go when you're growing nails out because it lasts a bit longer than a standard creme polish which makes it ideal for putting on and forgetting about it! Here's the original Fashion Week look:


Do you like this look? Do you think it would be better on shorter or longer nails?

butter LONDON Horsepower

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Well ladies and gentlemen, I bring you a month of butter LONDON Horse Power. This October, Bee Polished will be focusing on the unappreciated world of "small nail" artists. I have some guest posts coming from some of my most favorite bloggers as well as some features I'll do on other faves. I will also have some super cool art for you AND some exciting Digital Dozen news. I'm starting here, with my little "nubbins" as they're known in the nail world.  Now don't get me wrong, I love to see long perfectly polished nails as much as the next person but there's a funny thing about that; it's not reality. Most of us have jobs and responsibilities and not so perfect talons. Which is perfectly OK.  There's this weird pressure in the nail art world to have perfect nails. To have perfect nail art. To have long nails. Just like in the world of fashion which tells us that in order to be beautiful and loved we must be size zeros, there's that push to have these amazing long nails.  Now I'm not saying that bloggers who have long nails aren't beautiful too!! But I think it's important to celebrate the world of small nails too! Personally, my recent chop off was due to a lot of job interviewing and type tests. I wanted to get rid of the stained nails and keep them short and professional and ideal for speedy typing. I've never been one to go super long though. I'm quite athletic and it's just a hassle when they're long and in the way.  I love having them shorter though because I think you can really get away with crazier designs when there isn't as much of a canvas!  I'm starting off small nails month a little early and throughout the month I'm going to be updating you with pictures of how this butter LONDON Horse Power is helping my nails grow.  I've already tested Rejuvacote and Nail Envy so it seems fitting to do this one as well! For the first two weeks I'll be using it on it's own according to directions on the package. It does say you can polish over it so for the remaining two weeks I'll be using it as a base coat only. On my left hand, I'll be using no polish and no Horse Power. I forgot to take pics but what I really want to show you in the end is how wearing polish affects the health of your nails so it's sort of irrelevant. They obviously all start the same length! I can't wait for you guys to see what's in store for the next month so please stay tuned!! :)


Blue Waterfall

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It's the first day in the Digit-al Dozen's year anniversary series, The Digit-al Dozen does it all...AGAIN!  I'm really excited to relive the themes from the last year with you.  Last September we did blue as a theme and if you remember, I chose to use the Deborah Lippmann shade, Let's Hear it for the Boy as a base color and to build on it all week long. In a nod to that design I have chosen to use the same base color and to use some varying shades of blue to make a waterfall manicure! I hope you enjoy it and please don't forget to check out the September Spectacular we're running right now!  You can win a $200 prize!! Check out all of the fellow Dozener's art below or check out my original blue designs by clicking here! :)



Colors used: 
Deborah Lippmann Let's Hear it for the Boy
butter LONDON Scouse, Henley Regatta, Victoriana and Blagger

In a MINT-ute...

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Well it's the final day of the Digital Dozen's tape mani challenge week. For today I wanted to use tape in a different way and this is one of my favorite color combo's! I had some gold nail strips on hand anyway that I received in a swap ages ago. I used the other half of the box on accent nails so I decided to use these in a new way! I used some fancy scissors and cut them into shapes. Then I adhered them on top of the polish and top coated to finish. The finished look was really stunning! I have to say, this week has challenged and very much inspired me. Some of the things the other ladies did are just out of this world. I definitely want to try to experiment more with tape! I hope it inspired some of you as well! Don't forget to check out their amazing designs for today!


Colors Used:
butter LONDON Fiver
Sally Hansen Gold Glitter Nail Strips

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