Butter London - All Hail The Queen

Good morning, readers!

I received a bunch of Butter London nail polishes a few weeks ago through a new website called Coterie. They set up beauty offers, similar to Groupon. I saw the deal for Butter London - 3 polishes, plus a topcoat for $36. Not bad! Someone on Reddit posted 2 coupon codes for the deal, so I got 2 sets.

All Hail the Queen was my favorite, and the color I immediately set my sights on. I wasn't too familiar with Butter London beforehand, so I wasn't too sure of their colors, but I still have never seen a color like All Hail the Queen.

I didn't even bother cleaning up this mani before taking pictures of it. I was so excited to show off this color! All Hail the Queen is a holographic nude - I have holos and I have nudes, but this is the only color I have that combines them. It's totally weird, but somehow it works. 

It's so shimmery. Sorry about my gnarly cuticles, I went upstate last weekend and the cold is killing them. I just got my hands on some CND Solar Oil though so hopefully it works out the way I've read!

This is 3 coats with Butter's Hardwear topcoat over them. It's not really a mannequin hands color, but AHTQ is a really nice nude regardless. In the shade, you can see how the holo sorta disappears - I bet this would be a really good office color. I loved putting this color on - It really was like butter. 2 coats was just a little less opaque than I wanted for my swatches, but it would have been sufficient otherwise.

Overall, I really like All Hail the Queen. It's a really unique color, and I'm glad I chose it! 

Butter London nail polishes retail for $14 at www.butterlondon.com.

Illamasqua - Creator

Have you ever seen a polish and decided you had to have it, no questions asked?

Welcome to my extreme lemming for Creator.

Illamasqua is sort of a new brand for me. I knew of them because of Scrangie (I think...) but never had the money to blow on their polishes. I love them all - I'm definitely getting Baptiste next. The thing is, Baptiste can wait. I saw someone swatch Creator sometime last week, and I was immediately enamored. My go-to polishes are always neutrals, and more often than not a variation of black. I love black polish. Black polish pretty much embodies everything I have ever felt about beauty - It's sexy, it's deep, it's rebellious. It's the one color Bobbi Brown (who, not for nothing, always felt like someone of my mom's type) said to never paint our nails. And guess what?

I. Love. Black. Polish.

I like to feel sexy! I like to be deep. And most of all, I am certainly a rebel.

Creator is the perfect girly black polish. It's got tons of silver glitter, and I saw some holo-y looking stuff in there too. It applies like a dream and everything is better with some good old Seche Vite.

It's a little blurry, but you can see a little more of the color shift.

Gorgeous. I fell in love with Creator as soon as I heard about it, and probably would have bought it even if I didn't have store credit at Sephora, haha. I know it seems like a lot, but Creator isn't really similar to any other polish I own so I felt like it was certainly worth it.

Remember how I said black polish was deep? Here's the depth I was talking about. Some of the silver glitter gets trapped in between layers of polish. It reminded me of Essie's Starry Starry Night.

I used 2 coats of Creator underneath Seche Vite. It went on like butter, even though without a topcoat it felt super gritty because of the sparkle. Obviously, taking it off was sort of a hassle - I definitely worked hard getting all that glitter off. Break out the acetone for this one, girls.

Illamasqua polishes retail for $14 at Sephora.

Revlon - Royal

Hey readers! I know I haven't been around posting swatches for a while... I'm back! Today I'm bringing a color that so many people have lusted over, but pass in the drugstore every day - Revlon's Royal.

Royal was a color I thought I'd really hate. I'm not so into dark blues, they always feel so flat to me. Royal was no different when I was in the store and I kept putting it off - Do I buy it? Am I really going to like this? Eventually I figured it was worth it. I don't have a color like this in my collection, so I'm excited to post these.

I smudged, so I added a little heart decal... and I know my cuticles are in need of some serious TLC - I'm working on it, okay?!

Royal really is a gorgeous royal blue. It's got a almost jellylike finish, but it's not at the same level as a true jelly. It's definitely not as shiny as I thought it would be, and I was surprised at the actual finish - Royal is actually pretty matte.

In the shade, you can see how totally glowy it is. I love the depth of this polish - I feel like it would be gorgeous in a jelly sandwich.

This was 2 coats, plus Butter London's Hardwear topcoat on top. I would have used my HG, Seche Vite - but with the little hearts it would have peeled right off. There's still a little bit of visible nail line.. but I like it a little bit with this polish. Most of the blues you see are cremes, so I like to show off the fact that this is pretty sheer. 

I love Royal, even though I tried so hard to hate it. It's turning into one of my favorite colors, so be prepared to see more of this in the future! 

I bought Revlon's Royal for $6.49, but I don't remember where. Sorry :(

So many people are bullshitting about this catastrophe with rock&glamorize - I had 2 conversations with customer service reps. Here they are.

Emily Ostermann:Good morning! I recently ordered several nailpolishes from the seller rock&glamorize, most of them at $.10 per bottle with free shipping. Many people I know also took advantage of these prices, and now the seller is calling us saying that the price was in error and offered us about half of our orders (some people were offered $1.50 per bottle, I was offered 12 out of my 31 bottles). Is this okay? Should I call the seller back and ask for the rest of my order?7:50:23
CSA:Hello, my name is Missy. I'll be happy to help you.7:50:46
CSA:I'm sorry about this. In all honesty I'm not sure. Do you mind holding while I have a supervisor take a look at your question? I want to make sure I provide you the correct information.7:51:41
Emily Ostermann:That's fine! I want to get this mess sorted out the right way, haha.7:52:07
CSA:Thank you, I'll be just a moment.7:52:25
CSA:I'm sorry. Since we have no control over the sellers inventory and they take care of listing the price. I would recommend contacting the seller and letting them know what you would like done. I am going to file a report on the seller because even if it was an error in the price they listed they should still honor it, that is just not good business to change it after the orders are placed.7:56:50
Emily Ostermann:Many people are saying that this seller has offered prices like this before. Is there a way to check their history?7:57:56
CSA:Customer reviews is the best way. When I shop with a 3rd party seller I always read the customer reviews, it helps me decide if I want to do business with them.7:58:44
Emily Ostermann:In addition, I got the idea to contact you guys after seeing this comment on a reddit.com thread, where we've been discussing this catastrophe:7:59:09
"morning,7:59:22
Amazon customer service via live chat on their website said the seller must honor prices at the time the order was placed. Seller can not ask for more money nor cancel out orders. They said what is being done is against their terms and conditions and this seller must sell the polishes for the prices people have paid. They also encourage everyone who ordered to file a report with their investigative team as well. Your order is protected, amazon says they HAVE to sell for THE LISTED PRICES WHEN ORDER WAS PLACED!!!!!"7:59:22
CSA:I'll be sure to list that link in my report.7:59:32
Emily Ostermann:Any validity to this comment? http://www.reddit.com/r/RandomActsOfPolish/comments/112ph9/discussion_so_who_has_and_hasnt_had_their_orders/ <-- that's the full link7:59:57
CSA:They can't change the price, however if their inventory count was off or they ran out of stock they can cancel the orders or at least ask if your willing to wait until more stock is received.8:00:58
Emily Ostermann:Okay, that's a better idea haha8:01:37
CSA:I would respond to the seller and just say I was offered this product at this price, I expect you to honor it, if you don't have enough of the product I ordered either cancel the ones you can't fulfill or if your will to wait tell her you're happy to wait until they get more.8:03:11
Emily Ostermann:Thanks so much - I don't order from 3rd party sellers too often so I'm never really sure what to do in this situation.8:04:01
Emily Ostermann:I'll get in touch with her later today - is it okay with you if I copy our discussion to share with the girls on reddit who are having the same issue?8:04:50
CSA:That is fine. If you like I can send you a transcript of our chat.8:05:17
Emily Ostermann:That would be awesome. Thanks so much for your help!8:05:35
CSA:Your welcome. Is there anything else I can do for you today?8:05:48
Emily Ostermann:That's about it! Will the transcript go to my email, or somewhere else?8:06:17
CSA:Yes, I'll send it to your email.8:06:34
Emily Ostermann:Awesome. Thanks again! Enjoy the rest of your weekend :)8:06:49
CSA:Thank you. I hope you have a great day! 8:06:57
Thank you for contacting Amazon.com. We hope to see you again soon! Please click the end chat link to close this window.



Emily Ostermann:Seller offering different prices for orders already placed - Is bait and switching okay on amazon?1:50:01 AM
CSA:Hello, my name is Gurvinder, I will be happy to help you today.1:50:14 AM
Emily Ostermann:Hk, Gurvinder!1:50:21 AM
CSA:Please provide me order number.1:50:43 AM
Emily Ostermann:i have several. let me get them for you..1:50:57 AM
My order numbers are as follows:1:51:10 AM
103-5783562-81538431:51:10 AM
103-8560042-73994491:51:10 AM
103-9594270-35266011:51:10 AM
103-2365576-57978031:51:10 AM
103-0232985-52746761:51:10 AM
103-4459891-26730581:51:10 AM
103-2328842-37394341:51:10 AM
103-7307505-43082141:51:10 AM
103-8198631-26874451:51:10 AM
Emily Ostermann:All are from the same seller, who offered many nail polishes for $.10 and free shipping staurday night.1:51:45 AM
CSA:Emily, seller's have their different policy to ship the items and they can decide item price they are selling on amazon.1:53:27 AM
Emily Ostermann:Obviously, the seller was flooded with orders, and now she's calling her buyers to offer them the price of $1.50 per bottle. Many of us were offered to keep our existing transactions, and receive a fraction of our complete order - in my case, i was offered 12 of the 32ish bottles I ordered.1:53:35 AM
Emily Ostermann:Is the seller obligated to send out all the bottles I purchased?1:54:11 AM
CSA:IS she asking you for different price?1:55:29 AM
Emily Ostermann:Technically, yes. I placed my orders, I got confirmation emails, and then I got a call from the seller saying she could only give me 12 of the 32 bottles I purchased for the same price.1:56:31 AM
Other buyers have been offered the price of $1.50 per bottle.1:56:50 AM
CSA:Thank for letting us know about this issue.1:58:04 AM
'm sorry to hear about this. 1:58:11 AM
**I am1:58:18 AM
Emily Ostermann:I agreed to her offer, thinking it was a genuine mistake and she confirmed the orders - they now say "shipped." I've looked around and heard that this has happened many times with this seller, so I want to make sure I can get my complete order.1:58:34 AM
CSA:I'd like to ask you to send a report to our investigations team about this. They deal with possible violations of our seller policies. Each report they receive is investigated and the appropriate action is taken. However, we won't be able to release the outcome of the investigation. Please go to the link below and select "Report a violation of our rules" as the subject line:1:58:36 AM
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/reports1:58:44 AM
Emily Ostermann:Okay, thank you.1:59:17 AM
CSA:Do not worry at all. Out team will take care of this issue and your money and transaction is safe with us.1:59:41 AM
Emily Ostermann:I understand. Aside from opening an investigation, is it okay for the seller to not honor these prices? 2:00:38 AM
Emily Ostermann:Now that my items have been marked "shipped," is the seller obligated to send them all?2:01:03 AM
CSA:We have our separate team who deals with such cases.2:01:16 AM
Emily Ostermann:Sorry, there's really no good way to ask this question hahaha2:01:24 AM
CSA:Its is okay.2:01:33 AM
Emily Ostermann:Is there a way I can get in touch with that team?2:01:39 AM
CSA:I can understand that you were worried about this.2:02:02 AM
They will contact you back.2:02:14 AM
Emily Ostermann:Okay, thank you.2:02:35 AM
CSA:Your welcome.2:03:10 AM
Is there anything else I may help you with?2:03:17 AM
Emily Ostermann:I think that's it - Could you send a transcript of this conversation to my email? I'd like to keep it for my records.2:03:50 AM
CSA:Yes, sure.

Elf - 2F01AS

Hi everyone :)

Today's the beginning of October - Where has 2012 gone? I feel like just yesterday I was celebrating Christmas 2011. The summer's officially over, and that means we can start breaking out the fall and winter colors!

Here's one I found at Target for $1 - It's by a brand called Elf and it's called 2F01AS. Which is kind of a silly name for a color, but I guess some people aren't too fond of names.

2F01AS is a gorgeous pewter color with tiny holo glitter. That's a vanity cap at the top - You can take it off if it's easier to paint that way, but I left it on. 

The color in the bottle translates well to the nail, if not drying a little darker. 2 coats was good enough for me, but it was a little lumpy. I wasn't so fond of the brush to begin with, and since the formula wasn't the best either I had a problem with application. The glitter never really smoothed out, and it still felt grainy after I put a coat of Seche Vite on top.

The holo shimmer is so awesome. It's ridiculously sparkly in the light, and it pops against the stormy grey base. 

A blurry picture to show off the bokeh..

...And one last one to show off the label. 

I don't know if I love this polish to death. I can't get over the application issues and of course the graininess, but something about this polish just stood out to me! The glitter is gorgeous and I've never seen a similar color, so for $1 I really couldn't go wrong. 6/10 :)

Sephora by OPI - Who Let the Dorks Out?

I used to be a huge fan of Glee.

Glee, if you don't know, is this horrible show about some caricature of a highschool where everyone gets together and sings. The Glee club is higher on the social totem pole, it seems, than any other extracurricular activity, but somehow the gleeks are still tortured and made fun of.

I used to be a huge fan of Glee. It was my favorite show in it's first and second seasons, but then it got weird. The head cheerleader had the baby with the hot one on the football team, and got kicked off the cheerleading squad, so... what, so Fran Drescher jr's freaky witch mom could adopt the baby? It got really weird, really fast.

All that aside, there are a few parts of Glee that I really enjoy. For one, I enjoy drinking slushies. Every time I see an ad for glee, they make a big deal out of slushies.

Who Let the Dorks Out is a perfect bluey-green slushie in a bottle. It's seriously making me thirsty just writing about it. It's a green jelly base, with all sorts of teal and blue micro-glittery shimmery stuff that all sorta blends together in about 3 coats. 

I used 2 coats here and could have definitely used a 3rd. Of course, I realized this after I'd slapped a coat of Seche Vite on top and took several pictures. You can see some of my nail line, and definitely the green base.

Here it's a lot easier to see how blue the shimmer is. I love this color, but honestly it was sort of a pain to work with. The first coat went on super smooth, but I had trouble making the 2nd even, and the skinny brush wasn't helping too much either.

How awesome is this color? It almost reminds me of China Glaze's Passion In the Pacific, but this one actually dries and it's a little more sheer.

Overall, I like it - and of course it was on sale. I scored this one on clearance at Sephora for $3. 

China Glaze - Hook and Line

I might as well do all these now - I have a couple mini-reviews done and it's probably worth it to just finish them all now. Prepare yourselves for a ton of posts!

This one's for China Glaze - Hook and Line. A color that came out in the Hunger Games collection months ago, I've been totally psyched about reviewing this polish. I didn't even see The Hunger Games - I wanted to read the book but never found the time. By the time I finally saw the movie (read: lasty week) I already knew half the story because everyone was so hype about it.

Just like I missed the book and the movie, I pretty much missed the nail polishes too. When China Glaze came out with the Capitol Colors, I thought they were pretty meh. People started reviewing them though, and by the time I made my way over to Sally's all I found was this one hiding in a clearance bin. I'm kicking myself for missing Luxe and Lush, and especially Stone Cold - they're gorgeous.
I fell in love with Hook and Line though, and I was dead set on it. I've been totally excited to do this review - before I even had a blog, I wanted to write about this one!

Here it is, the moment I've been waiting for...

Hook and Line is a frosty, greyish, maybe taupe, almost purpley frosty color. There is really no good way to describe this color, besides GORGEOUS. 

In the shade, you can see how bronze it looks. Many people said they had a problem with lots of brush strokes, but I didn't have any sort of issue - for me, application was a dream. 2 coats is what you see here, plus Seche Vite on top. 

Here it is in the sun. The frost is super apparent in this photo, but it's not frosty in a bad way. Hook and line is super flattering with my skin tone, so maybe I'm just really partial to it.

I got this on clearance at Sally's. I think I paid something like $2.99 for it, but China Glaze will normally cost you $6.49.