Fall Colors

L to R: China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifier, Zoya Lotus, Butter London Knackered, Mrs. P's Nail Potions Blue/Green Shifty, Essie To Dry For

Good morning all :)  Today I will share with you my first fall mani of the year.  With the weather changing and getting cooler and the leaves changing colours etc. I thought I'd opt for a darker look for my nails.  Also, there has been a ton of deals I've seen online and on Instagram for Butter London polishes and it made me revisit my collection (albeit only small) of Butter London polishes.

After swatching and testing combinations I made my final decision on polishes as depicted above.  And as usual I used the China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifier as my base coat and Essie's To Dry For as my top coat.  You can see my review of the China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifier here.

After completing my base coat, I painted one coat of Zoya Lotus on my pinkie, index fingers and thumbs and one coat of Mrs. P's Nail Potions Blue/Green Shifty on my ring and middle fingers.  Zoya Lotus is a deep purple colour with gorgeous pink micro shimmer.  Unfortunately, my camera did not pick up the shimmer in the bottle in the photo below but trust me it is there and it is fabulous!  The formula is a little runny and if you don't have enough on the brush you get balding/streaking but if you have too much it runs all over the place.  You just need to find the right amount on the brush and it will apply flawlessly in a few strokes and you should only need one coat.

Mrs. P's Nail Potions Blue/Green Shifty part of my Shifties Collection which consists of four colour shifting polishes.  This one shifts from a deep jewel toned blue to a teal, peacock green.  This applied nice and smooth with very minimal brush strokes which can be a problem with metallic-type finishes (not that this polish is a metallic).  Fantastic opaque coverage was achieved also in one coat.  Blue/Green Shifty dried with a somewhat matte finish but that is nothing a good top coat can't fix.

Once the first coats of colour were dry I then layered one coat of Butter London Knackered over the Zoya Lotus.  Unfortunately, although Knackered is sheer, because of its duochrome effect it completely hid and muted the pink shimmer of Lotus.  However it gained a nice deep purple hue and made the Lotus a fantastic duochrome colour that shifts from several shades of purple to several shades of blue/green/teal/turquoise.  And the disappearance of the pink shimmer of Lotus was not really missed as Knackered is full of holographic micro shimmer that sparkles and shines in pretty much any light.  However, as always with holos and duochromes, it is almost impossible to pick up in photos so trust me when I say the photos do not do these nails any justice.  Knackered was one of my first Butter London polish purchases and Butter London was actually the first "luxury" polish I ever purchased.  You can see my very first reviews of Knackered here and here.

I'm very pleased with the final jewel-toned darker look of this mani and it is perfect for moving into the fall season.  I also love the combination of the overall colours and the duochrome, colour shifting and shimmery finishes.

artificial lighting, indoors during evening, no flash 

artificial lighting, indoors during evening, no flash 

indoors in natural lighting during daylight, no flash 

indoors in natural lighting during daylight, no flash

I purchased my bottle of Zoya Lotus from Nail Polish Canada and you can purchase Mrs. P's Nail Potions Blue/Green Shifty from my Etsy shop here.  It comes as part of a three piece mini trio of my Shifties Collection for $13.50 CAD.