I am a nail polish junkie. In the 90’s my mom introduced me to OPI nail polish. In the 2000’s I found Essie, which is my main love today. And this year I happened by Butter London while in the store Ulta. However the hefty price tag always left me unable or unwilling to buy it. So last week when it finally went on sale, I had to grab it. Of course I decided to share my thoughts with you.
I usually stick to Essie nail polishes. I like the way they go on and the colors are just fabulous. However the first time I saw Butter of London I drooled when I saw the deep amazing colors. But one bottle is $14.99 at Ulta. There is no way I can pay almost $15 for one bottle of nail polish unless it comes with someone to paint my nails for me and do my laundry. Last week Ulta put Butter London on sale for buy one bottle and get one free. That makes each bottle a little over $7, which is the same I pay for Essie brand polish. Finally I felt like I was getting a good deal and headed off to buy the polish.
It took me about 20 minutes standing in front of the polish display to pick out a color while my kids tried on all the blush samples they could find. I easily picked out the blue color, Blagger
but I couldn’t decide on the other color. I really wanted to try one of their glitter polishes but I couldn’t decide. My kids loved the pink color, Biscuit Disco and I was really intrigued by the pink color with a purple tint when it hit the light.
Butter of London claims to be a healthier polish, fee of the toxic chemicals found in most nail polishes. That was a good point for me but a big selling point since I used my regular base coat, which had the normal chemicals in it and then used a regular top coat. I didn’t want to spend more money for the Butter London top coat and base coat.
First I loved the blue color of Blagger. It’s bright but not a screaming “look at me” bright. It went on pretty well with only two coats for full coverage. It dried quickly with no issues at all. It was also a little easier to get off my skin than regular polish.
The Blagger color, which has no glitter, stayed on for several days which is great for me since I am so hard on my nails. It stayed deep and very shiny, even on my toes which didn’t have a top coat. I really loved this color and this coverage of their regular nail polish. I would buy this style of Butter London polish again if it was on sale. I would not pay full price for it.
However I can not say the same for the Biscuit Disco color. It is the nail polish that has glitter and sparkles in the bottle. The coverage was horrible, the paint blotchy and did not go on even. There were noticeable globs of paint hanging onto the brush. Plus when you put it on your nails and it dried, it lost most of the sparkle and left your nails with a sandpaper texture.
I really disliked their glittery style nail polish. Actually I thought of returning it because I disliked it that much but my kids would have killed me. I kept it just for them to paint their nails. I cannot recommend this style from Butter of London.
I also noticed while I was at the store that they have a matte top coat that will give your nails a matte look. That really intrigued me and I’m hoping to try it in the future. It would be great to try a mix of matte and shiny stripes on your nails.
Have you tried this nail polish? What is your favorite brand to use on your nails?
This is just a review with my honest opinion. I bought these products myself, they were not given to me for the purpose of review. There are affiliate links within this post. 
Pooh, I am glad you reviewed this! I have been wanting to try Butter polish!
If you want to try a matte topcoat on the cheap, you can buy NYC brand at Walmart for under $2.00. I am a super-shiny topcoat lover. :o)
I agree with Marjori…I have the NYC brand matte topcoat and LOVE IT! Super cheap, and creates a fantastic matte topcoat!
I recently treated myself to this also! The full price kills me & I’ve never seen it on sale. I’m not happy with the glittery Dodgy Barnett color at all! It’s not quite the sandpaper finish, but definitely not the level of shine I’m used to. I hope the other shades are prettier since I spent so much on three bottles!!
I was truly disappointed but I guess since it’s mostly chemical free I can’t complain. Let me know how your other colors turn out.
I NEVER buy the more expensive brand nail polishes but was taken with a beautiful shade that Butter offered. I do not like the quality at all. It chipped off fairly quickly and I will not buy it again.
I am an Essie freak, which is expensive but I love the coverage and how it holds up. Yes I don’t think I will buy Butter again even with their great colors
Thanks for the review! i was looking around to get others opinions before i tried it in my salon. i also love essie but last summer CND released their 2 week polish called Vinylux. It’s AMAZING!
Thanks for the review, Bobbie! The price tag was offputting to me initially and, like yourself, I jumped on a twofer sale for my first time with Butter. I did a “safe” “everyday in the office” pale pink and a more fun, casual GNO shade of pale green. I was thrilled with the coverage – absolutely – and the wear (for me) was phenomenal, too.
I probably would claim it as my favorite except that I now have a gel lamp and am looking for beautiful gel colors with wonderful coverage. I have found a couple whose colors looked beautiful on the box but after following explicit instructions to “apply thin coat” two times, the coverage has not been great at all for either of the two brands I’ve tried so far. One was a pale pink similar to Butter’s which I loved; the other was a pale gray. The colors were saturated on the box but more translucent on my actual nails. Butter spoiled me. 🙂
I’m with you. I love Butter. It lasts longer than any other polish I have used. The silver capped ones are even better than the black capped ones.
I tried the Butter London color and top coat. It did not last more than 2 days and started chipping. I have used it three times and the color bottle is already stringy and clumping up and is very dry. I really can’t believe that they charge this outrageous amount for a bottle of nail polish. I can’t believe that I paid that much either! I tried using Ulta’s weekly coupon, but every time that I try and use one of there coups, it never is good for what I am buying. I will never shop at Ulta again because this has happened several times. Why bother having the weekly coupon if it is not good for anything.
I was just browsing around about the Butter brand after only trying the Disco Biscuit color and having it neglected in my stash for over a year. Glad to hear that was just a bad color. Completely worthless in my opinion having to put SO MANY coats on to get coverage. I might try another color or two after reading this post. Than ks!
I used the Butter glitter polish, “The Full Monty” a gold tone and didn’t like it alone, however it was excellent as a second and third coat over Essie’s gold polish. Both polishes are new for me and I am definitely changing to Essie and will add more Butter when it goes on sale. The glitter effect was much better when I did not use a top coat. It’s been almost two weeks now and I love the way the Butter gold looks after adding another touch up coat. OPI would be chipping by now, even with an additional top coat.
I did use the Butter base coat.
Sorry, I did NOT use the Butter base coat!