I have a somewhat rocky relationship with Butter London, which I expounded in a somewhat blistering fashion in a previous BL review. But I’ve been on a bit of a BL spree in the last several months, what with BOGOs at Ulta and 50% coupons off of already reduced last orders on their website. In spite of myself, I’ve begun to love it. I still don’t love it $15 for 11ml worth, but I really love it at $8.00 and under…
This is Queen Vic, which BL calls a red wine/cranberry creme. I only had a few BL cremes in my collection previously, but I’ve gotten quite a few more with my latest acquisitions. For the most part I’ve liked them, I find them better than China Glaze, but not quite up to OPI standards. I’d put them just under Zoya, which might be attributed to the brush.
I’d classify this more as a berry than a cranberry, which I think of as more red. Maybe red wine/dark mauve as it does lean just a taste purple. I find it very close to OPI Anti-Bleak from their one of of their Mariah Carey offerings a few years ago or Casino Royale from the Skyfall collection. Also Got Cherried Away from the Coca-Cola collection, which I actually have. I’ll need to remember to do a comparison when I get around to reviewing that one. Or maybe Zoya’s Veronica.
In other words, there’s nothing unique or special about the color. Well, I shouldn’t say not special, because the color itself is a great one. Probably why there are so many variants of the shade available. Work appropriate but not boring, understated but not granny-ish, attractive on just about every skin tone and any nail length. In other words, a pretty classic shade and one that I’m quite fond of in general, not just in nail varnish.
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I like the color, although it may have a bit more purple tone than I prefer. I’m not crazy about London Butter, although the one manicure I had in an airport in Minneapolis used nothing but Butter and could not say enough good things about it.
I really do like the color, but it’s that tiny bit of purple that keep me from calling it cranberry. Actually it might be more of a plum than a purple. Just a little tinge of a red-plum, but I’d never call the shade any sort of purple.
If they used BL exclusively they probably had some sort of contract with them, so of course they’d talk it up. I am coming around though, and it’s starting to grow on me. Expect to see quite a few BL manicures here in the near future.
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