Butter London Gobsmacked: bizarre and beautiful. This charcoal base with an abundance of glitter is described as a textured polish and application is…. challenging, but worth it. It is genuinely impossible (for me!) to capture a full sense of its intriguing appearance in pics, but according to the light, the finish reminds me of granite, stone or black diamond dust. Butter London has pushed the boundaries with this one.
It is not a standard glitter polish… the formula feels a bit like molten lava in a bottle that you ‘spread’ rather than paint on your nail (Seche Vite is the closest comparison I can think of, though this has less ‘give’). It’s not like bits of glitter suspended in a lacquer… it is dense with the glitter particles, which actually feel more like metal filings: it’s almost like metallic dust in liquid form.
These pics were taken in my second attempt at application. The polish is thick and heavy to work with: my best tip is to load the brush and smooth it across the surface, without going over the same section again as you might with a regular polish. I’m not sure if the texture is obvious in the outdoor pic above, but it does look ‘textured’ to the naked eye.
In photographs, I think the texture is more obvious indoors, in natural light? The finish reminds me of granite or stone. The charcoal base is almost matt, while the glitter forms the metallic texture and adds sparkle. It’s all very urban and quite edgy, in as much as nail polish can be edgy!
I only added a top coat to my thumbnail, to let you see the polish when it’s smooth and shiny - which is quite magical and appears to have a lot of depth - but is not that different from a standard glitter polish. If you’re going to add a top coat, I’d just buy a regular grey glitter like Orly Rock Solid, which I reviewed {here}.
Can you see how the smooth glossy thumb (with top coat) compares to the other more matt nails?
Final verdict: If you’re not normally comfortable applying nail polish then this probably isn’t for you as it is tricky to apply. If you’re patient and have a steady hand, then I do think it’s worth the effort. I won’t be applying it every week, but it does look and feel special… I think it would be amazing in nail art or as a feature nail, which is probably how I’ll use it most often. If you wanted you could add lots more texture, peaks and rough edges… it’s quite mouldable and you could def have fun with it!
Butter London Gobsmacked costs £12 at CocktailCosmetics. Do check out my swatches of Trustafarian & Shag and let me know which is your favourite! I feel a bit sad that this is the last of my trio of swatches… I may have to buy the other two shades now, just for a sense of completion!
I’d love to know what you think of Gobsmacked? Please leave me a comment below!
Nic x
Press sample
