Butter London Starkers is a bespoke trio of nude nail lacquers that does for fingers what nude shoes do for legs: elongate with understated elegance. The natural look nail has been huge on Spring 2013 catwalks and an inspiration for this collection, which claims to work with every skin tone.
I'm drawn to the slightly warmer than the norm tones as I don’t find very cool beige nudes work well on my pale skin, yet I can totally imagine these looking amazing on the darkest of skins and reckon at least one of the three will work on most of those in between.
When wet, they remind me of foundation shades - and on my nails, of the swirls in a creamy, frothy coffee.
- Shandy is the lightest of the three - (above left) a pale, slightly peachy toned crème
- Crumpet is a warm caramel crème (centre) and my favourite of the three
- Tea & Toast is a rich, tan crème (above right)
Swatches
I included the last shot, taken in evening shade, to show just how much the light affects the depth of colour and tone in these polishes; the difference between each colour also looks much more dramatic in this pic. I’d day the colours in pic 2 are the most true to how they appear in daylight on my nails.
Pale crèmes like this can be as tricky as darks to apply, though the Butter London formula is as smooth as ever. A bit streaky on coat one, these colours look fine in two coats, although I used 3 for photographic scrutiny! Butter London brushes are quite fine compared to some other brands, which takes a bit of getting used to for me, though the little easy-grip lid below the chunky square one definitely helps!
I tend to go through real phases when it comes to nail colour, rotating brights, darks and nudes - and know I’ll be reaching for Shandy & Crumpet a lot in the months ahead. I’ll think they’ll be perfect for the ‘New French,’ accented with coloured tips and a great base for nail art, as well as the simplicity of their stand alone elegance.
Due in March at Harvey Nichols and Butter London, Starkers is online now at butterlondon.com, rrp £12 each. Two complementary lipglosses & a liquid lipstick are also available.
Will you be going Starkers this Spring?
