Julep Stefani and Butter London Matte Finish Topcoat


Dear Laura,

I painted my nails! I know, it’s a rarity. I feel that nail polish takes so long to dry that I don’t really have time for it… and I did end up wrecking these within two hours of applying the polish. I’ve been using Butter London’s Matte Finish Topcoat constantly and really like it. I originally thought it might dry my nails faster, but it takes just as long to fully set my nails as usual… if only I could seem to remember that.

The color I used is Julep’s Stefani from one of my old Julep Maven boxes, described as a “Gold flecked grey metallic”. There are tiny gold flecks in the polish that begin to stand out as the polish dries. Julep nail polishes are 4 free and I like to use natural products as much as possible, so they get my dangerous chemical-free approval.

Like all other metallic or glitter Julep nail polishes I’ve used, the color is great for a day (maybe two), but then rapidly deteriorates. At 72 hours after application it looked like my nails were done three weeks rather than three days ago. I don’t know if it’s just me, but metallic polishes just don’t seem to work for me. Luckily I prefer my nails without sparkle.

Julep Nail Vernis in Stefani, $14 at Sephora.com | Butter London Matte Finish Topcoat (c/o Coterie and the Lucky FABB gift bag) | $19 at Zappos.com | Essie Grow Stronger, $8 at Beauty.com

I’m always surprised by how varied nail polish colors can appear under different lighting. The photo at the top was taken in natural light, but this one was taken indoors in fluorescent light. Indoors Stefani shows up a little golder and greener, while in natural light it appears as a cool silver with a bit of gold if you look closely.

Alex

Comments

  1. silvrgurl says

    I paint my nails about every 5 days
    I am a polish junkie and love to change colors
    I got a Butter polish back in Oct. I have to say it chips worse than my $1.99 polish ever thought about. So disappointed!
    Love this color you are sporting

    Brett

    • says

      Interestingly, the butter metallic polish I have is pretty decent at 5 days. All the solid colors have been terrible for me though. I have a pink and a red that are a disaster within 36 hours. So disappointing too, because butter is twice as much as OPI or essie!

  2. says

    I use Essie’s Matte About You to get a matte effect, and the only thing I don’t like about it is that the matte soon becomes glossy after a few days (don’t even think about touching lotion when you have matte polish on).