Butter London Gobsmacked

Butter London make my holy grail basecoat as well as some of my very favourite nail polishes. I would find it painful to compile a top ten polish list without Disco Biscuit, Tart with a Heart, Yummy Mummy and Wallis.

Sadly, formulas vary* and Gobsmacked, new for autumn, will not be joining them. This gorgeous shade of rained-on asphalt, this rare pigmented-but-neither-flat-nor-frosty glitter suspension, this complex but de-grittified-with-one-thin-layer-of-topcoat texture...is a gloopy mess. I've thinned it twice in as many weeks and am coming to realise it's a losing battle against epic, epic proportions -- we're talking forces of entropy aligned in shining array with alien invaders from planet mucilaginous molasses etc. here -- of glutinosity.

Sigh. Two coats, sandwiched between Butter London base and top. Freakishly bright sunlight.

as you can see, the art of filing is still a mystery to me....

Much more colour-accurate comparison, to illustrate how perfectly this filled a niche in my wardrobe D:

 two coats each of: Suqqu EX-10 // OPI My Private Jet // Butter London Gobsmacked // and The Black Knight 

So this is less a review than a plea for help: any dupes for this magical syrup of sparklies? It's been out for weeks out -- that's generations in nail terms surely?


*Other BL shades that sucked on me: Knackered (sheer and streaky), Marrow and Macbeth (gloopy, too thick, never dried), Rosie Lee (five coats and still VNL? DNW. Also chipped as soon as I looked at it).

BL shade that kind of sucks formula-wise but I forgive all because it's so pretty: No More Waity, Katie.

Bonus BL thing that sucked for me: ordering through their website. Two weeks for a shipping confirmation? Two MONTHS and ten international phonecalls (ceased counting emails long ago) to get a human and secure a refund for the missing items in my order?

Wordless Wednesday: Rouge Bunny Rouge Matte Eyeshadows

Since my last big RBR round-up, I've managed to collect the full set of these gloriously creamy matte shadows (still my very favourite formula) so here they are, all together:

natural light (shade)

with flash -- these aren't quite dead-flat mattes

From left to right (dark to light):

Blackpepper Jay

Grey Go-Away Lourie

Chestnut-Napped Apalis

Sweet Dust Seriema

Bashful Flamingo

Papyrus Canary

All swatches are one swipe with a sponge applicator on my bare (moisturised) arm, which is much paler than a MAC 15 depth. Bashful Flamingo and Papyrus Canary I would eyeball as around NW and NC15 respectively.

Rouge Bunny Rouge shadows are made in Italy. Each of my shadows were 2.4g, but I believe RBR are currently changing all their shadows to 2g versions in smaller (MAC-sized) pans.

RBR is sold at Zuneta and Beautyhabit online; currently they only have brick&mortar counters in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

(My wordless is not everybody's wordless.)

Addiction Arabian Nights Kohl Eyeliner

This autumn, Addiction's "Desert Rose" collection introduced four new permanent powder kohl eyeliners to the range. Each kohl comes as a split-pan duo and shares the dimensions of the other single eyeshadows; they also depot just as easily and fit perfectly into the Addiction custom compacts.

I chose Arabian Nights, which pairs rich burgundy with copper-sparkled black.

I did experience some learning curve wobbles with this formula, which is so densely, creamily pigmented that the minutest speck of fallout would suddenly mainfest as a huge black or burgundy schmear across my cheek just as I was about to head out the door.... Having rotated through all my liner brushes, I find this kohl to play best with a dense small brush, neither too pointy (e.g. Hakuhodo 007) nor too thin (e.g. MAC 266, Shu 6OB): the most convenient for me were the Chikuhodo 6-1, Hakuhodo 5515 and my two most versatile brushes Shu Natural 10 and Suqqu Eyeshadow S. The other big thing that minimised fallout on the skin (and unsightly gouges in the pan): light pressing motions, both to pick up colour from the pan (seriously, you barely need to hover over these to pick up a lot of pigment) and to apply it to the eye.
These look and behave much more like cream liners than powders, so are more readily smudged than blended out. Like the best creams and gels, they last all day without fading or creasing on me (dry lids) and also hold up excellently on the waterline.

Swatches

natural light

with flash

The burgundy is a sumptuous glowing satin, which looks more reddish in brighter light (picking up its ultrafine copper pearl) and more plummy in shade (even in the pan, there's a subtle interleaving of grey-purple tones with the richer wine ones).
The black is a little disappointing, as the copper sparkles (while individually larger than the micro-pearlescence running through the burgundy) are so sparse that a fine line pretty much just reads as black on me. It's admitted a good black with unusual density and a hint of sooty warmth. But me. want. glitter. D:


Like Fyrinnae Pumpkinfire. Now that's a black with copper sparkle, dammit! Other shades all Fyrinnae: Dorian Grey (which is about as sparsely shimmery as Arabian Nights, but with cooler-toned sparkle in a cooler base) and Monarch Butterfly, a much more texturally flat (iridescent duochrome) take on the black/copper thing.

with flash

The Arabian Nights burgundy is pretty distinct from most of the other vaguely related shades in my stash, except for the limited-edition Kate Super Sharp Liner S in RD-1 (which was a pitch-perfect gift from the lovely Liz of SoLonelyInGorgeous: thank you, dearest! <3 I had given up hope of getting my hands on this one.) 

Other shades: Addiction Lady of the Lake pencil, Estee Lauder Vintage Violet cream shadow, Chanel Ebloui Illusion D'Ombre, and finally Solone Smoody Gel Liner Red Wine.

Looks with Arabian Nights

One Thousand Three And One of them! (That's four for anyone who went cross-eyed there.)

Throughout: Fasio Ultra Curl Lock Volume mascara, Browlash EX Pencil in Natural Brown through brows, Burberry Sheer Concealer 01 under eyes, Becca Compact Concealer Meringue on blemishes.

1. Super Natural 

Black side of kohl on a pencil brush (Hakuhodo 5515) softly smudged along upper lashline and the inner and outer corners of the lower lashline. Rouge Bunny Rouge Alabaster Starling as a centre-of-lower-lashline highlight.

Even MOAR highlighting, with Rouge Bunny Rouge Sea of Clouds and Shiseido High Beam White. Subtlest touch of RBR Delicata blush on edge of cheekbones. Addiction Day Trip sheer lipstick, built up.

this is me realising my 'glowy' may read as 'too much' / 'visible from space' / 'I'm bliiiiiiind' to most 

2. Brainless Smokey

Black side only, to line upper and lower lashlines (Suqqu S) as well as waterlines (Chikuhodo 6-1), smudged out with Addiction Concrete Jungle for a one-minute smokey eye.

Armani Maestro Foundation 2, with Addiction Faithful on lips and RBR Gracilis on cheeks.

3. Tonal Copper

The burgundy side on a Hakuhodo 5515 brush to line upper lashline paired with the peach and bronze shades from Suqqu Kakitsubata. Black side with Chikhodo 6-1 to line waterline and lower lashline, smudged out with the rest of the burgundy left on my 5515.

Rouge Bunny Rouge liquid bronzer all over to make the coppery shades harmonise better with my skin, Shiseido High Beam White to highlight centre of face. A sheer (one swipe) application of Addiction Day Trip lipstick (cf. Look 1 above), with more of my naturally pink lips showing through.

another one of those days I spend too long on makeup/pictures and have to run out with wet hair 

4. Both sides! with bells on. 

Burgundy worn as eyeshadow on Shu Natural 10, heaviest in outer V and blended inwards to meet Addiction Flashback on lid and in socket. Black side on Chikuhodo 6-1 to line upper lashline and waterline, with burgundy on Shu 6OB lining the lower lashline to the inner corner.

I said bells, okay? Addiction Blue Moon patted onto centre of lid and inner corner to play up the plum aspect of the burgundy kohl.

I rolled with the cool tones, with Addiction Amazing Cheek Stick on cheeks and Psychadelic gloss sheerly on lips, and Shu Uemura Nobara 584 for base.

Addiction Kohl Eyeliners are made in Japan and retail for ¥2625 each.
For even more info, hop over to Rouge Deluxe for a review/swatches of Night Dive and Secret Nights and to Makeup and Things for a picture of all four kohls together.