Mint Differences

As I mentioned in a post before, I love mint polish. Over the past few weeks I've collected a few more, while people called me crazy for buying the same color over and over, and I wanted to compare them and show the differences.

L-R: Julep "Susie", Zoya "Neely", BL "Fiver", CG "Re-Fresh Mint", Essie "Mint Candy Apple"

From this picture you can see that despite looking like the same color in the bottle they do show up differently on my nails, especially the Essie.

Julep - Susie

two coats

Susie was one of the mints I was extremely excited to get, but after I put it on the first time I swore to never use it again, until I decided to compare all my mint polishes. From the swatches I've seen and even wearing it is a very very pale blue, described as a "muted mint green creme", it's almost white. It is very comparable to China Glazes "Re-Fresh Mint" but, this bottle of mine has the worst formula. Whenever I try to paint my nails with this polish it goes everywhere no matter how careful I am, its just too liquid-y. Also, I wait as long as possible before I add a second coat and I don't shake the bottle but I still get bubbles.

Zoya - Neely 

two coats

Described as a "creme spring green" that is basically what Neely is, but a pale, dusty green. I think Neely was the most anticipated out of the five and it is my favorite. The formula in this is amazing just like the other Zoya creme polishes. Even though this polish does look a lot darker against the other mints, it's not. It is like BL's Fiver but a bit darker.

Butter London - Fiver

two coats

Fiver, a "Mint-green creme", is the perfect blend between blue and green, even though it falls more on the green side. As I stated above, this mint is a lighter version of Neely, but just as beautiful.

China Glaze - Re-fresh Mint

three coats

Re-fresh Mint is basically the same color as Susie but a tad bit darker. With this polish I usually need at least three coats to get it evenly opaque. Despite loving Neely and Fiver, this polish is my go-to mint, it's a lot more attainable than the others and doesn't cost that much.

Essie - Mint Candy Apple

Mint Candy Apple is described as a "Menthol light green creme" which in this case is mostly wrong. It is a creme, however, it's not the slightest bit green, but it is the prettiest baby blue I've ever worn. To me, this polish does not qualify as a mint because its just too blue.

Side by side

As you can see here, unless you have all of them on at the same time, Susie, Re-fresh mint, and Fiver will look almost the same when applied. 

Butter London Swatches and Review

BUTTER LONDON

MACBETH

Macbeth is described as a "orange-y-coral" but against my skin tone it just looked like a hot pink-coral. I think its an amazing color though, its not too bright and summery, also the polish was very opaque. With Macbeth I added my first Deborah Lippmann glitter in Happy Birthday. I should add that Happy Birthday may be one of the best glitter polishes I have tried, I only needed to do one coat of glitter. Over all this mani lasted the two days I had it on with no chips.

TROUT POUT

Trout Pout is described as a "pale, retro cantaloupe" and again against my skin tone it was a different color. When looking at other swatches of Trout Pout it looked like a really pretty coral but it ended up looking more like a bright Barbie pink. This polish was not as opaque as the other butters and needed the second coat to really get the color evened out. Despite not being opaque, it did last the two days before I changed it.

ROYAL NAVY

Described as a "navy blue," that's exactly what Royal Navy is. It is very opaque and may only need one coat. I definitely did not want to take this polish off, the color was so beautiful. When I first painted my nails with Royal Navy I was genuinely surprised that it was a cream polish because in the bottle it looks sheer. Unfortunately, I had to take this polish off later on in the day because the tape came off.

Mani Prep Tutorial

Before every mani I like to do this to my nails to make sure my cuticles don't get too dry from the nail polish remover. It can be very time consuming but keeping your cuticles hydrated and nails clean is part of achieving a great looking mani. Let me know if you found this tutorial helpful and as always I hope it is easy to understand and follow.

For my clean up brush I use a cheap eyeliner brush. Also, a normal wooden cuticle pusher works too!

Also, If needed, clean under your nails. My nails happen to be very thin and always look dirty.

One finger at a time!

Washing hands after prevents oil mixing in with your polish.

After your mani is dry you can add a little bit more oil to keep your cuticles hydrated all day.

Bonus Pics

Shark Week Tutorial

I have gotten multiple requests for a tutorial of these nails, so a bit late but here it is! I'd like to add that I did forget to add nail polish remover and clean up tools on the list of things you'll need, also beware of dry cuticles and fingers from the pure acetone polish remover. I hope this tutorial is understandable and easy to follow.

* if you do not have these items good substitutes are: Striping polish(thin brush), a bobby pin(bigger dotting tool), and a toothpick(smaller dotting tool)

After this step I added a sheer blue/green glitter polish.

My original shark week mani