Butter London Patent-Gel Top and Tails Polish Set (retails for $40 at butterlondon.com)

We recently took a trip to London, and were super excited to try out two different no-cure gel base and top coat sets to see how they fared over 9 days of travel. Since a UV-cured gel manicure lasts around 14 days, we assumed that the no-cure alternative would make it around 9 with no major problems - We were wrong. While we did achieve a plush, gelly look for our mani, as perfectionists we were disappointed with the overall wear time.

Deborah Lippmann Gel Lab Base and Top Coat
48 hours

Butter London Patent-Gel Top and Tails
48 hours

We have used the Deborah Lippmann gel set before with 3-4 days of no-chip wear time, so we used that as a comparison on the left hand - see the picture to the left for this look after 48 hours compared to the butter London gel set after one day on the right. For colour, we used Misa Foggy Breath at 3AM. While the Deborah Lippmann set had more chips after 48 hours - you can still see a small chip on the pointer finger of the right hand.

After 4 days, both hands were too chipped to continuing wearing (especially if you hate chipped nails). Interestingly, the butter London top coat adds most of the thickness, while in the Deborah Lippman set it is the base coat which adds that thick gel look to your mani. Both polishes remained plush and gel like for the entire wear.

Overall, Butter London was the better set for resisting chips, however once it chipped the rest of the nail seemed to chip faster than with Deborah Lippmann. We recommend the Butter London set to anyone looking to perfect their nail look a day in advance of a major event without worry of chipping. It is also worth noting that we didn't avoid washing dishes or showering in the first day of wear, which can increase wear time!

Have you tried either of these sets in search of the gel look?


Dislcaimer: Some of these products may have been provided to us by the company/PR for our honest consideration and review.

Mix-and-match black and white glitter has made it to the drugstore - Revlon's new releases include a Graffiti top coat! Perfect for layering, we used this black and white polish over nude for a fun effect.

Let us know if you've seen these polishes at your local Revlon retailer or if you've picked one up, we'd love to see how you wear it!

Disclaimer: Some of these products were provided to us by the company/PR for our honest consideration and review.

Chalkboard Mani (and an awkward thumb)

We love this mani because its so simple! We only used two colours of polish, black and white, and some pastel sharpies to give our 'chalk' writings their colours. We started with two coats of black polish,  then used one coat of the OPI Matte Top Coat to make the 'chalkboard'. Then, using a nail art brush and some white polish we doodled on each nail and let the polish dry. Using some sharpies, we coloured in our doodles and then finished with a second coat of OPI Matte Top Coat.

The OPI Matte Top Coat really provided a smooth matte finish which we love! Simply, this has become our new favourite matte top coat because of how well it applies! Check out our instagram for a comparison to the Essie Matte About You Top Coat.

The full Chalkboard Mani with thumb art showing

What do you think of this mani? Would you rock chalkboard nails?

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Disclaimer: Some of these products were provided to us by the company/PR for our honest consideration and review.