Butter London Fiddlesticks

Butter London released Fiddlesticks as part of it's Holiday 2012 collection along with Fairy Cake, Jack the Lad, Scallywag and Scuppered. To my shock and surprise, I find that I own all of the polishes in this collection. Of the four I've tried (including Fiddlesticks), I love all of them. It goes without saying that I'll be test driving Fairy Cake in the near future, like tomorrow maybe. Ha!

Eleanor, when we were talking about the color of Fiddlesticks, you said "magenta" and "raspberry." Do you know, the Butter London description of this polish used exactly those same words to describe it. Well done!

Fiddlesticks is a glitter polish similar to Scallywag in that they are both packed with microglitter. Unlike Scallywag, which has a clear base, Fiddlesticks has a translucent raspberry base with buildable color. My impression is that Scallywag's clear base is simply a carrier for the bright cerulean microglitter it contains and once dry, the microglitter is the whole of the story. With Fiddlesticks, the raspberry base and the magenta microglitter are dual stars in a story where they contribute equally to the drama.

Application of Fiddlesticks was a little tricky but not unfamiliar. This a fast drying polish that can become syrupy, sticky and lumpy quite quickly. One trick I've found to make application smoother and less frustrating with polishes like this is frequent agitation of the polish as it is applied. Do the nails on one hand, close the bottle and give it a good shake, then do the nails on the other hand. Close the bottle and shake, then apply the second coat to one hand. Close and shake again, do the second coat on the remaining hand and you're done.

Fiddlesticks dries to a grainy semi-matte finish and absolutely requires topcoat to reveal the full impact of both the beautiful sparkly purply pink microglitter and the dimensionality and depth provided by the raspberry base. However, it gobbles up fast drying topcoat like candy. When I get a topcoat eater like this, I think it helps to use two different brands of fast drying topcoat in succession to achieve a solidly glossy glasslike finish. I can't tell you for sure that a coat each of two brands will always work better than two coats of the same brand, but it worked beautifully for Fiddlesticks and I've read reviews where folks felt they needed THREE layers of topcoat to achieve a glossy finish on this polish. 

Not that this has anything to do with nail polish or is even an appropriate analogy, but I used to use product doubling to great effect when doing restorative auto detailing. It would always feel like the second product would fill any chinks in the first product's armor and vice versa. I can tell you for a fact that product doubling works miracles if you're cleaning automotive glass (which is almost always a mixture of glass and polymers and very difficult to get truly clean). Tales from a previous life... film at eleven. *wink*

Photos show two coats of Fiddlesticks over treatment and basecoat with one layer of Seche Vite and a subsequent layer of Poshe. The double layer of topcoats was still drying when I took the pics, thus the somewhat fissured appearance on the surface.

Butter London Fiddlesticks, bottle shot in direct sunlight courtesy of my niece Eleanor :-)

Butter London Fiddlesticks

Butter London Fiddlesticks

Butter London Fiddlesticks

Butter London Fiddlesticks

Butter London Fiddlesticks

Butter London Fiddlesticks

Butter London Fiddlesticks

Butter London Fiddlesticks

Butter London Fiddlesticks

Butter London Fiddlesticks

Butter London Fiddlesticks

Butter London Fiddlesticks

Butter London Fiddlesticks

Butter London Fiddlesticks

Butter London Fiddlesticks

Butter London Fiddlesticks

Butter London Fiddlesticks

Butter London Fiddlesticks

Butter London Fiddlesticks

Butter London Fiddlesticks

Butter London Fiddlesticks

Butter London Fiddlesticks

The beautiful saturated dark berry color of Fiddlesticks works well in dim lighting to hint at the polish's smoldering potential for sparkle as well as to showcase the explosion of sparks in brighter lighting. While it is certainly a wonderful addition to a holiday collection, the richness of the color makes it an agreeable alternative to red throughout the year. Not that my sense of propriety is a model of discretion, but I would wear it anytime, for any occasion. There is a sense of reserved femme chic to Fiddlesticks that contrasts deliciously with the edginess of it's interesting construction and spotlight potential. The polish enthusiast in me really digs this.

I know you got that same message from it, Eleanor. Great minds, eh? *grin*

love,
Aunt Liz