Butter London Pitter Patter

So you're putting on a polish on that you initially harbor doubts about as to whether you'll like it, or whether it's really you. You have a lovely application experience but the polish on the nail still doesn't clear away those initial doubts. You wear it, for a couple of hours or a day or two days. And then suddenly you realize that you LOVE THIS POLISH. You understand it, the intent behind its creation, how it works and most importantly, why it works for you. At that moment, in an exquisite little burst of joy, you can literally feel your aesthetic blossoming out to incorporate new territory.

I've had just such an epiphanic moment with today's polish, Butter London's Pitter Patter. Pitter Patter was released last spring in anticipation of Will and Kate's royal baby. It's a well-pigmented dark aubergine creme with very fine, light-responsive purple, blue and red shimmers. In most lights, it appears as a dark purple creme, but get it into direct light and the shimmer blooms in the most lovely, subtle, and sophisticated of ways.

Photos show two coats of Pitter Patter over Seche Rebuild treatment and Butter London Nail Foundation basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite followed later by a topcoat of Poshe to cover some small scratches that occurred in the interval.

Butter London Pitter Patter

Butter London Pitter Patter

Butter London Pitter Patter

Butter London Pitter Patter

Butter London Pitter Patter

Butter London Pitter Patter

Butter London Pitter Patter

Butter London Pitter Patter

Butter London Pitter Patter

Butter London Pitter Patter

Butter London Pitter Patter

Butter London Pitter Patter

Butter London Pitter Patter

Butter London Pitter Patter

Butter London Pitter Patter

Butter London Pitter Patter

Butter London Pitter Patter

Butter London Pitter Patter

Butter London Pitter Patter

Heretofore, I haven't considered myself the ablest of dark polish appreciators. By dark I mean polishes where the actual color takes a back seat to darkness, blackened colors and colors that appear black in low light. So as I was applying Pitter Patter I immediately began to feel the weight of disappointment... "it's SO DARK." And even the delight that was the Pitter Patter application process, creamy smooth self-leveling controlled flow over each nail, did nothing to lift that weight. Because, well, it was just SO DARK.

Not only that, or perhaps because of it, the shimmer eluded my eye completely. What is this shimmer you speak of, eh? Course it didn't help that I applied this polish as the sun was going down. And then later on at some point between pushing a stick into the ground out in the pen to mark the dog's evening deposit for later pick up and the complex logistics of feeding the new little kitteh his well-mounded smelly science diet wet food, I somehow completely destroyed the still vulnerable manicure on my right thumb nail. Just ravaged it.

Speaking for myself, having a manicure thus marred, even if it's only one nail, interferes in a big way with the weighing of merits and other such contemplative avenues of scrutiny that occur when I'm evaluating a new polish. Man, when I saw the mess I'd made of my right thumb nail, I was like, well that's all she wrote for this puppy do I want to take it all off right now or wait til morning etc. I ended up just removing the wrecked thumb nail polish and let decisions about the other digits and the ultimate fate of the manicure wait.

I went to sleep. I woke up. I looked at what remained of my Pitter Patter manicure and realized that I LOVE THIS POLISH. Yesterday, it was just a dark polish. Today, it's a sleek creamy dark purple with hints of smoky veiling that is full of chic-smart sophistication and sense of purpose. And I don't know where that shimmer was hiding yesterday because today I could see it bloom in the beads of Poshe as I was topping out a few teeny topcoat scratches before taking photos.

Just cut my legs and call me shorty, go ahead. 

I'm feeling little electric pulses of excitement about further explorations of dark polishes I've previously passed over or avoided. Like right now I'm all about wanting to go look at reviews and pics of polishes from a england's Gothic Beauties collection. And wouldn't you know it, a piece of nail mail came yesterday delivering a bottle of Barielle Blackened Bleu to my door. 

Epiphanies are that way, you know. Not only are they delicious in the moment, they have an equally delectable aftertaste that lingers on the palate. Yum!

love,
Aunt Liz