Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Butter London Tart with a Heart and American Apparel Hassid

Butter London released Tart with a Heart as part of its Holiday collection for 2011. A fabulous glitter topper that is buildable to full coverage, Tart with a Heart has a lightly tinted pink base suspending microglitters in pink and gold along with pink iridescent glitters in small and micro sizes. From the look of it there may be micro sized holo glitters in the mix as well. The overall effect is of a light golden brown sugar color with pale peachy pink overtones awash with iridescence and flecks of light in all colors of the rainbow.

The consistency of Tart with a Heart is about what you'd expect for full coverage glitter polish: a little on the thick and gooey side but with plenty enough flow to spread easily over the nail with Butter London's short-wanded soft flexible brush. I had no problems and minimal user error during application. I applied three coats and although I could still detect hints of nail line on some nails (usually next to the edges), I was happy with the coverage. Tart with a Heart dries naturally in good time to a matte slightly textured surface. It's worth noting that the finish was not gritty, just textured. Even so, it did want to eat topcoat. The first layer of Seche Vite I applied developed a bit of texture to it so I added another layer of Poshe.

Photos show three coats of Tart with a Heart over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite followed by an addition topcoat of Poshe. At first this felt like a lot of polish on the nail but it was well on its way to drying down to a moderate depth by the time I took the photos some 20 minutes or so later.


Butter London Tart with a Heart


Butter London Tart with a Heart


Butter London Tart with a Heart, macro shot in the bottle


Butter London Tart with a Heart


Butter London Tart with a Heart


Butter London Tart with a Heart


Butter London Tart with a Heart


Butter London Tart with a Heart


Butter London Tart with a Heart


Butter London Tart with a Heart


Butter London Tart with a Heart


Butter London Tart with a Heart


Butter London Tart with a Heart


Butter London Tart with a Heart


Butter London Tart with a Heart


Butter London Tart with a Heart


Butter London Tart with a Heart


Butter London Tart with a Heart

Isn't that pretty! It's like someone took opals and diamonds and crushed them with light brown sugar crystals. The translucency of the glitter mix means some of the color of your own nail beds is going to be transmuted into the overall color of the polish. This iridescent glitter bomb had a dainty, intimate feel to it.

Since it's basically a glitter topper and I'd read reviews online where folks were waxing ecstatic over layering it on top of black and other dark colors, I thought I'd try that. I broke out my new-to-me American Apparel Hassid for the task.

Hassid is a well-pigmented rich black creme. Its consistency was fairly liquid but with enough viscosity to be extremely well behaved during application. The brush that comes with American Apparel polishes has a very long wand with a large-ish rounded bristle bunch that delivers a generous amount of polish per brushful. Application was so trouble free that I had virtually no clean up except for a few tiny skin swipes at the finger tip where the free edge of the nail begins. I was so amazed by this that I did no other clean up but that, no additional refining or clean up of the polish edge at the cuticle or sides, nothing. Hassid dries naturally in good time to a smooth kind of rubbery looking finish.

Photos show ONE COAT of Hassid over treatment and basecoat with NO CLEAN UP of the polish on the nail and one coat of Seche Vite to finish. I was so flush with excitement over this one-coat wonder that my mitts are a bit pink in the pics.


American Apparel Hassid


American Apparel Hassid


American Apparel Hassid


American Apparel Hassid


American Apparel Hassid


American Apparel Hassid


American Apparel Hassid

For the pièce de résistance, I applied one coat of Tart with a Heart over my Hassid manicure along with a coat of Seche Vite and one of Poshe as I'd done with the original Tart with a Heart mani. I can tell you that photos do not accurately capture the full effect of this combo, it is an extraordinarily ornate look.


Butter London Tart with a Heart over American Apparel Hassid on the nail, Butter London Tart with a Heart in the bottle


Butter London Tart with a Heart over American Apparel Hassid


Butter London Tart with a Heart over American Apparel Hassid


Butter London Tart with a Heart over American Apparel Hassid


Butter London Tart with a Heart over American Apparel Hassid


Butter London Tart with a Heart over American Apparel Hassid


Butter London Tart with a Heart over American Apparel Hassid


Butter London Tart with a Heart over American Apparel Hassid


Butter London Tart with a Heart over American Apparel Hassid


Butter London Tart with a Heart over American Apparel Hassid


Butter London Tart with a Heart over American Apparel Hassid

As Scrangie said, "It's like galaxy nails, but without all the work." Layering Tart with a Heart over black amps up the iridescence to black opal levels. In natural light, the look is full of aquatic blues and greens while under incandescent lighting, the black is seen under a mist of golden flecks that sparkle with every jewel-tone color you can imagine. Stunning!

I can see this for New Year's Eve in a heartbeat.

love,
Aunt Liz

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