Butter London All Hail the Queen

All Hail the Queen was originally released by Butter London under the name All Hail McQueen -- a tribute to British fashion designer Lee Alexander McQueen, who committed suicide in February 2010 -- as part of the Fall 2010 collection. It is officially described as an "opaque, holographic beige nail lacquer" and the "winter version" of Butter London's best selling polish Yummy Mummy. I don't have Yummy Mummy to compare, but from the swatches I've seen I'd say All Hail the Queen is a prettier, more complex polish of the same basic tone and color. It's a medium-light sandy beige or tan neutral bearing finely milled holographic pigment as well as some minute red particle shimmers. On the nail, the prismatic display is very subtle, even in direct light, with tones of gold and pale blue predominating, but the holo does add its characteristic speckling, shading and dimensionality to the polish overall. The red shimmers are also extremely subtle, appearing occasionally in certain lights and contributing a pinkish tone to the color that makes it more wearable for someone like me, whose complexion does not favor tans.

Application was wonderful. All Hail the Queen has a fluid, creamy consistency with a silky glide over the nail and excellent self-leveling properties. It is user friendly and easy to manipulate with Butter London's short-wanded, round, flexible brush. Pigmentation is buildable -- fairly sheer on the first coat but developing good color and opacity with two coats and completely even, opaque coverage and full, rich bottle color after three. I used three trouble-free medium coats for this manicure. Cleanup, what little I had to do, is a snap. All Hail the Queen dries naturally in good time to a glossy finish. Nice!

Photos show three coats of All Hail the Queen over Seche Rebuild treatment and Pretty Serious All Your Base basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. 

Butter London All Hail the Queen

Butter London All Hail the Queen

Butter London All Hail the Queen

Butter London All Hail the Queen

Butter London All Hail the Queen

Butter London All Hail the Queen

Butter London All Hail the Queen

Butter London All Hail the Queen

Butter London All Hail the Queen

Butter London All Hail the Queen

Butter London All Hail the Queen

Butter London All Hail the Queen

Butter London All Hail the Queen

I'm not sure when or why Butter London changed the name of this polish from All Hail McQueen to All Hail the Queen. Perhaps they didn't want the shadow of Lee Alexander McQueen's death to linger over the polish or there were legal issues with using McQueen's name. The original name is certainly in keeping with the company's focus on couture as inspiration, but the newer moniker is more consistent with their custom of naming polishes using British slang and catchphrases.

All Hail the Queen reminds me a lot of Essie Mochacino, although the latter is a bit darker and more taupe-ish and features more prominent silver shimmers instead of the holo pigment that's present in the former. Another polish that's actually more similar to Mochacino than to All Hail the Queen but still in the same family of neutral taupey tans is Orly Night Owl.

Although I ignored this polish for the longest time for trivial reasons having to do with what a lot of folks considered its dubious claim to holo-ness and what I thought was a strange name change, I'm glad to have it now. It reminds me of my favorite image of the instep-strapped, low-heeled Capezio character shoe: classic, neutral and gracefully utilitarian. The holo pigment and shimmers, though understated, add distinct visual interest as well as dimensionality. They're really what makes this polish special, in my opinion. I like it, I like it a lot.

love,
Liz