Are they dupes? Butter London The Black Knight vs. Penelope Luz Bellatrix

Last week Liesl Loves Pretty Things posted this manicure showing off Penelope Luz Bellatrix and the first thing I thought of was Butter London The Black Knight. I asked her if she'd bring it along so we could compare, and she let me borrow her pretty for this comparison post:

First off Bellatrix is a deep purple much like Orly Fowl Play and The Black Knight has a black base. Next the glitters look similar, but they aren't entirely the same. Black Knight's glitters are slightly bigger and feature purple, blue, and silver glitters. Bellatrix purple and blue too, but also red, gold and green. The following is with no top coat so you can see that both are gritty.

The formula is smoother on Bellatrix although the base is more pigmented on Black Knight. Both show off their glitters nicely though The Black Knight dries just a bit too quickly and tends to clump a bit. After taking it off my pinky finger three times I decided to leave it as is so you can see.

Both become completely smooth with one coat of Seche Vite top coat. Below is two coats of each color with one layer of top coat:

Be sure to click the images to get a better look at the glitters. As you can clearly see these are not dupes at all. Two very unique polishes and I have to say I like Bellatrix better. Hope you enjoyed!

Hubby's Picks: I'm still here! (HP24)

It's been a loooooooong week where, no matter how hard I tried, I just could not catch up. Up till one or two AM most evenings pushing myself to finish things and just falling short. So no preview of what Hubby picked BUT I did do a manicure! I LOVE IT SO MUCH!

In order from nail tip to base and then up in layers is Sally Hansen HD Resolution, NYC Empire State Blue, Color Club Candy Cane, and Butter London The Black Knight.

Intentionally blurry so you can see that glitter. It was like BAM! GLITTER! The glowey base with the blingy glitter made for such a wonderfully eye-catching manicure.

So I think I'm going to try doing something a little different. I'll take you through the steps I took to achieve this look just in case you should want to try something like this on your own.

Step one: I created a gradient with Sally Hansen Resolution and NYC Empire State Blue. I used the makeup sponge method making sure to cut the sponge just slightly larger then my biggest nail. This is key for building up a solid look with sheer polishes. I sponged each nail making sure to sponger back and forth slightly to blend the meeting place in the center, let it dry, and then repeated. This is a solid 5 coats! These were very sheer and very thin polishes, but this shows it's doable.

Step two: After the base was COMPLETELY dry I taped a "v" shape up on the tip using painters tape. I've switch to painters tape because I feel I get cleaner lines and have less accidental pull up of the layer underneath the tape. I then applied Color Club Candy Cane and immediately removed the tape. This is essential for a clean line so you need a denser polish for this step to ensure full coverage.

Step three: The problem I ran into with the smaller "v" shape on top was that it's difficult to get perfect, tiny strips of tape so I can get the edges the same size. So I used striping tape and laid it down in the same fashion leaving a margin to ensure I got a thicker line of the Color Club to peek out from beneath. This was tricky as there was far less room for mess and error but with a nicer brush like on the Button London it's totally doable!

Step four: Wait until it's semi-dry to dry and top off with your favorite topcoat (Seche Vite in the case of mine) Enjoy your mixed media and very sparkly manicure! This would work sooo gorgeously with fashion chic colors like burgundy, mustard, navy, and pea green. Or in neutrals. Or neons. The possibilities are endless! Have fun :)

If you recreate this look either drop me a line or a post specific link in the comments - I'd love to do a weekly feature of inspired by Hubby's Picks!