Butter London Fruit Machine - swatch and review

Butter London Fruit Machine

I have to admit a weakness for pastel, bubble gum pinks! They remind me of the pink sugar mice we used to make at junior school!  When I saw Butter London Fruit Machine in swatches, I thought it was very pretty, but I convinced myself there was no need to buy it as I've already got plenty pink polishes - but once I saw it in person I couldn't resist so here we are.........

Pictures are taken in natural light, but it's quite gloomy here as usual. I used two coats of Fruit Machine, a coat of Seche Vite, then another coat of Fruit Machine followed by a final coat of Seche Vite. I always use this method of application for pastel creams - it seems to avoid any streaking and give me a smooth, glassy finish every time. The Butter London Formula is great; the polish is a good consistency and the brush is small and easy to handle. Here are a couple of photographs from slightly different angles

Butter London Fruit Machine

I have several similar colours to this one, but I think Fruit Machine is lighter and brighter than anything else in my collection in this colour group, so I'm happy I bought it. I was also tempted by Kerfuffle, which was incredibly pretty in the bottle, but when I held it in my hand it seemed to clash awfully with my skin..........still thinking about that one!

I did do a comparison to two of the *nearest* pinks I pulled out of my helmer - Essie Cascade Cool and Pixi Paradise Pink (at least I think it's Paradise Pink, it's lost its label). Here are a couple of comparison pics at different angles and slightly different light conditions. Butter London Fruit Machine is definitely the lightest of the three; Essie Cascade Cool is darker and slightly more cool toned; the Pixi polish is darker but also brighter than both the others. OK, the differences are subtle, but they are different!

Here are swatches of the Essie and the Pixi, I wanted to see how they looked as a full hand. First Essie Cascade Cool

Essie Cascade Cool

Distinctly more lavender leaning. And the quality of the pigment is quite different to the Butter London; whilst the Butter London is dense and chalky, the Essie is sheerer and rather luminous. The application is the same as above, two coats of polish, one coat of SV, another coat of polish and a final coat of SV. Essie Cascade Cool applies nicely, like all Essies do, but this one has a massive brush! I've seen a few Essies with big brushes recently, I don't know if there is any reasoning why some colours get them. Whenever I get a polish with a huge brush, it always reminds me of a teacher I had at art school - he was always encouraging us to use a bigger brush, and honestly, it does make painting easier. With this whopping brush I was able to paint my pinkies in one stroke and my other nails in two, all very neatly, as the brush has a rounded end that seems to fit the shape of my cuticle nicely. I've seen others complaining about the big Essie brushes, but I'm all for them!

My final pink is Pixi Paradise (?) Pink

Pixi Paradise Pink

This is stronger and darker than Butter London Fruit Machine, and brighter and warmer than Essie Cascade Cool. It's a dense, chalky sort of pigment, and the formula on this one isn't as good as the other two - its a bit gloppy and has a distinct tendency to streak. I used the same application regime as before, and this time I felt that without the SV between the second and third coats the end result would have been a streaky mess.

I don't really know very much about the Pixi brand; I only own one other colour besides this one. I've had both for several years. Both times I bought on the basis of colour, and in both cases the formula was 'meh'.

Butter London Fruit Machine is part of the Spring 2013 Catwalk Pastels Collection, and is readily available. I bought my bottle at John Lewis. Essie Cascade Cool was one of the summer 2012 colours - I suspect these might have been discontinued because they are turning up in discount retailers in the UK - I've seen them in sets in TKMaxx but I bought this particular bottle on a market stall a couple of weeks ago for about £2. I bought the Pixi polish from Boots several years ago, can't remember exactly when, but my local Boots doesn't stock them any more. Pixi has a sales website.

Has anyone pale tried Butter London Kerfuffle? Does it work with your skintone?