Butter London Jelly Preserves

*The polishes featured in this post were gifted to me by Butter London. I am under no obligation to review them. All opinions are my own.*

I got a mystery package in the mail and was seriously wondering whether I should open it or not… USPS had lost a previous package of mine and I thought there was a longshot chance that was it. Upon finally opening it… goodies from Butter London! I was, of course, sad that it was not my long lost package but that sadness was quickly dashed by the appearance of the cheerful packaging. I have seen the new Jelly Preserve polishes/treatments on Instagram and hadn’t purchased them yet because I don’t think I am the target audience for them. But, put the bottles in my hands and you know that I’m going to give them a go! I actually don’t own any true jelly polishes that never get opaque on their own nor do I own any treatment type polishes that aren’t for hardening, so these are truly unique in my collection. Other brands have done these tinted treatments before, OPI and Essie come to mind. Butter London is cruelty-free, so perhaps there is a niche for these that needs to be filled in the cruelty-free market! I both polishes on their own for you today and then got creative with a good ol’ jelly sandwich. Remember when those were super popular? Always love rediscovering old nail polish community crazes!

Like I said, I’m probably not the target audience for these polishes! They are designed as sheer treatments that you could wear perhaps after acrylics or gels have destroyed your nail beds. Or maybe you just want to take a lacquer break (whaaaaaat, cannot relate) but still would like a little something something going on (can relate more). They did release two shades, a bright pink and a juicy purple. I think every skin tone will find that at least one of these will look flattering; they do look a bit daring and bright in the bottle but are VERY SHEER.

All of today’s swatches are shown over my natural nail. I did not use base coat under them or top coat over them (although I don’t think using a top coat would take away from the benefits). I am only going to go up to three coats with each polish. They are true jellies in formula and will not get opaque on their own, but I figure three coats is a reasonable number for someone who is trying to get a bolder wash of color. The brushes for these treatments are the same as the regular lacquers, not the patent shine – thin yet dense so they fan out nicely.

Butter London Strawberry Rhubarb, 1 coat

The first shade is the pink, Strawberry Rhubarb. One coat gives you a your-nails-but-better look. My nails are a little stained from all the polishes I wear, as you can see by my tips, but I think this does make my nail beds look nicer and brighter. The color coverage also looks fairly even. The formula is easy to work with, it’s not runny or anything like that. I was not sure what to expect from a true jelly and was pleasantly surprised!

Butter London Strawberry Rhubarb, 2 coats

Two coats of Strawberry Rhubarb intensifies that pink a little. I thought that the color looked more uneven after two coats, I would probably not stop here if I wanted a bolder color payoff.

Butter London Strawberry Rhubarb, 3 coats

A third coat of Strawberry Rhubarb turns the color intensity up just one more little notch and the coverage looks a lot more even. I think if I were to wear this one, I would go for a sheer wash of color at one coat or a little more intense wash of color at three. Two coats just was not doing it for me.

Butter London Victoria Plum, 1 coat

Next up is Victoria Plum, Strawberry Rhubarb’s purple friend! At one coat it also gives you a your-nails-but-better look. I actually think I like this one at one coat better on my nails than Strawberry Rhubarb. It doesn’t make my super uneven free-edge stand out as much and it does look a little less like I am wearing something tinted.

Butter London Victoria Plum, 2 coats

The coverage of Victoria Plum at two coats actually looks pretty nice and even, I think you could wear this at two without being annoyed at streakiness like I was with Strawberry Rhubarb.

Butter London Victoria Plum, 3 coats

At three coats, Victoria Plum gets just a little more purple. I think it is on the verge of making my nails look slightly bruised, but I also have a mayonnaise complexion. It might look beautiful on someone with a darker skin tone! For me, I think I would wear it at one coat, but I think the coverage looks great at one, two, and three coats.

Butter London Victoria Plum and Strawberry Rhubarb layered with Glad Rags

I knew I wanted to try a jelly sandwich with these polishes because let’s be real, I don’t really enjoy sheer polishes and would not personally wear these by themselves. However, layer these with other polishes to give them more depth and now we’re talking! I recall traditional jelly sandwiches involving glitter layered between coats of the jelly polish. However, these are meant to be a treatment and if you use traditional glitter, you’re going to just destroy your nails all over again once you go to remove the mani! So, I looked through my Butter London collection and grabbed Glad Rags, an iridescent topper that will remove easily and layer beautifully (I did purchase Glad Rags myself in the past). What you see above is five coats total on each nail. I used a coat of a jelly preserve, a coat of Glad Rags, another coat of a Jelly Preserve, a final coat of Glad Rags, and then a final coat of the Jelly Preserve to intensify the color and finish the sandwich. I think these look amazing, like pretty princess nails!

Thank you Butter London for giving me something a little different to play with! I usually end up with the new Butter London products somehow, they have been one of my favorites for so long and it’s still fun to keep up with their new releases, even if they are a bit tamer than they were in the past. The jelly sandwich technique presents SO MANY possibilities, I am going to have fun digging through my toppers and seeing what works best. Hope you all are having a wonderful day and aren’t too jelly of my nails 😛

What are your favorite treatment polishes? Also, I ALWAYS love hearing about favorite Butter London shades, I feel like I got interested in Butter London at the tail end of their releasing flashy fun shades and am always discovering something I missed out on, but totally would have loved.

xx, Ashley

Butter London are cruelty-free! The Jelly Preserve polishes were both gifted to me (if I didn’t make that clear enough the other three times I mentioned that).

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