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| butter London - Come To Bed Red w/Seche Vite top coat |
I will preface this ode with the fact that I am a red snob. I only like certain shades of reds and not just "because I think they're pretty". I look at the actual tone and undertone of the hue. Red is such a powerful color but so many companies bastardize it by not paying attention to those two things.
To go a step further, about.com's definition for tone is this: (noun) - Tone is a quality of color. It has to do with whether or not a color is warm or cold, bright or dull, light or dim and pure or "otherwise"(not wishing to slap the perceived moral judgement of impure on a hapless color). You've most likely heard the phrase "Tone it down". In art, this means to make a color, or an overall color scheme, less vibrant. Conversely, "toning it up" can cause colors to pop out of a piece, sometimes to a rather startling extent.
For me, loving red is a "thing". It is something that I am passionate about. There are SO MANY beautiful shades that it is nearly impossible for me to really ever feel satisfied with how many "red" polishes I own, yet it is probably my smallest color family next to my greens. My favorite color of polish though is usually a purple or blue. I love those two shades, but I am nowhere near as passionate about them from an artistic level as I am about red.
To give you more information to explain undertone, Dictionary.com defines Undertone as: (noun) 1. a low or subdued tone. 2. an unobtrusive or background sound. 3. an underlying quality or element; undercurrent. 4. a subdued color; a color modified by an underlying color.
Ok, now that I'm done with art lessons ;) I'll explain why this is all relevant in my ode to butter London's Come To Bed Red. In this polish the overall tone is bright and in your face, however it is not so bright that it is annoying. The undertone is pure and muted just enough that it still has POW but not overtly so. The artist that created this color payed attention in art class because this is a very pure red from which one could create other lovely shades. Something so perfect is bound for more greatness, it doesn't just BE great it becomes greater. Come To Bed Red is also a sort of chameleon. It looks deceivingly darker inside but not necessarily because of inside lighting, I think it has to do more with how light refracts off the undertone. Outside it becomes luminescent and almost glowing it is so bright and cheerful.
My last and final thoughts... and truly the reason I felt compelled at midnight to write this post was because of it's removal. Now, I have tried a lot of red polishes in my time. Most, if not all, have slightly stained the skin around my nail bed during removal. A lot of colors do that from time to time and sometimes it's because the polish is a substandard formula, sometimes it's due to the fact that it is so highly pigmented that it sort of bleeds when acetone hits it. Because red polish removal irritates me MORE than glitter removal I don't rush to wear a red mani lol.
I know I don't make sense because I just went on about how I love red polish, but there it is. Well when I received Come To Bed Red I just HAD to put it on. I've been lusting after this red for some time and it was finally MINE. Loved it so much I put it on at 3am while I was literally falling asleep at the desk here. Once I was done with it I was shocked and awed. I took a quick cell phone picture and posted it in a facebook group to share. Well I wore this mani all week. I haven't done a solid color- no nail art- in about 6 months and on top of that to wear it for a WEEK?! Unheard of! Needless to say I just sat down a little bit ago to remove it and felt that old frustration boiling up.
The "ugh, I'm going to be pink for at least a day, this is going to suck" frustration. I almost said F it and didn't remove it lol. But here comes the earth shattering news... It removes cleanly. As in absolutely no skin staining! No bleeding, no streaks, no nothing. It removed so perfectly you'd never know I had red on before and quite honestly I am impressed with an "expensive" brand's formula. More often than not price does not equate quality.
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| No pink left behind from mani removal (excuse my nails they're still a bit jacked up) |
xo,
Come To Bed Red can be purchased at various stores, I purchased mine directly from butter London's website. Their 3 Free Lacquers retail for $14ea.
