Butter London Wallis is a dark, glowy polish that shines a bright golden-olive green.  It’s named after Wallis Simpson, the woman for whom Edward VIII gave up the throne of England.

The abdication story was told in last year’s Best Picture, The King’s Speech, which probably made this story more familiar to Americans.  I have this weird memory of a bathroom in the house of one of my childhood friends, which had wallpaper that was printed with “old-fashioned” newspapers.  The print must have actually been taken from real newspapers, because I know that one of the stories was about Edward VIII abdicating the throne – I can still kind of picture it.  It must have been located in just the right spot so you ended up staring at it over and over, maybe behind the sink.

Anyway, this polish is a heavy, exotic color, ever so slightly ominous feeling, which fits well with the Wallis Simpson story.  The formula is nice and it was easily controllable, although it did take three coats to be fully opaque.  I like how it’s both bright and dark and teeters on the edge of being a little funny, since it leans so yellow.  It’s a good autumn polish.  It dries really smooth but the shimmer particles floating in the darker base almost make it look textured.

It’s sort of like a fall version of OPI’s Simply Smashing, the bright yellow-green polish that launched with Black Shatter last spring.

I wanted to compare it to Chanel’s Peridot, since Peridot also has a golden shine with a green tint.  In the picture below, Wallis is on my index and middle finger and Peridot is on my ring and pinky.  Wallis comes off much deeper than Peridot, with a more green look.  Next to Wallis, Peridot looks more metallic and much lighter.  It’s interesting because I remembered Peridot looking deeper than this.  They’re both pretty but I think Wallis looks more suitable for late fall/winter.

I picked up Wallis at a display at the Ulta near me, which has only recently started carrying Butter London polishes.  It’s also available on the Butter London website and on Nordstroms.