Deborah Lippmann Spring 2011 Swatches and Review

This year's spring shades from Lippmann are soft and subdued.


Naked. This is a soft, milky neutral beige. You could call it nude, fleshy... Naked, really. It's almost my perfect 'Mannequin Hands' shade, but it's just a touch too tan. It can be worn sheer, but I think it looks best opaque like I'm wearing it here (three coats).

And the star in this spring duo....

Glitter In The Air. What can I even say about this color? I'm totally in love. Yes, I am in love with a sheer polish. It's true. I would have never expected this. Let me describe it. It's a milky, cloudy, gentle baby blue jelly. Very sheer. Sprinkled throughout the blue jelly base are shiny bits of large and small pink and blue glitter. It's not a dense glitter and you won't have full coverage with it, but that's the beauty of it. It reminds me of cotton candy and cupcake sprinkles and magic. It's just so romantic and dreamy looking. I'm wearing three coats and it's really sheer. It looks even better at four thin coats but I didn't get a picture of that. If you prefer a more opaque look (or just hate visible nail line), you can easily layer it over pastel blue or a white creme.

The formula on these was decent. They both start out sheer and can be layered for more coverage. With the texture of the formula on these polishes, it's best to wait a minute or so in between coats so that you don't get that goopiness that some sheer polishes can get when applying. Drying time was a little long, but not horrible.

Naked is nice, but Glitter In The Air is magical. It's a fantasy polish. Sheer polishes, especially sheer glitters, aren't something I usually like, but this one is different. It looks squishy and soft, like candy and marshmallows. And... unicorns!!

(These were sent to me for review.)

Deborah Lippmann Holiday 2010 Shades - Boom Boom Pow and Today Was A Fairy Tale

I know that I'm a little late posting these as it's now a few weeks into the new year, but there's nothing that requires one to love these only during Winter...

Deborah Lippmann has once again created some magnificent glitter shades. I'm loving this. A high end brand who appreciates the glitter.


Boom Boom Pow. This one is said to contain real 24 karat gold. It has large gold hex glitter and some tiny delicate gold sparkles in a clear base. I'm betting that the 24k gold is those little glimmers of gold in the base. While this polish would be great for layering, I personally prefer it when worn alone, like this. Very magical looking.



Today Was A Fairy Tale. Like Boom Boom Pow, this one also contains a fancy ingredient: Virgin Diamond Powder. What is Virgin Diamond Powder? Well, it's an abrasive made of micronized diamonds and it's used for polishing. Is there a benefit to having it in nail polish? Who knows. All I know is it's cool to say, oh, my nail polish has diamonds in it. Anyway, this shade is a sheer grey base with large and small silvery blue glitter. The base tints the glitter a bit and it has a cloudy sky sort of effect. Very pretty. Excellent for layering:


Deborah Lippmann Today Was A Fairytale (one coat) over Zoya Dove. See how the grey base tints the polish a little? It deepens the color and adds a slight blue hue. So pretty.



Deborah Lippmann Today Was A Fairytale (one coat) over Illamasqua Obsess. Over such a bright color like Obsess, it really changes. It deepens and mutes the base polish and it makes the glitter stand out more- more contrast between light and dark.


The formula on these was good. They're sheer glitters so they need at least three coats- I'm wearing three coats in these pictures. They're a little thick so you should wait a few minutes between coats if you can, it will help make a smoother application. Drying time is average and removal isn't too bad for a glitter.

Because of the fancy ingredients like real gold and diamond, these are more expensive than the average Lippmann polish; they're $20 each.

Do you have these? What do you think of them?

(These were sent to me for review.)

Wet n Wild Gray's Anatomy versus Deborah Lippmann Wicked Game

I picked up a handful of the new Wet n Wild Fast Dry polishes and this color immediately stood out to me. I think it's a re-release from the summertime, but now it's permanent. The shade is called Gray's Anatomy and it's a sheer silvery purple, grey, green and blue duochrome. Sound familiar? I thought so.


This is Wet N Wild FastDry in Gray's Anatomy all by itself- three coats, no basecoat or topcoat. The duochrome effect shows up best in low light, but you can see the colors in the sides of the bottle. It isn't the strongest duochrome effect like a Sally Hansen Nail Prism would be, but it's still undeniably color-shifting.



And here it is alongside Lippmann's Wicked Game. Can you tell which finger has which polish? No? It's:

Left to right, pinkie to index:
Pinkie: Four coats of Wet n Wild Gray's Anatomy
Ring: Four coats of Deborah Lippmann Wicked Game
Middle: Four coats of Wet n Wild Gray's Anatomy
Index: Four coats of Deborah Lippmann Wicked Game

They are so very, very close that I feel comfortable calling them dupes. There are some minor differences in formula- the Wet n Wild is a lot thicker and more opaque, requiring only three coats while Lippmann Wicked Game is more sheer and a little more watery and needs at least four coats for opacity. There is ever so slightly more duochrome effect on the Lippmann polish. And, one totally superficial difference: The Deborah Lippmann polish has a way, way prettier looking bottle. I looooove Lippmann's bottles. But, side by side, the polishes are practically identical.

Wet n Wild? Ninety-nine cents on sale at Walgreens. Lippmann? $16.00 plus shipping if you buy online. The Wet n Wild is definitely the most budget-friendly way to get the look but you can't deny the glamour and aesthetic advantages of the Lippmann bottle. But, it's good to know there are options!

I'll post the rest of the Wet n Wild shades I picked up eventually- but let me just say right now that Buffy The Violet Slayer is not to be missed. It's so good.

Deborah Lippmann All That Jazz Trio Fall 2010

I have to get used to calling these "Deborah Lippmann" now instead of Lippmann Collection... Maybe I'll just refer to them as Lippmann from now on. Confusing!

Anyway... Lippmann's been cranking out a ton of glitter shades lately. Maybe after Happy Birthday became their best seller they're starting to realize how much we all adore unique glitters. Across the Universe was nothing short of genius. Very happy to see them experimenting with the rarely-disappointing jelly/glitter combination. This is the latest:

Lady Sings The Blues. This is a deep blue creme base with silver sequins and glitter. It's not quite a jelly... The base is a little sheer but it's also mostly opaque. I actually think this might have looked better if it was more sheer. The base is a little too dense and doesn't allow all the glitter to show through. It's not lumpy or chunky, but some of the glitter does get lost. Other than that detail, this is a very beautiful polish. Takes a page out of the Essie Starry Starry Night Polish Success Manual. Heh.


Razzle Dazzle. Had to get pictures at a couple different angles for this one. It's just too beautiful. In my opinion, this is the best one in the set. It's rich blackened raspberry jelly with magenta and red glitter. It is freaking spectacular. I can't get enough of this. It looks so sparkly and deep and dramatic, it's like pink lava or a river of gemstones on your nails. The only downside? It stains like crazy. I put it on when it arrived and wore it less than an hour (accidentally smushed it while cooking, had to remove) and when it came off, my nails were stained rose pink. They still are on my right hand, actually. I did not expect that. Staining really doesn't bother me because I'm never without polish on my nails, but people who are less accepting of staining might want to take precautions with this one.

Some Enchanted Evening. I feel like I'm always complaining about glitters that are this color... Whenever companies decide to do a pink glitter, 99% of the time it's this exact shade of pink. It's the color of Milani Disco Lights, to give you a reference point. Despite this, I actually love this polish. It has two kinds of glitter- fine and large sequin. It's in a clear base. It's ideal for layering but I actually prefer it alone, as pictured here. The effect it gives is positively magical. The glitter in it is very sparkly and sometimes flashes red and silver instead of just pink (as observed in the indoor picture) and it looks light and delicate all by itself. I am starting to actually enjoy certain sheer colors and this is one of them.

I compared Razzle Dazzle to Good Girl Gone Bad (from the Party Like A Rockstar kit) because they reminded me of each other. Turns out they're not really duplicates but they are somewhat similar:

Index and ring finger: Lippmann Collection Good Girl Gone Bad, four coats
Middle and pinkie finger: Deborah Lippmann Razzle Dazzle, three coats

Razzle Dazzle is redder, more opaque, has larger glitter and the glitter is red-based. Good Girl Gone Bad is quite sheer, is more purple toned and has tiny silvery glitter. They're both worth owning as they're completely awesome.

The formula on them was good. Not too chunky, not too thick. Good opacity and glitter density. I did two coats in these pictures but I'm sure a third coat would be even better. Drying time was longer than usual for Lippmann but still within acceptable range for me. They are not super bumpy but still look best with a coat or two of a thick topcoat like Lippmann Addicted to Speed (or Seche Vite, Diamont, Poshe, Barielle Mani Extender, the thicker the better!) The only flaw I could find with these is the tendency Razzle Dazzle has to stain. I did not experience any staining with Lady Sings The Blues or Some Enchanted Evening.

Currently these are only available as a set, but if the past is any indication of future events, they'll probably be available as individuals eventually. I don't know for sure, though... Just speculating. Though I'm sure that if you emailed them enough asking for them to be sold separately like with the Anniversary set from last year, they'd do it.

(These were sent to me for review.)