Deborah Lippmann: Candy Shop

Hey everyone!  I had planned to show you all a random polish brand that I swatched a while ago, but for some reason I only have 4 pictures and they are AWFUL.  I don't know what I was doing because they are not anything I can consider posting.  So instead you lucky ducks get the other new Lippmann polish released as part of the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale.  I posted about the set here!  Like her other polishes this is 4 free and comes in the signature cube bottle.  Deborah Lippmann certainly knows her stuff.  Candy Shop is a bubblegum pink jelly that is packed with the multisized glitter from Happy Birthday.  As you can see there are some spots where you can see my nail.  I know this is a big no no in a lot of people's minds, but IRL the color explosion is so intense that you can't see past it.  If this does bother you, slap on a base coat of white polish first and you can enjoy this polish in all its beauty.  You could also add another coat.  I only used 2 because I was satisfied with the coverage.

2 coats Candy Shop + Seche Vite, artificial light

I really love how the yellow glitter stands out against the pink background.  Be warned that this is a very bumpy glitter.  I have one coat of Seche Vite in the above picture, and I am about to add another to smooth things out.  Anyways, I hope you enjoy it! 

~Shbecky

Deborah Lippmann: Forget You

Hey everyone and happy Friday!  I only had a one day week for medical reasons, but that doesn't stop me from being grateful for the end of the work week!  To celebrate the end of the week the boyfriend and I headed over to Nordstrom to catch the beginning of their Anniversary Sale.  They have a ton of huge discounts and special edition items to celebrate.  I had my eye on a bunch of stuff, but I couldn't wait to get my hands on the new Deborah Lippmann special edition set "Get This Party Started."  It's only available at Nordstrom and is on sale for $42, which is a huge discount for Lippmann polishes!  The set includes Forget You, Candy Shop, and Happy Birthday.  I already own Happy Birthday, so I will likely trade it for something I don't have, but purchasing the set is the only way to get the 2 new polishes at this time.

Update:  I forgot to mention the lovely sales associate who managed not to seem freaked out by my polish obsession.  I am pretty sure her name was Courtney, and she was GREAT.  At first we couldn't find this set, then I spotted the packaging about 20 feet away on a special display.  I hope she finds her way to the blog :)

2 coats Forget You + Seche Vite, artificial light

Tonight I have Forget You, which I can guess is named after the Cee Lo song.  Lippmann polishes are 3 Free and this, like her other polishes, comes in the signature fancy cube bottle.  Forget You is a black jelly with the glitter from Happy Birthday throughout.  I don't know how the glitter still shines so brightly, but it definitely does.  The glitter is rainbow medium sized hex plus some small rounded glitter.  To give you some perspective on how dense the glitter is, this is only 2 coats!  Some of the glitter is a bit faded just like the glitter in GITA.  I imagine that effect would be more noticeable if I used more coats.  I didn't add more because the polish was opaque and I'm not one to mess with perfection

2 coats Forget You + Seche Vite, artificial light

 Lippmann is known for her perfect formulas, in particular her jelly formula, and this is no exception.  The polish is butter smooth.  It takes a bit of focus to make sure the glitter doesn't drift outside of your polish lines, but nothing the average person can't handle. 

 Here's a quick snap shot of the set!  I had to take the cover off because of the reflection, but you all get the idea :)

Get This Party Started Special Edition Set

I'm not so sure you couldn't create a similar effect by topping a black jelly with Happy Birthday, but it wouldn't be entirely the same.  For all of you polish connoisseurs, you will appreciate the GITA-esque effect.  I know I do!  I'm keeping this one for sure.

~Shbecky

P.S. How do you guys feel about another giveaway???

Deborah Lippmann: Waking Up In Vegas

Hey everyone! I was just debating with SonyT whether today should be a grey post or a holo post.  I don't know how I was thinking holo, because it is insanely grey outside here in DC today.  Can't we just have a gorgeous breezy Monday with lovely clear skies?  Guess not.  Courtesy of this miserable Monday I give you Deborah Lippmann's Waking Up In Vegas.  It's a light grey creme with yellow undertones that are visible in the liquid that separates from the polish in the bottle.  Like all Lippmann polishes, this is 3 Free and comes in the signature cube bottle with the smooth curved top.  The bottle fits so nicely in your hand that painting becomes way less awkward for those like myself who insist on holding the bottle while painting. 

2 coats Waking Up In Vegas + Seche Vite, artificial light

Waking Up In Vegas is opaque in 2 coats, and has such easy application that I will likely always grab this polish to satisfy my light grey polish cravings.  The yellow undertone makes this grey different than any others in my collection, and I am glad that I bought this even though I kept thinking it may be too boring.  I highly recommend that everyone pick this up! 

See the yellow undertones?

Don't forget to enter our Nfu Oh 61 Giveaway!

As a final note, thank you so much for following us!  We have just hit 150 viewers and we couldn't be happier to have each and every one of you.  Thanks for all the lovely comments and keep them coming!  We love to hear from our clan of readers :)

~Shbecky

Deborah Lippmann: Glitter in The Air over Essie: Sweet Talker

Hey everyone!  Hope you all survived Monday alright!  I just wanted to give a quick thank you to all of you for following us and reading our blog.  I know that SonyT and I are used to doing lots of work in school to feel very average and unaccomplished, and the new viewers make us feel like we are actually achieving something at least in the nail polish world.  This morning I have Deborah Lippmann Glitter in The Air over Essie Sweet Talker.  Like all Lippmann's polishes this comes in the beautiful cube bottle with a top and brush that match up with the 3 Free formula like a dream.  I'll admit I was REALLY trying to avoid jumping on the GITA bandwagon.  I didn't get what all of the fuss was about.  Obviously it is a great color and the glitter is lovely, but compared to Across The Universe it seemed kind of blah.  I'll be the first to admit that I was sooooo wrong.  This is gorgeous!

1 coat Sweet Talker topped w/ 3 coats GITA, artificial light

You get two pics because I couldn't pick one :)

1 coat Sweet Talker topped w/3 coats GITA

It's a virtually translucent but cloudy baby blue jelly with a slightly brighter blue and pink multisized glitter throughout.  This was inspired by a performance of Glitter in The Air by Pink.  That alone should have made me buy the polish, as that song really struck a note with me.  I had read that the polish really wants an undiepants coat to avoid layering on too many coats.  I just reorganize my polishes, so I grabbed the first polish that seemed to be in the same color family.  Note that this is a lot brighter blue than the base in GITA.  I'll review Essie Sweet Talker on it's own at some point, but I just threw on one patchy coat.  GITA evened out the patchiness in 3 thin coats.  It applied smoothly and like I said, it's really spectacular.  In fact, even though this seems to scream "not work friendly" I am going to rock it anyway.  It's just that lovely.  I would not recommend trying to get this opaque on its own without a base color.  It applies thin, but it has a very subtle color that would force you to apply too many coats. 

Verdict? I'm a convert.  I love it! 

On another note, I'm feeling a polish purchase coming on...any suggestions?

Don't forget to enter our Nfu Oh 61 Giveaway!  I have some nice surprises that will also go out to the winner!

Last Night's Mani: Deborah Lippmann - I know What Boys LIke + CND Effects - Copper Shimmer

2 coats I Know What Boys Like + 1 coat Copper Shimmer + 1 coat Seche Vite, artificial light

This is last night's mani that I couldn't stop staring at.  I grabbed a bunch of CND polishes online last week and it was my first encounter with CND, better yet the effects line of polishes.  I'm impressed with the variance between the different shimmer colors and their ability to totally transform a mani!  I found these easily on evil-bay so you should give these a try.

-Shbecky

New Deborah Lippmann! Spring/Summer 2011

Yay!  I'm finally back in DC and happy to be back in the real world.  As soon as I was awake and functioning today I ran downstairs to grab all of my lovely new nail polish packages that were waiting for me.  I was had 6 packages in my mailbox and 5 in the package room.  The new front desk woman looked at me like I was out of my mind, which I very well may be.  Eisenbrat dubbed my collection as "helmer status," and my beautiful collection is about to outgrow my newly constructed Helmer :).

Anywho - I was super excited that I received all of the new Deborah Lippmann polishes in my absence.  I had used coupons to get them all for a steal and after falling in love with Call Me Irresponsible last week I couldn't wait to try these out.  Deborah Lippmann did not disappoint with these additions.   I stand by my previous assertion that I am happy to pay $16-$20 for polish that seems to paint itself.  I know that at least Yellow Brick Road was released early due to high demand after Lady Gaga sported the polish a little while back, but it definitely still tops my list of yellow polishes.   OK - I'm rambling, let's check out some polish.

Lara's Theme

2 coats Lara's Theme + 1 coat Seche Vite, artificial light

Lara's Theme was created with supermodel Lara Stone and is a firey reddish-orange creme.  The polish reaches opacity in 2 coats, and if you're really lucky/an application goddess you may be able to get away with one coat.  This polish was almost as incredible as Call Me Irresponsible.  I managed to get a pretty smooth cuticle gap with ZERO clean up.  I know I have a thing for orange polish this spring, but everyone needs this polish.

Lara's Theme bottle

Yellow Brick Road

4.5 coats Yellow Brick Road + 1 coat Seche Vite, artificial light

Yellow Brick Road is bright yellow jelly that is particularly translucent even for a jelly.  Don't get me wrong, the polish is gorgeous in true Lippmann fashion, but this polish needs a lot of layering.  I need to try this over a white or nude polish to see if that helps cut down coats.  I ended up needing 4-5 coats to get a relatively unpatchy swatch.  Yellow Brick Road is a little thick to be so translucent and require so many coats.  I didn't wear this as a full mani, and didn't really let it dry all the way, so I'm not sure if it would even dry this thick at this many coats.  I will definitely give this another try and get back to you all.  If you have no qualms with a little VNL then this is no big deal.  Slap on 2 perfect coats and you'll have a new fave yellow!

Girls Just Want To Have Fun

2 coats, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun + 1 coat Seche Vite, artificial light

 Girls Just Want To Have Fun is a peachy orange-pink jelly/creme hybrid.  It reaches perfect opacity in 2 coats.  When I first saw bottle pics of the new collection I was surprised that there were two colors that were so orange.  But IRL the colors have turned out to be quite different.  This color is far more pink than Lara's Theme.  The two colors even look similar in the bottle.  They are both a dream to apply, but my guess is that unless you have reached "helmer status" like I have you don't need both. 

I Know What Boys Like

2 coats Girls Just Want To Have Fun + 1 coat Seche Vite, artificial light                         

I Know What Boys Like is a blue-purple (plue?) creme.  You are probably tired of me saying I love polishes, but this polish is completely gorgeous.  I wore this as a full mani on my date night with the bf topped with CND Effects Copper Shimmer, and I couldn't stop staring at it.  It's great when cremes have this much depth.  This was opaque in 2 coats and I probably could have left it at 1 coat!  Deborah Lippmann polishes really stand out to me for their ability to stay where you put them.  It's just so easy to use them.  Even if the colors were heinous I'd still use them. 

Pretty cool label reflection on the bottle

Verdict? Stashing them all.  Yellow Brick Road will require some more testing, but is GORGEOUS in coloring.  The colors aren't necessarily the most unique, but I promise you don't have a better version of these colors no matter how big your stash s.  You can probably pick between Lara's Theme and Girls Just Want To Have Fun based on preference and your own skin tone, but I will certainly be keeping them both.

Do you agree that these polishes are a dream to apply?  Has anyone else tried these?  What do you think?

-Shbecky

P.S.  Ignore the lovely paper cuts I have recently acquired, you can blame my bf's backpack.

Deborah Lippmann: Call Me Irresponsible

This beauty arrived this afternoon and I had completely forgotten about it.  It was like a present almost, and I couldn't resist swatching it right away.  I bought this as one of 3 rather expensive polishes with a half off deal I got through Hautelook a while back.  This is a 3-free grape-purple jelly from Deborah Lippmann's Summer '09 release.  Apparently her website describes it as a creme, but this is so jelly it could be mistaken as edible.  Like all of her polishes, this bottle is cube shaped and pretty easy to hold.  The brush is thin - maybe even a little too thin - but it's flexible and fans out adequately for application.  The formula was a dream.  I would gladly pay $16 for polishes that seriously seem to paint themselves like this did.  My only issue was that a few strokes had an almost watery drip, that ran into my cuticles.  I may not have rolled the polish enough though, and it was easy enough to clean up.

Below we have 4 coats without topcoat.  At 3 it is lovely, but there is a hint of VNL (visible nail line). 

Call Me Irresponsible, 4 coats, artificial light

FYI - Beauty.com has a coupon code for 20% off right now.  Just enter ff20 at checkout.  If you spend $25 you get free shipping too.  They carry Deborah Lippmann polishes, so this is a good time to grab this polish or some of the new shades.

• I am not affiliated with this site, but I am a big fan of their customer service and can't waste a discount. 

-Shbecky