A Very Merry Un-Birthday

Here is a little something I rocked over the weekend. I started with a base of NYX - Dancing Queen, then I did a glitter gradient of OPI - Mad As A Hatter and a gradient of Lippmann Collection - Happy Birthday. I call it "A Very Merry Un-Birthday"!

The gradient wasn't very difficult to do. I started at the base, and with less polish on the brush than I would need for the whole nail, I made a couple of swipes only on the bottom third of the nail. Then I pushed a little bit toward the tip to get those few loose looking pieces. I did this with both glitters. Once the glitter was where I wanted it, I added a top coat and viola!

NYX - Dancing Queen, OPI - Mad As A Hatter, Lippmann Collection - Happy Birthday

Have a great Monday!
-Elaine

Relapse

As of late I have been liking blue polish more. I think aside from colors like sheers and nudes, blue was lowest on the totem pole. Maybe brown and black were lower, but my feelings for blue were very odd because there were of course blues I loved and wore, but a lot of times blues that other people were drooling over, I was not, or when I bought blues I never wore them. Well for whatever reason that tendency is shifting. Out of all the Sally Hansen - Complete Salon Manicure colors I showed you, Thinking of Blue was the one that I wore first. And I didn't want to take it off!

The whole reason I say all this is because of a new lemming I found in myself for a discontinued blue: Lippmann Collection - Rehab. I saw it plenty and didn't want it, but for some reason lately I wanted it. I can't get it, so I made my own! I named it Relapse.

I used mostly clear, and equal amounts of both Wet n Wild - Nocturnal and China glaze - Liquid Leather. If I had to give measurements, I would say 4 parts clear, 1 part Nocturnal and 1 part Liquid Leather.

It is very translucent and needs 4 coats but that is what I wanted. i didn't want it too pigmented and looking like a nearly black creme. I wanted it to be obviously blue and obviously jelly. Check it out! >>>

Have a lovely weekend!

Update on Lippmann Collection Anniversary Set

Lippmann Collection - Ruby Red Slippers

Lippmann Collection - Superstar

Great news! You know how when I posted swatches of the Anniversary Collection in the summer it was only available as a set? And you were all thinking, "Geez, that Ruby Red Slippers and Superstar are sure ruining it for me! I don't want to have to buy the whole set just to get that lovely Funky Chunky!" HAHAHAHA!!! Yeah right. Everyone hates FC. I actually try to give it a chance, but I am one of few.

Anyway, in case you were not aware, they are all available separately now on Lippmann's website, and retail for $18.00 a piece.

Love,
-Elaine

Lippmann Collection Winter

For winter collections I usually picture lots of reds for the holidays and dark, vampy colors. Lippmann Collection's winter colors are none of the above, and that is okay with me! The two polishes for the winter set include one of the most exciting glitters ever, and the most incredible, glowing duochrome I have ever seen. Behold...Wicked Game & Happy Birthday

Wicked Game - This is an insanely obvious duochrome. I would call the base a gray-lavender, with a very very strong pink-purple flash, that my camera really could not pick up. It is much more intense than my pictures depict. It glows a magical glow. I think it is made of magic. And every turn brings out something else: blue, green, aqua, lilac... it is very mesmerizing, and much more interesting than I thought it would be. Again, it is much better in real life than in my pictures.

Happy Birthday - I knew I would love this one! I am a big fan of multi-colored glitter combos, and this had just about every color in it! And I love the shape variations. It has red, blue, yellow, orange, green, fuschia, silver, and baby blue glitter in hexagons and little squares. It is shown in my swatch alone, and over black, in 3 coats.

Disclosure: The products featured in this post were furnished to me by the manufacturer or PR company for review. For more information please visit my disclosure policy.

About Lippmann Collection's New Glitter/Sequin Polishes

I found an interesting blog post from Deborah Lippmann herself, explaining her new hexagonal sequin polishes:

URGENT INFO ON SOME NEW LIPPMANN COLORS

I was very interested in this since I have reviewed the colors in question on my blog, including Funky Chunky and Marquee Moon, and they are some of the most unique polishes ever. Since they are so unique, I assumed that the application was to be unique. I was wrong.

For Funky Chunky, which is the black that comes in the Anniversary Set, Deborah explains that it is supposed to be sheer, with the black sequins showing through. I stated that I thought texture was the key to this one, because as you can see in my swatch, I did one coat (albeit a thick one) and it is not sheer. Even if I did a thin sheer coat, I like the way I applied it better. I am not into sheers, but I am into the look I achieved with my opaque thick coat. Also, if it is meant to be sheer, than the formula should have been just like Ruby Red Slippers. That polish has a nice thin, smooth, sheer black base and allows to be applied nicely no matter how many coats you wish to put on: 1, 2, 3... you can build the coats to achieve the right color for you. It works and looks beautiful. So why aren't the formulas the same?

For Marquee Moon, (which I adore) I said that my only gripe was that the sequins are random, so you have to try to get them on your nails. Deborah says, "dont TRY to make the 'sequins'' come out and look the same on each nail". I agree with the look of having every nail different. That is one of the many reasons I gave as to why I liked it. I do think that it takes effort to get the sequins just on the nail at all though. I want them different, but I don't want any sequin-less.

I thought this would be interesting to pass along since these colors are hot right now, and have brought up much conversation and questions. They need a bit of explaining and now we have the answers straight from the creator.

Dark Teal/Green Shimmer Comparisons

As promised, I did a comparison of Lippmann Collection - Don't Tell Mama against other dark green/blue shimmers. In the pictures, from left to right they are:

--- Lippmann Collection - Don't Tell Mama
--- Sinful Colors - See You Soon
--- Wet n Wild - Morbid
--- Misa - Toxic Seduction



Don't Tell Mama is definitely the darkest and the shimmer is what I would call teal, since it looks blue and green. See You Soon is on the blue side of that, and Morbid and Toxic Seduction are on the green side.

What do you think?

Lippmann Collection Fall 2009

Happy Monday, everyone! I am not thrilled to be starting the work week again, but to make me feel better, I bring you the beautiful fall collection from Lippmann Collection. It includes 2 hott polishes: Marquee Moon and Don't Tell Mama.

Marquee Moon - This is an opaque, metallic silver. It is perfect in 2 coats. The metallic is very smooth and chrome looking. It shows minimal brushstrokes. The best part about this polish, however, is the hexagonal glitter pieces! What I love about them is: 1) They are hexagons which I love (and they must be loved be Deborah Lippmann as well since this is following the 10th Anniversary Collection which has hexagons in every polish!) 2) They are large hexagons. I don't need to zoom in to show you that they are hexagons. 3) They are sparse and random making for a unique manicure. Every nail is different, but the whole look pulls together and looks incredible. 4) The hexagons that go on in the first coat get covered by the second coat, but you can see the outline of the shape. The hexagons that go on in the second coat sit on top and are very visible, and are super shiny. Add a topcoat and it is over-the-top awesome. They look like little mirrors. It makes for a party on your nails. Every time I look at it I think of disco balls, the circus or cirque du soleil. The only negative that I can think of is that you have to be conscious that you have glitter on the brush. They are sparse and random and you aren't guaranteed to have some on your brush on every dip. So it takes a little effort to dab off excess polish on the bottle neck, but not dab off glitter. It's not too much trouble though and it's worth it anyway.

Don't Tell Mama - This is a deep, almost black base with a dark teal shimmer. It's very beautiful and mysterious. I love to look at it in the bottle because on the edges you can see that the shimmer looks purple! I really wish that that duochrome look translated to the nail but sadly I don't see it. That would look incredible! But I shouldn't take away from this polish's beauty. I must say though, that if you have a problem with polishes that look too black this may may not be for you. I don't know if I can say that it is too dark. I am usually upset with almost black polishes and I really love this one on my nails, but everyone's tastes are different. It is pretty dark though, so consider it if you don't want to be disappointed. I am planning a comparison of other dark blue/green shimmers show you can think about it. I did a close up bottle shot to show the purple edges I'm talking about:

This collection is available now at Lippmann Collection and each polish retails for $16.00.

Disclosure: The products featured in this post were furnished to me by the manufacturer or PR company for review. For more information please visit my disclosure policy.
Special Thanks to Gabby & Arleny, Tractenberg & Co. and Lippmann Collection

Hard-to-Find Finds that Have Been Found!

In the last few weeks I have managed to acquire some polishes that I have been wanting that are semi-hard to very hard to find. It is very exciting, I think, to see pictures of hard to find polishes online and then plot to get them! It just adds yet another element of awesomeness to this already awesome hobby.

The following polishes are all only slightly hard to find to wildly hard to find. Maybe it will inspire you to hunt for some yourself!


Claire's - Goldmine ... Opaque gold with small silver holographic glitter and large hexagonal holographic glitter. This one is at the not-really-hard-to-find end of the spectrum. It was a bit difficult for me because the Claire's by me in Chicago never has anything good so I bought this when I was in NY, so I guess you could say I had to travel 800 miles for this polish!! But really it makes the list because it fulfilled a need for a gorgeous, discontinued, HTF CND polish: VIP Status. It's been on my wishlist, with no chance of finding it in sight, and when I asked the wonderful Scrangie about the new LA Girls Rockstar polish: Live On Stage and if it looks like VIP Status, she said to try Claire's - Goldmine. And of course, she did not let me down! It is perfect!!! You know what it reminds me of (besides having my fingers dipped in gold and diamonds) is my birthday! Last year I wanted really over-the-top gold nails for my birthday to go with some hot new gold pumps I had gotten and I didn't really find anything to fit the bill. Well this is it, and my next birthday is right around the corner! (September!) So, guess what I'll be wearing...

Lippmann Collection - Superstar ... You really feel like a superstar wearing this! It always gets noticed. It is so yummy and unique! We need more glitters like this! This is a polish I really wanted once I discovered it, and I discovered it after the holidays when it could no longer be found. But thank the polish gods above because they brought it back!! It's so wonderful when that happens. The only problem that makes this a hard-to-find is that it is only available in the Anniversary Collection that I posted here. So if you want it, you have to want them all! But at least it is available. Whew!



Massini - Purple Medallion ... This is one of the most gorgeous polishes (if not the most) I have ever put on my nails. The color is incredible and the sparkle is insane. This gets the award for most distracting polish ever. The color is this gorgeous magenta-purple-berry and I just love it. And the glitter appears to be purple glitter AND holo glitter. This is readily available at Meijer's stores. The only problem with that is that Meijer is only in 6 midwest states, making this a hard-to-get-your-hands-on.


China Glaze - Emerald Sparkle ... This is another fabulous limited edition holiday polish that is being re-released for this holiday season! So if you haven't been able to find it, don't worry! It is coming back! And if you don't have it, you should really jump after this one! It is very beautiful. I think that the picture above shows the glitter decently, but doesn't really exemplify how gorgeous the green is. It is even greener than this pic shows. It is just more emerald and glowy. I saw China Glaze tweet on Twitter yesterday "What is your favorite China Glaze polish?" and I said this one.


Essie - Raspberry Goji ... This makes the HTF cut because you can't buy it at all. I had to win this one in a JELL-O/Essie nail polish giveaway! I had entered it months ago online and you had to answer a question like "If you were JELL-O what would be your name?" And then about a week and half ago I received this in my mailbox! Pretty cool!


L'Oreal Star Magnets - Prune ... This one I had to go to Ebay for. I had to try one of these crazy magnetic polishes. you paint your nail, and while it is still wet, you hold it up to the magnet that is attached to the bottle, and it makes a star pattern! And then it dries like that! What?
That is amazing! I bought it from a seller in England. This polish had to cross the pond to get to me! That is not cool, L'Oreal! Why, OH WHY?!! would you not release these in the US? I can't take it. I am going to go write a letter to L'Oreal right now to demand the release of these in the States, and I suggest if you want to see these you do too. I just lent mine to a friend and we were discussing it yesterday that if they showed up in stores, we would buy every single color. I wouldn't even look and ponder "oh that one is okay, I like that one..." no. I would BUY THEM ALL! Even our boyfriends like them! They immediately noticed them on our nails and said "That is REALLY cool." Fun for all!


China Glaze - Groovy Green ... I saw this one posted recently on All Lacquered Up in the ALU archives segment. In her post, Michelle mentions that although it is an older color it can still be found online. Well, after her post if they were available, they aren't anymore! It made me want it even more. In almost no time at all though, I was lucky enough to find a lovely lady trying to unload some polishes and was able to purchase it. It is a beautiful pastel, mint green that is thin (I had to use 3 coats) but also has this jelly-ish finish to it too. Very cool.


Essie - Ruby Slippers ... My pride and joy. I wanted and wanted and wished and wished. No polish has ever made me so crazy. I tried to avoid buying this one on Ebay for a while. I tried desperately to swap for it to no avail though, and finally had to give in to the ways of Ebay. I did get if for a reasonable price (I think) considering how hard to find it is and how badly I wanted it. I used three coats to get good glitter coverage. The reason I wanted it so badly is because this is not a typical red-with-red-glitter polish. It is red with a gold, orange, yellow, red glitter. It is not like any other I have seen, and it made me go absolutley crazy! But it's okay because I have her now.


OPI- What's Dune ... This one I bought from another lovely lady trying to unload some polishes. I had originally only purchased it for the purpose of swapping if for Ruby Slipppers. But, I didn't know what I was getting, and before it got to me I saw Steph's swatches of this color, along with the rest of this collection, and realized I was going to have to keep it for myself! It is a delicate silvery color with a slight hint of pink. I really like it just like that, but what put's it over the top is that it is a very fine holo. B-E-A-UTIFUL! This was released in OPI's 2003 summer collection, so it is pretty hard to find.


Hard Candy - Tantrum ... Hard Candy no longer makes nail polish. I think they may have gone out of business. And that just made me want a Hard Candy polish! I really would have probably taken any, but I did have my eye on this one on Ebay, and before I caved and bought it, I was able to get it from the same person who sold me What's Dune. It's is a lovely, shimmery, iridescent green, that reminds me of dragonflies. Check out the manicure I did with it layered over black:

(close -up)


China Glaze - Cat's Eye ... Or the cat's me-ow! This one was on my wishlist for a while, and definitely not in my sights. Until the nicest gift ever came in my mailbox: this baby, from the best fellow blogger on earth, Brooke. Brooke posted this one on her site and I commented that I loved it and was looking for it, and she decided that it would have a better home here in Chicago. I couldn't believe it. This was the best of the hard-to-finds to receive, hands down. I love it. It is this amazing metallic, olive-gold (you know I love gold!) and it just looks so classy and antique. It really is an antique! Check out this bottle:
It amazes me. I don't have any China Glaze polishes that have this old style writing on the bottle. And the top has "CG" instead of the more modern China Glaze oval thing logo. Incredible. I love to look back at Brooke's pictures of this one now and think that the very same bottle that was on her nails, is now on my nails! Jeez polish is great. I can't believe I have this! Thank you again, Brooke. :c)

Now if I could just find Starry Starry Night....

Lippmann Collection Tenth Anniversary Set

Yes! It's Friday! I am planning on having a relaxing weekend! How about you?

I got my camera back, finally! And not only that, but they said it had to be replaced, so I got a new one! AND... they didn't have my model in stock anymore so I got a newer, better version! How exciting! I have been flipping out over it! It's just too awesome. Always get service plans... it's so worth it. I spent $50 for it, but for a rather expensive camera that went on me in less than a year... I am very happy I did it.

Enough of that. How about some pics?!

I finally got to swatch the Lippmann Collection 10th Anniversary Set. It's pretty spectacular.

What they are: Three shimmering shades that let your nails shine. After ten years of pioneering nail trends and developing fashion-forward shades, nail guru Lippmann Collection is celebrating with an exclusive set of specail-edition polishes. Available only in the Celebrate tenth anniversary set, the luxe lacquers come in three glam, glittering shades:

• Ruby Red Slippers - Dorothy's shimmering ruby
• Funky Chunky - Sequined sheer black
  
• Superstar - Show stopping copper flecked fudge

Ruby Red Slippers - This is a sheer black base, with bright red hexagon glitter and smaller round glitter. Shown above is a sun, shade and close up shot. This one is breathtaking. It is just... can I say it? BADASS. I love it. I love the base. It is easy to apply and had a smooth consistency and just the right amount of color to let the glitter show through, but build opacity. I really love the glitter. It is so vibrant and glowy. I used 3 coats in my swatches and I love the way it looks with different layers of glitter. In the sun you can see that it is a sheer base, but look at how dramatic in the shade! So dark but with that red shine. Amazing.

Funky Chunky - Putting this on I thought "this is so appropriately named". It is funky, and it is chunky. Now this polish is bizarre, but I am going to give it every chance; It is unique. Very unique. It has special requirements. But it is not a total failure. I thought it would be after reading other reviews, but I really like it. The base is dark, opaque and thick. The sequins are jet black hexagons. Not glitter. And you think, "why wouldn't they make the base sheer and smooth like Ruby Red Slippers? I think it is because it would swallow up the sequins. If you look at Ruby Red Slippers, I do not have a top coat, and it is still pretty smooth. The glitter and base agree to be on the same level. So if the base were like that on this one, it may not have the right effect. I think texture is supposed to be key with this one. On the other hand, if the base was nice and sheer, and the sequins are jet black, you may still be able to make out the hexon shapes just fine. I don't know. I am just trying to paint a picture of this "what if" polish. I would love to see it.

I applied Funky Chunky with one coat and used as many strokes as needed to get it even and have the sequins placed properly. This has to be a rather thick coat to work. And then...you wait. And it may seem like a mess at first, but as it dries the sequins show, and it looks pretty cool. You just can't put on a topcoat. I think it takes away from the effect.

Superstar - I have been waiting for this for a while. What can I say about it. Perfect? Yeah. That is it. It has copper glitter in a fudgy, brown base. It's pretty rough and needs 2 coats of topcoat to get it totally smooth, but it's worth it. I used two coats of polish for the swatch above. I wore it as soon as I got it and got compliments on it everywhere. For this swatch, I tried to get the glitter all over even, but the first time I put it on, I had most of the glitter near the bottom of my nail, and it came out like an effortless gradient manicure. It was super hot. I will do it again to show you guys. One thing I noticed though that many be a difference from the old version, is that on a macroscopic level, you can see that the glitter is hexagonal, and I believe the old version was square. I don't think to your naked I you can see it, but macro doesn't lie. So if you have the old one and it matters to you, the glitter shapes are different.

The Lippmann Collection Tenth Anniversary Set is $35.00 and can only be purchased as the set of three. It can be found at Barney's New York, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and Lippmann Collection Online. I don't see it on Lippmann's website, but I am told it can be found there.

Disclosure: The products featured in this post were furnished to me by the manufacturer or PR company for review. For more information please visit my disclosure policy.