Vinyl Deborah Lippmann
Vinyl Deborah Lippmann is a new collection from the celebrity manicurist that brought us the amazing cult colors Bitches Brew, Hit Me With Your Best Shot and Brown Eyed Girl. Carried exclusively at Bath & Body Works, this collection is named after Lippmann’s new album of cover songs, Vinyl, where she covers songs that were originally recorded on, you guessed it, vinyl.
Inspired by women who are once again discovering the joy of bright, eccentric polish colors (that’s me!), she decided to rework popular colors from the 80s and 90s with a modern, wearable twist. All the shades are named after songs on her album and 10 of them will become permanent. Twice a year an assortment of Limited Edition colors will be released, reflecting the seasonal fashion trends. Call Me, You Give Love a Bad Name and Beautifully Obvious are all LE neon colors.
I am sad to report that as much as I wanted to love these polishes and send you all out to your local Bath & Body Works to hunt down this line, I just can’t give them my seal of approval. I was honestly disappointed in every way by the two Vinyl colors I was able to test. Let me break it down for you.
Packaging: While the bottles are sleek and adorably tiny, they are completely impractical. The cap is uncomfortable to hold and the neck holding the brush is way too short. The brush starts right under the cap, making it near impossible to control application. And the small size of the bottle makes it difficult to get the correct amount of polish on the brush. Basically, it was a nightmare trying to get anything resembling an even coat of lacquer on my nails or the nail art wheel.
Formula/Color: While I found Fade to Black to be highly pigmented, it only needed one coat, the formula just wasn’t what I would expect from a Lippmann polish. It was similar to Zoya but didn’t flow as nicely. I’m sure it’s because this line and all the new Lippmann collection polishes are free of toluene, formaldehyde and dibutyl phthalate. That tends to make most lacquers a bit thicker and trickier to spread. You Give Love a Bad Name is a bit thinner and sheerer which made it better to apply but the sheerness didn’t go away with 3 coats. And while the gold shimmer makes this a very wearable neon pink, it’s not a stand out shade.
Price/Value: Do I think that the original Lippmann Collection is high priced? Abso-freakin-lutely! But, as frugal as I am, I don’t mind plunking down $15 for one of those polishes. Because I am guaranteed that the formula will be top notch, the pigmentation will be what I expect and the shade will be unique. So when I see an $8.50 price tag on an awkwardly shaped bottle that is less than half the size of most polishes (.2 fl oz) I cannot, I repeat CANNOT, justify spending my hard earned money on any of these.
What I can recommend is the spring line from the original Lippmann Collection. A set of 4 elegant, skin toned shades, the colors are How Far Is Heaven, Baby Love, You Can Leave Your Hat On and Fashion. Inspired by chic, refined fashions such as white linen shirts, nude chiffon dresses and sheer pink blouses, there is bound to be a color that suits your skin tone.
I was able to test Fashion and while I don’t know that it suits me at this very pale moment in time, I could see me wearing this when self-tanning season is in full swing.
Here are a couple of pics of my swatch tests. Let me know what you think. Has anyone else tried Vinyl Deborah Lippmann? Share your review with the group!
Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
Birdie
Spa pediccure chairs
I got the Lippmann Vinyl in Wicked Game and am very happy with it. It’s the only duochrome in the collection, and while it is listed on the B&BW site as a gunmetal gray, it is actually a lovely purple hue that flashes multiple colors. It is opaque in 2 coats. I didn’t have trouble with the cap and brush, but the stem is ridiculously short. The formula makes it easier to paint with than the mini OPis, in my opinion.
I hope that Wicked Game is re-released in a full-size LC bottle. I would definitely buy it again. I think this Vinyl bottle will only yield about 4 manis, and that is ridiculous for $8.50.
Have you tried “Dashing Diva” polish? They seem to be getting a lot of press lately.
Love the blog! I just tried my first bottle of China Glaze after reading about it here (color: Sexy in the City) and it is fab!
I noticed you mentioned self tanning season?Are you a sunless lover these days?
DQ2 – seeing your pic of Wicked Game is making me rethink my stance about not buying any Vinyl polishes. That color is very pretty but I’m gonna stand strong for now.
Anon- Thanks for rec. I’ve heard of Dashing Diva but never used their polish. I’ll definitely check them out and let you all know when I try them.
Lesa – I haven’t been indoor tanning in almost a year. My skin really needed a break. I’m not anti-tanning, I just don’t know that it’s for me anymore.
I love the Vinyl polishes by Deborah Lippman, the colors really pop out. My favorits colr is Fade to Black. I had my friend try the color Get Together and she absolutely loved it. I actually really like the design of the bottle. I had no problems applying the nail polish at all.
I absolutly love the vinyl “you give love a bad name”. If I would have known that I could not find this color anymore, I probably would have bought 10 bottles and I’m not lying. I have so many people ask me what it is, and I have to say they don’t make it anymore. I am down to the bottom of the bottle, and, by the way, I got a lot of pedicures out of this bottle. I wish I could find this somewhere, or find a color that is comparable to it. Again, I ask, why is such a popular color discontinued??? It does not make sense….
I’ve tried wicked game and beautifully obvious. Although wicked game does turn out be be a cute purple shade, I was disapointed. when you look at the bottle it looks like an pearled grey. The color on my toes looks nothing like the bottle. Beautfilly obvious is just way to sheer. I have 4 coats on and I can still see right through it. On the other had, so far it’s doing really well in the not chipping department.
I was so excited to find this at B&Bw that I didn’t even blink at the price. I bought satisfaction. The color was exactly what I have been looking for after a winter of darks – MAC nightfall. Total crap. Impossible to apply with the itty bitty brush and it chipped within minutes. Total crap. I had heard this stuff lasts forever and it didn’t even make the night. Crap.
Well never having used this before I don’t know all about it. However I have talked to many people that loved it. They found the smaller brush much easier to handle, and less likely to make mistakes. Also they found that it stayed on for a very long time. If you aren’t happy with the way that it stayed on then you most likely did something wrong. Perhaps it’s your technique that’s crap, not the product.
Anon – I’m sorry you don’t agree with me but your comment is overly hostile and defensive for a product you haven’t tried. Since you haven’t used it and I know others that complained about the bottle and brush design, your argument doesn’t hold much water with me.
I’ve never said my word is the almighty truth, just my experience. I try products and share my thoughts. You don’t have to agree or like what I say. In fact, I welcome differing opinions and love to hear other readers’ reviews. However, I do not appreciate your type of negativity.
If and when you do try a Vinyl polish, please come back and share your experience.
I LOVE this product!!! I dont love the price but i dont care the product is too good!!! I LOVE the color and the fact that it last for a LONG LONG time!!!i dont remember having to re-apply EVER well when my nails grew but that was the ONLY time! I LOVE your product!!!!!!!!!!!
Concerning the Deborah Lippmann Vinyl line: I agree that the little bottles are awkward and pricey for the amount but I just have to say that I bought a couple on sale and my favorite is “Make Me Love You.” It’s the perfect sheer pink although it is very light and requires 3 coats… but still, I really like it. If it were a full size I’d definitely buy it.
I’m not a big fan of nail polish, and it’s pretty rare for me to even apply it, much less buy it. I think you pretty much summed up these nail polishes quite well.
I had been considering purchasing a couple for quite some time. I too thought that the price was a little steep for such tiny bottles of of polish, so I waited for them to come down in price a little bit. Eventually they did go down (to $5.00 each plus tax), and since I tend to gravitate towards vampy shades, I picked up Need You Tonight and Fade To Black.
I have to agree that the bottle is mostly ALL LID. The lid made it a bit harder to apply the color, which meant that I had to cock my head at a funny angle just to see what I was doing.
The colors that I picked up are richly pigmented. For the black it took just one coat, which was the same for the red.
Since I haven’t tried the other colors, there’s not a whole lot that I can say about their pigmentation, but the ones I have a decent amount of pigmentation.
I do like the glossy finish – which I also found to be a plus.
I got two different colors of the Vinyl line at B&BW: Money and This Must Be Love. I didn’t hesitate to buy them both at 85 cents a piece (They were 90% off). They are very light colors and require an extra coat to really see what shade they are. The applicator didn’t really bother me that much. Overall, they were a good buy, but I never would have purchased them for full price.
on sale for 3$ i LOVE LOVE this polish! the shade is stunning! ive never had so many compliments on a nail polish before! i wish i had bought more! i bought “this one’s on me” its a hot barbie pink that is beautiful. if it was 8.50$ i might not love it as much. it was very hard to apply with the lid and short brush. and the bottle is super tiny for any price. but i am surprised that it did survive a good week with my rough job. i love it! i need more !
I remember with regards to sixth grade choir in addition to we did a new disney medley of songs and it also was the most fun I’d in choir. Arabian Night time, Often be Our Guest, Kiss the Girl, Beneath the Sea include the ones that arrived at memory from the idea. They need to bring some from the movies out of this damn Disney vault.