ALU’s 365 of Untrieds – An Accent Nail Manicure with Lippmann Lara’s Theme and Orly Frisky
365 of Untrieds is my personal challenge to weed through the polishes in the ALU stash that I’ve been wanting to try but just haven’t gotten around to.
I’ve been doing quite a few interviews lately for various publications about summer and fall nail trends. Of course we know that crackle is EVERYWHERE, nail art isn’t dying out anytime soon and neutrals have been making a resurgence. But what I find funny is when looks that are pretty much “old hat” in the nail community end up being the “new” hot trend. I was recently asked by the Style Network’s StyleSpy about the “new” celebrity accent nail trend and the best ways to wear the look. Of course, this isn’t exactly a new look but since so many celebrities have been rocking the accent nail it’s now a thing. My advice has always been to look for contrasting or complementary color combos. Black & white, purple and gold, lime and fuchsia, etc. For this summer my favorite combination is orange & blue or teal & coral, so I rummaged my untrieds to create a fun accent nail manicure and came up with Deborah Lippmann Lara’s Theme and Orly Frisky. |
Formula & Application: Deborah Lippmann nail polish is 4-Free (including formaldehyde resin) and doesn’t contain camphor, which can be an irritant. Her signature glass bottle is so distinct you would know the brand even without the name on it. It’s one of the best bottle shapes in the industry. The curved cap was designed with professional manicurists in mind as it is shaped to rest comfortably between your fingers.
The Lippmann brush is short, round and average in width with flexible bristles that easily fan out over the nail plate. Lara’s Theme has the same creme jelly hybrid formula that I’ve come to expect from Lippmann. They are packed with pigment but have a squishy, jelly type feel. I was able to get great coverage in two coats but the polish was a bit temperamental and could end up streaky if you press too hard on your brush, requiring a third.
Formula & Application: Orly nail polish is 4-Free (including formaldehyde resin) and does not contain camphor, which can be an irritant. Orly polishes come with the fan fave rubberized cap. That signature easy-to-grip topper makes it easy to control the polish. The brush is long and thin with flexible bristles. I personally would like it if there were more bristles to get more coverage in each stroke.
The consistency of Frisky is kind of thick and it isn’t the best at self leveling but wow is it packed with pigment. I used two coats and that almost felt like overkill.
Deborah Lippmann Lara’s Theme was created with supermodel Lara Stone. Of course, the polish is named after the song from Doctor Zhivago. I had a music box that played this song when I was little and even played it on my flute. It’s so haunting. The polish is a Dutch orange creme in honor of Lara’s country of origin. Similar to the Summer 2010 release, Essie Vermillionaire, though Lara’s Theme has a bit more intensity.
Orly Frisky is part of the Happy Go Lucky collection and even though it’s described as teal, I see it as cross between sky blue and turquoise. It has a hint of green in its base though next to a polish with the same depth, Essie Turquoise & Caicos, it looks very blue. It’s a much more interesting color than I expected.
Bottom Line: Together these colors have me longing for Key West or Miami beach. Somewhere with a great party atmosphere, a beach and fruity drinks. On their own, Frisky is definitely the more unique flower. If I were calling the shots, I would say definitely pick up Frisky and snag Lara’s Theme only if you don’t already own Vermillionaire.
365 of Untrieds Stash/Share Verdict: Since I love how these colors look together, I’m STASHing both. I can see a Lara’s Theme pedi with a Frisky mani in my future.
Deborah Lippmann Lara’s Theme is available at DeborahLippmann.com and Nordstrom stores as well as Nordstrom.com and Beauty.com and retails for $16/ea for a .5oz bottle. Orly Frisky is available at salons nationwide including Sally Beauty and ULTA. Orly nail polishes retail for $7.50/ea for a .6 oz bottle.
What if your favorite accent nail combination? Do you switch up the nail you polish with the contrasting color? Thoughts on Frisky and Lara’s Theme?
Disclosure: Product samples were provided by reps for Deborah Lippmann and Orly. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.
Lisa N.
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I had a music box that played that song also. I like it
Oh wow I love this color combo! I wish I could “pin” pictures from your page though! I want to put this on my nail inspiration board…
Ooh, what a lovely color combination! These are beautiful on their own, and they look great together.
Oh never mind, I got it to work! Yay!
love it! didn’t think i’d like the combination, but somehow it really works!
Those colors are great together! They make each other just POP!
This combo is gorgeous! I don’t know why I never do the accent nail manis, especially since I am hopeless when it comes to nail art and this is about as much as I could ever hope for!
I love the accent nail look and the colors you chose. Orange red polish is so hot right now, and Lara’s Theme is perfect!
The post keeps disappearing and all I can see are the comments. Is anyone else having trouble?
My site has been having some technical issues that are finally, PRAISE JEEBUS, fixed. You may need to do a hard refresh but it’s fixed for good now.
GREAT combination! Love the “Frisky” color. Reminds me of the Caribbean!
That’s a haute orange! Gotta love DL – her creams are so smooth. Fun accent nail! I need to do more of that to get in all the summer shades I still have in my untries before summer weather ends…sadly I think it will take me until 2 more summers from now to get to them all!
I do this almost all the time with my nails now, painting the ring finger a different color. I like it, it’s an easy way to use two polishes, and it’s a nice way to make an interesting looking manicure. You hit the nail on the head (ha ha) by using two contrasting colors, right now I’m sporting China Glaze’s Coconut Kiss (purple) with Essie Braziliant (orange) ring fingers. I love the combo you chose, I may be paying for my first bottle of Deborah Lippmann polish!
I would love to see a colour blocking french manicure with rhis combo!
Is an accent nail something you do on both hands or just one? Another good color combination is periwinkle blue with silver. I tried that, silver was China Glaze crackle and the blue DL which I’m obsessed with thanks to ALU
How bad is it that I really really just want Lara’s Theme for the name?
Am having a high school band flashback! Lara’s theme was one we played way back then! Love it!
both colors are GORG, especially the lipmann one. i too adore the lipmann bottle and the colors are beautiful, but i still find lipmann polishes to be TERRIBLE. the formulas are always semi streaky and chip so quickly. such a disappointment.
Great color choice! I own all the colors from the Orly collection except the pink and i have to say they are all amazing! the purple and the green are just as lovely and the blue. The orange is pretty too but I’m kinda cheap so I think I’ll pass.
Genius! This is to me coral and turquoise.
Typo alert. Just wanted to let you know that instead of “on their own,” the review says “one their own” in the Bottom Line section.
Btw, great post. I’m a big fan of the color combo and also foresee a coral/turquoise mani pedi in my future.
Thanks for pointing that out. I hate when I don’t catch my own mistakes.
I would try this with OPI In My Back Pocket and Ogre The Top Blue.
I was iffy about the color combo at first, but once I’ve seen it done on your nails the colors are beautimus together. I’ve been looking at Lara’s Theme for quite some time now debating wether or not I really wanted it. But now I know I do! I really like Deborah’s polishes, I’ve never had polish last as long on my nails as does hers. Even though it is a bit pricey I think its worth the $$ especially if just for a few staple colors.
Love both colours, but I can’t pull off orange at ALL
Cute!
I’m digging the combo. When you say that Orly Frisky has green in it (I know it say’s next to Essie T&C it looks blue), but does it fall in the line of China Glaze’s For Audrey or Sally Hansen’s Barracuda?
It’s darker than Barracuda and not quite as turquoise as For Audrey. Plus it’s brighter than For Audrey, which looks more pastel in comparison
so pretty!!
I wasn’t totally sold on the color combo in the bottles– but I really love it on your nails! Gorgeous!
i love the orange! the blue isn’t really my kind of color but it does look really nice together
LOVE the color combo! We almost did an accent wall in this color theme in our house, but decided that it might not be fun to look at it every day.
Maybe now my friends won’t make fun of the accent nail anymore.
I picked up Frisky a few weeks ago. I think its a slightly brighter version of the ever coveted Chanel Nouvelle Vague. I love it.
another typo heads up (sorry!)
‘press to hard’ should be ‘too’, last line of the section about Lippmann’s forumla & application.
Wow, was I out of it or what? Another type. Sheesh! Thanks for letting me know.
very pretty orange!
i just did the same manicure, only in reverse, a couple of weeks ago using tiffany imposter and michaeltangelo by finger paints and loved it. those colors look great together.
i did OPIs Bright Lights Big Color(coral) with essie’s Trophy Wife. Not sure if its the color combo or im just not used to it because there’s something odd about the overall look
Every time I read the name “Lara’s Theme”, I want it to be a dark red. I think it’s because I had a music box that played this too, and the felt on the inside was dark red.
luv this look i’m gonna copy it n try it out …as soon as i get a blue
I have both of these colours and copied this manicure for our Victoria Day holiday a few weekends ago!! It was beautiful!! I love both of these colours on their own also. The texture and formula of the Lippmann one is amazing!! Thanks for the great idea!