Deborah Lippmann
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!
Lippmann
At DramaQueenie’s request I swatched some of my other Lippmann polishes. Of the four, Nefertiti is the only color that I consider truly unique. That being said, they all have a great depth of color and offer 2 coat coverage. The application is flawless. It flows from the brush so well that I hardly need to think about what I’m doing.
Black Coffee is just a bit lighter than my bottle of Misa Chocolate Icing and a bit more bronze. Chocolate Icing is supposed to be a dupe for Lippmann Brown Eyed Girl. I would say they’re different enough to own both Brown Eyed Girl and Black Coffee but I would probably say that to justify the purchase regardless.
Nefertiti is an understated gold. It’s more matte with micro sparkles that only come out in the light. It’s a way of doing gold without doing GOLD. For comparison sake, I would say that OPI I Get A Kick Out of Gold is more champagne.
Love For Sale is my least favorite of the group. It’s pretty but not something I would recommend. There are so many interesting shades from Lippmann that if you need a purpley wine shade, save your money and get a less expensive brand. Possibly something like OPI Don’t Wine… Yukon Do It! or China Glaze Drama Queen.
Makin’ Whoopee is a color I received as a bonus in mini size. I wasn’t expecting it which makes it all the more fun. It’s not a color I would have picked but I’m glad I have it. It leaves a very glassy finish, even without a topcoat and has an amazing glow about it. I’ve been racking my brain and can’t come up with a comparison for it. Feel free to make suggestions for twins to this and any of the colors.
Finally, a bottle pic. If only I had 6 fingers to swatch them all on one hand.
You can purchase Lippmann products directly from their website, at fine department stores (e.g. Nordstrom & Neiman Marcus), Bath & Body Works Flagship stores and online from the B&BW website.
A better shot
I think I’ll be changing my polish today so I wanted to get a quick shot in some daylight. At almost 4 days, I see very little tip wear and one tiny chip but that’s my fault. I’m going to continue with the Stickey Sandwich for now. Seems to be working. Now I just need to decide on what color to wear next. I’ve been on such a dark vampy kick, like everyone else but, I think my brights are calling me.
Nails of the Day (NOTD)
May I present Lippmann Hit Me With Your Best Shot (created with Pat Benetar).
I recently won a couple auctions for some Lippmann polishes and I’m really loving the colors and the formula. I don’t know that they’re worth the $15 retail price tag but they were definitely worth the ebay price I paid. The seller is getting rid of her inventory so if you’re interested, look up shadowvine13. She’s running low on a lot of colors but there are still deals to be had.
I wish stupid Ohio would get some decent sunlight so I could truly capture the gunmetal glory of this polish. It’s definitely not black and I love that shimmer shows up in most lighting.
Those of you that have this polish, do you know how it compares to Chanel Noir Ceramic? I refuse to give into the Chanel frenzy that their two black polishes have created to find out. I don’t judge people that do but I can’t give in. I’ll be happy as a clam with my $5.50 Chanel Black Satin dupe, Zoya Raven. I dare someone to be able to tell the difference between the two. Spend the $5.50, find out for yourself.
Oh and I am trying a new method with this polish. I did the Stickey Sandwich. I used Creative Stickey base coat (a HG of mine), applied 3 coats of polish, another coat of Stickey and Seche Vite top coat. Sandwiching the polish between Stickey is supposed to extend the life of my mani. We’ll see. I had to use Seche Vite, which is not a favorite of mine, because my Poshe got gross and goopy. Off to Sally’s I go for a new bottle.
Lisa N.
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