Deborah Lippmann Summer 2016 Preview

My first job was at an ice cream place that opened in the 1950s and still maintains that classic soda jerk-style aesthetic to this day. To keep the type of ambience they were going for, we could only play 1950s and 60s music (I spent many hours with Sirius XM 50s on 5 and 60s on 6) so I have something of an encyclopedic knowledge of early pop music, especially for someone in their 20s.

This is basically a long-winded intro to segue into telling you that DL has a new summer collection out called Happy Days and it is 1950s-themed. And...go!

Beauty School Dropout 

 

Happy Days

 

Splish Splash

 

My Boyfriend's Back 

I gotta say, it's really pretty, but it's not DL's most unique-looking collection. Normally I want, like, all of DL's new polishes but this time I'm not getting an immediate case of the MUST BUY. Now that the prices for DL have been upped even more to go along with the line's full "Gel Lab Pro" rebranding (which started with their spring collection this year), I want some super unique colors before I drop $20 a piece on them. These are beautiful and I love DL to pieces, but I'd have a hard time paying this much for cremes when there are so many other, cheaper alternatives out there. 

That said, I don't blame you if you want 'em. They are pretty, after all. You can pick them up on the Deborah Lipmann website, if you're so inclined.

I'm super curious to hear your thoughts on this apparent new direction for DL. Are you in the "gel-substitute ALL THE THINGS" camp or are you sick of it?

Deborah Lippmann Sweets For My Sweet Preview

Deborah Lippmann has THE cutest new set out for spring!! The Sweets For My Sweet set has six all-new pastel minis.

 

 

Top row, L to R: Sugar Sugar, Lemon Drop, Sweet Pea

Bottom row, L to R: My Boy Lollipop, All Day Sucker, Candy Girl

I know I have similar shades to these in my collection already but man, do I want this! It's so stinkin' cute and the colors just scream springtime to me!

This set retails for $34 and is already available online.

Deborah Lippmann Almost Paradise

I'm dying for spring to get here, but we keep getting snow! So I decided to channel some spring vibes with Deborah Lippmann Almost Paradise, the cutest pistachio creme. This came out as part of Deborah Lippmann's Footloose-inspired collection to celebrate the 2011 remake of the film, but I believe I picked it up a few years after that through Ebay. I was in the pit orchestra for my high school's production of Footloose (NERD, I know) so this polish brings back a lot of fun memories from that time.

If you're a fan of either the original or the remake, then you may notice this shade was inspired by the VW Beetle in both films. The formula is pretty much your standard pastel: a little streaky, but opaque in three coats. Sorry again for the jank cuticles. I dunno what is going on with them lately, you guys! I think it's this cold and windy weather.

I love this color. It brings me to a happy place of lying out in the grass with a good book and the sun shining down. If you can still track it down on Ebay or through a blog sale, I recommend it! Alternatively, DL did another shade for her spring 2014 collection called Spring Buds that is quite similar.

Twinsie Tuesday: Grey and Gold

Kudos to whoever came up with this theme, because gold and grey is one of my favorite color combos! I kept this one pretty simple. I started with a grey base of Deborah Lippmann Chasing Pavements and added a sprinkling of holographic gold glitter with Nubar Gold Celebration.

I loooooove Chasing Pavements. Such a perfect grey! Not too much more to say on this one--like I said, it's simple, but hopefully pretty too. :)

Be sure to check out my fellow Twinsies' grey and gold manis today! I like these colors so much that I'm sure I'll be borrowing an idea or two of theirs for future manis!

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Alice at Nail Art in Wonderland

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amanda at Fashion Footing

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Bridget at A Painted Nail

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Claire at Kerruticles

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Marisa at Polish Those Nails

Megan at A Beauty in the Business

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Sara at The Call of Beauty

Sarah at Cloudy with a Chance of Lacquer

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Sharon at Behind Green Eyes

Steph at Lovestruck Lacquer

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Disclosure: The Nubar polish in this post was sent for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Deborah Lippmann Afternoon Delight (Spring 2016) Preview

Deborah Lippmann's Spring 2016 collection is something a little different from the brand, as it marks the debut of colored polishes to DL's gel-alternative line, Gel Lab Pro. I'm not sure if this means all of Deborah Lippmann's future new releases will be part of this Gel Lab Pro deal or if it will branch off into an entirely separate "brand-within-a-brand" thing like OPI Infinite Shine, China Glaze EverGlaze, Orly Epix, Butter London Patent Shine, Sally Hansen Miracle Gel...the list goes on.

 Although Gel Lab is my all-time HG base and top coat, I must confess that I am getting a little sick of so many brands releasing entirely separate "gel-alternative" color lines. I am all about gel-alternative base and top coats--they're pretty much all I wear--but having a whole other line of special long-wear colors (that are usually more expensive than the regular polishes, too) meant to go along with them seems kind of unnecessary to me.

Anyways, I'll get off my nail polish soapbox now and show you the pretty colors, because that's what we're here for! :)

Top row, L to R: The Pleasure Principle, Peaches & Cream

Bottom row, L to R: Get Lucky, Dirty Little Secret

Despite my little rant against the proliferation of gel-alternative colors, I do have to admit DL has put together a super cute collection here. Peaches & Cream and Get Lucky are both calling to me. The moral here I guess is that beautiful nail polish makes hypocrites of us all. ;)

The other new talking point for this collection is the introduction of a re-designed brush tip. This one appears to be more rounded than DL's traditional rectangular one.

 Afternoon Delight is already available on the Deborah Lippmann website, individually or as a set for a discounted price.

So, what do we think? Like the collection? Gel-alternative polishes: can't get enough or cut it out? I will buy a gel-alternative polish here and there strictly if I like the color itself, but otherwise, I don't feel compelled to buy replacements for existing shades I have from "regular" lines or anything to that extent.

Twinsie Tuesday: Dotticure

TT is returning from holiday hiatus this week with dotticures! I must confess I spent a good deal of time thinking of how to cheat my way out of this one, but in the spirit of the new year, I decided to give it the old college try instead...

...aaannddd of course that ended in a string of spectacular failures. I tried the bandaid method and turned out the holes aren't big enough...and my nails weren't dry enough. I tried doing sharpie dots and that actually came out great, until I put the top coat on and it completely destroyed everything. I debated using a dotting tool, but I find them terribly frustrating and by this point I just wanted to have presentable-looking nails, so...I cheated. *sigh of shame*

Enter Deborah Lippmann I'm Not Edible. This polish uses the exact color scheme and aesthetic I was trying to create on my own: pastel pink base with little black polka dots.

I feel guilty for not doing a proper dotticure but I'm hoping the cute polish will be penance enough. I'm looking forward to a new year and new challenges with TT! Hopefully you'll join us along the way for 2016. :)

                        

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Alice at Nail Art in Wonderland

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amanda at Fashion Footing

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Bridget at A Painted Nail

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Claire at Kerruticles

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Marisa at Polish Those Nails

Megan at A Beauty in the Business

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Sara at The Call of Beauty

Sarah at Cloudy with a Chance of Lacquer

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Sharon at Behind Green Eyes

Steph at Lovestruck Lacquer

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Deborah Lippmann Miss Independent

Meet one of my new absolute favorite vamps: Deborah Lippmann Miss Independent! This is the perfect shade of blackened plum. I have a lot of really deep burgundy and red polishes, but I haven't gotten into dark purples too much in the past and man, have I been missing out! I'm just a little bit obsessed with this color.

The formula is top-notch. What you see above is two effortless coats.

This mani was also my first time trying the re-formulated version of Deborah Lippmann's Gel Lab base and top coat duo, which is now known as Gel Lab Pro. The original Gel Lab is my HG (you can read my full review HERE) but I gotta say, the Pro version improved on an already-fantastic formula even more. It's super, super shiny and the consistency is just perfect. Gel Lab is one of those products that you kinda hate to love, because it's pricey, but it's so damn good that I keep coming back to it!

Deborah Lippmann x Empire Preview

The Fox show Empire is arguably the hottest thing on TV right now. I've been meaning to check out the show on Hulu myself, but I always see it buzzed about on social media. The show's slick sense of style and glamour would seem to make it an easy fit for a beauty collaboration and Deborah Lippmann is no stranger to those, having teamed up with the HBO shows True Blood and Girls in the past. Well, now you can add Empire to that list, as DL is gifting us a new trio of shades that will be available later this month!

L to R: Hustle Hard, Power Of The Empire, War Of The Roses

This minis set will retail for $24.

Are you a fan of Empire? Let me know if it's worth sinking some time into and be sure to tell me what you think of this collab too! :)

Twinsie Tuesday: Ruffian Manicure

We're doing ruffian manis this week! I haven't done one of these in a while, so I thought I'd try something a little different this time. I've got these plain black Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail wraps that I haven't known what to do with. Unfortunately I no longer have the original packaging so I don't know what this design is called. I got these in a set from Target a long time ago and these are the only ones from the set I still have left, because honestly, I don't quite get the point of plain nail wraps. I like wearing them for the fun and intricate designs. If I wanted black, I'd wear black polish, ya know?

But I digress. My point is, i figured now was as good a time as any to use these wraps. I layered them over a base of Orly Key Lime Twist, a neon highlighter yellow, to create the ruffian design. The wraps had dried up a bit, so they were more stuff and brittle than usual, but they still got the job done!

I always love a good pop of neon! The nail wraps made it easy to get a smooth, even curve. I think it'd be a lot of fun to do this same concept with one of the fancier Salon Effects too.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to check out my Twinsies too!

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Steph at Lovestruck Lacquer

Sharon at Behind Green Eyes

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Sarah at Cloudy with a Chance of Lacquer

Sara at The Call of Beauty

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Megan at A Beauty in the Business

Marisa at Polish Those Nails

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Lisa at The Polish Playground

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Claire at Kerruticles

​ ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

Bridget at A Painted Nail

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Amanda at Fashion Footing

Amanda at Amandalandish

Alice at Nail Art in Wonderland

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Twinsie Tuesday (On A Thursday): Ms. Marvel-Inspired Nails

I know, I know, I'm two days late (getting over a bad cold), but I didn't want to miss this week's theme: inspired by a favorite fictional character! I've mentioned on here many times that I'm an avid comics reader. One of my favorite books right now is Ms. Marvel. This comic received quite a bit of mainstream attention when it launched, as the heroine, Kamala Khan, is a Muslim teenager. While religion is an important part of Kamala's identity, the comic isn't about religion. It's just awesome stories of a smart, brave and somewhat awkward teenage girl trying to figure out her place in the world while kicking some major ass.

Also, there's a giant teleporting dog. If that doesn't sell you, then I dunno what will.

Seriously, it's an adorable and funny read that I can't recommend highly enough. Even if you don't normally like comics, give this one a try. The writing is very contemporary and accessible, with lovable characters and fresh storytelling.

Now, y'all know I'm not super great at nail art, so I stuck with a simple mani inspired by Kamala's costume.

                           

The blue is Deborah Lippmann I Know What Boys Like and the red is Essie Geranium. I added in one of my Born Pretty superhero nail decals for the lightning bolt. Here's how it came out!

It's nothing fancy, but I like it just the same. Sorry it was so late, but hopefully you enjoyed it too! :) And remember to check out my fellow Twinsies' manis!

                        

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Alice at Nail Art in Wonderland

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amanda at Fashion Footing

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Bridget at A Painted Nail

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Claire at Kerruticles

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Marisa at Polish Those Nails

Megan at A Beauty in the Business

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Sara at The Call of Beauty

Sarah at Cloudy with a Chance of Lacquer

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Sharon at Behind Green Eyes

Steph at Lovestruck Lacquer

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

September Empties & Mini-Reviews

I thought it would be fun to start sharing my thoughts on each month's used up products with you guys! I'm a huge makeup and skin junkie in addition to my polish addiction (I'm just a beauty freak in genral, really) and while I hardly ever finish a bottle of polish, I go through other products on a fairly regular basis. Plus I figured doing this type of post would help motivate me to work through more of my massive beauty stash.

This is one of those months where a ton of things ran out at once--11 in all! Most of it's skincare, but there's some makeup too. Read on to see my thoughts on each product...

IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye in Light: This is THE best under eye concealer! It's super pigmented and wears all day. You need the absolute smallest amount you can squeeze out of the tube, since a little bit goes a loooooonnngggg way. This little tube lasted me over a year! I've already got another one ready and waiting.

MAC Prolongwear Foundation in NW20: Another all-time favorite product. I love the wear time on this and the coverage is great too. I'd classify it as medium buildable. It feels very lightweight on and doesn't cake or crack. If you have oily skin, definitely check this out!

Bath and Body Works Hand Sanitizer in I Love Cinnamon Buns: It's true, I do! I always keep one of these little guys clipped on my purse. Great for when you're on the go.

Urban Decay Big Fatty Mascara: I like the volume this gives, but it is super hard to get off. My go-to makeup remover, Philosophy Purity, can remove ANYTHING (ever notoriously tough mascaras like Benefit They're Real) but it can't get Big Fatty off without giving me some serious raccoon eyes. I believe UD has recently discontinued Big Fatty now that Perversion Mascara is out.

Peter Thomas Roth Unwrinkle Turbo: I'm currently using a prescription retinoid on my face for post-acne marks, but I was having a bad reaction to it only on my forehead for some reason, where it'd get really red and flaky. I don't have any acne marks on my forehead, but I wanted to use the retinoid in that area to help with brow "11's" that were starting to show up. Unwrinkle was a great alternative--no irritation (peptides and hyaluronic acid are the main active component rather than retinoid) and I did see a decrease in the width and depth of the 11 lines. This little guy lasted a surprisingly long time, too! The big bottle is pretty expensive, so I won't be investing, but I liked this and am glad I tried a mini of it.

Bare Minerals Well-Cared For Brush Conditioning Shampoo: My go-to makeup brush cleaner. I use a Sonia Kashuk brush spray when I need to be quick, then use this shampoo for deep cleaning. It works great with both synthetic and natural bristle brushes. It's also got conditioner built right in, so it leaves your brushes smooth and soft afterwards.

Lush Dream Cream Hand and Body Lotion: I got this as part of a set. Dream Cream is designed for sore and sensitive skin. It has calming ingredients like oatmeal, lavender and rose water. I have KP on my upper arms and this felt nice and soothing on that, but overall there are other Lush lotions I like better...

Lush Sympathy For The Skin Hand and Body Lotion: For instance, this lotion! It smells super scrumptious! The dominant notes are vanilla and banana, but like a real banana, not a fake banana Runts-type smell. The texture is rich without feeling greasy. The only thing I didn't like is that, as you can see, the lettering on the packaging kinda disintegrated over time, so it would come off on my hands whenever I used it.

Dr Brandt Microdermabrasion Skin Exfoliant: This is like a reset button for your skin. When I have days where my makeup isn't setting quite right or my skin looks tired, I know it's time to bust out this stuff! It's pretty intense, so I use it sparingly and only massage it very, very lightly against the skin. If you were to rub it in like your normal face scrub, you'd probably take a layer of your face off.

Lush Cupcake Fresh Face Mask: Probably my all-around favorite Lush mask, although I haven't tried the newest ones. It smells like chocolate and gets all the gunk out of my face--what's not to love? I've bought this a couple times now. You can read my full review HERE.

Deborah Lippmann Gel Lab Base Coat (not pictured): I've gone through several bottles of Gel Lab and I'm still crazy in love with it. I'm curious to try the re-formulated version, Gel Lab Pro, as I've only used the original. If you want to learn more about Gel Lab, I did a full review on it HERE.

Hope you guys enjoyed my first attempt at an empties post! Is this something you'd like to see more of? What products did you finish this past month?

Twinsie Tuesday: Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

This week's TT theme is ocean-inspired and everyone knows the best thing about the ocean is mermaids, so what better reason to wear one of my all-time favorite polishes, the legendary Mermaid's Dream by Deborah Lippmann! Aside from the name, the colors in Mermaid's Dream also bring the ocean to mind. This ethereal blend of teal, gold and blue glitter slays me every time I wear it!

I feel like Mermaid's Dream truly shines in outdoor lighting, but I painted my nails at night, so I didn't have an outdoor shots this time around. But if you want to see it in its full glory, you can do so by checking out my original review HERE. The fact that post is over three years old is blowing my mind right now, but I digress...

I love how luxe and multi-faceted this polish is. There's a lot going on here and it's all good. The colors are the perfect mix of cohesion and contrast. The formula is equally on point, covering in three easy coats. If you buy just one Lippmann polish in your life, Mermaid's Dream gets my vote!

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Lisa at The Polish Playground

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Kristine at Pink and Polished Nails

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

Bridget at A Painted Nail

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Amanda at Fashion Footing

Amanda at Amandalandish

Deborah Lippmann Roar (Fall 2015) Preview

Preview pics of the fall collections are continuing to pour in! Today we'll be checking out Deborah Lippmann's fall collection, Roar. This is a smaller batch than usual, with just four new colors. Take a look!

Top row, L to R: She Wolf, Can't Be Tamed

Bottom row, L to R: Respect, Miss Independent

I don't see anything I'm chomping at the bit to buy here.  I love me so Deborah Lippmann, but honestly I haven't fallen in love with any of her 2015 collections so far. With the higher price points for DL's polishes, I try to limit my purchases to colors that are really unique, or I wait until I can find a good deal on them. These shades just don't strike me as anything we haven't seen before.

However, if you see something you like from the Roar Collection, the polishes are already available on Deborah Lippmann's website.

Twinsie Tuesday: Blobbicure

I'm pretty hopeless at nail art, but I've been dying to try a blobbicure! I tend to fare okay with more abstract nail art techniques, because then it doesn't matter as much if everything doesn't come out perfectly. :)

Now, as I've mentioned a couple times on here, one of my not-so-guilty pleasures is professional wrestling and last week one of the all-time greats, Dusty Rhodes a.k.a. "The American Dream," passed away. When he wrestled in WWE, Dusty's ring gear was black with yellow polka dots, so I used his colors as inspiration for my blobbicure.

For reference, here's Dusty in his signature black and yellow:

And then here is the blobbicure I created using Wet N Wild Black Creme and Deborah Lippmann Walking On Sunshine:

This is my second time doing a blobbicure; I did one last week that I haven't posted yet. But for just a second try, I think this came out really well and I'm super proud of it! I absolutely love how the yellow pops! The blobs didn't get as distorted as they did for my first blobbicure, but I was playing around with some different techniques this time, so that's probably to blame.

Have you tried doing a blobbicure? They're actually pretty simple and fun! It's not often I find a nail art technique I can pull off, but this is one I had a really good time doing!

Hope you enjoyed my little tribute nails today. Be sure to take a look at what my Twinsies are up to!

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Lisa at The Polish Playground

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Kristine at Pink and Polished Nails

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

Bridget at A Painted Nail

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Amanda at Fashion Footing

Amanda at Amandalandish

Twinsie Tuesday: Deborah Lippmann Blinded By The Light

I'll admit I was kind of at a loss as to what to do for this week's theme: inspired by a song. So I decided to borrow some inspiration from Deborah Lippmann, who names virtually all of her polishes after songs. This one is named after an all-time classic, to boot: "Blinded By The Light." Although it was originally written and recorded by none other than Bruce Springsteen, it wasn't until Manfred Mann's Earth Band covered the song that it became a hit.

With a name like Blinded By The Light, you better be packin' some serious sparkle and this polish doesn't disappoint! It's a brilliant explosion of silver holo that glints like a diamond.

You could layer Blinded By The Light over just about any base color, but I'm a sucker for blinged out nails so I chose to sport it all on its own. To do that, the dabble method of application works best. Thankfully the consistency on this polish is pretty workable so it wasn't that hard to build up opacity like some of these crazy dense glitterbombs. This is three coats.

It's been a while since we've seen some new glitters from DL and that is no bueno! I have a hard time paying Lippmann prices for cremes but I'll pay out for unique-looking glitters. Blinded By The Light was part of one of my all-time favorite Lippmann releases, the Starlight minis collection from a few holidays ago. You can still find it floating around on Ebay and I highly recommend it if you love some seriously intense, dense glitters. The whole set is absolutely gorgeous!

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Lisa at The Polish Playground

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Kristine at Pink and Polished Nails

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

Bridget at A Painted Nail

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Amanda at Fashion Footing

Amanda at Amandalandish

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Deborah Lippmann Chasing Pavements

I can't ever turn down a good grey; it's my absolute favorite neutral shade! Deborah Lippmann Chasing Pavements is a beautiful cement grey. It's really crisp and clean-looking--something you might not expect with a cement-colored polish, but there you have it. It's got the chic, fresh look of a perfect palette cleanser shade!

As you can see on my ring finger in the pictures above, Chasing Pavements doesn't completely self-level. Other than that, I didn't really have any problems with the formula on this one. This swatch is from a little while ago, so unfortunately I can't remember if this was two of three coats. :-/

Lumina Lacquer Social Meteor

Lumina Lacquer Social Meteor is a clear-based glitterbomb with grey, baby pink and pastel yellow in a variety of shapes, like circles, crescent moons, stars, hearts and hexes. These are colors you wouldn't necessarily think to put together, but I love the combination and all the different shapes are super fun!

The formula is just okay. I had to fish a lot to get the larger glitter pieces on my brush (seems like they tended to sink toward the bottom of the bottle) and it took some extra guidance to make the glitter distribute the way I wanted it to on the nail. Dabbling and placing are ideal application strategies here. What you see above is two coats of Social Meteor over Deborah Lippmann Chasing Pavements.

While the formula was alright, I still fell in love with the look of this polish. It's so cute and the pops of pastel are very pretty and feminine-looking. I had my eye on this polish for a long time before I finally pulled the trigger and I'm definitely glad I indulged!

You can purchase Lumina Lacquer from their website.