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Deborah Lippmann Moon Rendezvous

January 22, 2013

Deborah Lippmann Moon Rendezvous ($17 at Neimans and Nordstrom) is part of the Romantic Rapture Collection for spring 2013. It’s a beautiful sparkling steel blue with a slight transparent finish. The shimmer is quite complex in the bottle. There are flashes of teal, steel gray, blue and pearl. On the nails it applies more like a soft pearly baby blue – more so than what you see in the bottle. It’s not quite a jelly-finish polish, but it has a soft transparent quality. I applied with two coats, but probably could have used a third for full coverage.

Swatched, here you see more of a powder baby blue shimmer:

Here the pearly frost is more visible:

Comparisons: Deborah Lippmann’s Moon Rendezvous is similar to OPI’s Moonraker. The difference is Deborah Lippmann’s has a more sophisticated complex shimmer while the OPI has more of a frost finish (with a bit of visible streaking due to the metallic quality). The OPI is also darker by a few shades and a bit more dramatic. NARS Full Metal Jacket is quite a few shades darker and deeper. Chanel Skyline is more of a sky blue. When Skyline is side-by-side to Moon Rendezvous you can see a bit of the teal undertone.

Bottom line – perfection.

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Deborah Lippmann Romantic Rapture Nail Polish Collection – Spring 2013

January 22, 2013

Latest from Deborah Lippmann – the Romantic Rapture collection for spring 2013. Groove is in the Heart is a bright cream pink, Moon Rendezvous is a dreamy shimmery steel blue, Careless Whisper is a gorgeous nude sparkle. Swatches to come soon!

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Color Focus: Pink Nudes for Nails

August 20, 2012

I have an obsession with neutral pink nudes for nails. I love the clean polished natural look of colors that have a mix of pink with nude/beige/mauve/rose. My current favorites range from semi-sheer to full coverage shades, most are creams but there are a few that have subtle shimmer. The shades I’m loving this season are listed below. All photos are my own.

Row 1: YSL Beige Leger 22, Chanel Jade Rose 493, Deborah Lippmann Naked, Dolce & Gabbana Rose Petal 102

Row 2: Dior Incognito 257, Deborah Lippmann Fashion, Dior Beige Lotus, Rescue Beauty Lounge Grunge

Row 3: Dolce and Gabbana Petal, Chanel Rose Cache 521, Deborah Lippmann Modern Love and Dior Sienna

On the nail wheel, with a few true beiges and pinks added to compare, two views:

I believe all these shades are still available for sale with the exception of Chanel Mistral which is no longer for sale (I think). Currently, Chanel Jade Rose is listed as limited-edition on Chanel.com. What neutral pinks are you loving?

Kindly note that all photos and content are my own and copyrighted. Please do not copy, reprint, edit, republish or hotlink images.

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Deborah Lippmann Modern Love

August 19, 2012

Deborah Lippmann’s latest release for fall is a mauve shade called Modern Love ($16 for 0.5 oz). This comes in a full-coverage crème with a hint of nude. I found mine at Nordstrom in store. For those wondering whether this is more mauve, nude or taupe, I feel Modern Love has strong mauve tones. I found the stock photos online at Nordstrom.com extremely accurate.

This color applied smoothly with full coverage in two coats. I would say the pigment/finish/intensity is similar to that of Waking Up in Vegas (for comparison). Here it is with two coats and CND’s top coat. It makes my skin look darker and more tan. A few different views below. It appears to be a dusty mauve nude. I think it’s perfectly suited for fall … perhaps in September though. The color is lovely and polished, but I feel it would look better on either fairer skintones or more tanned skintones.

A few other Deborah Lippmann comparisons: Naked is the most beige/nude, Fashion is more brown, Waking Up In Vegas is clearly more grey. For the swatches, Naked/Fashion are swatched with 3 coats. Modern Love/Waking Up in Vegas only needed 2.

I’m still out of nail wheels so I pulled what I could fit on one hand. Other comparisons to a few other purples and taupes: Dolce & Gabbana Drama, OPI Tickle My Francey, Rescue Beauty Lounge Grunge and Chanel Particuliere.

I found Deborah Lippman’s Modern Love to be quite unique in my collection. I thought it would be similar to a number of shades, but it has the right mix of mauve and nude to make it different from other mauvey shades I own. If you felt Chanel’s Frenzy was too subtle for your taste and are looking for something with more punch but still natural/demure, I highly recommend you check out Deborah Lippman Modern Love.

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Loving Right Now

May 20, 2012

Right now I’m loving soft baby blue nail polishes. In particular these colors shown below: Deborah Lippmann Glitter in the Air, NARS Kutki, Dior Glacier, Dolce & Gabbana Anise and OPI My Pointe Exactly. All photos by me.

Loving this week:

Chanel Illusion D’Ombre Rivière, a soft seafoam green shimmer as seen on Cafe Makeup and The Non-Blonde (I heard rumors that the latest Asia Le Blanc Release will be available at Nordstrom for their Anniversary Sale)
Cupcakes and Cashmere has the most creative beauty storage ideas
The Coveteur covers Jessica Stam’s look, Hair and Make-Up Courtesy of Jen Atkin and Lauren Andersen
Rouge Deluxe reports six new Armani Eyes to Kill shades will be released soon
Into the Gloss has an awesome video of WAH Nails in NYC
MAC Hey, Sailor! reviews and swatches can be seen on Temptalia and Yuki’s Lazy Channel

Also, The Beauty Look Book just turned 3! It all started with a guest post at Makeup and Beauty Blog. Thanks from the bottom of my heart to Karen at MBB, Karla Sugar, The Non-Blonde, London Makeup Girl and Rouge Deluxe – you were all my inspiration when I first started. Special thanks to Cafe Makeup for also keeping me going, in particular this past year.

Three years, 7.2 million hits, 3,200+ google followers and a Twitter account later, I still feel like I’m just getting started. I am forever grateful to everyone for their support, comments, tweets, sweet e-mails and for reading my blog each week. I’ve made new friends, discovered new brands, started getting into perfumes, learned new techniques, figured out how to paint my own nails properly, and have learned so much from so many of you. Thank you for your support!

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Nail Basics: Favorite Base and Top Coats

February 16, 2012

It’s been on and off rainy here so the Chanel swatches will be delayed until the sun comes back. In the meantime, I wanted to share some of my nail care tips. Many of you have asked what are my favorite base and top coats. I’m by no means a nail expert (even if I am addicted to Chanel and Dior nail polishes) but here are my top picks.

A brief intro: I think the right base coat or top coat will depend on what kind of nail color you are using. Formula matters. Some top coats are not compatible with all brands of nail colors due to ingredients. For the most part, I’ve found top coats and nail colors within the same brand work well together. However, I rarely stick to 1 brand of nail polish so I’ve looked for base coats and top coats that are versatile among the brands I use the most. These include Chanel, Dior, Rescue Beauty Lounge, Dolce & Gabbana and OPI.

What else I look for: The things I’m most picky with include bubbling and shrinkage. For actual nail colors A number of drugstore brands caused bubbling (I can’t recall which ones, but Poshe is one that did). I found OPI’s top coats just ok, they lacked long-lasting shine for me. The highly acclaimed Seche Vite only worked on Essie and OPI, but for all other brands I’ve tried caused extreme shrinkage. Nail shrinkage is when you see the top coat shrink from the tips and cuticles after application so it looks like it just wasn’t applied over the entire nail. There is debate about what exactly causes shrinkage, I found threads on The Purse Forum and an article on Beaut.ie extremely helpful. I’ve concluded that since SV isn’t 3-free it’s what causes messy-unfinished-looking nails. I even tried adding their thinner (which many have recommended) but it did not work for me.

My picks: I’ve by no means tried every single base or top coat on the market. I can’t say whether these are the best or better than other brands, I just know they work for me for the brands I like to wear.

Deborah Lippmann Rehydrating Base Coat ($18 for 0.50 oz at Nordstrom) – This one I have Amy from Café Makeup to thank. We were chatting about swatching one day and I mentioned that changing colors frequently to do comparisons was harsh on my nails and that my fingers were starting to hurt. She suggested Deborah Lippmann’s base coat which is a wonderful hydrating base coat. It contains aloe and while it won’t solve dry cuticle issues, I’ve noticed a visible improvement in my nail texture after using this. It helps nail color apply smoothly as well. I don’t use a base coat all the time but when I do this one is among my favorites. (Chanel’s is also nice but pricey.) You can read Amy’s review here.
Rescue Beauty Lounge Top Coat ($18 but sold out on Rescue Beauty online) – I purchased this in their Treatment System Trio and fell in love with this thin but super shiny hard-finished top coat. I really hope Ji Baek decides to bring it back. I agree with other reviewers this one takes a bit longer to dry (just a few minutes more) but the finish is shiny and protects the nail polishes pretty well. The thin texture makes it easy to apply smoothly and quickly in a few strokes.
Chanel Laque Brilliant Extrème ($25, I purchased mine at Nordstrom but I’m not sure if they still carry this instore) – A few years back Chanel released a new reformulated base and top coat in the US. I never tried the originals although they were raved about my a number of Chanel fans as the best in the market. I gave the new ones a try. At first I was not impressed, mainly due to the price (versus the $6 OPI options at Ulta). I kept trying this one and really love how shiny and lacquered they make the nails look. They add a shiny smoothness that has a slight cushy look. The texture is slightly thicker but not too thick. Drying time is a bit longer but the result are freshly polished nails. I found that it helped with lasting power as well.
Creative Nail Design Super Shiney Top Coat ($8.50 at Ulta) – This is hands down my favorite top coat for the price that I’ve ever tried. I discovered it at one of my local nail salons. Out of all the different kinds of top coats they’ve used this one provides the longest lasting manicures that are shiny and glossy. The shine is just as good as Chanel’s although not quite as cushy-glassy looking. For the price and quality it can’t be beat. It’s one of the few that I’ve found doesn’t bubble or shrink. It’s 3-free with a slight tint which is supposed to be a UV absorber that guards against fading and discoloration. (I’ve stopped using the nail dryers at the salons and prefer the fans or air drying even though it takes longer. I’ve found that sometimes the light dryers change the color of reds or purples and darkens them.)

My personal top 2 picks: Deborah Lippmann and CND. What are your favorites?

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