Deborah Lippmann Porn 5 - Christmas in the City

Returning to the blog fold with another Deborah Lippmann holiday collection.

Christmas in the City was one I was really kind of interested in. I had waffled, not ordered it right away, thought about it, but the red...Run Run Rudolph, and the white, Let it Snow, were interesting enough, plus the last, a hunky Lippmann glitter were worth the splurge. I thought.

The nice heavy gift box, in a pretty red. Open it up and you get this:

It's the same sort of box as the other collections, they are all basically the same. They are really nicely done. Heavy weight, nicely packaged and the black interiors show off the polishes to their best advantage.

The first color I swatched was Let it Snow, mainly because once you see it close up you see this ain't your typical run of the mill white frost. Oh no. And did you expect less from Ms. Lipp? I didn't think so.

It has definite frosty characteristics and another coat wouldn't have hurt anything, this was three, for the record. But this has that icy shimmer. I have more pictures of this one, it was elusive.

Here you can see the pretty pink flash. This is not in your face. It's subtle, suggested, intriguing.

A better bottle shot, no flash. You can really see the VNL here, but with a good opaque base coat that isn't an issue any longer. I was pretty impressed with this one and I hadn't expected to be. You know, a white frost at Christmas? *yawn* I liked it much more than I had anticipated.

A label shot for you. Loving the little micro particles of shimmery goodness.

An odd shot because I had completely bungled the polish on my ring finger. Oops. Turned out OK though!

Run, Run Rudolph was the one I couldn't take my eyes off of when I was thinking about this collection and re-visiting it again and again before taking the plunge. I know, it's another Christmas red, big woo, but for some reason I liked it. 

As you can see, I had some application issues. Well, none, if your goal is to get as much of it on you as possible. The problem was, this isn't just a straight up red with a hint of gold, which is what I had thought. It's a chunky glitter actually. The glitter is kind of sparse, and it's red, which is an interesting effect, but it was a surprise.

You can see the chunkiness in the roughness on the nail. It's not that big glitter but it is chunky and is rough. Be prepared to top coat this.

It's very pretty, but not what I expected. the glitter surprised me, I thought this was more of a shimmer, but it's not. It adds a new dimension and depth.

Very nice true red.

You can see the shimmer here and this is pretty true to color, though this is a flash shot. The glitter isn't obvious, it's subdued by the opaque lacquer, but it adds something. I did have trouble applying it, though. Be careful with this one.

Last but not least, Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree. Or least, in my opinion. I'm sad to say that this one just flat didn't appeal to me when it came down to it.

This is a black jelly with green and red chunky glitter in it. The black overwhelms the sparkle and applied like a hot mess. This is one coat because I wanted you to see what it does. Streaky, eating up the sparkle...blech.

As you can easily see.

This is two coats and is somewhat better, but still a little streaky. It is really rough, which probably isn't a surprise. I wish she'd done this is a straight clear. I really do. You can't put this black over much and it swallows the glitter bits whole.

These last two are both flash pictures, so you can see the glitter just doesn't get to shine through.

This is a great shot. I know the flash is overwhelming but what it does allow is for you to see how complex this is. Maybe you're loving it, I hope you like it, regardless of my feelings, and you needed to see that this is really a great idea. You can see that all the particles are red and green, maybe some black in there, but I don't think so. and the different sizes of particles are really fun.

I just wish it wasn't black.

Nice pieces hanging off the tip there. Ugh, my fault. I just don't care for this one. MDAMO liked it, so there you go. I think it's a love/hate thing. You're not going to be meh for this.

Last swatch. It's even dark and gloomy with full on flash. Hm. Well, I'd love to hear what any of you think of it. I hope you like it more than I do. I really don't think I will wear this. I really don't. T'is a pity.

Happy Talons!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to wish all you readers out there a very happy Thanksgiving!

The Return of Deborah Lippmann porn - Forsaken Reforsaken

I picked up the last Forsaken set I was interested in a couple of weeks ago. They were on the main website, are listed as limited editions and MDAMO, loving darks as he does, really liked the polish. I don't wear a lot of lipstick...I HAVE a lot, but I don't often wear it. I'm a lip biter, I tend to chew it off before I even get to the car. I love it, I love how some of it looks and how it makes my lips feel, especially the better stuff. So...the lipstick was interesting but not the reason I bought it.

Regardless, I knew I had better get it blogged so I don't break my promise to you readers to not tempt you with stuff you can't get by normal means.

Here's what you get:

It comes in this heavily embossed box, which is pretty and appropriate and ever so slightly creepy. The thing that looks kind of like a tab sticking out of the upper left corner is actually the remote control I propped the box on to allow me to get a decent picture. Ignore that. That messed with my eyeballs for a good long while before I figured it out. Derrrr.

It opens in a book and everything is nested inside, complete with a little note about the sets.

The lipstick, aptly named "Bite Me", which is also scented, had a blush on it, like a chocolate that has gone too long in the wrapper. It smells of chocolate, which is both nice and odd.

I swatched it on my wrist:

 It's a really pretty brown berry color, I would guess would be very flattering on many of us. It's creamy and applied nicely. On my wrist. I have not actually worn this.

 Here's a close up of the tube. The packaging kind of annoys me, I wouldn't want to pull this out at a nice restaurant and be flashing my vampire geek girl status. But then again, I wouldn't pull this out at a nice restaurant because I was taught putting lipstick on at the table is tacky, but you know what I mean. I like a nice anonymous lipstick tube.

Plus...I kind of think a lipstick tube should be a little sexy...I don't know why.

The nail polish, called "Let it Bleed", a Stones reference, is a deep red plum color. It's pretty and more purple than I imagined it would be. And I made a mess putting it on, clearly.

Sorry for the distortion. The picture software strikes again.
The label shot, which is never easy with those metallic stickers! AUGH!

This definitely has some brown in it, but I would call it a dark reddish plum. I don't know that you would really call this a jelly but it has a real jelly feel to it.

This is only two coats. I really recommend a third. This is on bare nails, which doesn't help, but while it evens out pretty well from just one coat, a third coat would be gorgeous. This is gorge? But a third coat would fix all those thin spots you can see here.

 It's described as a deep sanguine red...I still think this has too much brown and plum in it to be a red. Whatever you call it, it's pretty! and very wearable.

This has a complex scent to it? It's nice, fits the theme, and is still faintly there once the lacquer dries. It smelled kind of berry - woodsy - exotic to me.

Picking this up?

Happy Talons!!

Interrupting the Lippmann porn for some ManGlaze

ManGlaze Mink Mitten. It's a gorgeous shimmery lilac. Not what you come to expect from ManGlaze. Dark MANLY colors, yes. Pretty lilacs? Not so much. Here's what we have:

This has a top coat on it, but the tips are the regular matte finish with nothing. I had a couple small chips that I wanted to cover up, so I tried to do a matte tip French? That didn't really work out. The finish on this has a really nice sheen so a top coat isn't really necessary. Which is also odd for a ManGlaze. Typically these are just matte finishes but this is almost satiny. It's really pretty.
Plus, the bottle is just cool, of course.

One side of the label.

You can see this has a ton of shimmer. I wore this about 4 days and in that time everyone who noticed it told me they had to have it. BMWWU took down all the information so she could pick this up.

Labels are on the lids, I love that. You can kind of see the line here, where I tried matte tips. It barely showed, but that's OK. I would have had a lot more wear but you can see the crack in my thumbnail. That turned out to be just a huge peel, which isn't good, but it's better than a vertical split, which is what I was afraid I had done.

This is the only picture that really showed the difference in the tips. It just looks a little lighter.

As you can see, this is super saturated, tons of shimmer. It's really incredibly remarkably pretty. It's very wearable.

The parting shot. I only took four pictures of this, even though I really love it. I think they kind of say it all. It's very smooth, too. The shimmer particles are so teeny that it dries nicely and quickly. This is also a bit thick going on, which is OK. It is really easy to control and manipulate and the two coats was ample.

Completely Gorgeous. I definitely recommend picking this one up. I bought mine from Amazon, but I believe ManGlaze is back to selling their polishes on their site again.

Happy Talons!

Deborah Lippmann Porn - Holiday 3

Rock This Town, I believe, was the first of these sets to hit the blog scene so I've left it for last, not really confident that I'm going to tell you much different from the other bloggers about it. I got mine from Barney's, though I had thought it was to be a Nordstrom exclusive, and now it's available on LippmannCollection.com. You have options depending on how you like to shop. This one is a stunner.

It comes in a pretty metallic gold gift box.

Open it up for shimmery sparkly goodness and a happy holidays from Ms. L herself.

A flash pic to show off the metallic box. It really is pretty, looks like wrapping paper. The kind I have to put ribbons all over because it just isn't gaudy enough for me. I think Christmas should be ridiculously gaudy.

Moon Dance, the one on the right in the above photos. It's a lovely pinky rosey bronze with a ridiculous amount of shimmer in it. These are smooth, not glitters. I happen to prefer the shimmer to the glitter, but it's a personal preference. It appears to have some duo to it, it's really lovely and the reason I shelled out for this set.

Another shot of it. Nice clean cuticles so easy to handle and control. Not surprising. I just love this, it appears to be lit from within.

Chain Reaction. More gold, more duo...look what is happening around the curve of the nails. It goes from gold to chestnut as the light hits at different angles due to the natural curve to my nails. Another total stunner. 

The gold and bronze shimmer in this just lights it up. It's amazing. You've ordered this by now, right? No? What the hell are you waiting on?

OH! Waiting to see this one? Phoenix Rising. Not only is the name cool but the color is....

 It's a rusty, metallic, shimmery....

...

Glow of familiar.

**facepalm**

No. Not again.

ERMAGERD!!!
Can you figure out which two are now buttered?

The ring and pinky. It's just enough different that I don't feel terrible about having both? Especially given that the others in this collection are so stunning. But...psht. Dang it, you know? They're close enough that I might not have bothered. Seriously. The butter has less shimmer (This is Shag, incidentally) and is described as a warm orange burgundy. I think I would simply say rust mixed with Autumn leaves. It's lovely. So is Phoenix Rising. But if I find something this close I think I gotta tell ya. Don't you? Right?

**sigh**

Each one of the sets I've reviewed for you is beautiful. But...I've shown you some comparisons. I guess you have to decide for yourself if you think they're close enough to call dupes or if they're worth the bucks. I guess I did a great job stimulating the economy, huh?

I don't really regret the purchases. I can't. It's done. But this is why I like to see them in person before I spend a wad. Know what I'm sayin?

Happy Talons!

Deborah Lippmann Porn - Holidays 2

She's Always a Woman is a set that I had seen somewhere on a blog, a magazine, an email...I don't remember. It's the set that contains the polishes that Ms. Lippmann used at the Kate Spade show when she came up with gingham nails. MDAMO immediately nixed gingham nails with some derogatory comment that I no longer remember specifically, but the cobalt. I loved the cobalt. So I picked these up, though they are minis, and I have them to show you today.

Pretty silver box, classic Lippmann class and quality.

The inside, sorry about the glare and the softness. I was having some technical difficulties.
However, you can see what you need to here.

First in the lineup of swatches is Putty in your Hands. A...putty. It is a darker version of Silly Putty, in my view, and is neutral and wearable and blah blah blah. And I mean that as blah. It's OK. It has a lot of grey in it, it's more flattering on me than the Forsaken Collection's Human Nature.

I wonder if some Fairydust would help this out. It's fine. I'm just not a fan of these colors. I just don't find them to be that pretty.

Raspberry Beret. A chunky flaky? I'm not sure I'd call this a glitter. Maybe? Very rough texture, kind of a jelly...It's pretty but it needed a top coat. A thick one.

It is an odd color and a more odd finish. Jury is out. I'm not sure. I'd have to wear it. As these are all swatches it's possible I will wear it, for sure. I...errrrr...I just don't know.

Lastly, a blurry pic of the one I bought the set for. Oooo. I love these rich rich colors.,

My Prerogative. Yes it is. It's my...Prer...wait. I think it might be my prerogative to have something identical.

Two nails are Lippmann, two are Cult. Can you pick them out?

Here's another shot:

How about now? Better lighting. Pretty damn close, huh. If anything, the Cult is even richer in tone. If I had a hat on, I'd throw it on the ground and stomp on it. DAMN this is annoying to me. It's my fault. I fell in love with My Prerogative and thought...it's not going to be almost identical to Time Traveler. Time Traveler is much darker.
No. It's not. It's a half a tic darker. Only if you have bloggers optical syndrome will you even see a difference. Yes, it's Time Traveler on the ring and pinky nails. Time Traveler has a touch more navy in it, but honestly. Is the average person going to know the difference. No.

One more to bring it home.

Bah.

A pretty collection, but unless one of the other colors grabs you by the throat...go with the Cult. It's a lot less, the quality is good, you'd be supporting an independent and it's basically the same color.

**stomps around the room**

**sigh**

Happy Talons. Bah humbug.