Stamping Sunday - Under The Sea with Deborah Lippmann

Hi Goddesses

I really did not think I was going to get this mani done in time.  I've been battling flu all week and yesterday it looked like it had won, but waking up this morning, it seems we've called it an amicable draw.  Now I just need it to bugger off entirely!

I had a theme planned for this mani.  The Adventures In Stamping theme for this week is Under The Sea and I was going to do a whole mix of sponging to create that underwater aquarama thing.  Well, enter the flu, and suddenly easy seemed best, so I reached for the next best thing - Deborah Lippmann's Under The Sea.

Oh yes, sorry - you and Deborah tend to call this one Across The Universe.  I disagree, for me this is just so mermaidy and underwatery, so I renamed it.  :P   I layered it over a new purchase - CG Sexy In The City.  Usually I do it over a navy base, but I didn't want this to look too dark with the stamping still to come.  And woah - what a surprise!

Here's an uncleaned up photo of ATU over Sexy, and a comparison pick of when it's worn over navy.  Did YOU know it could look so different ?   I certainly didn't, and it's given this polish a whole extra dimension for me, as well as making it perfect for this theme.

with a navy base

Sexy In The City is a very strange colour, but mainly strange in a good way.  It's a dark turquoisey blue with hints of teal and shimmer - VERY hard to pin down, but very interesting.  All the nails had 1 coat of this and then either 1 or 2 coats of ATU.  There were a couple of bald spots I wanted to cover up, but I also didn't want the layers to look uniform, as the sea twinkles all sorts of colours.

Getting the ickle fishies onto the nails was harder and sadder than I thought it would be.  I'd picked out some great colours like For Audrey and Zoya Dawn, but they were just too thin against the darkness of the "sea".

So once again, trusty foils and chromes to the rescue!   The hot pink and champagney one from the CC Foiled Collex, and 2 SH Chromes - Royal Purple and Aquamarine.

The drama didn't end there - this was a ****** to photograph, a constant battle to get the fishies into stark relief against the swimmery shimmery background.  Never mind, in person they look pretty damn decent, and I love how on certain nails the glitter from the ATU almost looks like bubbles from the fishes' mouths.  Cute.

oh, nearly forgot - fishies are from Konad M82.

Enjoy xxx :)

DEBORAH LIPPMANN - Lady Sings The Blues

Nails I Love

DEBORAH LIPPMANN Lady Sings The Blues

Hi Goddesses

Tonight I have something so incredibly special, unbelievably gorgeous, breathtakingly beautiful and just plain hot damn awesome …. Goddesses, take your seats for a performance from DEBORAH LIPPMANN Lady Sings The Blues.

Phew.  I need to catch my breath.  This is quite simply and without doubt the most beautiful nail polish I have EVER worn.  The colour is perfect, the glitter is perfect, the shine is perfect ….. ah, I could just stare at it ALL day.  And I have.  Literally.

Lady Sings The Blues is a very sheer navy jelly packed with the patented Deborah Lippmann house special – micro glitter, and different pieces of hex glitter, all tonally similar.  For LSTB, the glitter is grey, lavender and blue and flashes different shades in different lights.  In the car, some of the glitter flashed turquoise which was HOLY MOLY, but I haven’t been able to recreate it in the house L

There’s just something about the perfection of this navy that drives this polish beyond the bounds of what beautiful should be.  There’s such a perfect juxtaposition between the dark and decadent navy gloss and the light-catching sparkle of the glitter … this is like staring at a galaxy all day – deep, mysterious and utterly compelling.

Although the base in Lady Sings The Blues is dark enough to wear on its own, I prefer to layer mine.  I put this one over 1 coat of Color Club Blue-topia, an amazing navy jelly that’s almost a one coater, and this gave LSTB a perfect base from which to sing and soar.  I also added 2 coats of Poshe after LTSB, and the 2^nd coat made a massive difference.

For those that are interested, I also did 1 accent nail in Across The Universe, Lippmann’s other special blue, and I was surprised by how much contrast there was.  As I’ve said before, ATU is all about ocean greens, and LSTB really highlights that.  ATU also has a much paler base – more of a dark teal.

If you don’t own this nail varnish, you must.  Simple as.  Lady Sings The Blues is glamourous, fabulous and scandalously divine.  You know by now that I Don’t Do Blue polishes, but seriously, if I was only ever allowed 1 polish in the world it would be this one.

Stunning.  Spectacular.  Intense.  Stellar.  Compelling.  

I hope you get the chance to enjoy her for yourself J

Top Tip – if you’re ever unsure what a nail colour looks like, go to Google images, which will give you plenty of contrasts and compares.

Nails I Love - Deborah Lippmann - ACROSS THE UNIVERSE

Nails I Love

DEBORAH LIPPMANN – Across The Universe

Hi Goddesses

I don’t know what’s happening to me lately.  I seem to buying and liking polishes in all sorts of colours I’ve always hated – orange, teal, blue – and now I’m about to pick a fight with Deborah Lippmann, but more of that later.

ATU always features high on lemming lists, and I had resisted it for a long time.  I already have Ruby Red Slippers and Bad Romance, and this is closely related to both, but because I hate blue, I didn’t buy it.  Then I kept seeing pictures that made me appreciate the sheer artistry of it, and whaddya know … ta-dah!

Like her sisters, ATU is a jelly base packed with sparkle and multi coloured hexagonal glitter.  It’s quite literally WOW in a bottle.  This is sooooo beautiful that I can just stare at the polish in the bottle like a hypnotised child – it is THAT gorgeous.

The base is a sheer petrol colour, so it’s best to layer this (plus it helps the de-glittering).  I used China Glaze FIRST MATE, a dark blue.  The first thing you notice is the glitter – lovely pieces of medium hexagonal glitter in turquoise, emerald and then – not silver, but – a greyed out lilac.  The effect is just to die for.

It’s only when your eyes adjust to the glitter that you notice all the shimmer and sparkle threading through it – the teeny tiny dots of turquoise that make it look like a living breathing thing of beauty.

Ok, and here we go … why the hell, Deborah Lippmann, is this called Across The Universe ?  It should be called Under The Ocean.  This conjures up for me the image of the deep Pacific or Indian ocean, where the bright coral fishies live amongst seaweed and bright green reed, and there’s always little bubbles of air rising up … seriously, this is aquatic.

Now I don’t disagree that ATU is a lovely concept, but for me this is a little too light and green to be true cosmos, however, this is just coral reef in a bottle!

Now it’s on my nails, I can’t stop staring at it.  I also can’t stop thinking of oceans.  So, Deborah Lippmann, I have rechristened it.  The Crumpet decrees ATU forevermore be known as UTO lol.

(I sill think you’re a genius tho).

Sky or sea, which do you think ?

J

Top Tip – if you’re ever unsure what a nail colour looks like, go to Google images, which will give you plenty of contrasts and compares.