Deborah Lippmann’s Fashion is a Beauty

I love neutral nails. They are my go-to daily mani as they wear well, don’t show wear on the tips or chips. IF they chip. And if I am using Lippmann nail polish along with her Hard Rock Top/Base Coat I can go quite awhile before any wear appears. Why I stray is a mystery to me…

Digression: I recently fell hard for Seche Vite Quick Dry Top Coat. It IS amazing- use it on still wet nails and within a minute or two your nails are hard as glass. You do pay a bit of a price- there are many complaints of shrinkage (not George Castanza style shrinkage….) meaning the polish pulls in from the cuticles and edges of nails as it dries. Not a big deal I suppose, but don’t put Seche Vite on dry nails, it will shrink it so much the colour will pop off your nail in one piece like a press on nail. Found this out as I was getting my suitcases into the car to go on holiday. So much for my holiday mani, I left it in pieces as a trail in the airport parking lot. But there is a more serious issue with SV. Because it sinks right into the polish while it dries it, and that means every layer of polish, it gets to your nail as well. It took me a while to realize that my horrible peeling nails were a result of the SV usage. Consider yourself warned before you look at my photos. Poor nails, please forgive me.

Almost immediately after stopping and going back to my beloved Lippmann Hard Rock Base & Top coat my nails are healing and feel stronger. Lippmann’s polish is full of good stuff which I have already posted about HERE and I have learned my lesson. Lippmann gives me hard strong nails and I am NOT LOOKING BACK.

So back to my post about Fashion. I really want Naked but it has sold out everywhere so I am on a waiting list for it. A gorgeous nude-y neutral, Naked sounds just perfect. But, thanks to the wisdom of the gorgeous Lippmann expert at my Holt Renfrew, she told me one coat of Fashion is close to Naked. Two coats of Fashion is a beige tone, slightly deeper than a nude (only a true Nail Polish Lover sees this I imagine…) but one coat is somehow a different colour and I love it! I need to expand my Lippmann colours and slowly but surely I am but I am quite happy to have Fashion in my collection. I would say 2 or 3 coats would be a perfect Fall neutral but one coat is just perfect for Spring and Summer. I love the whole mannequin hands look and this is a perfect addition to my neutral collection. Love it. Add to that my Hard Rock as the base and top coat and my strong healthy nails are on their way back.

1 coat of DL Fashion in natural light

1 coat of Fashion in bright sunlight

Subtle Beauty: Butter London Yummy Mummy

File this one under all things soft, subtle and neutral. Coco Chanel famously said “I take refuge in beige because it’s natural”. Here, here I say. As much as I love a pop of colour when it comes down to feeling comfy, cozy and at ease, neutrals are where I want to go. In cosmetics, neutrals are easy to wear, and in my opinion are the best way to compliment one’s beauty in a natural & subtle way. You can let “you” shine without the mask of too much colour. That said,  a fun bright lip or nail or a little glow or shine/ sparkle (key: A LITTLE) now and then or for special occasions is a great thing. You may have noticed there are not a lot of “make up” reviews here, ie eye shadows, liners, different blushes and foundations. That is because I am rather boring, in beauty terms, in that I loves me my neutrals, and I tend to keep buying the things I love, which are often the same. Not too much new and exciting neutrals come out (oxymoron, anyone?) and to be honest, as we age, the truth, when dealing with cosmetics, is, less. Is. More.

Ok back to my nails. One of my favourite looks is the Mannequin Hands nail. A step up from the sheer pinks, which are fab and I wear often but sometimes want a bit more. A great thing about sheers and neutrals is the low maintenance vibe. Tip wear hardly shows, so the mani lasts longer.

 

Butter London is a neat line whose products are formulated without the use of the harmful ingredients like Formaldehyde, Toluene, DBP or Parabens- they call themselves “3 Free” based on this. Although, so are my usual faves, OPI, Chanel, Lippmann, Dior and Zoya. So it sorta bugs me that Butter London acts like they are the only ones, but, on the other hand, kudos to them for taking the concept and running with it. One thing we do know, is that green beauty is the smallest portion of the beauty market, so I can guarantee you that Butter London’s success is based on their awesome fashion-forward colours and cheeky names. The latest being the “sold out in days” No More Waitey, Katie which was released for the Royal Engagement. And, looks like a sweet colour! One of the other colours I WANT is All Hail The Queen, a gorgeous taupe with sparkle. It was originally called All Hail McQueen but was changed after his tragic death.

Yummy Mummy is a perfect taupe with a teensy bit of shimmer even if the name is gag-enducing. Please. Are we not over this term? Aaannywaaays. The shimmer is more visible in the bottle than on the nail but does add a little something. It is slightly more taupe than the pink-leaning OPI Tickle My Francey, which is my go-to Mannequin Hands shade.  It is lighter and more subtle than the divine Chanel Particuliere, which is super, because I don’t always want to make a dramatic beige statement. If that is possible. Application was a breeze, and with two coats it is opaque but I think three coats might be ideal. All Hail McQueen seems to be YM with super subtle glitter. Hard to describe but gorgeous. I love YM and it is officially added to my rotation. 

I got my Butter London nailpolish at a boutique in Ottawa, GreenTree, for around $15, and I have seen the line at Holt Renfrew as well. I'm sure there are many boutiques or spas selling this line, or it can be purchased online at the Butter London website (which also has a Canadian site!) and B-Glowing. 

OPI Tickle My France-y is Beautifully Nude

OPI Tickle My France-y continues the neutrals theme. It is the perfect nude-pink manicure colour. When you want more than the ubiquitous sheer pink , that, while lovely and elegant, can be a bit of yawn after awhile. The main benefit to the sheer pink manicure besides looking clean and professional, is that it lasts and/or doesn’t show wear as quickly as deeper colours. This is proving to be less of an issue now that I am using Ms. Lippmann’s Rock Hard base-top coat combo, but I digress. We do like to have a manicure that we don’t have to obsess about, that doesn’t look boring, and that is stylish. Tickle My France-y does all of those!

TMF is from OPI’s Fall 2008: La Collection de France. It was one the first nail colours to go mainstream with the nude look that has become part of the cosmetic mainstream. My daughters and I say it’s our fave colour to get “mannequin hands” which just means that-clean-seamless-so-natural-it’s-almost-unnatural look. It's pink but not too pink. It is beige but not a yellow or unflattering beige. It is a true "nude" shade and I bet a matching lip gloss would be amazing. I have worn two coats, which is still ever so slightly sheer, and three coats, which you see in the photo above. That manicure is six days old with top coat touched up last night. One of the great things about a TMF mani is the invisibility of the wear at the tips. It’s always clean, goes with everything and looks polished and chic. OPI is available at salons and beauty stores like Trade Secrets in Canada.

You're a mannequin, you'll always have work!