Deborah Lippmann’s Fall 2011 Collection of four polishes is up on Nordstrom’s now for the Anniversary Sale.  The colors are so dark and luscious!  Swatches of all four coming up.

Although all four colors are pretty dark, they’re clear and vivid.  So many of the fall polish collections are looking very murky and greyish-dusty that these seem refreshing to me.  The formula varied pretty widely between these polishes, although all were easy to control and not too runny. I like the Lippmann brush, which is on the smaller side and is flexible and easy to fan out at the cuticle.

I started with Single Ladies since I have a weakness for these types of rich, dark reds that aren’t blackened.  It’s a sort of cranberry red that has a deep, slightly brownish tone.  This is one of those polishes that is a cross between a jelly and a creme, and it went on very sheer, so the pictures below show three coats.  I have to say that application was not the best for me-it was a bit streaky and I got some drag, so even with three coats I ended up with some lighter spots.  I do like that the color is definitely red and doesn’t veer into black territory at all-it’s a pretty and velvety looking color that’s nice for fall.

 

I compared it to Essie’s Masquerade Belle from the Winter 2010 Collection, and found that these are practically the same color.   In the picture below, Single Ladies is on my index and middle fingers and Masquerade Belle is on my ring and pinky fingers.  The Essie looks just slightly darker at the edges, but that’s because the Essie formula is way better and doesn’t have any streaking or dragging issues like Single Ladies.  In fact, it only took two coats of Masquerade Belle for this opacity, compared to the three for Single Ladies.   Although it has the same type of jelly-ish finish, Masquerade Belle is more opaque and a lot easier to apply.  And costs half as much as the Lippmann.  So if you’re wanting a color like this for the fall, I’d recommend Masquerade Belle over Single Ladies.

 

Next up is Brick House.  This is the shade that I was most interested in, since it looked so unique-I don’t have any other coppery shimmers in my collection.  This is a very frosty color, a coppery burnt orange with gold and orange shimmers.  In the sun it’s sparkly and pretty, and it reminds me of pumpkins and changing leaves and apple cider-a perfect fall color.  The application was nice and it only took two coats to be opaque, and wasn’t runny like some very frosty colors can be.  I did end up with fairly strong brushstrokes even after it dried, so if you’re not a frost fan this may not be the color for you.

In the shade it shows more of its dark reddish-brown tones.

I looked around but could only come up with China Glaze’s Foxy from Fall 2010 as a comparison.  Brick House is on my index and middle fingers, and Foxy is on my ring and pinky fingers.  In the bottle these look a bit more similar than they come out on the nail.  The frosty shimmer in Brick House lightens it more than Foxy’s shimmer, which is made up of larger shimmer pieces and is not quite as heavy.  This comparison made me appreciate the finish on Foxy, which is close to Brick House but dries so evenly and without any brushstrokes.  Foxy is also a good bit darker and has more red and brown in its base than Brick House.  I’m making a mental note to be sure to pull it out sometime this fall, as well.

 

Billionaire is a dark olive green with the same jelly/creme finish as Single Ladies.  I found Billionaire easier to apply, though, and less streaky.  It’s also slightly more opaque, so I stopped at two coats for the pictures below.  It could also be worn with three, but I wanted to keep the color from turning so dark that it was blackish, and felt like the coverage was good enough.

This one is really interesting-it’s like the camouflage greens from last fall, but without the duty, brown heaviness.  It has a clear, dark green feeling so the overall effect is more like leaves than military fatigues.  This alllows it to build to a green that comes off more blueish that I expected-I think this is what they mean when they describe this color as “hunter green” in the promotional materials.

The shade picture shows how dark this looks in indoor or indirect lighting.  It’s a moody, rich color but doesn’t ever look black, at least with just two coats.  It’s incredibly glossy, too-I didn’t use any top coat for these pictures, and the shine was really noticeable.  I couldn’t think of any polishes to compare to it-the combination of color and finish make it unique, at least among the polishes I have to compare.  I think it’s my favorite from this set, which I didn’t expect!

The final polish is a dark grey, Stormy Weather.  This one was created in collaboration with Narcisco Rodriquez for his fall 2011 runway show.  I have lots of greys already and was a little skeptical about whether I needed more, but Stormy Weather is pretty nice.  It’s a creme finish and applies in two easy coats, and is dark yet still vivid.  It has a deep, stony feeling but isn’t black at all, just a strong grey.

 

 

I compared it to Zoya’s Kelly, which came out last fall.  Stormy Weather is on my index and middle fingers, and Kelly is on my ring and pinky fingers.  The comparison was helpful to show the depth and true tones of Stormy Weather-next to Kelly’s hint of purple, Stormy Weather’s slightly green tone comes out, and you can see how deep and saturated it is.   Stormy Weather is also reported to be a limited edition, so it may not be around as long as Lippmann colors typically are.

Overall, I liked these colors.  Single Ladies is a pretty red but the finish is a drawback, and Brick House might be too frosty for some people.  I think Billionaire is the must-have color from this group, with its unique color and finish, and Stormy Weather is also really nice.

These colors are available at Nordstrom’s now but should be available more widely as we get closer to fall.