Deborah Lippmann Vinyl
By Melanie Parker

The world was on fire and no one could save me but you. It's strange what desire will make foolish people do... There are many songs in my heart, and thanks to Deborah Lippmann a few more of them now have nail polishes named after them. The nail color guru has launched a second line to cross-promote her second CD this month. Both the CD and the new line are called Vinyl, and feature song titles that we know and love from the 80s and 90s. Lippmann is a celebrity manicurist by day and a jazz singer at night. In her recent interview with Secondcitystyle.com, Lippmann explains how she got into doing nails because it was like waitressing. She could sit all day and save her energy for her night time gigs. In 1999, she saw a need in the market for a fashion nail line, and launched her polish business with the help of her husband and brother. It has been quite a successful venture.

Her love of music is evident by the classic song titles of the polishes in both the Lippmann Collection and Vinyl. The Lippmann Collection polishes come in elegant 2 oz. glass bottles that are fluted at the bottom like a goblet. This packaging renders colors like the rich Merlot of Bitches Brew as irresistible. But the little .2 oz. bottles in the Vinyl collection are short and squat by comparison. They are all cap, and you realize how irritating that is when you go to use them and can't see the brush under the width of the cap. I wish that the brush was longer, but I have to say that it was still easy to paint with, and that is a testament to how good the Lippman formula is. It goes on evenly and streak free in spite of its packaging. I did find the Vinyl I tried easier to use than an OPI mini.


However, at a price point of $8.50 retail, you would be lucky to squeeze a dozen manicures out of a bottle. So, taking that into consideration, I can only justify buying one of these polishes: Wicked Game. It's the only duochrome polish in the collection. Despite being billed as "gunmetal gray", it is actually a silvered purple polish that looks like it got splashed by an oil slick within the bottle. It dries more purple than silver or gray on the nail. In indirect lighting it looks purple, but get into bright light and you can see the flashes of violet and green dancing in a rather immodest display. It's a complex color, and definitely one that collectors will covet. It doesn't hurt that it is named after a sexy song that conjures images of Chris Isaak and Helena Christensen nearly naked and frolicking on a beach. Oh yes. I needed it. And so do you...

This collection of mini nail polishes is sold exclusively at Bath and Body Works.

Photos by Melanie and Lippmann