I will forego any backstage opp, to chat with Deborah Lippmann. She’s a rare gem during fashion week, even down to how she communicates with everyone around her. And though I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again,”When she talks, you listen!”
Nail Inspiration: Deborah Lippmann for BEAUTY.COM
“We’re here at Kate Spade where the girl is a musician, maybe inspired by jazz or cabaret. We have two different looks for the nails. One of the girls is wearing a really fresh, fresh pink, and it’s called “Baby Love. Depending on the girl’s skin tone, she might wear one coat, two coats, or three coats. Deborah Lloyd loved the three coat idea so that it almost looked coverage, full coverage, but it wasn’t full coverage. We’re using our GEL LAB PRO base coat and topcoat with that.”
“The other girl probably doesn’t play the violin, because she wears red. It’s a combination of red, and what we’re doing is we’re starting with “Mild Flame”, which is my classic red carpet old Hollywood red. Then we’re taking “It’s Raining Men”, which has a little more yellow in it, and we’re layering it over it, so that it’s not really yellow and it’s not really blue, it’s somewhere in between. It’s kind of like a poppy-ish color. Again, we’re doing the GEL LAB PRO base coat and topcoat.”
“The nails are short and rounded, and very, very well groomed. The cuticles are very well groomed. She’s very highly moisturized, and she’s fresh and fun.”
Her advice on finding the right shades for you:
“Everybody can wear nude, and everybody can wear red. Some people feel they can’t wear red. Everyone can wear red nail polish. It’s about finding the right one. You know if you wear a red lipstick, you tend to buy the same red lipstick from every brand.”
“Pretty much. I find it’s the same thing with nails. People go to the same … But your hands are often different colors than your face, so you might need a bluer, or something less yellow. What happens is, when you put on a color that’s wrong … No matter wrong for your skin tone, no matter what it is, but particularly … We discovered this yesterday. We had a girl with alabaster, alabaster, alabaster skin. Really, really white skin. We put three coats of “Baby Love”. She would just sort of think, kind of simple, and her entire fingers turned red right before her eyes. Her whole hand went red. That will tell you that it’s not the right color for you.”
“There are tricks to getting the look about it … I have a color in my brand called “Fashion”, which is a nude beige, which I’m probably going to put on in a few minutes because I change my polish every five minutes. It’s not the bright color for me, it’s a little too yellow, so I put two very thin coats of it on me, and that way I can get away with wearing it. Sometimes there are tricks to wearing it, but if your cuticles turn slightly … Your cuticles will either turn red, or they will turn kind of dirty, or brown, or reddy. Not reddy red, but reddy like muddy. That will be your clue that, that may not be the best color for you.”
“Then again, this is nail polish. It’s an accessory. If you’re not up for the Oscar that year, and going to be holding an Oscar, it’s nail polish. Wear it for the night and take it off the next day. It’s not a hair color; it’s not that kind of commitment, it can come off in the morning.”
“Also, different lights are different. If you’re polishing your nails in a salon or in your bathroom where it’s really lit, or here where you’ve got a lot of light it’s going to be really strong, but if you’re going out to a club, or going out to dinner where it’s dark”