Deborah Lippmann Summer 2011 Collection — For Nails That Wanna Have Fun

If you tuned into the 2011 Grammy Awards in February, you were likely among those scratching their heads over Gaga’s dramatic entrance, which involved the pop star crouching inside a semi-translucent Hussein Chalayan-designed egg vessel which was, in turn, propped atop a wooden, cross-shaped plank hoisted into the venue by a gaggle of statuesque Gagaists in Roman-inspired, flesh-toned, toga-like dresses and boxer briefs. Once Gaga took to the stage, the purpose of the egg became clear, as she hatched from its core to perform her “Born This Way” hit, a self-love anthem that celebrates eccentricity and quirkiness. In keeping with the chicken-and-egg theme, Gaga donned a midriff-baring halter top in a translucent canary yellow with a matching, floor-length skirt, her blond hair gathered into a high ponytail and her nails painted a matching color: Deborah Lippmann’s Yellow Brick Road, an ultra sheer yellow that yields a yolk-like look. If you stared at Gaga’s nails awaiting the moment when you’d be able to crack this particular polish bottle open and brush the quiche-ready color onto nails, let the egg-y euphoria commence!

The Yellow Brick Road color is one of the four shades in the new Deborah Lippmann Summer 2011 collection. A lively, festive, exciting array of creamy, sun-soaked, piñata-ready shades, the Deborah Lippmann collection also incorporates Girls Just Want To Have Fun, a deep coral pink; I Know What Boys Like, a mid-tone periwinkle blue with violet undertones; and Lara’s Theme, a perky red orange color created alongside supermodel Lara Stone.

Below, you’ll find swatches of all four shades in the collection. We’re particularly smitten with the I Know What Boys Like hue since it coyly straddles the fence between blue and purple, which makes it feel refreshingly original. The Yellow Brick Road is also incredibly distinctive since it does, in fact, look like layers of egg yolk, its consistency creamy but its look ever so sheer and translucent.

Check out the colors in the Summer 2011 collection ($16 each at DeborahLippmann.com) below and get a feel for what they look like on nails!

GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN

Cyndi Lauper herself would go cuckoo over the new Deborah Lippmann Girls Just Wanna Have Fun shade, a creamy, rainbow sherbet-ready coral pink. The color is beyond lovely for spring given that it’s a warmer, beachier shade of pink, reminiscent of canna flowers.

Here’s what Girls Just Wanna Have Fun looks like on nails:

YELLOW BRICK ROAD

Forget venturing to Oz! With Yellow Brick Road, you can whip up a sunny side up manicure so delicious that it will trigger a massive egg hunt well past Easter.

This yellow shade is ultra sheer so that the first coast will look virtually clear on your nails. Don’t let the slightly unsettling look of that initial coat dissuade you — yes, it might remind you of that near jaundiced look nails have when you leave one nail polish color on for too long a period of time, but stick with it. By the time you’ve smoothed three coats onto nails, the color will have transformed into this slightly filmy, translucent yellow that’s brighter than a lemon chiffon hue but paler than a traditional canary yellow.

Take a look at what the color looks like on nails:

I KNOW WHAT BOYS LIKE

The Waitresses, Katharine McPhee, and Vitamin C all claimed to know what boys like, but Deborah Lippmann is the only one willing to offer some tools for our arsenal of man-eating wiles. Lippmann’s I Know What Boys Like nail lacquer is a medium periwinkle blue that’s a few shades deeper than the color you’d find in a garden filled with Vinca minor plants. The nail polish shade hits that perfect halfway point between violet and blue, which makes it incredibly unique. In fact, it’s my favorite shade in the collection!

Whether boys like it or not, girls will surely be pleased! Just check out the photos below:

LARA’S THEME

The Lara’s Theme nail lacquer is a creamy vermillion hue that looks like the blossoms on a Flamboyant (or Delonix regia) tree. It’s not quite a tomato red, nor is it a blood orange, but it instead looks like the type of fiery shade you would discover in a bouquet of red-orange lilies. To me, this is the nail lacquer equivalent of the YSL Rouge Pur Couture in 13 Le Orange lipstick — provocative and daring but elegant and feminine.

Here’s what Lara’s Theme looks like on nails: