Deborah Lippmann Chain Reaction

Chain Reaction was released by Deborah Lippmann as part of the Rock This Town Limited Edition Trio boxed set for holiday 2012. Officially described as a dirty brass glimmer, the "dirty brass" part was what originally attracted me to it. Turns out it's a freaking gorgeous metallic glass fleck shimmer! It has a murky dark grey-green transparent jelly base packed with foily brass-toned glass flecks that are accented by flakey iridescent shimmers in green and purple. It's got a blackened speckled brassy look in indirect light and turns into a scintillating sparkle monster in the sun, with sparks of green, purple, blue and red. Stunning!

Application was lovely. This is a well behaved polish with a smooth, fluid consistency and an excellent viscosity for painting. It self-levels nicely and dealt with my nail ridges with aplomb. Pigmentation, given the transparency of the jelly base, is buildable. Because of the reflective nature of the foily brass flecks, the first coat may look like it's providing good coverage... until you take a look at it in the sun. I used two medium coats. Cleanup is an exercise in patience and shimmer wrangling, as this is one of those polishes that throws shimmers everywhere when it comes in contact with acetone. Chain Reaction dries naturally in very good time to a metallic foily finish that wants a good topcoat for shine and to pop the shimmer colors. 

Photos show two coats of Chain Reaction over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Deborah Lippmann Chain Reaction

Deborah Lippmann Chain Reaction

Deborah Lippmann Chain Reaction

Deborah Lippmann Chain Reaction

Deborah Lippmann Chain Reaction

Deborah Lippmann Chain Reaction

Deborah Lippmann Chain Reaction

Deborah Lippmann Chain Reaction

Deborah Lippmann Chain Reaction

I love the earthy organic minerally look of this polish! It's like a cross between bronzite and stichtite. I also love the way the dark murky base frames all the glass flecks and shimmers, it's creates a mini mozaic on each nail. The closer you get to this polish, the more dimensional and striking it becomes.

Apparently Chain Reaction is very similar to Nicole by OPI For Gold Time's Sake, which coincidentally (or not!) was released around the same time in the fall of 2012. It reminds me a little bit of Butter London Wallis, but Wallis is much greener, kind of a brassy olive to Chain Reaction's olive-toned brass. And Wallis doesn't have the purple shimmer that Chain Reaction does. 

I guess if you had either of those two you might not consider Chain Reaction worth seeking out. Personally, I say BUY ALL THE FOILS! I found this on ebay, where I get all my Deborah Lippmann polishes, for around $10 plus a couple of bucks shipping.

love,
Liz