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Deborah Lippmann Stairway to Heaven Nail Lacquer Review, Photos, Swatches

Deborah Lippmann Stairway to Heaven Nail Lacquer
Deborah Lippmann Stairway to Heaven Nail Lacquer

Deborah Lippmann Stairway to Heaven Nail Lacquer

Deborah Lippmann Stairway to Heaven Nail Lacquer ($18.00 for 0.50 fl. oz.) contains multi-colored square (mostly) glitter suspended in a clear base color. The polish is thicker, not quite gel-like, but it’s thick enough that after two coats (which is what is shown here) that I wouldn’t go for a third and expect excellent wear. There are large, square-shaped glitter in greenish-teal, bluish-green, light-medium purple, and golden orange. There also appears to be hexagon-shaped glitter in the same golden orange color.

This shade could be used for layering, but I really liked it alone. It was fun and whimsical; not your most obvious choice for holidays, but it has a wintry vibe to it. I could see it seeming more appropriate for spring, because of some of the overall lightness in color, but I just keep thinking “winter wonderland.”

Though glitter polishes are often difficult to remove, this seemed extra difficult, so it will require patience and plenty of your favorite remover. The key is to let the remover soak through the layers of polish, which will make it easier to remove. Generally, I get a week of wear with Deborah Lippmann’s polishes with minimal tip wear. Nothing comes to mind as a dupe, but maybe Temptalia readers know of one to share! 🙂

Deborah Lippmann Stairway to Heaven Nail Lacquer
Deborah Lippmann Stairway to Heaven Nail Lacquer

Deborah Lippmann Stairway to Heaven Nail Lacquer
Deborah Lippmann Stairway to Heaven Nail Lacquer

Deborah Lippmann Stairway to Heaven Nail Lacquer
Deborah Lippmann Stairway to Heaven Nail Lacquer

Deborah Lippmann Stairway to Heaven Nail Lacquer
Deborah Lippmann Stairway to Heaven Nail Lacquer

Deborah Lippmann Stairway to Heaven Nail Lacquer
Deborah Lippmann Stairway to Heaven Nail Lacquer

Deborah Lippmann Stairway to Heaven Nail Lacquer
Deborah Lippmann Stairway to Heaven Nail Lacquer

61 Comments

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Sarah R Avatar

Maybelline Express Finish Clearly in Love is a very old polish I owned, the glitter is big and the same color, but it is heart shaped 😛 Maybe the square shape is more original, but as far as the color of the glitter goes, thats the dupeable part in my opinion.

Ana Avatar

The new China Glaze Snow Globe (Holiday 2011) looks like it would be a decent dupe for this.
(at least from the virtual swatches I’ve seen- lol!)

Gina C Avatar

I dunno about that! If Christine doesn’t know of any dupes, that’s sure saying something. And if I recall correctly, Kelly from Vampy Varnish didn’t have any dupes either!

Juana Avatar

It reminds me of Color Club’s “covered in diamonds” . I was really looking forward to DL’s Stairway to heaven, i love the name, the look etc., but lately I’ve been seeing more and more DL dupes. Which makes me feel silly for paying the DL price, when I could’ve had the same thing for cheaper if I had waited a while longer. I hope a dead on dupe comes out in Stairway to heaven. LOL

Kathy Avatar

I find that polishes like this look great in photos but not so great in person. Maybe because I like the idea of these colors, but it’s not my personal taste to wear them. I dunno.

It looks lovely on you though!!!

Gabby T. Avatar

Oh I am so excited! I ordered this and “I Love the Nightlife” and am anxiously waiting for their arrival (Neiman Marcus website said they were suppose to ship out soon). As soon as I bought them I got nervous that they would suck! Yay!

Ana Avatar

Oooh, that’s is pretty (very holographic). But, too expensive for me. I feel that if you are going to spend that type of money on a nail polish, you would have to feel like you were going to wear it a lot (get your money’s worth). For me, this wouldn’t be work appropriate, so I wouldn’t wear it often.

Danielle Avatar

Very pretty! I still cannot get enough of Nubar’s 2010 that I wouldn’t have known about if it wasn’t for you Christine! I get so many compliments on it over any color especially dark. Gave 2 ladies at the Express counter your website. Keep up the great work!

Amanda Avatar

This looks the same as the new Mac polish coming out in the Glitter and Ice collection. I just pre-ordered it in the store and it looks the same to me 🙂

Jammies Avatar

Barielle’s Buddha-ful is the same milky base with similar-colored flaky glitter, and KleanColor’s Sugar Coat is a clear base with similar-colored round glitter. There is a masochistic streak in me wondering how the three would look layered.

Samantha Dupler Avatar

It’s not the truest dupe around, but N.Y.C. (New York Color)’s White Lights Glitter polish has very similar colored glitter pieces in a clear base, though the pieces themselves are a lot smaller! Also, it’s 99 cents, which is always a plus.

elyse Avatar

Christine, I didn’t know you were going to be at the Beauty Social on Sunday and purchased Saturday tickets instead. BOO. Will you be there at all on Saturday? :DD

claire Avatar

I have this and love it. I wear it layered over other polish and so far have’nt had a hard time taking it off. I just use a cotton ball and drugstore remover 🙂

Jennifer Avatar

I see what Lippmann is doing here for the glitter polish…

“Stairway to heaven” – A Led Zeppelin song title
And the previous “Do ya think I’m sexy?” A Rod Stewart song title…

Looks like 70’s rock song titles for this glitter polish… Love it

Vijaya Avatar

Hmmm. Not sure I agree with people saying it’s really dupeable! I know of some of the ‘dupes’ mentioned and I feel like they have too many qualifications (the glitter isn’t square, slightly too pink, etc etc) to really qualify as ‘dupes’. Sort of close but no cigar, IMO!

Jennifer F Avatar

I like this but have China Glaze Snow Globe which is similar except the glitter is not square. I can’t justify the price of a Deborah Lippmann colour to buy this when it is similar to one I have. Someone will probably dupe it in the future and make it cheaper.

yael Avatar

i just imagine this as perfect over Chanel’s Pearl Drop….however after hearing your impressions about removal and seeing your holiday post re. China Glaze’s Let It Snow collection, i saw a possible dupe; Snow Globe. I’m wondering although sight unseen, how similar they are…

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