Remember I told you about how dark manicure is all the fashion this season? In case you want more detail, please, see here Darker than dark manicure fall 2016 trend.  Pretty much, the shades that are hot right now are so dark they are almost off black. As long as they are off black, they can be anything – green, purple, brown, blue, red, whatever. That’s the trend, which to me, personally, is no fun at all. Too many shades that look too similar. For starters, all those shades are designed to look black 🙂 And even if they don’t quite look black or only kind of look black, so many dark manicure shades worn all the time and one by one and in a row is not my personal preference. I’m too much into variety. There are too many nail shades in the world for me to stick to dark ones only or mostly even.

 

On the other hand, there are people out there who love dark manicure, black manicure and off black manicure. Those people are like having a ball this season 🙂 I mean, so many of those dark shades are around they should be really happy. If you’re one of dark manicure fans, or if you’re looking for your first, best or perfect off black shade, you’ll get even happier now, because this collection by Deborah Lippmann has the highest possible concentration of off black nail shades in it. The name of this collection sure seems to indicate that. After Midnight. As usual – for Deborah Lippmann – there are four shades in this collection. They are all Gel Lab Pro formula that’s pretty new and seems to work just fine for this new kind of gel formula that applies like regular nail colour. I’ve already told you about this formula here Deborah Lippmann Afternoon Delight spring 2016 swatched and new Gel Lab Pro worn.

 

Anyway, even if those shades are off black, they aren’t just black, there’s more to them, so I’m going to look into them here very carefully and get to the very bottom of what they are.

 

Here’s our first one.

 

Love Hangover

 

This name is certainly dark 🙂 It suits this shade.

 

The shade itself is the most interesting one and the most complex one in this collection. Simply because it’s s hard to say what colour it is 🙂

 

The first thing you need to know about it is that it’s the warmest in the collection. I’m not saying it’s warm, mind you 🙂 , but the warmest of the four for sure.

 

It’s a very smooth mix of purple and greige. I dare say those two shades are mixed almost in even proportion here, so depending on the light you’re in, what colour your outfit is, your bracelet is 🙂 even, maybe, this shade will look either purple or greige.

 

There’s something distantly plumy about it, but only distantly. It’s in no way your good old and classic plum. Instead it’s artsy in a way and moody in a way. Not in a bad way though 🙂

 

Love Hangover belongs in fall. There’s something very fall like about it, something very fall like in its core, to put it simply, it feels like fall and looks good within the season.

 

At the same time this shade can be very hot and very vampy. You just need to play it right to achieve this effect. Wear it with a greige or beige outfit that will look elegant but have this strong sexy undercurrent in the way it looks. You know what I mean 🙂

 

All in all, this shade is pretty impressive. And it has two colours in it, two worlds, purple and greige (or beige). So, a lot of people would find it appealing and wanna wear it.

 

Next on our list is

 

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

 

It’s another great shade name.

 

And the shade is blue. It’s blue as blue can be.

 

This navy blue crème is dark and deep and everything. It looks like a stormy sea and has a little bit of a grunge glam edge to it making it exciting.

 

I’ve told you already how I like navy blue manicure. There’s something inherently elegant about it. At the same time, it’s not boring, it’s even artsy in a way.

 

There’s something really special about navy blue nail colour. It’s hot but not quite as straightforward as red nail colour. It’s moody but not as punk and glum as black. It’s artsy but not as edgy as green.

 

It’s one of those rare shades that combine in themselves all kind of styles, effects and meanings. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes is eclectic in the very best sense of this word. It’s modern and seems to never cease to be relevant.

 

It being so eclectic opens endless planes of possibilities. Here’s how. Navy blue manicure can look ever so elegant, if you wear it with a nice dress. It can look hip, if you wear it with your favourite jeans. Or it can look very businesslike if you wear it with your favourite grey business outfit. Which option you go for is up to you.

 

I remember the time, when I fell in love with navy blue manicure. It was due to Chanel promo poster – if you ask me now what was being promoted there, I couldn’t tell you, as I don’t remember 🙂 – the model there was wearing Chanel navy blue nail colour though on those really short nails. That I remember very vividly. Boy, it looked great. And it got me hooked for good   🙂

 

And here it is, finally.

 

After Midnight

 

The shade that the collection is named after. Or is this shade named after the collection? 🙂 I don’t know.

 

What I know is that this shade is purple. And dark 🙂

 

Purple manicure is another trend of this fall that I spotted early on and told you about it here Manicure trend fall 2016. There are a lot of purples around.

 

And those purples are dark 🙂 They can be dark plum or dark ink purple, but dark. Well, After Midnight here is all dark and all cool. It’s ink purple or very close to it.

 

I must confess I’m a little tired of plums at the moment, so this cool and dark purple is a pleasant distraction to me. Especially as fall season is always so full of plum nail shades. So, it’s nice to have something here that’s off the beaten track.

 

Ink purple nail colour is pretty artsy. There’s no way around it. While plum, even the darkest one, is a classic already, ink purple has a bit of edge to it and a punk glam atmosphere about it.

 

On the second thought, it’s so dark – off black 🙂 – and dark manicure managed to get to the point where it became a classic or almost did.

 

So, there are two ways to go here. First, you treat it as black. Then it becomes more or less a dark classic and you can wear it with anything that dark manicure matches. To me, it looks especially exquisite with lighter outfits.

 

And the last shade in the collection.

 

It’s called Wild Thing.

 

Wild Thing, huh? Aren’t we all sometimes? Grrr 🙂

 

You know how I love green nail colour, so I’m happy to report this shade is green.

 

Well, dark green. Dark dark green. Might be too dark for green nail colour fans. They might say – hey, it’s so dark it’s not green enough. Where’s my green? I want more of it 🙂

 

On the other hand, those who usually stay away from green nail colour figuring it’s too artsy or something, might go – hey, this isn’t that green, it’s off black, almost black. I like that. I’m going to wear it 🙂

 

So, this shade is a great example of how different we all are, and how we like all kind of things and combinations and have our own style. And it’s great 🙂 because it means it’s so interesting to get to know the world and each other.

 

I just can’t help saying 🙂 that, to my eye, this deep forest green looks very elegant and very womanly. It might be due to my love for green nail colour in general, but this shade here is by all means dark green done right.

 

Even though I like green manicure, I’m aware of the fact that green nail colour is not the most common one, the most worn one or the most loved one in the world 🙂 But…

 

This green nail shade in particular is one of the most wearable greens I’ve ever seen. Also, it happens to be one of the best off black manicure shades I’ve come across this season. There happens to be something really nice and really sophisticated about it. So, if you’ve been meaning to try dark green on your nails, go for Wild Thing. Grrr 🙂

 

That’s After Midnight collection by Deborah Lippmann that might be a way to warm up to dark manicure and off black and dark nail colour trend. It shows you that off black shades can be different and suited to your taste as opposed to being all generic and black looking. The collection is nice, even though it might seem a little boring to you, if you aren’t crazy about dark manicure. Then you can just pick your favourite shade, the one that appeals to you most and is based on one of you favourite nail colours. Say, if you like lighter blues, you can try this navy blue Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. If you like cooler purples, ink purple After Midnight will probably appeal to you. If you’re into greens, just like me, you can always go for Wild Thing. And if you love greige, beige or plum, Love Hangover will work best for you. I’ll tell you one thing. There’s something about dark manicure. Just like there’s something about that little black dress, you know. Something classy, something special, something hot. Something. It’s a matter of capturing this something, fitting it into your look and making it work for you personally.

 

Oh, and if after reading all this, you’re still wondering how you wear dark nail shades and what you wear them with, here’s my take on it What nail colour matches your outfit.