In the Fall of 2010, the cocktail themed brand Nailtini (Tini Beauty) teamed up with Janie Bryant, costume director for the hit show Mad Men, and created a set of four limited edition nail polishes, including ‘Stinger’ which I have for you here. I was so happy to come across this brand, as I was quite curious to try their line and this shade drew me like a moth to a flame. If you’ve ever come across a gasoline spill on pavement and seen the prismatic effect produced by the colours, then you begin to get an idea of what this complex shade looks like. All ‘Stinger’ swatches are with Sèche Clear base coat, two coats of lacquer and a-england ‘The Shield’ top coat (reviewed here).
I was curious to know if ‘Stinger’ the nail polish looked anything like the drink for which it was named, but as you can clearly see in the photo above, the name is the only similarity. The cocktail is made by combining brandy with white crème de menthe, producing this gorgeous caramel tone, while the lacquer has this intricate almost poly-chromatic look, with blue, teal, and purple colours running through it. No matter what, this shade is very va-va-voom!
Interestingly enough, I expected that sunlight would bring out the myriad shades of this polish in great detail, but I found that the teal tones are what stood out the most, with vague hints of purple glimmering around the edges.
By adjusting the position of my hand slightly, the full prismatic effect of this varnish comes out to play, showing off all the hues that give it such depth and visual interest.
Seen in shaded light, ‘Stinger’ seems to morph into a mysteriously deep teal lacquer, although the bottle tells a different story.
For some reason, I was convinced that ‘Stinger’ had a duplicate in MAC’s ‘Formidable’ from the Venomous Villains collection of last Fall, but when I went looking through my polishes, I also came across Deborah Lippmann’s ‘Don’t Tell Mama’, looking suspiciously close as well, so I swatched the three lacquers to compare. In the following photos (all with 2 coats of polish): index and pinkie fingers – ‘Stinger’, middle finger – ‘Formidable’ with the ring finger wearing ‘Don’t Tell Mama’.
Once more, sunlight seems to deepen the tone of all three, although it’s clear that ‘Formidable’ not only has the darkest hue, but the one with a vaguely reddish tint to it, while ‘Stinger’ and ‘Don’t Tell Mama’ not only seem to share a similar type of shimmer, but have the same teal base.
Seen up close, ‘Formidable’ definitely stands apart from the other two, which look almost identical to each other, although ‘Stinger’ has a slightly more purple leaning which can just be seen on the upper part of the nail (index finger).
In this angle, all three polishes look the same, although ‘Formidable’ once again is somewhat deeper.
Shaded light only seems to emphasize how close ‘Stinger’ and ‘Don’t Tell Mama’ truly are, but I still detect the barest hint of purple along the edges of the ‘Stinger’ swatch.
Final thoughts: As both ‘Stinger’ and ‘Formidable’ were both limited edition lacquers from their respective brands, it’s nice to know that there are other options out there, especially if you fall in total love with a shade as unique as this. I’ve heard that Essie’s ‘Dive Bar’ is another one that looks similar, but having only recently picked it up, I haven’t swatched it yet to be sure. The formula on ‘Stinger’ was fabulous, easy to apply and practically self-levelling, bearing an excellent brush on a slightly long-ish wand. Dry time was pretty good too, and even the finish was fairly glossy, although I recommend applying a top coat to truly bring out its rainbow glory. There’s nothing I love more than a truly unique lacquer shade, and I could happily get drunk on this ‘Stinger’!
2 Responses to Nailtini ‘Stinger’ (swatches, review & comparisons)