Monday, September 17, 2012

Estée Lauder Smashed Swatch and Comparison

Smashed was one of my first picks from the Estée Lauder fall 2012 polish releases, since it's my favorite color, purple. This shimmer has a deep plum base with shimmer that's dominated by red violet particles but which also has some blue violet mixed in. I used two coats for these swatches and added topcoat for extra shine.







Smashed is certainly pretty; it reminded me quite a lot of a polish I like so much I've put in in my Top 20 the last two years, Estée Lauder Ultra Violet. Here are the bottles, Smashed on the left, Ultra Violet on the right:



And here they are on the nail, two coats with topcoat in both cases; left to right—Smashed, Ultra Violet, Smashed, Ultra Violet:



The difference is quite subtle. Let's zoom in to see better—Ultra Violet on the left, Smashed on the right:



Out of the lightbox; Ultra Violet on top, Smashed on the bottom:



Ultra Violet's shimmer is more silvery and less colorful than Smashed's, lacking the pops of blue violet. The base colors of the two are really, really close. If you've already got Ultra Violet, I'd say you can skip Smashed. They're not dupes, but the overall effect is so similar that I bet I could wear these on alternating nails and no one would notice I had two different polishes on.


18 comments:

  1. It's so gorgeous - or rather they both are. I doubt many would notice any difference IRL...

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  2. Very pretty. I can't believe how subtle the difference is. I do like Smashed better but I had to look REALLY REALLY hard to see the difference.

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  3. I love Ultra Violet, and I'm happy to have it. In these pictures, I can't really see the difference!

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  4. Wow, they do seem so very close! I had to look hard to see the difference too.

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  5. Nice comparison, they are very close. Both very pretty!

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  6. Great comparison! They're both pretty to look at!

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  7. What fantastic looking polishes. I wouldn't notice the difference in real life :)

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  8. They're very close, but both very lovely. Yay for purple!

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  9. THey sure look the same to me-maybe IRL you can see a difference-I do love the three Estees I bought-but not sure I'd regularly spend that much!

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  10. Gorgeous! I was lemming Smashed hardcore, but I already have Ultra Violet... I'll probably still end up with Smashed though, lol. Thanks for the comp!

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  11. OOOOHHHHHHH! I totally didn't even see the difference until you explained it. Maybe it's more evident in person. lol Lovely colors either way. :)

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  12. I don't think I would be able to notice the difference! But they are both beautiful!

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  13. gorgeous! great comparison as always! thanks for sharing! :D

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