Estée Lauder Metallic Sage

I missed the limited edition Estée Lauder nail colors they released this past spring (fortunately all the ones I wanted were cremes, so I am telling myself that they are easily dupeable and indeed I likely have close enoughs in my stash already). I wanted to make sure I didn't miss the fall limited edition polish in the Modern Mercury collection, Metallic Sage. I kept an eye out online and when I saw other people had gotten it, I knew it was time to go hunting. Because this brand is only available in a few stores, and not ones that are on my usual shopping route, I called ahead so I wouldn't waste a trip. I phoned Nordstrom and asked for the Estée Lauder counter. I got connected, as evidenced by the voice picking up and saying "Estée Lauder". I asked if they had Metallic Sage nail polish in stock. "Who makes that?" the voice at the other end of the line says. Sigh. I told her Estée Lauder; she said she didn't have it. I am still not convinced she knew one way or the other about it. I gave up and ordered online from Macy's.

Metallic Sage is what I'd call an olive green (not as dusty & grey as what sage is in my opinion) with golden shimmer. I used three coats but could probably have stopped at two. Indoors, the shimmer is definitely visible but not dominant, so not what I'd call "metallic". I like it, though; it's one of those types of colors I used to think of as yucky but now think of as very intriguing.







Outside in the sun, blam! The shimmer pops—gold and copper and bronze and I think I even see some bright pink in there. The base color also warms up in the sun, and makes the indoor photos look sage-y in comparison.



Here's me getting all arty with it—I think I even accidentally managed to get some of that bokeh certain of my photographer friends are always going on about. (Bokeh seems to be something photographers argue about the definition of, sometimes in great technical detail, so I gave up on finding a definitive link to explain and will instead point you to Wikipedia.)



Estée Lauder polishes retail for $19, so in the same neighborhood as Chanel on a cost per ounce basis. The Estée Lauder bottles feel more luxe to me than Chanel; they're heavier and the cap is metal, not plastic. Last I checked Metallic Sage was still in stock on some websites, like Dillard's. (There's also an Amazon seller who has it listed for $38.99—and the cremes I missed at $69.99 and $79.99!— which strikes me as obnoxiously greedy.) I didn't get a chance to do any comparisons of this one, but Nailed did a great post about it with a lot of alternatives; I recommend it and her blog.