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.

Nicole by OPI For Gold Times Sake Comparisons

As promised last week when I noticed that the new NOPI For Gold Times Sake bore some resemblance to my new favorite Estée Lauder Explosif, I've done a comparison. I used three coats of each, no top coat. Left to right below—Estée Lauder, NOPI, Estée Lauder, NOPI.



Straight on in indirect light at a bit of a distance, like above, they look very similar. The NOPI is a little darker but definitely in the same color family. Closer up and at different angles, the duochrome factor starts to make a difference. The shimmer in both ranges from warm purple, almost pink to cool purple, almost blue depending on conditions, but the NOPI shift is more dramatic. I don't know if that's due to the darker base or having more of the shimmer particles or what, but I sure do notice it when they're side by side. See the shots below and judge for yourself:







They're both attractive to me, but the NOPI is more interesting to look at and thus has edged out the Estée Lauder for the position of my current nail polish crush. Sorry Explosif; you've still got the better bottle by far and if it's any consolation For Gold Times Sake will likely be supplanted by something else new and shiny before too long.

Because For Gold Times Sake leans green just like Explosif, I decided to compare it to OPI Number One Nemesis, which also leans green but from the cool side of neutral rather than the warm.



Here's three coats of each (left to right, it's OPI, NOPI, OPI, NOPI):



Closer (NOPI on the left, OPI on the right):



I'd say these are cousins rather than siblings. The NOPI is from the warm side of the family and the OPI from the cool. I like them both.

Estée Lauder Explosif

I'd like to introduce you to my latest nail polish crush: Estée Lauder Explosif.





I'd describe the color as olive green or perhaps very, very tarnished gold. It's not the color that won me over, though, it's the shimmer. It's packed with shimmer of the micro-flakie variety and throws off pops of lime and purple and blue and pink and gold in different lights.







I don't know if Explosif will be as versatile as my summer fling (Essie Bikini So Teeny) but it sure is gorgeous on its own. These swatches are three coats, so I'm wondering if it might work to layer over a brown or purple. I'm definitely going to have to try layering over it; maybe it will be just the thing for the gold glitters I tend to avoid.



Explosif is from a group of five called Metal Mania. I picked up the purple one, Smashed, at the same time as Explosif (not sure when I'll get around to swatching that one) but now am wondering if I should get the other three. At $20 a bottle, they're not really impulse buys (though the bottle is so heavy and solid that I feel like I'm getting something substantial for my money).

*****
Thanks to all of you who have sent good thoughts to my mom. I'm happy to report that as of yesterday, she was released from the hospital to continue her rehab at home.

Top 20 of 2011, Part 3

Nail Wheel Wednesday is taking a well-deserved Christmas break but will return in 2012. Today I've got the next installment of my Top 20 list, the Shimmer Division.

Estee Lauder Ultra Violet is a returnee from last year. It's purple and pretty, and I like the luxe bottle.





Chanel Paradoxal is also coming back for another year. I consider it the shimmer version of China Glaze Channelesque; an un-boring neutral.







Finger Paints Mistletoe Mischief came out last Christmas and is my favorite deep green shimmer. So nice and squishy!







Cult Nails Let Me Fly is another new addition to the list. It's a wonderfully murky turquoise.





Tune in tomorrow for Part 4, the Glitter Division.

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.

Recent NOTD: Four Looks in Four Days

I managed to sort through the photos from my trip last weekend, so now I can share what I had on my nails. All these photos were taken in room light, sometimes at night, so keep that in mind as you look at them. I arrived wearing Extravagant Pearl as seen in yesterday's entry; before dinner the first night I stamped some swirls on top with Sally Hansen Insta Dri in Jumpin' Jade using Konad plate m51.



For the second day, I switched to my good friend glitter, specifically OPI Show It & Glow It.



With crack being so popular in the nail polish world right now, I had to work that in, so I put China Glaze Cracked Concrete on top of Show It & Glow It.



I had planned some nail art to go with a costume I wore for the Saturday night party, but I got busy doing other things and ended up not doing that. Instead, the last change I did was to ease back into the real world with a calm taupe creme, Milani Teddy Bare.



And now, having wrapped up my last trip, I'm leaving on another one, so I'll probably be scarce for the next week or so. I might get an entry or two up depending on how things go, but don't worry if you don't see me. I'll be back for sure before too long; I have too much untried nail polish to stop now!

Recent NOTD: Estee Lauder Extravagant Pearl

Oh, Estee Lauder. I really like Surreal Violet and Ultra Violet, so when I saw you had some new colors late last year, I got both of them. I haven't had time to try the purple one yet (Extravagant Night) but I put on the other one recently, and I have to say I was disappointed. I guess I knew there might be trouble, since in the bottle it looked gold, and gold is not my thing, but I could see pretty sparkles, and with a name like Extravagant Pearl, I thought maybe once on my nails, the gold would be just a sheen on a flattering pearly base color.



Well, no. On my nails, I got gold. I don't much like gold on me, so I didn't care for this. It felt old fashioned somehow.







I will admit I liked it better in direct sun, when I could see a lot more of the sparkles.



At three coats, I still had a hint of visible nail line, so perhaps I'll try this as a layering polish, maybe over something like China Glaze Channelesque to cool it down.

Ultra Violet vs. Galaxy Girl

A couple months ago, Katt asked if Estee Lauder Ultra Violet was similar to Orly Galaxy Girl. I meant to answer that question long before now; I hope late really is better than never in this case. When I was looking for Galaxy Girl, I found Out of This World and decided to include it in the comparison, too.


Left to right: Galaxy Girl, Ultra Violet, Out of This World.


Top to bottom: Ultra Violet, Galaxy Girl, Ultra Violet, Out of This World.


Top to bottom: Galaxy Girl, Ultra Violet, Out of This World.

I used two coats of all of these (no top coat). Galaxy Girl definitely has a very similar base color to Ultra Violet. The difference is in the shimmer; Ultra Violet has a bright purple shimmer that pops against the base color while Galaxy Girl has a blue/purple duochrome shimmer that covers up more of the base color. Galaxy Girl's bright purple side comes out in the sun, so that's when it would be closest in appearance to Ultra Violet. Out of this World is Ultra Violet's blue-toned cousin; both have a deep purple base with brighter purple shimmer but the Orly is on the blue side of purple and the Estee Lauder is on the red side.

Recent NOTD: Estee Lauder Ultra Violet (and Friends)

Nail Wheel Wednesday will be around a little later today; right now I want to share a purple I wore last week. It's Estee Lauder Ultra Violet, which was part of the Summer 2010 collection. I bought it earlier this month when the salesperson looking for the Holiday 2010 polishes for me found this instead. I was happy to get it, since at the time it came out, I was pretty much completely ignoring department store brands. Ultra Violet is a deep royal purple with brighter purple almost-glitter shimmer. In low light (third photo below), the base goes almost black and the shimmer really pops. I was quite smitten with it in all lights.







I couldn't resist doing a comparison to other shimmery purples in my stash, so I pulled out some likely suspects.


Left to right: Kiko 278, Estee Lauder Ultra Violet, OPI Visions of Sugarplum, Zoya Valerie.


Top to bottom: Kiko 278, Estee Lauder Ultra Violet, OPI Visions of Sugarplum, Zoya Valerie.

The Kiko, pretty and purple though it may be, is obviously not even close to duping Ultra Violet. It was the only of of these that took three coats instead of two, probably because its base color is lighter. Visions of Sugarplum is definitely cooler-toned than Ultra Violet. Valerie comes closest, though its shimmer seems more dense, with less of the base color showing. In some lights, though, it looks really similar. I did my best hand contortionist impression to get pictures of my middle finger with Ultra Violet next to my pinky with Valerie.


Ultra Violet (top), Zoya Valerie (bottom), in bright light.


Ultra Violet (top), Zoya Valerie (bottom), under indirect light.

I really, really like Ultra Violet, but at $18 for .3 ounces, it's definitely a splurge.