Nail polish by non-nail polish specialists (other than Chanel, of course!) is rarely worth bothering with. Easily dupe-able colours but at insane prices means that the big brand lacquers are usually worth bypassing… but then in comes Estée Lauder, ready to destroy my theory!
For Fall 2012, Estée’s creative make-up director Tom Pecheux has unleashed an awesome array of new nail varnishes inspired by Paris’ classy but dazzling night lights. The result? Annoyingly unmissable nail polishes that are a hell of a lot more expensive than the ones procured during my Cher2 trips!
Nouveau Riche is an absolutely stunning bronze-gold, with a duochrome shift that takes it to rosy pink, champagne gold and even a hint of olive-green thrown in there too! Again, it has that awesome glowing metallic finish made up of lots of teeny-tiny glittering gold flecks and flakes but that is resolutely not a glitter (think Chanel Graphite or Butter London Wallis); seriously, this finish is totally rocking my world right now, it’s just the perfect look for a really refined sophisticated metallic, but which still has enough complex shimmer to shake a sock at.
The bronzey duochrome aspect reminds me a little of OPI’s Warm & Fozzie (or at least the promise that Warm & Fozzie showed in the bottle), except that the colour shift on Nouveau Riche is much more noticeable (and even more so in real life); Nouveau Riche’s gold is also much brighter with a beautiful champagne-rose cast to it. Imagine the prettiest most glistening goldfish scales out of Greek mythology, or the turning auburn-gold of autumn leaves in a fairytale sunset and you’re there.
Even worse news for your wallet – the formula on these is fantastic! Very smooth and easy even coverage in just two coats, it glides on like liquid metal. Estée Lauder’s brush is on the short square-ish side, making doing rounded edges a little difficult, but really I’m just splitting hairs.
Nouveau Riche seems to straddle summer and autumn perfectly; it’s got the bright gold glitter of summer sunshine but paired with the bronze-y metallic embers of autumn. If you’re playing reasoning with your wallet, you could tell it that this is definitely one of those versatile colours that would go with anything at any time and anywhere, an investment nail polish if you like (well if we can have investment handbags then I’m going to go there!) – a touch of glam for the everyday or the perfect accent for a party.
Yet I’m afraid I have even worse news… Estée Lauder released a whole range of these ducohrome metallic beauties! There are five altogether in the Metal Mania Collection and if they’re anything like as gorgeous as Nouveau Riche, I can see myself getting to know the Estée Lauder make-up assistants rather too well over the coming months!
Estée Lauder Nouveau Riche Pure Colour Nail Lacquer, Fall 2012 Metal Mania Collection, $160
Looks good with: other metallics, black, as French tips
Drying time: <5 mins
Coats required: 2
Chips: +5 days
Note: these products were provided for my consideration.
Through The Looking Glass 