Following the roaring success of Estee Lauder’s previous nail polish release and the fact that I simply couldn’t have anymore love for Surreal Violet than I do, I had super high hopes for their Christmas collection.
I was given Extravagant Pearl at a recent event and I have really mixed thoughts on it.
Extravagant Pearl is one of two polish releases for Christmas 2010, the other being Extravagant Night (a dark plum with mesmerising micro-glitter). Looking at Extravagant Pearl in the bottle, I expected it to be a sheer, layering polish… it isn’t. The above shows three thin coats and if you don’t mind a visible nail line, you could be done in two. Oddly enough, the reviews I’ve read of the darker Extravagant Night show that one to be a 4 coater!
Anyway, I’m going off on a tangent…
Extravagant Pearl is quite a difficult colour to describe… but I think I’d call it NARS Albatross in a nail polish. A pale, warm gold with shimmer. Lots of shimmer. A little too much for me.
It looks quite frosty and for some reason makes my normally narrow nails look wide and fat. It needed a top coat too thanks to the micro-glitter making the surface of the nail quite gritty to the touch.
I want to love this shade, I really do… it is packed so completely full of beautiful multi-coloured sparkle in the bottle I was sure I would be on cloud nine with this on my nails. But I’m just not feeling it.
I tried layering it over black to see if I loved it more… I still don’t.
Urgh, what’s wrong with me? It’s clearly very pretty and sparkly and totally Christmassy. It even works well against my skintone… perhaps I just don’t like frosts?
Wear has been marvellous… 3 days now with no tip wear at all though it was a little slow to dry between coats.
What do you guys think? Am I crazy for not loving it?
Estee Lauder Extravagant Pearl is a Limited Edition shade released as part of the EL Christmas/Holiday Collection. It’s available online or on counter and priced at £12.
Really great color! 🙂
I don’t like it in the first pic but love it in the second. I have Extravagant Night and its a two coater for me, although three would be absolutely perfect
I really love how it looks in the second pic, it’s really pretty!
I’m a little unsure about this one, will definitely need to check it out in store before deciding. I was very late at purchasing Surreal Violet, which I adore, and had a hard time hunting it down, so I don’t want to make a similar mistake with these polishes. Extravagant Night sounds more me. Thanks for the great pictures & post X
oooh i love those sparkles that are not too much or chunky but just enough to give that gorgeous look xoxo
http://glamandglitterforever.blogspot.com/
I like it layered over black, but otherwise it seems like it’s too close to your skintone without actually being a nude color. Nude frosts are just weird for me.
I actually really like this over black! It’s a bit meh by itself but I think the black makes it really pretty. thanks for the post!
Your nails look best in the darker colours. I have a theory that most ranges do a nail colour for people with no or short nails and I reckon this is Lauder’s Christmas no nails color. Agree that Lauder polishes last well.
🙂 Guess what, a relative of mine sent me Surreal Violet home with someone who came from the U.S., woohoo 😀 Hey, regarding this one…I’m not too cool with how it looks on you, for some reason I’m finding it more pretty layered over black.
I’m rockin’ short nails now for a change, and certain eye catchy polishes look nice on short nails, what if you tried this one on again when you trim yours next time? I didn’t like NUBAR’s Iced Licorice on my long nails. When I chopped them short then reapplied…oh my, now I can’t stop looking at them.
This isn’t really my cup of tea either. Pretty color sure but I wouldn’t buy it. Oddly enough I was staring at that first pic thinking “Gee her nails look really wide, I don’t remember them looking like that before.” I noticed because I think you have nice nails and I’m not such a fan of the flare you’re getting with this one <.< I agree with Julia there, try it again next time you're nails are shorter, it may look better.
I think it may be one for shorter nails too! The nail polish itself, not entirely sure how I feel about it yet.. Hmmm?
I don’t blame you, I also dislike frost polishes! Something about them always looks cheap and wrong to me.