For Summer 2008 Estee Lauder released two color collections, Pearls of Light and Bronze Goddess. Pearls of Light is soft and glowy, filled with lustrous pinks and champagnes including two sparkling but subdued Pure Color nail lacquers.

I’ve never used Estee Lauder nail polishes before so I jumped at the chance to test them out. The bottles have always intrigued me, they’re so luxe with a great weighty feel. Don’t you just adore how the sphere of polish is encapsulated in the square glass? Or is it just me?

EL polishes have a flat brush that makes application a breeze. I really love that so many brands are using that style of brush. And the formula, well I’m super impressed with the formula’s staying power. I gave my Mom a set to try out, they’re very much her kind of shades, and when I realized she hadn’t done a polish change in two weeks I gave her a scolding. Much to my surprise, she showed me her nails and can you believe that with the exception of one massive thumb nail chip the rest had just some tip wear. TWO WEEKS LATER. Unreal! Holy staying power Batman!

Champagne Pearl‘s metallic quality gives it a duo-chrome appearance. It fluctuates between a champagne metallic and a reddish shimmer and feels very water-washed beachy. The multi-colored shimmer is what keeps both these shades from being another boring color. Is it me? Not so much. It’s not “pretty ugly” enough for me.
Pink Pearl is a bit more sheer as you can see in the pic. I used two coats with both shades yet I can still see the line of my whites through Pink Pearl. This is a very soft girly pink. Very work appropriate, even with all the fun shimmer.

So either Mom read my layering post or she just didn’t feel like redoing her nails and added more polish on top because she layered champagne pearl over pink pearl to create her own unique shade. I tried layering both ways and the results are pretty similar to the camera’s eye but in person they really are different. I think the Pink Pearl over Champagne Pearl is my favorite. The pinkness really stands out with the opaque nudish base underneath.
Estee Lauder’s Pearls of Light collection is available for purchase on the EL website however Pink Pearl is unfortunately sold out. Fear not fellow fanatics, you can still snag a bottle of your own. How? Stay tuned!