Chanel Sky Line - Swatches, Review and Comparison with Essie Blue Rhapsody

Chanel Sky Line

This is Chanel Sky Line nail polish, it's part of a limited edition Bleu Illusion collection that also includes eyeliner, blusher, lipstick and pencil and new Illusion D'Ombres shadows. This collection came out today in the UK and it's all limited edition so get it while you can.

Chanel Spring 2012 Couture Nails - Picture from Glamour

It was first seen as part of Chanel's Spring 2012 Couture runway show which was shown in a mock space shuttle which seems in keeping with the airy blue of Sky Line. It reminds me of light summer skies which I can only vaguely remember given the weather we've had recently in the UK. Onwards to swatches...

Chanel Sky Line Swatch

Formula wise it's along the lines of another Chanel polish, Pearl Drop. This is three coats so it takes a little while to go completely opaque but the formula is very smooth and applies well. The base colour is a light periwinkle blue with a hefty amount of pearly light shimmer. It's lovely but, there's no way of getting round this, it has a very definite frost finish. Whilst frost finish polishes are normally my nemesis I think if anyone can make it look good Chanel can. You will get brush strokes with Sky Line but it does settle down as it dries and because there's so much of the pearl pigment in there you end up with buildable ribbons of shimmer rather than obnoxious streaks.

Chanel Sky Line Swatch

Edit: Lots of people seem to be interested in the finish of Sky Line so I've added this extra shot to give you an idea of how visible the brush strokes are.... I'd say pretty visible close up but I wasn't hugely careful with the application here. At arms length I think you can only just see them so it's whether you feel really strongly about that as to whether you get this one.

Chanel Sky Line and Essie Blue Rhapsody

I didn't have any dupes in my stash for Chanel Sky Line so I went with another blue metallic I picked up recently - Essie Blue Rhapsody.

Chanel Sky Line and Essie Blue Rhapsody Comparison Swatch

Formula wise they are pretty different - Essie Blue Rhapsody is a true metallic blue foil and Chanel Sky Line is a frosty blue pearl. However they both have that icy blue base with a hefty whack of shimmer. The biggest difference other than finish is how many coats you need - this is one coat of Blue Rhapsody versus the three of Sky Line. I do like Sky Line but Essie Blue Rhapsody is just so much better behaved. They are in no way dupes so you could get both but if you're trying to save the pennies I'd probably err towards Essie. I'm going to have to go and have a lie down now, don't worry Chanel I still love you!

Disclosure: I bought both of these nail polishes with my own money