Chanel Black Velvet and Chanel Illusion D'Or Swatches and review

Chanel Black Velvet and Chanel Illusion D'Or were released in Spring 2010 as part of Chanel’s Noir Et Or Paris-Shanghai Collection. The collection was a follow up to the Chanel Metiers D’Art fashion show in Shanghai. Apparently the show was intended to be a study of dark and light which mixed together different textures and reflected Coco Chanel's impression of Shanghai in the 1930's and 40's.


When I was checking the dates for this post I actually learnt some things I didn't know about the Metiers d'Art collections. Since 2002 Karl Lagerfeld has shown yearly Metiers d'Art collections  to recognise the work of the artisans who create those beautiful details that set Chanel apart. The show takes place in a different city each year spots have included Moscow, London and New York and of course Shanghai. The Chanel Paris-Moscou Metiers d'Art show resulted in the now infamous trio of polishes - Nuit De Russie, Feu De Russie and Or De Russie which Peter Philips created for the 2008 show. This year's Metier d'Art was the Paris-Bombay collection that gave is Diwali as seen in my previous post

Chanel Black Velvet Le Vernis

Chanel Black Velvet was, I believe, advertised as a true matte polish but as you can see it's not. It is however a perfect, buttery, satin finish black polish. It has some of the best application I used, super smooth amazing finish in two coats. The crystal detail was me testing some new nail art supplies I had, so a bit of unrelated extra. On a slightly random note I love the frosted bottle for this one, don't think they've done it for another polish but it really works here.

Chanel Le Vernis Illusion D'Or

Chanel Illusion D'Or was the polish that I think everyone was most excited about when the collection was released and for good reason. It's a truly stunning shimmering gold polish with round opalescent flakies. It's definitely a layering polish not a buildable glitter. You could try multiple coats but you'd have to waste a lot of polish before it was even close to opaque, besides I think it looks best over another polish as it is here.

Chanel Le Vernis Illusion D'Or  Close Up

It has a very fine warm gold shimmer base with a scattering of large gold particles. The final element are the round opalescent flakes which shimmer a range of colours from blue, through green to lilac. They shift and change colour as you move your nails so in the top swatch you can't necessarily see all of the flakes on the nail. In the bottle picture above you can get an idea of how many there are in the base and the range of colours.


There was a third polish in this collection was a medium gold called Gold Lamé which I didn't pick up as it didn't feel hugely unique to me. These were limited edition so if you want them you'll have to scour eBay.

Chanel Delight and Holiday Le Vernis - Swatches and Review

Chanel Le Vernis in Delight and Holiday

 These two are from a trio of polishes that are part of the Summertime de Chanel collection that’s currently in stores. The third polish in this collection is a shimmery pink beige called Island which is pretty but a very sheer pearly neutral so it wasn’t really for me. There are apparently dupes for these out there but clearly I have no self control so couldn’t resist!The collection was inspired by the summer sun and the colour palette definitely fits with that image. Neutrals, bronze-golds and orange brights are perfect summer desert island shades. I thought I’d only go for Holiday when I saw the promo pics but Delight was lovely too so I ended up getting both.  

Chanel Delight Le Vernis

Delight is like Graphite’s lighter bronze-gold little sister, it has that same super sparkly but non-gritty formula. Application with these kind of Chanel shades is a dream, really smooth with a perfect finish. This was only two coats but it's completely opaque. The base is a shimmery warm champagne gold with a hefty whack of bronze microglitter. It makes me think of sandy beaches and sunshine, definitely a beautiful summer shade. It has a similar base to Chanel Diwali (as reviewed here - Chanel Diwali) but Diwali has silvery glitter in place of Delight's warmer bronze tone. They are part of the same family but they are distinct shades so no dupes there. 

Chanel Le Vernis in Holiday

Apologies for the difference in photos here, I took this photo before I had my new camera and the Delight photo after so you'll  have to bear with my super pale zombie skin tone! Holiday is a bright medium orange that has a slight jelly feel. Application on this one was good too, this was three coats and dried to a great glossy finish. It's more opaque than the OPI Texas sorbet finish shades but it has a very definite jelly squishiness to it. I personally think it's great that Chanel decided to go with such different finishes for this collection. Chanel Island, the third shade in the trio is different again with more of a pearly frost finish. Whilst I loved April, May and June having three cremes in a collection wasn't the most interesting range ever. Chanel Holiday is a perfect, bright, beach pedicure colour and it's jelly feel makes it more unique among Chanel's so I think it's worth picking up too.

Overall I love both of these so should you be lucky enough to be going somewhere other than the UK that's hot and sunny, pack these two for your perfect holiday nails duo. If you are coming the UK I'd recommend something more wet weather...possibly Illamasqua Raindrops...we're getting a lot of that at the moment....