Happy 4th July! - USA Themed Nail Art

Just a quick post to say Happy 4th July all you Americans out there! No time for nail art today as I'm packing boxes but here are some nails I did last year with OPI Cajun Shrimp and an Essie Mesmerize and crystal thumb accent.

4th July Nail Art

Have a lovely time celebrating and I'll be back to update soon.

Chanel Challenge! - Progress so far

Chanel Black Pearl, Peridot, Graphite, Paradoxal and Magnétique

As I mentioned in my previous post on my Chanel Le Vernis collection here I've set myself a challenge of swatching my entire collection. I've made a bit of a start so I've updated the list with links below to the different swatches. Where they are from newer collections and I have some information about the shades I'll do an individual post but I may have to do some colour grouping bottle spam posts to try and get these done. Any favourites here you'd like to see sooner rather than later? If so let me know in the comments!

*UPDATE* - Haven't posted for a looonngg time as I've been busy having a teeny baby girl who is gorgeous and wonderful but somewhat time consuming. I'm still buying Chanel polish (including scoring Holographic, woo hoo) and I'll keep ticking over with posts as and when I have time. If you have any special requests from the list just leave me a comment and I'll make it a priority!

Accessoire *New*

April - Swatched here

Azuré *New*
Bel-Argus *New*

Bengal

Black Pearl

Black Velvet - Swatched here

Blue Satin
Coco Blue *New*
Coromandel *New*

Delight - Swatched here
Distraction - Swatched here

Diwali - Swatched here

Fantastic

Fire
Frenzy *New*
Frisson - Swatched here

Gondola

Graphite

Holiday - Swatched here
Holographic *New*

Illusion D’Or - Swatched here

Jade Rose

June - Swatched here

Magnétique
Malice *New*

Marilyn

May - Swatched here

Miami Peach

Mimosa

Ming

Mistral - Swatched here

Nouvelle Vague - Swatched here

Particuliére
Paradoxal
Pearl Drop
Peridot
Pulsion
Riva
Riviera - Swatched here

Rouge Noir
Sky Line - Swatched here
Taboo *New*
Tentation - Swatched here
Tulipe Noire

Vendetta
Vertigo *NEW*

Les Roses Ultimes de Chanel Collection, Swatches and Review

A post from my archive and another few polishes ticked off for my Chanel challenge today. Les Roses Ultimes de Chanel was released outside of the main seasonal collections and included four new polishes - Tentation, Distraction, Frisson and Attraction. When I visited the Chanel Pop-Up shop at Covent Garden (see my post here) I picked up three of the four polishes, swatches and review after the jump.



Chanel Le Vernis Tentation, Distraction and Frisson



Chanel Ēclats du Soir - Holiday 2013 Collection

Chanel have released details of their Holiday 2013 Collection and it's good news for those of you who like their festive season suitably golden and dramatic. The Ēclats du Soir collection focuses on evening makeup and is based on the idea of Chanel's classic Rouge Noir reimagined with stunning golden highlights. I've always loved Rouge Noir in nail polish and lipstick form so the idea of a Holiday collection based around that iconic colour was always going to appeal. There are lots of beautiful products in this collection including a new Eyeshadow Quad in Harmonie du Soir - £43.00, Illusion D’Ombre in Apparence - £23.00 and three new lipglosses in Allégorie, Mystery and Intrigue for £21.00.

Two products in particular from this collection have particularly caught my eye.....

Chanel Le Vernis in Malice - Image provided by Chanel


Chanel Le Vernis in Malice is the only polish in the collection and is described both as a "red with a black sheen" or a "burning black hue with a flamboyant heart of red glitter". Which ever description you prefer it's a beautiful twist on the classic Rouge Noir polish and looks like one of those lovely deep metallics that are perfect for Christmas. I do already have OPI Germanicure which is a similar style of polish and I'm hoping this will lean more towards the black than the brown tone of Germanicure so I don't double up. Malice will be on sale for £18:00.


Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet in L'Impatiente - Image provided by Chanel

I don't normally feature lipsticks but this was too good to ignore. Again I already have the Rouge Noir lipstick which is pure gothic deep, dark red so I'm hoping this is a slightly more velvety twist on that one. L'Impatiente is meant to be coordinated with Malice and I think it's a good pairing. The deep metallic nail with a matt lip should look much more chic than a straight match of colour and finish and hopefully be more wearable. L'Impatiente will go on sale for £25:00.
The whole collection goes on sale on 9 November nationwide. 

OPI Euro Centrale Collection

Exciting news from OPI! OPI updated their Facebook page on Thursday with some details of their traditionally destination themed Spring collection. The Spring 2013 collection is Euro Centrale which is inspired by four European Countries: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania.

Picture from OPI's Facebook page

Colours from top to bottom, left to right are: Suzi's Hungary AGAIN!(coral pink), OY-Another Polish Joke!(gold shimmer), Vant to Bite My Neck? (dark grapey purple), A Woman's Prague-ative (copper shimmer), I Saw...You Saw...We Saw...Warsaw (deep teal), My Paprika Is Hotter Than Yours!(hot spicy red), Can't Find My Czechbook (bright turquoise), Polka.com (blue & violet glitter), Hands Off My Kielbasa (bronzey rose-toned tan), OPI...Eurso Euro (bright Yves Kleinesq blue), My Vampire is Buff (light buff nude), You're Such A BudaPest (periwinkle lilac).

OPI Holland Collection - Swatches and Review

I've been somewhat slack recently on posting for one reason and one reason only...the Olympics were in London! I've been glued to my TV firmly clutching my Team GB flag throughout and I’ve also been lucky enough to go to a few events, with appropriately themed nails which I will be doing a post on soon but I've been a bit of a slow coach catching up on my other posts.

Anyway making a tenuous segue to a post on archive polishes today featuring OPI's Holland collection for Spring/Summer 2012. The Holland collection is one of their traditional collections themed around destinations. If you were supporting the Netherlands in the Olympics you were royally spoilt for choice with this collection. They seemed to go with pretty classic (and possibly a smidge stereotypical?) Dutch imagery – it feels very wind and water inspired with nods to windmills, tulips, cheese, canals and errr...Amsterdam nightlife in shade and name selection.

 

OPI Holland - Edited highlights (taken with Instagram)

Overall I really liked the shade selection in this collection but I only picked up four shades ( I Have a Herring Problem, Dutch Ya' Just Love OPI, I Don't give a Rotterdam and Wooden Shoe like to know) which are swatched below the break. I've also added a little bit about what I look for when picking out which shades to get as I'm interested to see how you guys make your choices.