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. 

Chanel Pop-Up Store at Covent Garden

If you've read my post on my Chanel collection (see it here) you'll know that when news of a Chanel Beauty Pop-Up Store opening in London was released I was unbelievably excited. It opened on 24 July (just in time for the Olympics!) and I made a trip last week to check it out. *Warning Picture Heavy Post coming up!*

Chanel Pop-Up Store at Covent Garden

Chanel Pop-Up Store at Covent Garden


Temorary hiatus in posting due to exciting things happening in London (rhymes with schmolympics) but I made a little trip yesterday and will be doing a full post very soon.......

Chanel Pop-Up Store at Covent Garden - Taken with instagram

 As I said on Twitter, I feel like the mothership has finally called me home, lots of pics to follow so stay tuned!

Chanel Les Pop-Up de Chanel - Chanel Nouvelle Vague, Chanel Mistral & Chanel Riviera

Chanel Le Vernis Mistral, Riviera and Nouvelle Vague

Les Pop-Up de Chanel was released back in Summer 2010 and was a seaside vista inspired collection that was meant to capture the free spirited nature of Coco Chanel herself. The three Chanel nail polishes released as part of this collection were Mistral, Riviera and Nouvelle Vague. This one came hot on the heels of the nail polish that launched the revitalised interest in Chanel nail polish - Chanel Jade - which was launched in Fall 2009. As far as I can remember the Chanel releases between Jade and this collection were Trapeze (Chanel Holiday 2009) a silvery neutral and Inattendu, Tendresse and Particuliere (Chanel Spring 2010 Les Impressions de Chanel) nude, pale pink and infamous mushroom polishes. As such I always think that Nouvelle Vague was the first chance for those who missed out on Jade to get their hands on a must have Chanel bright polish. It was justifiably popular and it's a definite favourite of mine. Swatches and review after the jump.

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....

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 April, May and June



Chanel April, May and June



Whilst I was writing my post on the Chanel Fall 2012 couture nails (you can find it here - Link)I was looking at the images wondering if my new camera had slightly washed out the colour of the Chanel nail polish in May that I used for the top layer. It may just be the way my screen was displaying but I'd taken these images for my Tumblr laliqueheart so I thought I do a follow up post here as a comparison.

The April, May and June Le Vernis nail polishes were released as part of Chanel's Harmonie De Printemps collection for Spring 2012. All three are standard creme two coaters, there's no hint of the classic Chanel nail polish shimmer here a la Paradoxal, Mimosa etc. April is a dusty berry red, May a medium bubblegum pink and June a soft apricot. Although this is a Spring collection (I bought these back at the end of January) what these shades really remind me of is beautiful summer garden roses like the picture below, which I guess just about fits with the months they're named after!

Rachel Rose - taken with Instagram

As soon as I had them I did some quick swatches to get an idea of what all three were like. As Chanel nail polishes have a nice small brush I used the same technique for my Confetti Nails tutorial so I could get the best idea of how all three colours came out.



Chanel April, May and June Confetti Nails

They are genuinely lovely colours and the formula is pretty good although my bottle of May has thickened ever so slightly, not really sure why. You can still pick these up in some stores if you've got a real passion for one of them. My favourite is April which was quite unexpected as I thought it would be quite boring but it's lovely on the nail. June is the one I thought I'd love the most and whilst it's really nice it's a little sheerer than April so that pips it for me. May is a good standard bubblegum pink but it is in no way unique so go for it if you want a classic Chanel pink but otherwise it's the most standard colour from the collection I would have said. Now if only I could convince Chanel to release an October nail polish.... 

Chanel Le Vernis Collection



Chanel Le Vernis Collection



So that Chanel problem I mentioned? About that....

Top Row: Riva, Nouvelle Vague, Mimosa, Miami Peach, Ming, Bengal, Mistral, Riviera, Particuliére

Middle Row: Magnétique, Pulsion, Marilyn, Fire, Fantastic, Tulipe Noire, Gondola, Rouge Noir, Paradoxal

Bottom Row: Pearl Drop, Jade Rose, Illusion D’Or, Peridot, Graphite, Black Pearl, Black Velvet, Blue Satin, Vendetta

There have been several additions since I took this so should probably do an updated one at some point. Sky Line comes out next Friday so I think it might be growing even more then....

I'm setting myself a bit of a challenge here - I'm going to try to swatch my entire collection. I'll be tagging all of these posts as "Chanel challenge" and updating the following list as I go, wish me luck...

Chanel & Ladurée

   

Chanel Le Vernis & Ladurée Macarons

 Two of my great loves in life - Chanel nail polish and Ladurée macarons.  


Pink - Riviera & Strawberry Candy
Orange - June & Salted Caramel
Yellow - Mimosa & Lemon
Green - Nouvelle Vague & Pistachio
Blue - Riva & Iced Mint
Purple -  Paradoxal & Violet 
Ladurée started in Paris and are slowly opening more stores in other countries but I get them mostly from the concession at Harrods in London. They are hands down the most delicious thing ever, two crisp shells with a chewy centre and with a variety of soft fillings (jam, cream, ganache and so on). They have a set core of flavours that are available all year alongside seasonal varieties like Gingerbread at Christmas, Lily of the Valley in Spring and Strawberry Poppy in Summer. I'm a sucker for any kind of floral flavour so my favourites are Rose and Orange Blossom but the Salted Caramel is awesome too.


They do regular collaborations with different people to create limited edition boxes and flavours. Previous collaborations have included Christian Louboutin, Marni and Matthew Williamson. Currently you can get boxes as part of their collaboration with Hello Kitty.


For more info see their website - http://www.laduree.fr/