Free beauty tips: Chanel

Showing posts with label Chanel. Show all posts

Chanel Rose Paradise

Good morning, Dear Reader!

This morning I got to try out the last polish in my most recent Chanel order, Rose Paradise. This one's a limited edition that I've had my eye on for a while, and I figured since I'd wanted it for some time and I could still get it at retail, I should go for it, so I did. I was reluctant because it's just a classic rose shimmer, but it's a really nice one.

In the bottle, Rose Paradise looks a bit frosty, but once it's dry it is not at all. It ends up being a fine, dense, uniform shimmer with no brush strokes. This is two coats dry in somewhat low natural light.

Chanel Rose Paradise Nail Polish, Two Coats

It's exactly what I'd hoped it would be - no alarm bells are sounding, but it's a great elegant, classic rose. I think more than one version of Rose Paradise has come out, and the information on the box identifying this one is 185 Rose Paradise 159.185.

That's all I have for you today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Chanel Black Pearl

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Last night I tried out Chanel Black Pearl, so that's what I have for you today. Black Pearl applied well, and it was good in two coats. It's an almost frosty charcoal with a bit of a teal flash, and I think it really does look a lot like a black pearl.

Chanel Black Pearl Nail Polish, Two Coats

I like it, as I expected to, but I think that I prefer Peche Nacree to Black Pearl by a good margin.

That's it for today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Black , Chanel , Long Nails , nail polish

Konad White Pearl Special Polish

Good morning, Dear Reader!

WowSoCool has some new Konad goodies in, and I have one of them to show you today: Konad White Pearl Special Polish. I tried it out yesterday over Chanel Peche Nacree using Konad plate m9 for the pattern, and it was really nice to use.

White Pearl is quite thick, but I left it that way and found that it was just right for stamping. It's opaque, makes very clean stamps, and was super low maintenance. I also found in applying top coat that it doesn't smudge, much like Konad Black Pearl Special Polish. Here's White Pearl over Peche Nacree.

Konad White Pearl Special Polish over Chanel Peche Nacree with m9

I'm always more excited about new Konad stuff than new polishes because it can be used with every polish, so it just seems like a bigger deal to me. This one, White Pearl, I will definitely get a lot of use out of.

That's the update for today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Chanel , Konad , Long Nails , Nail Art , nail polish , Peach , White

Chanel Peche Nacree

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I got a couple of the Spring 2011 Chanel nail polishes yesterday, and I decided to wear one of them today. The two I chose were Black Pearl and Peche Nacree, and after a few days of wearing darks (I wore Chanel Strong over the weekend), I thought Peche Nacree would be a nice change of pace.

It applied really well, but it took three coats for me to get it opaque. Part of that is due to the bottle design, I think, where it has the little ledge to wipe off the brush as it is removed from the bottle - that meant I had to do really thin coats. If the coats were normal, I think two would be enough. The color is a delicate peach, and it has a shimmer that makes the finish look like a pearl, which I think looks really cool.

Chanel Peche Nacree Nail Polish, Three Coats

It's certainly not a must-have, as there are many similar shades out there, but since it's a particularly nice rendition of a peach shimmer and I'm partial to Chanel nail polish, I'm happy that I got it.

That's it for today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Chanel , Long Nails , nail polish , Peach

Chanel Riva

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

When Chanel Riva became available on Chanel's site this week, I was planning to pass on it. But then they had free shipping and I haven't really gotten anything this month, so I sprung for it. I got it today and tried it out.

Riva is a pale blue kind of jelly finish polish, and it took three coats to be reasonably even for me. There are a couple of nails on my right hand that are a bit streaky, so it really could have used a fourth coat. Here it is in natural light.

Chanel Riva Nail Polish, Three Coats

Having tried Riva out, if I could do it over again I wouldn't have gotten it. It's nice enough, but not for the price tag. I think Sephora by OPI's Havana Nights would be a reasonable substitute - not a dead on dupe, I don't think, but nothing's so spectacular about Riva that it needs a dead on dupe.

That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Blue , Chanel , nail polish

Even More Halloween Nails

Happy Halloween, Dear Reader!

Well, I didn't get as many Halloween manicures done as I wanted to this year, but I have today's and another to show you today. The one from last week was done using the Color Club Cast a Spell set of Halloween minis along with some Halloween Art Club rhinestones for Halloween, both of which Color Club sent to me.

The mini set has a black, orange, holo, and dark purple shimmer (the same purple as last year, I think). The really cool thing it has is some fun decals. I was just playing around with it and did an orange manicure with a black accent nail, then applied the decals to the orange nails and a line of orange rhinestones to the accent nail. This is what I came up with.

Halloween Nails Using Color Club Cast a Spell Mini Set

For today, I did a simple manicure, but it's the scariest one for me. I'll even tell you the little story of why it's the scariest (if you don't care, feel free to skip to the paragraph after the story). It's spider-related, so if they care you skip it.

Six or seven years ago, I lived in new house on the edge of town, in a neighborhood that was being developed in what used to be corn fields. Now, I've always been terrified of spiders, and when the construction guys would dig a new lot out of this corn field, the spiders and bugs were everywhere. So gross and scary... After a few months of panicking at the sight of a spider, I decided I'd be all Zen and not kill them anymore, just ignore them and go about my business in order to get over my fear of them. Good plan, right? I soon saw two spider webs in the corner of the bedroom a few feet from my side of the bed, and for a few days was all pleased with myself for ignoring them. Pleased, that is, until I woke up one morning to zillions of tiny spider dots all over two walls of the room and squished all over the bed. The two spiders had mated and the eggs had hatched overnight. I have never again felt compelled to peacefully coexist with an arachnid, and am more freaked out than ever about spiders.

Back to the manicure! In honor of my scary spider story, I decided to do a spider in a web on my left ring nail. For the base color, I decided on Chanel Rouge Noir - it's a good dried blood color, and sufficiently Halloween-y on long nails. For the web and spider, I used stamping plate BM13, white for the web and black for the spider, both Konad Special Polish. To make my spider even scarier, I added a red dot (Zoya Lisa) to its back to make it a Black Widow.

Black Widow Nails over Chanel Rouge Noir

Black Widow Nails on Chanel Rouge Noir

Black Widow Nails on Chanel Rouge Noir, Closer View

I really like this manicure because it's not overtly a novelty, the accent nail is more like a little surprise if someone looks closely. And I couldn't handle more than one spider on my nails, lest they become friends and make zillions of tiny spider dots.

So, that's the update on Halloween manicures and your scary Halloween story to start out the day. I hope you have a great day today, and until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Black , Bundle Monster , Chanel , Color Club , Nail Art , nail polish , Orange , red , vampy

Nubar Jeans vs Les Jeans des Chanel

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

The time has come for the swatch comparison showdown between Nubar Jeans and Les Jeans des Chanel. Nubar sent the Jeans for review, but since it's a cloudy day I didn't want to do the real pictures of them, but I figured we could at least find out the answer to the question that's been asked since the promo image came out: Are they dupes to Les Jeans des Chanel? I think the answers yes, and I have some nail wheel swatches of the pairs together to let you make your own call on that.

Here are all three of each side by side. They're labelled, but the Nubar Jeans shade is the left of each pair and the Les Jeans des Chanel is on the right (which I screwed up labeling on the top pic of all six, the darkest two furthest to the right are reversed - Nubar's always to left of the Chanel for each pair, I'm sorry!). They're all two coats.

Nubar Jeans vs Le Jeans des Chanel Swatches, Two Coats

The first pair is Nubar Faded Jeans and Chanel Coco Blue. That's something a tiny bit more vivid about the Nubar and the shimmer is more visible (the cloudy-day light doesn't show that well, I'll swatch it for real with sun).

Nubar Faded Jeans and Chanel Coco Blue Comparison Swatch, Two Coats

Boyfriend Jeans and Blue Boy look the same except for that the Chanel could use a third coat and the Nubar doesn't seem to need one.

Nubar Boyfriend Jeans and Chanel Blue Boy Comparison Swatch, Two Coats

Dark Wash Jeans and Blue Rebel are dupes.

Nubar Dark Wash Jeans and Chanel Blue Rebel Comparison Swatch, Two Coats

They look the same to me other than the details noted, and they're available on Nubar's site now in the set of three for $19.99. I had to do the math to find a $67 difference. Ouch.

That's the update for today, Dear Reader, and my comparison of Nubar Jeans to Les Jeans des Chanel. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Blue , Chanel , Dupes , Les Jeans de Chanel , nail polish , Nubar , Nubar Jeans Collection

Chanel Peridot

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

After passing on Chanel Peridot with confidence, I saw someone wearing it in person recently, and that completely changed my mind. I think it's one that doesn't translate to photos terribly well - I've seen pictures where it looks mostly kind of yellowish or gold , and that's not what it looked like in person at all. I decided to get it somewhere with easy returns in case I hated it, and I don't. If only I'd waited to get Stairway to Heaven from Nordies...

Anyhow, Peridot seemed like a nice change for today, so I tried it out. It's a well pigmented two-coater, mostly green with some pale yellow and a strong shimmer. I used SpaRitual Lacquer Lock as a base and their Tout de Suite for top coat (some experimenting a few years back showed me those consistently work well with Chanels) and two coats of Peridot. Then I went outside and took some pictures. This is Peridot in the sun.

Chanel Peridot Nail Polish, Two Coats

Since it's a duochrome, I also took a picture in the shade.

Chanel Peridot Nail Polish, Two Coats in Shade

It took about ten pictures each to get the real color, and even at that neither picture is as cool as in person. I never knew it had the shimmer that shows in sunlight, but it does. Peridot is a happy surprise that's kind of made up for the Stairway letdown. This is not my favorite duochrome color combination (and not terribly far off from Nubar Wildlife but definitely not a dupe), but it's a very nicely done duochrome so I like it. If it were the purple/green kind, I'd be giddy about it.

That's Chanel Peridot and the update for today, Dear Reader. I have some new Konad stuff (the two new plates and multiscraper, which looks super handy) to show you this weekend, so until then, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Chanel , Duochrome , green , nail polish

Chanel Rose Confidentiel

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I'm wearing Chanel Rose Confidentiel, a brownish rose creme. It's really well pigmented, but I used two coats anyhow to make it nice and shiny. Here it is completely dry, about twelve hours after I finished the manicure.

Chanel Rose Confidentiel Nail Polish, Two Coats

It's a very tame color, but a nice one that's super shiny.

That's all for today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Chanel , nail polish , Rose

Chanel Vert Sacrilege

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have an older Chanel nail polish to show you, Vert Sacrilege. It's a green shimmer, and my bottle was pretty thin, so I needed three coats of it. Since it's a great shade and I really wanted it for a long time before finally getting hold of it, I'm okay with doing a third coat for his one. Here is my finished manicure with Vert Sacrilege.

Chanel Vert Sacrilege Nail Polish, Three Coats

I'd given up on this one long ago, but was really pleased and surprised when the opportunity to have it came along. So don't give up hope!

That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Chanel , green , nail polish

Chanel Rouge Fatal

Good morning, Dear Reader!

This morning I was up ridiculously early in order to do a bit of housework, and much to my dismay, my Khaki Vert got quite a few chips from it. I didn't do much that required water (the nemesis of a good manicure for me), but it chipped nonetheless. That was disappointing, since I've read accounts of Khaki Vert wearing especially well. I used SpaRitual Lacquer Lock base coat with it, which has always done well with Chanels for me, but I'll have to try another to see if I get better wear.

In any case, faced with lots of chips, I changed my polish to Chanel Rouge Fatal. I'd passed on this one when it first came out based on promo pictures, but after seeing a few real pictures of it, I decided to get it. It's a brick red creme, but what's special about it is the super shiny finish it has. One coat was almost sufficient for color coverage, and I used a second to even it out and make it nice and shiny. Here it is finished with top coat in sunlight. Since the picture's in direct sunlight, the polish appears a bit brighter than it is in normal light.

Chanel Rouge Fatal Nail Polish, Two Coats

I'm really pleased with Rouge Fatal, and I think it's a great Autumn red for me.

That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Chanel , nail polish , red

Chanel Khaki Vert & Konad M35

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'd planned to wear Khaki Vert by itself today, but I was up super early and decided to Konad it - I realized that I hadn't Konaded in forever, and since I was wearing a creme, it seemed like a good idea. I used a floral pattern from plate M35 stamped with an orange Konad Special Polish offset to the side. I like the outcome - it's very Fall to me. I took the picture under artificial light - it's too early for sunlight.

Chanel Khaki Vert Nail Polish & Konad M35

Chanel Khaki Vert Nail Polish with Konad M35 in Konad Orange

So that's my new and improved birthday manicure. I'm off to go about the business of having a really good day, and I hope you do the same. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Chanel , green , Khaki , Konad , M35 , nail polish

Les Khakis de Chanel

Good evening, Dear Reader!

I mentioned a few days ago that the Chanel Khaki nail polishes were available on Chanel's U.S. site, and I have swatches of them for you today. This collection of three limited edition nail polishes was created by Peter Philips, Chanel's top creative guy for makeup, to celebrate Fashion's Night Out.

They're not the most unique colors that have ever existed, but they're very, very nice. For all three, one coat gave sufficient coverage of color, and the second coat gave them the high vinyl shine I associate with Chanel cremes (like Imperial and Dragon). I sprung for them as my birthday gift to myself since I love colors like these, and the timing was good since by birthday is tomorrow.

The pictures are taken in natural light, but i's not terribly sunny out. I swatched the first two, and the third is my birthday manicure for tomorrow, finished with top coat.

Khaki Rose is quite simply a khaki rose creme, the most mainstream of the three shades.

Les Khakis de Chanel: Khaki Rose Nail Polish, Two Coats

Khaki Brun is kind of a muddy brown creme.

Les Khakis de Chanel: Khaki Brun Le Vernis

Les Khakis de Chanel: Khaki Brun Nail Polish, Two Coats

The last one, which I really love, is Khaki Vert. It's a dusty green creme that's about one shade darker than Essie Sew Psyched.

Les Khakis de Chanel: Khaki Vert Le Vernis

Les Khakis de Chanel: Khaki Vert Nail Polish, Two Coats

There you have them, Les Khakis de Chanel. I'm really happy with them, but I'm also disregarding their cost because they were within my budget for a planned special occasion expense. I probably would have been pickier otherwise.

That's it for today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in brown , Chanel , green , Khaki , nail polish , Rose

Chanel Blue Rebel

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today is the last installment of Les Jeans de Chanel with Blue Rebel, the darkest of the three. I put it on last night and managed to scuff it up a little bit before I took a picture, but I can still show you the color.

Blue Rebel is really saturated with color, and one thin coat is almost enough for a manicure. Two makes it really shiny and rich. It's just a standard blue, but very nicely done.

Chanel Blue Rebel Nail Polish, Two Coats

This is in direct sunlight, for reference on the color. Although it is a very nice blue, this is the one of the three with which I'm least impressed.

That's the update for today, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Blue , Chanel , Les Jeans de Chanel , nail polish

Chanel Coco Blue

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have Chanel Coco Blue to show you, which is the lightest of Les Jeans de Chanel. It has a nice mica shimmer that give the polish kind of a glow and is distinctly visible as shimmer only in direct light.

For the manicure, I used SpaRitual Laquer Lock base coat, two coats of Coco Blue, and one coat if Lippmann Addicted to Speed to finish it off. Here's Coco Blue in natural light on a slightly cloudy day.

Chanel Coco Blue Nail Polish, Two Coats

That's all for today, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Blue , Chanel , Les Jeans de Chanel , nail polish

Chanel Graphite

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Today I'm wearing Chanel Graphite. which is every bit as fabulous as I'd hoped it would be. It's the dark grey shimmery one released pretty recently, and all it took was two coats of color to be just right. Here's Graphite in the sun.

Chanel Graphite Nail Polish, Two Coats

I'd count Graphite amongst the really fabulous Chanels - when they do a good one, they really do a good one.

That's about all there is to tell you about, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Chanel , grey , nail polish

Chanel Blue Boy

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I received a fabulous gift of Les Jeans de Chanel today, so it seems that my waffling over whether to purchase them resolved itself without a decision ever being made. All three polishes are quite pretty, but I'd say Coco Blue is the standout of the collection. It's lighter than I was in the mood to wear, so of the other two I chose Blue Boy, the middle one, to wear today.

Blue Boy is a medium kind of slate blue creme, but bluer than slate blue and I don't know the official name of the shade, but that seems like a close enough description since I'm about to show you a picture anyhow. I used SpaRitual Lacquer Lock for a base, two coats of Blue Boy, and I topped it off with Addicted to Speed. At one coat, Blue Boy looked like it might be a jelly, but the second coat made it a super shiny Chanel creme. Blue Boy is to medium blue what Dragon is to red and Imperial to brown, where the color itself isn't out of the ordinary but the incredible gloss to the polish is. Whether that's $29 special is a personal call, I think, and I'm just glad my birthday falls when it does so I can stop evaluating whether it's $29 special and just enjoy wearing it.

This is Blue Boy in sunlight after it had dried.

Chanel Blue Boy Nail Polish, Two Coats

I haven't tried a new Chanel creme in quite some time, perhaps since last September, and I'd forgotten the high shine they have. It makes a simple color really a standout for me, so Blue Boy makes me happy. I think my reluctance to purchase high-end polishes has made gift giving very easy for people who like me - I'm suddenly really easy to shop for!

That's what I know about Chanel Blue Boy, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Blue , Chanel , Les Jeans de Chanel , nail polish

Chanel Soho Nail Lacquers

Good evening, Dear Reader!

Today I have the two new limited edition Chanel nail polishes released for the re-opening of Chanel's Soho boutique. Although I like both, neither is so unique that I'd trample anyone to get them.

Strong is a dark eggplant shimmer. The polish was thick but easy to work with, and required only two coats. Strong has the subtle Chanel shimmer, which shows up well in brighter light bu not so much in lower light.

Chanel Soho: Strong Nail Polish, Two Coats

Steel is a dark gunmetal grey shimmer. It's very dark, kind of like a softened Chanel Black Satin. Like Strong, it was thick but easily controlled, and also a two-coater.

Chanel Soho: Steel Nail Polish, Two Coats

They're both quite nice for cooler weather, but neither is terribly unique.

That's it for today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Chanel , grey , nail polish , purple

Les Jeans de Chanel Online

Hello, Dear Reader!

I'm doing some work way, way too late tonight, but it worked out well in the sense that I checked Chanel's site for Les Jeans de Chanel, this year's Fashion's Night Out nail polishes, at 11:01 p.m. thinking that it was the release date of Les Jeans de Chanel in the Eastern time zone, and as luck would have it they were there for the taking. Here's their promo image for the category for all three Les Jeans de Chanel shades on their site.

Les Jeans de Chanel Nail Lacquers

Their price is $29 each, and while that's far better than the rumored $39, it's also a heck of a lot for a bottle of nail polish. Given that my 40th birthday is next week and I was really happy with the Gift to Self of a Chanel order last year, I'm now waffling about these. There's also a corner of my brain that's been fixated on the shimmer of one of their recent polishes, Graphite, for some time, so I'm still evaluating whether my overtired brain is simply trying to rationalize a Chanel order.

I'm guessing these will go quickly, although I'm open to being proven wrong on that. If your heart is really set on any of these, my experience is that limited edition Chanels can rarely be found for less than retail, so I wanted to let you know that they're there for the taking at what might be the lowest price for which they can be purchased.

I'd better get back to being productive so I can get to sleep, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Blue , Chanel , Les Jeans de Chanel , nail polish

Chanel Red Dream

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Although I have a few new things to show you, I felt like wearing a comfy old standby today, so I picked Chanel Red Dream. It's an older one, a darkish red with a great sparkly shimmer, and although I'm sure I must have shown you this one at least once before, I think it's worth lots of looks.

I used SpaRitual Lacquer Lock and Tout de Suite with this manicure, as I've found that for me SpaRitual's products work well with older Chanels. In between those I used three coats of Chanel Red Dream. I took a picture of it with the sun coming and going, and was happy to find that one of the pictures shows the shimmer as it really looks on my hands. Here's Red Dream.

Chanel Red Dream Nail Polish, Three Coats

I just love this polish. It actually sparkles like in the picture just walking around, which make it nice to look at without being too much.

That's my manicure for today and just about all I know about Chanel Red Dream, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Chanel , nail polish , red

Free beauty tips

Chanel Rose Paradise

Chanel Black Pearl

Konad White Pearl Special Polish

Chanel Peche Nacree

Chanel Riva

Even More Halloween Nails

Nubar Jeans vs Les Jeans des Chanel

Chanel Peridot

Chanel Rose Confidentiel

Chanel Vert Sacrilege

Chanel Rouge Fatal

Chanel Khaki Vert & Konad M35

Les Khakis de Chanel

Chanel Blue Rebel

Chanel Coco Blue

Chanel Graphite

Chanel Blue Boy

Chanel Soho Nail Lacquers

Les Jeans de Chanel Online

Chanel Red Dream

Sections

Popular Posts

Followers

Archives

Sections

Popular Posts

Followers

Subscribe To

Archives