Chanel Frisson — Swatches & Review

I was in NYC when the Roses Ultimes de Chanel collection launched. It consists of four nail polishes and six Glossimers. I went to the SoHo Chanel to check them out, and of the polishes I was only really drawn to the delicate, girly light pink #543 Frisson. It's semi-sheer, milky and contains little golden and multicolored flecks of sparkle. Frisson might seem a little boring to us nail fanatics now accustomed to wild colors, but I've fallen totally in love with it. This is even the first time I've thought I might want to purchase a backup bottle of polish!

Contrary to what some reviewers experienced, I found this shade to be an absolute dream to apply. For me, this is extremely easy to just swipe on. This manicure is with two coats. I had no trouble with streaking or any other texture issues. Yes, this color is a little sheer and you will still see the whites of your nails underneath after only two coats. However, this doesn't bother me at all for some reason. I think it looks lovely.

Bottle shot in direct sunlight:

Here you can see the gold sparkles:

I also picked up "Jalousie", the vibrant fuchsia Glossimer from this collection. Soon I'll have a review up!

Chanel May — Swatch & Review

Wow, all of February escaped without a single blog post! I wish I'd posted more, but my new circumstances have prevented me. I'll tell you all about it at the end of this post!

So I've noticed that I don't really have all that many pinks in my stash, which is part of why I decided to get Chanel Le Vernis in May #535. This is of course one of the trio of nail polishes from the Harmonie de Printemps Spring 2012 makeup collection. Another reason I decided to get May is because I love the whole collection and I wanted to have the complete set. Although this pink is not too out of the ordinary, I don't have anything to compare it to since I have relatively few pinks.

May is a very neutral shade. Sometimes it seems to lean warm, and other times it seems more on the cool end of the spectrum. I think it's a shade that would suit most skin tones. I used two coats for this swatch. The formula is smooth and easy to apply, with a slightly squishy quality although I wouldn't call it a jelly. Even if May is a fairly ordinary pink, I'm quite pleased to own it as it's a well made polish.

I took a picture with all three polish colors from the Spring collection. I just love how April, May and June all look together.

Ok I promised to explain my long absence, so I shall! About a month ago I started working full time in a nail salon. Yes, I'm in fact a licensed nail tech! I've had my license for a little over a year, but this is my first job in that capacity, so I didn't think it was worth mentioning until I really "earned" the title by working as a nail tech. Painting your own nails, friends' nails, or even the nails of the other ladies in my nail tech class is entirely different from giving full manicures and pedicures to paying customers in the busy salon. It's a tough job which makes me very tired at the end of the day, but I also love it and I'm very lucky that I have genuinely wonderful coworkers.

Since I always get home after the sun has already gone down, I haven't been able to make any swatches. So, it's time for me to get some of those super bright daylight lamps and a light box so I can take some photos in the evening. I'm slowly getting used to the busy work day, and building up stamina so I'm not quite so enormously exhausted when I get home. I hope I'll be able to get back to posting at least once or twice a week! =)

Playing Fashion Editor with Dior's Spring 2012 Nail Lacquers

No doubt many of you are familiar with Polyvore, a website that lets you design your own outfits using just about every last piece of clothing available from the entire spectrum of low, mid, and high end shops. I like to indulge in the fantasy of creating outfits from the latest designer clothing, much like the spreads you see in fashion magazines. I love color, and I'm especially loving the spring color trends this year (although I tend to love them every year!) so I've been playing around with various combinations. Because I'm crazy about nails, I tend to build outfits around one particular polish. I'm also a bit nuts for perfume, so I like to find one that goes along with everything as well.

Here's an outfit I concocted to go with Dior Waterlily from their Spring 2012 Garden Party makeup collection. I don't know if I would ever wear something like this in real life, but I can imagine this in a fashion editorial at least! The soft and neon pink, jade green, and apricot are all colors that are very trendy this spring.

Wear this with Dior Waterlily nail lacquer. by alisa138 featuring a layered skirt

This outfit for Dior Forget-Me-Not is almost as focused on that gorgeous Etro coat as it is on the soft purple polish. I love the little splashes of bright aqua — another trendy color this spring. Hermès Un Jardin En Méditerranée is a really interesting scent. I don't own it (yet?) but every time I go to Sephora I end up sampling it. It smells like tomato leaves and stems and rich garden soil. I'm a total amateur with an untrained "nose", but to me it's such a unique and interesting scent that I've developed a fondness for it.

Wear this with Dior Forget-Me-Not nail lacquer. by alisa138 featuring a floral coat

I don't own either of these Dior polishes, so I want to give you some links for other excellent blogs where you can see swatches and reviews of them.

Waterlily:
KristenD at Frazzle and Aniploish A very thorough review which includes extensive comparisons.
Laura at LacquerWear Beautiful swatch photo and a comparison.
Sylvie at A Lipstick A Day Lovely bottle shots, a swatch, and an apt reference to Monet's The Water-Lily Pond.

Forget-Me-Not (and Waterlily):
Pointless Cafe This review has tons of pics of both polishes and comparisons.
Eugenia at ommorphia beauty bar Lots of pics of both polishes, plus thoughts on Monet.
Siobhan at The Nailphile An articulate review and nice clear pics of both polishes.


So what do you think of my attempt at playing high fashion editor? Chic, hideous, or absurd? Do you ever match your perfume to your outfit? Is that too abstract a concept?

Revlon Bewitching VS Chanel April

Hello everyone! My January class is all finished, and I hope to get back to more blogging finally.

I have swatches of a new Revlon polish called Bewitching, which is not to be confused with the classic Revlon shade Bewitching Bordeaux. Bewitching is a lovely rose red creme that was released for this spring. The formula is just right, and applies smoothly. I used two coats for total opacity.

The moment I spotted Bewitching in the display it reminded me of Chanel April (full review here) and I wondered if I'd found the latest drugstore dupe. However, once I had the bottles side by side it was obvious they were different shades. You can see April is a much more muted rose, with more brown in it.

I think Bewitching is a perfect springtime version of red. It really reminds me of flowers.

L'Oréal Club Prive — Swatch, Review & Comparison

A couple days ago I came across two untouched displays of L'Oréal's new line of Colour Riche nail polishes. I picked out only two for my introduction to the line, and it was hard to decide among all the great colors. They had the usual range of classic reds and pinks, but plenty of more trendy and chic colors as well. I'm happy to report that these polishes have the same fantastic flat but not mop-like brush as L'Oréal's previous line of polishes. This is a huge selling point for me as it's one of my favorite brushes from any brand. I'll be going back for more soon I'm sure!

This shade is #105 Club Prive. I'm assuming "prive" is a typo of privé, so the name translates from French to "private club". It's a lovely aqua or turquoise creme. I needed three coats for even coverage and opacity, but the formula was very easy to work with. It had none of the goopy-ness you sometimes get with pastel colors. It also dried fairly quickly as well.

This shade is very similar to China Glaze For Audrey, but if you're a well-trained nail fanatic you can certainly tell the difference. For Audrey is a degree more blue. In this comparison shot Club Prive is painted on my index and ring finger.

I found these at CVS for about $6. Has anyone else spotted these new polishes? Did you get any?

Happy 2012! — Milani My Network & Silver

Happy New Year everyone!

Right after Xmas I went away to NYC again for another week, which is why my blog has been so terribly neglected. I'm back now, though, and for a while. I'm taking one of those Winter Term courses that crams a whole semester into three weeks of January. So when I'm not studying or attending Intro to Oceanography, I hope to be blogging!

This is the manicure that I had on starting Xmas Eve, and made it all the way to New Year's morning. These pictures completely suck and really do not do it justice. I used two coats of Milani My Network as the base. It's a very shiny and metallic neutral gold foil. It was part of a seasonal collection a couple years ago, so I'm not sure if it's still available anywhere. Milani Silver is large silver hex glitter in a clear base, and is available on their website. I tried to do a gradient effect with the most of the glitter concentrated at the base of the nail. I was only partially successful, but the final result is so blingy and fun it doesn't really matter.

Many people noticed and complimented me on these nails. They were very appropriate for the festive season. I hope everyone had a fabulous holiday and that it hasn't been too difficult readjusting to all the usual activities and responsibilities!