Chanel

Color availability

I did a little research regarding available colors in different countries. Just on the Chanel website I found the following: the least available colors appear to be in the US here are 13 (31 see below) colors listed, Chanel France has 30 colors, Chanel Germany has 36 colors, Chanel United Kingdom has 51 colors, Chanel Spain 48 colors, Chanel Italy 45 colors, Chanel Russia 29 colors and finally Chanel Asia has 55 colors. All the countries have some overlaps but overall different colors are available in each one. The US is different there are 5 limited edition collections available on top of the 13 colors. Currently these are: Tokyo Happening 4 colors (that I found the other day), Les Noirs de Chanel 3 colors, collection Paris-Moscou 3 colors, Lumieres Celestes collection 4 colors, Robertson Exclusive Nails 4 colors. Together there are 31 colors available in the US. Some colors from these collections are available in Europe and in Asia, although not part of any sort of collection. I personally have never seen more than 20 colors available in any shop in any part of the world regardless how many are listed on the website for the relevant country. By the way the very rare and coveted Chanel Holographic is available in Asia and in Spain. I suppose this means they could potentially be orderered from Chanel by retailers in those countries.

My Chanel Test

I have acquired a few colors last month, some are part of some collections some were available in the US only in April and then suddenly appeared here. In my opinion some of the colors, Miami Peach and Orange Fizz are the same except that Miami Peach has shimmer and Orange Fizz is flat, same goes for Imperial and Cosmic Violine, Imperial is flat while Cosmic Violine has shimmer. For this reason I left Orange Fizz and Imperial in the shop, also did not pick up Coromandel because it is a warm - orange based red instead I picked Dragon which is a true Chinese Lacquer red. I will wear these colors in the coming weeks with the Chanel protective base coat but with a different popular top coat to leave only one variable to test. The ultimate top coat test I suppose!

 The colors are: from left to right:

Ming, Cosmic Violine,  Dragon, Mica Rose, Golden Sand,  Miami Peach,

The top coats that I will be testing are; from left to right:

OPI RapiDry, Seche Vite,  Orly In a Snap, INM Northern Lights,  Barielle Manicure Extender,  CND Air Dry

Vogue on Vienna

Check out Vogue's blog on Vienna, Austria

Chanel Tokyo Happening

Hi Girls,

Update: Sorry as of today 3/6 this collection has sold out and vanished. It is no longer on the Chanel website (at least I could not find it) this link is still working for some reason. Literally, blinked and missed, can this get more elusive, exclusive?

 I was looking for Chanel polishes, which polish is available in which country to be more exact. Then by pure chance I came across this Tokyo Happening collection, I closed the page and it took me another ten minutes to find it again it is so well hidden. This collection is only available in the US, looks spectacular! Grab it while you can!

CND Collection - Apple Cobbler

A beige pink with silver shimmer, very work appropriate. I topped the color up with INM hologram top coat which has tiny silver glitter to enhance the shimmering effect. Application was easy both the brush and the formula was great, needed three coats to achieve opacity. I let each coat dry for 10 minutes before the top coat. This was the first time that I applied nail polish during the day, I tend to do it in the evening so there is less chance of denting. To be honest I fully expected my nails to be marked or dented after reading that CND takes a long time to dry but very happy to report that with waiting between coats the polish was set after the top coat. The lasting power, I used Chanel base coat which I think is perfect, it is a ridge filler and protects from staining plus it makes the polishes last and last. The pictures below were all taken on day 4 (with the exception of the chip close-up). New discovery: INM holographic fast drying top coat, I absolutely adore this, it really is extremely fast, I dare say faster than Seche Vite, it does not cause shrinkage adds subtle bling at the same time, the only thing is it is thin. If the consistency was thicker maybe it would make the manicure last even longer, I do not re-apply top coat every other day out of principle, I want to see how well the product holds up without any additonal help.

still shiny:


size of the silver glitter:


chipping on day 5:



NOTW#10 is; from left to right:

Chanel protective base coat, CND Apple Cobbler, INM Out The Door Northern Lights hologram fast dry top coat

Pssst!

If you have not bought RBL Locavore and Frugalista yet than hold on until August. OPI will come out with very similar bling for your nails. Also a similar color to Nfu-Oh #54 and another vampy color with golden flakes. I do not have pictures but I have seen the samples.

Color comparison Rescue Beauty Lounge Atame - Essie Wicked

These two are exact matches, the only difference between them is that essie is thicker (2 coats were used in this comparison), RBL Atame came out slightly lighter, 3 coats would give the same opacity as essie wicked. Essie on index and ring finger, RBL Atame on middle and pinkie.



comparison products; from left to right:

Rescue Beauty Lounge Atame (2 coats), essie wicked (2 coats)

Rescue Beauty Lounge Cherry Love

RBL Cherry love, beautiful blue red a little darker than expected. When trying to decide on the color for this week’s manicure, I tried cherry love on naked nails. The application was very impressive, so smooth, I thought this is what a great formula should be. However, after prepping the nail with RBL 1st step and applying the RBL base coat, the application changed from ease the struggle, the polish was very uneven was not spreading on the nail bed at all. Some of the nails had two coats and some had three coats, found it very hard to apply neatly. Finishing it all off with RBL top coat, drying time was about 30 minutes. Unfortunately shrinkage was too obvious, the photo below was taken the next morning showing tip wear, this top coat appeared very thin, scratches were visible on day 2. Chipping on day 4.




NOTW #3 is; from left to right:

Rescue Beauty lounge base coat prep, Rescue Beauty Lounge base coat, Rescue Beauty Lounge top coat, Rescue Beauty Lounge Cherry Love (2-3 coats)




The picture shows chipping on day 6





Hand and cuticle care this week; from left to right:

L’Occitane Baume Maman & Bebe, Creative Nail Design Cuticle Eraser, Creative Nail Design Solar Oil, The Body Shop Hemp Hand Protector


L’Occitane baby and mother balm, this is going to be the benchmark for the worst product ever, pure grease did not absorb at all it was sitting on the skin and weirdly made my hands feel dry, is that even possible? CND eraser and CND solar oil, these two are the wonder products for cuticles and the skin around the nail, last week I was testing something else and did not use the solar oil at all and used the eraser sporadically, by the end of the week the cuticles looked ragged and peeling again. Also tried the solar oil on a persistent rough patch on one elbow and it is working. Solar Oil is truly a wonder product. Body Shop Hemp cream, turn to this when my hands feel very dry, put it on for the night and wake up with soft hands in the morning.



Manicure products used this week; from left to right:

Sally Hansen Instant Cuticle Remover, Mavala Nail Polish Remover

Mavala makes a few polish removers, this is the blue bottle described as mild, turning to the ingredients, main ingredient was acetone, very happy about that. It appears to be almost pure acetone with some essential oils as well, shifts the polish very fast and the smell is not overpowering.

Be-Yu #209

Beautiful multihued color with tiny red micro-glitter. In the bottle the color is vampy/brownish red but on the nails the true raspberry based tone comes to life. The red micro-glitter flashes gold in direct sunlight making the color appear deep red with shimmering gold, indoors it is red and the color is a blue base raspberry. I adore this color, it is definitely a favorite. The bottle is tiny only 8ml (half the size of the average polish). BeYu is not an up-market brand, sold for around 6 EUR for the bottle but it is only half the size!! Nevertheless there are some gorgeous colors available and appears to be a really good quality. This week's test chipped on one nail on day 3 maybe due to the base and top coat I will test it again to see if it is the polish or the bc/tc. BeYu is a German brand a division of Art-Deco. It is sold in Parfumerie Douglas (Douglas Cosmetics in the US) one of the two major upmarket retailers in Europe. Douglas is rapidly expanding from their German base throughout Europe and the US market as well, currently they have a few shops on the East Coast and their website will offer online shopping soon.






Chipping on day 3




NOTW#9 is; from left to right:

Mavala Barriere base coat, BeYu # 209 (2 coats), Seche Vite Dry Fast top coat

Konad this week

Shattered glass, or rather shattered image: this is what you get when the hands are not steady. It looks like the polish was bleeding that sometimes happens when the top coat is applied to soon, but in this case, out of the ten, I think there were three crisp images, the rest was in various stages of smudging. Zoya Malia no problems at all, smooth application dries fast and again true to bottle color. Konad special polish it is called purple, (why?) this is burgundy through and through.



Konad this week is; from left to right:

Konad plate M73, Mavala Barrier-Base Coat, Zoya Malia (1 coat) konad special polish purple, konad top coat

Trying out Mavala, I like the idea of a barrier base coat protecting sensitive nails from the drying effects of nail polish and staining. It is new, cannot, at this stage, report whether or not this really works.

Konad this week - Rescue Beauty lounge Grunge

The Maori Tattoo, highly recommended for supporters of the New Zealand Rugby Team. Adore this combination, Rescue Beauty Lounge Grunge is a true band-aid color it looks like skin from a little further away and the Konad design is all that the eye focuses on. I used Mavala ridge filler base coat this time and RBL finally performed as it should, application was smooth and easy.



Konad this week is; from left to right:

Konad plate m7, Mavala ridge filler base coat, Rescue Beauty Lounge Grunge (2 coats), Konad special polish black, Konad top coat

Calvin Klein Emerald and Nfu-Oh No. 56

Truly captures the color of the real thing, beautiful saturated with green shimmering micro glitter. One of the few polishes where no guesswork is needed, the color on the nail is the same as the color in the bottle. Opaque in two coats, application was painful at first due to the mop-like brush. Could not cover the sides of my nails so out of frustration I decanted it into an empty RBL bottle, in case you are wondering, no, RBL does not have this emerald color!




Nfu-Oh # 56 layered on top CK Emerald for a multi-dimensional look:



Chipping on day 3



NOTW#8 is; from left to right:

Barielle Natural Nail Camouflage base coat, Calvin Klein Emerald (2 coats) Nfu-Oh #56 (2 coats) Seche Vite Dry Fast top coat

Color comparison Chanel Rouge Noir and Max Factor Ruby Fruit

Perfect dupes, luckily I wrote down beforehand which one is which because they match exactly. Chanel Rouge Noir on index and ring finger, Max Factor Ruby fruit on middle and pinkie finger.




Products used; from left to right:

Chanel Rouge Noir (2 coats), Max factor Ruby Fruit (2 coats)

Rescue Beauty Lounge Smitten

This is a nice powder pink more on the flesh colored side, it was opaque in two coats a little streaky over Barielle camouflage. Excuse the marker on the index finger, the fiberglass repair on the middle finger and the bubbles on the pinkie. I like this color very much because it is an understated pink yet funky. This week I am trying it out with my magic formula of nail polish longevity, the Barielle base and top coat combo, to see if RBL will last longer than the four days previously. I am sorry to report that it chipped on day 3.




Here it is outside in the sunshine with OPi Designer series Chiffon (1 coat) it is slightly holographic just with one coat. They look amazing together in my humble opinion! Opi DS Chiffon is a very sheer holographic polish with the same pink undertone as RBL Smitten. Chipping is visible on the middle finger also have bigger chipping on the right thumb. I love this combination so much that chipping or not I keep it a little longer.




NOTW#7 is; from left to right:

Barielle Natural Nail Camouflage base coat, Rescue Beauty Lounge Smitten (2 coats), OPI Designer Series Chiffon (1 coat), Barielle Ultra Speed Dry Manicure Extender

Konad this week- Maybelline Mirror Magic

Maybelline Mirror Magic really is like real silver foil pasted onto your nails, except it is easier to do than real gilding, we used only one coat. It appears to be a really thick silver paint not very promising but after one minute it dries to this, amazing! I want the gold version now please!





Konad this week is: from left to right:

Konad plate M30, Maybelline Mirror Magic Step 1 base coat, Maybelline Mirror Magic Step 2 (1 coat), Konad Special Nail Polish Black, Konad top coat

Chanel and Nfu-Oh No. 51

This is such a dark color that the purple is completely lost, to me it looks dark aubergine, I asked my husband what color is this, he replied "black". Well not quite, but very close to being black. Applied very easily, overall I am happy with the Chanel formula, this week I used different base and top coats to see if the lasting result would differ, and it did,, chipping on day 5. The picture below was taken on day 3.




On day 3 I was feeling a bit bored with the color, added 2 coats of Nfu-Oh #51 which is a purple base with dark pink microglitter and gold foil, the base is leaning more to blue. The end result was not as expected, the base purple is much lighter than Chanel Vendetta it did not show at all. The only color that can be seen is the gold foil and the reddish microglitter which looks rusty, bronzy brown over the dark purple base.



Here is Nfu-Oh on it's own, this is a glorious color, the picture below is not doing justice to the real thing. Surprisingly purple with reddish, dark pink microglitter and gold foil that in indoor daylight flashes red as well, in the sun it is gold. My friend visited us over the weekend and we decided that from all the polishes in my collection this is perhaps the most spectacular one. She was delighted with the result and was hoping that the manicure would last until Monday to show off in the office. The consistency is a little on the thin side, below we used 3 coats and probably could have used another two to make the color more intense. Unfortunately the pink-red glitter is not showing very much.



Update: my friend sent me this picture the polish is still on one week later, slight chipping and tip wear.



NOTW#5 is, from left to right:

Nail Tek Hydration Therapy III for dry brittle nails, Barielle Natural Nail Camouflage base coat, Chanel Vendetta (2 coats), Nfu-Oh #51 (2 coats), CND Air Dry Fast Dry Protective top coat, CND Solar Speed Spray Conditioning Polish Dryer

Definition of brittle, took the nail polish off and left the nails naked for one day, as I was reorganizing my drawers, broke four nails within the hour, not just tearing the free edge more like a thin plastic breaking off in chunks and flying through the air. There was nothing to be rescued my nails looked like a leaf freshly ravaged by a caterpillar. I have started using Nail Tek III Hydration Therapy treatment under the base coat to see if the situation improves.

Chipping on day 5



Hand care this week is, from left to right:

Creative Nail Design Cuticle Eraser, Creative Nail Design Solar Oil, CND Spa Manicure Almond Hydrating Lotion

CND all three products are fabulous, the solar oil and the hydrating lotion have a very intense almond scent, I personally love this, but for the non marzipan eater this would be too much. Moisturizing properties are good but my hands are in good condition, the lotion did not do that much for my friend's husband, whose hands were extremely dry. Love the easy application, keep this one by the sink.