This is one of the more interesting top coats I've used, because like Out The Door holographic topcoat, all the glitter settles at the bottom and you shake it up to diffuse it throughout the polish. The cool part is that you can shake it a little for a little bit of shimmer, or shake it up till there's none left on the bottom and really shimmer it up. The base of this lacquer is very watery, it literally feels like water, and you must apply very thin coats as it will run towards the sides of your nails. There is barely any surface tension at all, but it does dry very quickly, so those many thin coats won't cause a huge problem. Here, I've shaken the living hell out of this bottle and applied it to my previous Chanel Black Satin manicure in two coats. You can see it's really subtle, but it's actually really visible in low light. Sunlight is where it's at it's most glorious, however my camera will not capture it. Of course. This is the third surprise Chanel delivery from that dear friend o' mine you've read about previously. I heart her, she's very thoughtful, and I don't think that this is one I would have ever known about if it hadn't been one of her personal favorites. This is a very cool polish to have, though you can find silver topcoats in any brand, I do think the delicate look of this one is really something special.
Check out the rest of my Chanel Le Vernis reviews and photos here.
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So begins the first week of my new self-challenge, Project: Swatch. After the jump you'll find 25 polishes, both randomly chosen and requested, from my stash that I have yet to photograph. My hope is at the end of 6 weeks, all my yet-to-be photographed polishes will be snapped and entered into my new Flickr Photostream. Each week I'll also include the link to the updated list of remaining polishes and you can make requests from the list and leave them in a comment below. Let me know what you'd like to see. Here's the list!
Click the jump for the swatches! I highly recommend clicking to view the full-size photos!
Meteor Shower is part of the recent Specialty Collection and is available at transdesign.com and head2toebeauty.com as well as at select Sally Beauty Stores
One of only a couple of the China Glaze Specialty Collection that is in a dark base. Meteor Shower is a deep navy blue filled with tons of multi-colored opalescent glitter. I love this color in the bottle and on the nail, but the base shade is a little too opaque to be able to appreciate all the amazing glitter. Adding two coats of Orly Glosser and a coat of Seche Vite creates a glassy finish which enhances the final result a bit, but i might be adding just a teeny bit of clear nail polish to it to thin the base out a bit. I love these glitters as they're all amazing and wear like iron. I definitely recommend Meteor Shower.
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The black nail polish that started the mainstream craze, Chanel Black Satin sold out quick and went for prices on eBay so high they'd make your eyes bleed. Then Chanel upped production and people relaxed, and it sold at a slower rate, but it still sold out again. This is another member of my small Chanel collection that was sent to me as a gift from a dear friend as a surprise after it sold out the first time. I had bought the dead-on dupe, Zoya Raven, but still lusted for the real thing. Once I had it, I was shocked at how identical the two polishes seem barring the thickness of the formulas (Chanel=thin, Zoya=thick), but I still prefer my Chanel, maybe just because it's Chanel, and it feels like I've got a wonderful secret when I wear it, but I think a lot of it has to do with the means by which I got it; from that dear friend. Anyway, enough gushing. This polish, like a lot of the Chanel polishes I've tried and reviewed, applies beautifully in a couple coats. The brush is somewhat long and skinny, but it makes it a bit easier to wiggle around at the cuticle to get as close as you can, as evenly as you can. While the bottle is iconic, I don't think they designed it for salon efficacy. It's more a luxury item, and as I have said about the others, it's definitely a nice affordable luxury if you don't feel like dropping thousands on a handbag, but want a little Chanel in your life. The wear is decent if you change frequently, I get about two to three days without chipping if I really push it.
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Shooting Stars is part of the recent Specialty Collection and is available at transdesign.com and head2toebeauty.com
Shooting Stars and Medallion are tied for my favorite glitter (so far) from this collection, and Solar Flare is a close second, but either way you want to cut it, you need Shooting Stars. This is a clear base with a multitude of holographic microglitter, a la Wireless Holographic Topcoat, and then for good measure you've got some larger opalescent glitter as well. I've got two coats on here over Chanel Blue Satin, and the deep blue base sets the glitter off magnificently, reminding me of both night skies and robots. Figure that one out. This is a high-tech looking polish. It lightens the base of whatever base shade you're wearing considerably, so keep that in mind. Like the rest of the glitters from this collection, it wears well, and just looks fabulous. I highly recommend this, and many other China Glaze glitters, because overall they're the best I've tried yet.
Click for more photos! And don't forget to click on the photos to view them in FULL SIZE!
Chanel le Vernis in Blue Satin is available online at chanel.com for $23
This may very well be the most awesome polish in my (very limited) Chanel polish arsenal. Opaque in one coat, this thing is a stunner, and this is coming from a habitual-three-coater who owns more than her fair share of blue polishes. This one is worth checking out. In low light this is quite dark, but not quite black. In high lighting, the delicate candy shimmer is really something to see. I think that the rich color and amazing application make this the dark blue to have. My theory on Chanel nail polishes is that while most women can't afford to wear Chanel clothing, or even makeup, but the nail polishes (and lip glosses for that matter) are an affordable luxury.
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I love black nail polish, vampies, brights and everything in between, so needless to say my nails tend to get a bit stained. Unfortunately I also love sheers and french manicures, so when I get on a sheers kick, I'm left with Cheetos nails like you wouldn't believe. Aside from the infrequent buffing and/or soak in denture cleaner (insert laugh here), I have a secret weapon I've been using since it came out a couple years ago, and I don't know what I'd do if it went away; Color Club Milky White Base Coat. It's neither white nor milky, discuss. If it's anything else besides magnificent, it's inexpensive! You can get it for $4 at transdesign.com.
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I don't know about you guys, but I love seeing posts full of random polishes. If you do, too, you're in luck, because I have about 170 polishes I haven't photographed and I'm going to take photos of them all for my new Flickr Photostream! When it's all done, you'll have nearly 1000 swatches in a searchable gallery linked directly to my blog. Week 1 is nearly in the bag and I'm going to be posting each week's swatches on Friday. Expect around 25 swatches per week! I'll be trying to mix it up, and have a good blend of brands, colors and depths. I'm also going to be taking requests each week, so I can get to the ones you might want to see first! CLICK HERE TO SEE THE LIST! Every week I'll remove the polishes that have been swatched so you can pick any from the list. Each week's post will be the place to leave your requests in a comment. You can begin this week by choosing any in the list and requesting them in a comment.
Dreamsicle is available at transdesign.com and head2toebeauty.com, as well as select Sally Beauty stores
China Glaze Dreamsicle is part of the recent Specialty Collection of 50 brand-new polishes, including tons of amazing new glitters. This polish is a light jelly orange with opalescent glitter of varying sizes. It's quite sheer, and I'm wearing two coats here over two coats of China Glaze Peachy Keen from the new Up & Away collection. I like wearing it over Peachy Keen because the tone is similar and makes the final result very close to bottle color as opposed to wearing it over white, or alone in several coats. The white base lightens it up a bit from the bottle color and wearing it alone, it just reminds me more of sparkly ear wax than anything. That said, when used the right way, this polish is amazing, and will be an awesome Spring shade.
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Fall 2008's stunner from Chanel, Kaleidoscope is just perfection. You would think it was frosty to look at the bottle, but the finish is sublime, neither straight metallic nor frosty. I liked that it seemed like a gold that I could wear, since it doesn't seem super warm. The antiqued tone to it, the slight green cast, made it seem like it was made for a gold-aphobic like myself. In some lights it's a quite cool gold, and in others it warms up and seems to have an almost green duochrome. While it may sound wild, it's incredibly office friendly. The brush, as with all Chanel polishes, is a bit thin, but the formula is like buttah and lays down perfectly on the nails. It layers well also, which can be a bit hit or miss when it comes to metallics. Kaleidoscope was my favorite Chanel polish release in 08 and I wish they'd release another sleeper beauty like this one again soon.
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