Chanel Joues Contraste in Espiègle #65 ($42) is a soft luminous light peach with gold shimmer and the slightest hint of pink. It gives a pretty soft peach glow and in the US is made in the regular US formula (instead of the Euro Baked style). What I like about this color is that it simply glows. It’s not a full matte – the shimmer is finely milled so it’s not frosty on the skin. I find it more wearable than In Love and Fresque – both of which I like, but find difficult to get just the right amount of color. Both end up looking either too sheer or too orangey if applied with one-too-many brush swipes.
* On the nails, still Chanel Rouge Fatal If you have a lot of peaches, you might find this one unoriginal. It looks a bit boring in the pan and swiped on the fingers, but if you have a Chanel counter near you, give this a chance and try it on the face with a blush brush. I love that it brightens the face with a soft peachy glow and also like that it has a bit of pink to it to prevent it from looking orangey. I personally think it’s a must-have for any peach-blush lover. It’s naturally flattering that gives a beautiful glow without looking overly frosty or too gold like some peachy-golds are.
I have two sets of comparisons for you. I wasn’t planning on doing any comparisons but everytime I leave them out, I always get asked to do some. The first set shows Chanel Reflex, Fresque, In Love and Tweed Corail.
* Nars Deep Throat was added in the swatch above, but the product wasn’t photographed
The second set compares the new Chanel Spring 2011 blush to MAC Ripe Peach, Nuance, Style, Springsheen, Utterly Game. Note that all the MAC shades are quite a bit more frosty and shimmery than the Chanel which has a nice glow. These were applied with a heavy hand.
One last view:
Overall: I love this, but I don’t think it’s a must-have. Still it has a beautiful finish that isn’t easily replicated in other brands or colors. It definitely leans towards peach but has just the right amount of pink to balance out the warm tones making it not-too-warm. Chanel.com currently does not have the “limited edition” indicator on their website for Espiègle #65 but I’m not 100% sure that I ever really trust any response on the LE factor.
If you don’t have many peaches in your collection, this is a great one to start with. Otherwise, if you already have a lot of peach – reshop your stash and wait for summer collections later in the year. Yes, I know spring isn’t even here and I’m already talking about summer. However, I’ve seen a sneak peek of what’s to come for spring and the blush colors seem to be blah this year for spring.
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!
