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Chanel Emprise, Fracas and Accessoire Le Vernis for Spring 2013

December 16, 2012
Chanel’s spring 2013 makeup collection Printemps Precieux de Chanel offers some beautiful colors this year. I ordered my items sight-unseen from Bergdorfs and have been very pleased with everything so far. First up are the three new Le Vernis shades in Emprise 569, Fracas 571 and Accessoire 573 ($26 each for 13 ml/0.4 fl oz, made in France). I found the shades from Chanel spring to be fairly similar to prior
releases, but think they are still beautiful options for spring. The
colors are solid staples that I think everyone should have in their nail
wardrobe. However, if you have a lot of Chanel or Dior nail polishes, you may want to shop your own stash or test these in
person before buying. The shades this season:
  • Emprise 569 is a soft peachy shade with a hint of pink, there is a subtle pearly shimmer infused in the bottle but the color goes on a cream, finish was semi-sheer, I found it needed three coats for even coverage
  • Fracas 571 is a hot pink melon fuschia, this shade also has that shimmery pearl in the bottle (like Distraction) but doesn’t quite show up on the nail, the shimmers made this one difficult to photograph, in some photos it appears more melon, but it goes on very similar to Rose Insolent, pigment and coverage is excellent
  • Accessoire 573 is a rich plum-brown cream that applies flawlessly with two coats, it’s very similar to other Chanel vampy shades, I was a bit surprised Chanel decided to release something so similar to Vamp, Diabolic, Provocation etc.
Below you can see in direct sunlight that Emprise and Fracas are infused with beautiful shimmer. I wish the shimmer was more visible when applied on the nails!
Close ups and swatches below, Emprise 569:

Fracas 571, note colors may vary per screen, this was really hard to photograph for me, I recommend checking Loulou17 and Blondy Candy for other swatches/photos:

Accessoire 573:

I’m working on comparisons now. Follow up post to come soon!
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JINsoon Nostalgia, Auspicious, Debonair, Rhaspody and Charade

December 12, 2012
Here’s a quick post showing some nail swatches of JINsoon Nail Lacquers. I’m still working my way through swatching so the feature will be split into two parts. Part 1 includes Nostalgia, Auspicious, Debonair, Rhaspody and Charade.

Nostalgia – two thin coats gives full coverage
Auspicious – extremely sheer, needs three coats for full coverage, below is shown with two
Debonair – sheer jelly cream finish requires three coats for full coverage
Rhaspody – semi-sheer, shown with two coats
Charade – full coverage with two coats
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JINsoon Nail Lacquers

December 10, 2012

A gorgeous feature of JINsoon Auspicious from Messy Wands prompted me to order some JINsoon shades sight unseen from Sephora. In October, I featured JINsoon Coquette, a gorgeous sheer jelly red. Since then, I’ve had a few months to play with some more of the JINsoon nail lacquers that I ordered online from Sephora.com. They retail for $18 each and come with a black pull-off cap. (I’ve photographed them without the caps.) The past few months Sephora has had some amazing promotional codes for various discounts and gift-with-purchase sample packs. I found the offers hard to resist and I ended up ordering 9 different shades: Nostalgia, Auspicious, Debonair, Rhapsody, Charade, Metaphor, Coquette, Audacity and Risque. This is a preliminary review/swatch post with a few comparisons (scroll down to the end). Actual finger swatches to come in a separate post soon.
I found the bottle swatches online to be very true to the actual product. All the shades are creams (no shimmer). The pigment varies from a jelly finish to a full-coverage cream. Sheerer shades like Auspicious, Debonair and Coquette require three coats for full even coverage. The others are good with two coats. I found lasting power to be quite good with around 4-5 days without tip wear or chipping.
  • Nostalgia is a pretty full-coverage peachy nude with a tinge of pink
  • Auspicious is a lovely gray-lavendar with a jelly-transparent finish (3 coater)
  • Debonair is a sharp purple cream with a semi-jelly (3 coats needed)
  • Rhapsody is a dark navy blue, semi-sheer finish (2 coats needed)
  • Charade is a full-coverage gorgeous green teal
  • Metaphor is a dark forest green with full coverage
  • Audacity is a sheer aubergine
  • Risque is a sheer vampy color with a jelly finish
  • Coquette is a bright sheer red

Swatches below are with three coats:

The colors look like basic creams. For the most part I think these are very likely dupeable. I searched through my Chanel, Dior and RBLs to see what I could find. Half the shades are unique while the other half are very close to existing colors. I pulled one shade to compare to each of the JINsoon polishes I bought. Thoughts:
  • Nostalgia is more neutral than Chanel Inattendu but has enough pink to not look like death
  • Auspicious is darker and more lavendar than most greys, it’s darker than Chanel Frenzy
  • Debonair is a unique dark purple (at least in my stash), it’s dark but not so dark it looks black
  • Rhapsody is very similar to other navys like Dior Blue Rebel
  • Charade is a gorgeous teal green, I found this quite unique, it’s very wearable for a green
  • Metaphor is a dark forest green cream, I don’t have a lot of greens to compare
  • Coquette is warmer than Chanel Pirate
  • Audacity is very similar to other vampy shades, it’s a sheerer version of RBL Moulin Rouge (very close)
  • Risque is a dark vamp, it’s darker than Chanel Rouge Noir
Overall I’ve found that the JINsoon nail polishes have performed well. The shades are flattering on my skin and are good classic shades. For me they were worth the price I paid (about $14-$16ish for each shade from using a 10% discount or 20% discount code for VIB). Some of the shades have a jelly finish which require more coats unfortunately, but the good thing  is that these dry relatively fast. Some might ask how the JINsoon compare to my other favorite brands. Long time readers know that I’m a die-hard Chanel, Dior and Rescue Beauty Lounge nail polish fan. My heart still belongs to those brands for color/pigment even though they are higher in price. I would say that JINsoon performs similar to NARS/Dolce & Gabbana, better than Sephora for OPI, but not quite as good as RBL, Chanel or Dior (at least in my experience).
Have you tried any of the JINsoon nail polishes? Thoughts?
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Burberry No. 03 Pale Nude Complete Eye Palette

December 8, 2012

Burberry Pale Nude No. 03 Complete Eye Palette ($59) is a beautiful palette of soft neutrals. The colors layer well to create a soft illuminated eye with a soft contour. For many pale-colored quads, I find the shades all end up looking the same on my skin. Not so for the Pale Nude and I was surprised to find that this one is probably my favorite in out of the Burberry quads that I have tried.

The shades in Pale Nude include a frosted cool white, a yellowish light cream with an iridescent sheen, a soft nude pink shimmer and a warm tan beige shimmer. All the colors in this palette have shimmer and frost. The color payoff is excellent like Pale Barley but not quite as metallic on the lids making this a great everyday staple. Texture is buttery smooth like the Burberry singles. I found the texture of this quad to be the best out of all the ones I tested.

Swatches on my Chanel B30 skin:

A few comparisons to other shades:

  • Pale Nude’s white is not as sharp as Porcelain White, but very similar
  • Pale Nude’s yellow cream looked similar to Porcelain in the compact, but it’s quite a bit more yellow
  • Pale Nude’s seashell pink is more neutral/warm than other Burberry pinks, I found it similar to Chanel’s Sillage single, just more neutral
  • Pale Nude’s brown shimmer is warmer and darker than Pale Barley

Overall a lovely staple and great palette for a soft nude eye. It does need a dark eyeliner for a complete eye look but other than that works great for me. The effect is subtle but glowy and softly defined. I really love it, but I can’t say it would be a must-have for everyone. I can definitely see that some would find it to be too neutral or pale depending on personal preference.
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Burberry No. 05 Dark Spice Complete Eye Palette

December 2, 2012

Burberry No. 05 Dark Spice Complete Eye Palette ($59 for 5.4 g/0.19 oz, made in Italy) is one of my favorite Burberry quads for color selection and pigment, however I found the texture to be slightly inconsistent among all four shades. Initially I was worried this might be too warm, but it works well with my skintone and the colors in this palette create a perfect warm smokey eye. The colors include:
  • a warm yellow cream shimmer – smooth and buttery like most Burberry single shadows, great for a blending color
  • a warm shimmery sienna, soft texture, easy to apply but not so easy to blend (needs a more precise application)
  • a dark chocolate brown with gold flecks of shimmer, great pigment, but also harder texture like NARS Galapagos makes it not so easy to blend/smoke out
  • a satiny dark black, soft texture rich pigment, blends well
The yellow and black are amazing in terms of texture and pigment. They are like most Burberry singles – buttery smooth and easy to apply/blend. I found the performance of the two browns to be similar to NARS Galapagos and NARS Mekong. Both are gorgeous dark smokey eye colors but require a more precise application. Blending works as long as it’s minimal otherwise the result is slightly patchy and uneven-looking. (Examples of easy-to-blend dark shades for me include NARS Fez, Cordura and Burberry Midnight Brown.) Still – with a bit of work using multiple brushes and a layering approach this palette works well for me. It just takes more time and precision than your typical eyeshadow.

Swatches:

Overall I think it’s really lovely and unique. While the colors seem basic, the combination is very flattering on the skin for a sultry smokey eye. It works well with a variety of shades for lips and cheeks. It’s neutral enough to be easily be incorporated into any look/outfit, yet has the warm sienna shade and warm yellow satin that gives this a unique twist to the traditional smokey eye.
Have you tried Dark Spice yet? What were your thoughts?
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Burberry No. 02 Mocha Complete Eye Palette

November 23, 2012
Burberry No. 02 Mocha Complete Eye Palette contains four warm-toned neutrals. I’m one who always falls in love with shimmery neutrals, but this palette seemed a bit too similar to shades in Burberry’s existing line. I’m all for no-fail safe colors and I really loved the texture, pigment and convenience of all the shades in one palette. I just wish the colors were a bit different from what Burberry already released in singles. The colors included:
  • a soft matte ivory that matches my skintone when applied, very similar to Trench but a tad warmer
  • a warm golden beige-tan with subtle shimmer, nearly identical to Gold Trench
  • a warm matte chestnut brown, lighter than Chestnut
  • a warm bronze shimmer, unique compared to other browns from Burberry, but still very basic
The texture is just as smooth and soft as the singles. There is a bit of a powdery finish with debris from dipping a brush into the compact, but I experienced very little fall out when applied on the eyes. The colors layered beautifully to give a perfectly natural contoured eye. Lasting power was excellent and the colors did not budge at all during the entire day.

Comparisons below to Burberry Trench, Chestnut and Midnight Brown as well as Guerlain Les Cuirs which is very similar but not quite as warm:

Overall I’m very pleased with the performance of Mocha. The pigment and wear is excellent. However, if you own Trench, Gold Trench or Chestnut, I don’t think you need this quad. I personally prefer the texture/color of Trench rather than the ivory matte in the quad, but they are still very close. It’s a lovely quad that has a nice earthy feel. It works amazingly well with pinks, peaches and bronzey colors for lips and cheeks and is perfect for everyday wear.

Did you try or buy Mocha? What were your thoughts?

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Happy Thanksgiving!

November 22, 2012
I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! This week we have a zoo at our house. We have a little chihuahua visiting named Coco. Right now there are four fluffy friends in our home: two jack russells, a ragamuffin kitten, and a chihuahua. It’s been non-stop cuteness. They’ve all become quick friends, but the cat and the chihuahua have become particularly smitten with each other and are now BFFs. I have so much to be thankful for. I hope everyone who celebrates is able to enjoy time spent with loved ones.
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