Chanel has brought us four new shades of Aqualumière Gloss in the Jardin de Camélias collection ($29.50 each, 6 ml/0.20 fl oz). Eau de Rose 86 is a pale silvery pink, Rosace 87 is a shimmery light peachy pink, Pink Pivoine 88 is a sheer coral pink and Baie Rose 89 is a cool pink. All the shades are extremely sheer and offer a slight hint of shimmer or tint to the lips. They have a high shine smooth glossy finish.
Overall beautiful fresh colors that are lovely for spring. I wouldn’t call them must-haves since there is very little color payoff. These are extremely sheer glosses but that is expected with the Aqualumiere Gloss formula.
Eau de Rose 86, Rosace 87, Pink Pivoine 88, Baie Rose 89 are currently exclusive to Chanel.com. Will you be purchasing any of these? If you already ordered, what did you think?
There are two new Rouge Allures in the Chanel.com Jardin de Camélias Collection ($34 each, both limited-edition). Charmeuse #142 is a neutral nude beige with a slight shimmer and Fleurie #139 is a soft bright pink with fuschia sparkles. Both are buildable lip colors with a slight transparent quality so you can see a bit of your natural lip underneath. True to Rouge Allure formulas, they are creamy and easy to apply.
Swatches on the hand show that while Charmeuse is a straight beige nude in the tube it pulls a bit pinkish on my olive-toned hands:
Lip swatch of Charmeuse #142:
Lip swatch of Fleurie #139:
Comparisons swatches for reference: Tom Ford In The Buff (review here, swatcheshere), MAC Touche Huggable Lip Color (review here), Tom Ford Paradiso (review here) and MAC Out for Passion Huggable Lip Color (review here):
Charmeuse #142 and Fleurie #139 Rouge Allures are both easy to wear lip colors that require no additional fixing. They work straight from the tube and lasting power is quite good. I like both colors but they are very similar to other colors from Chanel and other brands so you may want to skip if you already splurge on MAC Huggables or Tom Ford Lip Sheers. I ordered them sight unseen so I did not know exactly what to expect from online photos.
Both colors Charmeuse and Fleurie are in the Rouge Allure formula and are limited-edition. In the US they are both exclusive to Chanel.com.
There are two new cheek products in the Chanel Jardin de Camélias collection Sakura #87 Joues Contraste ($43 for 4g/0.14 oz, made in France) and Jardin de Camélias Illuminating Powder ($70 for 16g/0.54 oz). Both products are lovely classics true to Chanel form. It appears that the blush has already sold out online but I’ve pulled quite a few other blushes in attempt to find a dupe. Scroll to the bottom for comparisons.
Sakura #87 Joues Contraste is a soft peachy pinky color with a soft shimmer. This is the baked Euro/Asia version of blush which I’ve found to be hit or miss. Some are powdery on the surface with a hard texture underneath which can be difficult to apply. I’ve had better luck with some of the more recent releases but prefer the US formula. Sakura applies quite nicely on the skin with a soft pink glow. It’s a softer sheerer color but you can build it. It’s still very very natural on the skin. Lasting power is medium from morning to the early afternoon (like most powder blushes). There is a slight shimmer to the blush, on the cheeks the shimmer doesn’t show up but it does give the blush depth. This is a much-needed in between shade in Chanel’s line. Most blushes are either more rose or a straight peach. This is a good in between color with a mix of pink and peach.
Jardin de Camélias Illuminating Powder is a very pale ivory tinged with a hint of light rose pink. The color of the product in real life is true to what you see on Chanel.com. There is a slight iridescent quality to the powder when applied on the skin. On my face it just looks like a sheer pale white with a hint of pink pearl. It resembles a soft finishing powder with a hint of an opal pink glow. I personally wouldn’t use this all over the face for me. It can be used to tone down harsh edges of blush. I didn’t remember to photograph swatches of this next to Hourglass Dim Light but the effect is similar. The difference is Hourglass is more beige while the Jardin de Camelias is more pink. The first time I tried this I did not like it. I found it extremely subtle and almost invisible on my skin. I’ve been testing it some more and find it adds a lovely glow when applied on top of any blush (powder or cream). Still, the $70 price tag is hard to justify something that is extremely subtle in effect.
Swatches:
I have two sets of comparisons below. First set shows the colors next to Chanel Rose Initiale (review here), Fleur de Lotus (Nordstrom Exclusive, miraculously still available for sale), Poudre Signee de Chanel Powder (discontinued), Hourglass Luminous Light (review here) and Chanel Rose Tourbillon (discontinued).
I later pulled a few more blushes after someone emailed me asking if the #87 Sakura was the same as the recently released #87 Émotion blush. Although they have the same numbers, the colors are completely different.
There’s no dupe from what I’ve found although MAC Dainty and Tom Ford Frantic Pink (my all time favorite natural pink blush) are very close. If you click to enlarge you might be able to see that the Chanel is more satiny with less shimmer while the MAC/Tom Ford have more shimmer. I tried Sakura on one cheek and Dainty on the other and they were almost identical on my skin.
Did you order anything from the Jardin de Camélias line? What were your thoughts? Or if you were waiting for my swatches, has anything caught your eye?
Chanel just launched the Jardin de Camélias Collection exclusively online at Chanel.com in the US. I ordered the following items:
Sakura #87 Blush ($43, Euro/Asia baked version)
Jardin de Camélias Illuminating Powder ($70)
four Aqualumière Glosses ($29.50 each) in Eau Rose #86, Rosace #87, Pink Pivoine #88, Baie Rose #89
two Rouge Allures ($34 each) in Fleurie #139 and Charmeuse #142
I’ll be uploading more detailed reviews as quickly as I can. I swatched and photographed everything over the weekend but need to do a bit more testing. For now here are swatches for your reference. Quick note on the glosses, they all apply very sheer on the lips like most Chanel glosses do.
Without flash:
With flash:
You can find the collection now online at Chanel.com.
Stay tuned for the swatches and photos of the Chanel Sakura Blush and Jardin de Camélias Highlighter next. I’ll be adding a few finishing touches and thoughts on my review for these during my lunch break. Review should be up the review in a few hours.
On my radar for what’s new in beauty. I splurged on almost all the Hourglass blushes and have been testing this week (they are now on Sephora.com). They are all amazing. In my mind the best blushes released this year.
Armani has two new products that appear to be exclusive to Saks right now. There are four new shades of a Sun Fabric compact ($54 each) along with seven new shades of Cheek Fabric ($46 each). Have you seen these yet? I haven’t seen them anywhere in stores yet. If you have please share in the comments. I’m dying to hear your thoughts.
My heart skipped a beat with the Chanel Jardin de Camélias collection (Chanel.com limited-edition exclusive). My order arrived last night so I will be busy photographing and swatching this weekend. For curious minds, I ordered the blush, highlighter and all the lip products. (Temptalia has been uploading reviews and swatches of the collection on her blog.)
I’m dying over all the new NARS Matte Multiples and don’t know whether to order now or wait to test in person (now at Narscosmetics.com and Sephora). I know I need the two pink ones.
Finally, Bobbi Brown has a fresh peach collection Nectar and Nude. I haven’t bought a Pot Rouge since she repackaged them into compacts but the new Hibiscus Pot Rouge might be worth checking out.
Chanel just released a small collection focused on lips and nails. I spotted a new tester unit of the collection at Nordstrom this past weekend and was excited to try the new lip colors, however many of the slots for lips had colors that were from spring and previous collections. The counter rep did not know which ones were supposed to be featured with this collection stating all the colors in this set were repromotes. This turned out to be partially true – for a full list of what’s in the Variation Collection check out Specktra.net. I left the counter with two glossimers (swatches later this week) and the new nail lacquer in Coup de Coeur #609 ($27 for 13 ml/0.4 fl oz).
Coup de Coeur #609 is described as a lacquered plum. It’s just that – however it proved to be challenging to photograph. It has quite a bit of red mixed into the color but on the nails and in real life it’s a purply-plum shade. In sunlight and on the camera it wants to look more red – which is why you may see it look very different in reviews or message boards. To my eye it looks more like a mauve plum with a very slight hint of red.
Coup de Coeur #609 applied very smoothly with full coverage after two coats. It has a high shine finish like most Chanel nail colors. It’s a classic shade that I think will be universally flattering.
Here you can see all the shades pulling more red in the direct sunlight:
More comparison swatches, left to right (previous reviews linked for each shade in case you want to see more swatches): Chanel Infidele, Coup de Couer, April, Paparazzi, Provocation, Elixir, Rescue Beauty Lounge Bruised and Chanel Rouge Moire.
Overall Coup de Coeur #609 is a lovely classic plum. It looks very similar to April on the hands, the difference is that April is warmer and more reddish. From arms length I think would not be able to tell the difference.
Coup de Coeur #609 Le Vernis from Chanel retails for $27. I only spotted it at one store last weekend but the collection should arrive at your counters soon. Online now at Nordstrom, Bloomingdales and Saks.
Coral Beach is more of a straight peach compared to Chanel Distraction, Laura Mercier Cabana (discontinued) and NARS Vertebra (discontinued from the Pierre Hardy collection).
