A quick peek at the new blush and highlighter from Chanel’s fall 2012 collection: Rose Initiale #72 Powder Blush and Lumière d’Artifices Beiges. A more detailed review on each item to come soon.
In natural sunlight:
Under artificial light you can see the sheen of both a bit better:
For the eyes this fall, Chanel has released one quad, two eyeliners and a number of single shadows. First up is Chanel Premier Regard #38 Quadra Eye Shadow ($58 for 6.8 g/0.24 oz). This is a subtle, soft and understated palette of sheer warm taupe-brown shimmer, pale dusty satiny pink, pale satiny peach-champagne and a muted black-grey matte. In the compact there appears to be a mix of satiny-shimmers and soft mattes, on the eyes these appeared mostly matte for me.
This quad took me three tries to get a decent application. By itself with only 1 base (I used Edward Bess’s eye primer), this was a disappointment for me. The colors were too sheer and the only color that had good pigment was the black-grey. I felt like the colors went on chalky and too sheer. The third time I finally found a good method of application. Note this quad needs a bit of extra work to show up (at least on my olive Chanel B30 skin).
Step 1: Prep with a good dose of eye cream on the lids and then apply your usual cream base/primer (I used Cle de Peau and Edward Bess).
Step 2: Mix the pink and peach together and blend over lids to soften the skin (this will be sheer but you can apply with a heavier hand if you want them to show up more).
Step 3: Use some kind of a tan/taupe/light cream shadow and blend along lashline and upwards (this serves as the base for the taupe shade, so apply the cream where you want the powder to go, I used Tom Ford’s Platinum Eye Shadow)
Step 4: Take the taupe-tan shade of the quad and dust over the cream eyeshadow (the cream eyeshadow helps the color adhere and blend well, using just a regular base was too dry for me to get any blendability out of the color)
Step 5: Apply the grey-black as a smokey liner (or as a crease shade, or wherever you prefer!)
Under different lighting:
Swatched, three views:
Right now, I only had time to pull two comparisons. When I first saw the promo photos of Premier Regard, I thought it looked strikingly similar to Winter Nights and possibly Dreams (I think both are discontinued in the US now?). The overall effect/theme is similar but the quads are still different. Here they are below.
Overall lovely and understated. At a glance, this seems to be a quad that is goof-proof and easy to apply. I was disappointed in the pigment by itself. The pink and peach look identical on my skin and borderline dusty. I need a moisturized eye base to prevent them from looking chalky on my eyes. A bit of tweaking and this worked better for me. I will definitely need to experiment more.
Have you checked out Premier Regard? How do you use it?
Chanel Suspicious #561 ($26 for 13 ml/0.4 fl oz) is a dark raspberry red cream. The coverage on this shade is amazing and finish is flawless with high pigment and high shine. The color itself is perfect for the fall season and yet still appropriate for right now in the summer, however it’s just not quite as unique as I had hoped for. I still like this color a lot, but have quite a few other shades similar to this one.
Here it is on with two coats. Sometimes this looks borderline more reddish than raspberry/fuchsia. Next to a pure red, like Chanel Dragon, you can see that Chanel Suspicious is really more pinkish. Unfortunately, my Chanel Dragon is missing in action so I didn’t compare it. I did pull some other fuchsia/raspberry colors to compare below.
First, Suspicious #561, swatched with 2 coats:
Comparisons, left to right: Chanel Riviera, NARS Anardana, Chanel Suspicious, Chanel Pulsion, Chanel Splendeur, Chanel Tentation.
All the colors swatched with 2 coats (except Riviera because I ran out of fingers to swatch them on in one photo):
Overall pretty, rich and lovely for fall. Not quite as unique as some other Chanel shades, but still a classic.
Chanel Vertigo #563 is a dark murky color that I find a bit hard to describe. In the bottle the base is a blackened-brown-grey-plum. The color is infused with that signature Chanel subtle shimmer which is visible in the bottle but not so apparent on the nail. Holding the bottle at an angle to the light shows flashes of red, plum and gold in the frost. Due to the complex nature of this shade, sometimes the bottle will look like a dusty faded plum-brown, others a rich dark plum with red shimmer, and other times a flat cool grey-brown with blue tones.
When news first surfaced that Chanel would release a nail color called “Vertigo” this fall, many of us wondered if it would be a re-promote of an older Chanel shade. Good news to long-time collectors: this season’s Vertigo is completely different. See the original Chanel Vertigo on Cafe Makeup (scroll to the bottom) and Caramel Frappe. (I still wish I could get my hands on the original!)
Coverage on Vertigo #563 is rich and smooth. Application is nearly flawless with two thin coats. This gives a high shine finish which doesn’t really a top coat (in my opinion). More close ups below.
Close up of the shimmers:
Below swatches in different lighting show this sometimes looks flat, other times looks warm, and yet other times looks cool-toned.
At first glance, I thought this looked identical to Dior’s Underground and Rescue Beauty Lounge’s Recherche. Comparing them on the nails proved they are different. Chanel has mixed up a color that I find truly unique and different, even if there are other colors that are similar in the same color family. In seeing the photos above it might have you wondering: Is Vertigo plum? Brown? Gray? Black? I hope the two sets of comparisons below help answer this question. My answer is that it’s a mix of all of the above.
First, left to right: Dior Underground (warmer and brown), Chanel Paradoxal (lighter and brighter), Chanel Vertigo, Chanel Strong and Chanel Vamp.
Second, left to right: Dior Aztec Chocolate, Dior Perfecto, Chanel Vertigo, Chanel Black Satin, Rescue Beauty Lounge Recherche
Will you be picking up Chanel Vertigo this season?
Chanel Frenzy #559 Le Vernis ($26 US) is one of three new nail lacquers in the Chanel Fall 2012 collection. Previews had been seen earlier this year on the runway (as seen on Cafe Makeup) as being an ultra-light flesh-toned grey. Frenzy is indeed a very pale cool-toned grey with a hint of lilac. In the bottle it looks more greige with a hint of beige. On the nails for my olive skin tone, the color turns cooler and pulls a slight pale lilac. Coverage is very good with two thin coats. Application is easy. Formula has medium coverage. Definitely not sheer but also not full coverage. For me pigment was rich enough to cover entire nail (no white showing underneath).
I pulled a few comparisons for reference. When you compare Frenzy to other shades that might be similar, the color in the bottles for most of these look different. However on the nails, they look similar, there are just slight variations in undertone but it could be my olive skin. I found Chanel Frenzy to be very similar to RBL Grunge (slightly warmer and pinker) and Le Metier de Beaute Faraday (slightly more lilac with shimmer). Comparisons show this might be somewhere in between Rescue Beauty Lounge’s Grunge and Jane. (I do not yet own Jane, but see comparisons on All Lacquered Up and Cafe Makeup.) I was only able to swatch a few on the fingers, I’ve run out of nail wheels. Comparisons below show some true beige nudes like Chanel Beige and some lavendars to show that Chanel Frenzy is more of a cool-toned pale grey with a bit of lavendar, but also has slight beige tones mixed in.
Bottom line I love it. Even though it’s not quite entirely unique and doesn’t have the dazzle that Black Pearl, Graphite or Delight possess, Frenzy is elegant, polished and subdued.
I’m always drawn to matched lip and nail collections. I loved the Chanel Extrait de Gloss Collection (from 2010, see summary on Karla Sugar) and the recent MAC Fashion Sets, in particular Angel and Please Me (see lineup on Temptalia here, here and here). Right now I’m loving something that’s a little more mixed lip/nail combination and something a little less matched, but still in the same color family. Here are a few mixed and matched combination sets I’m loving right now. Swatches below as well.
Glowing neutrals
Left to right: YSL Golden Sand #54 Gloss
YSL Golden Shell #51 Gloss
Chanel Island #597 Le Vernis
Chanel Pêche Nacrée #515 Le Vernis
Corals and golds
Left to right: Chanel Nakkar #149 Glossimer
Dior Brown Panama #432 Addict Ultra Gloss
Chanel Holiday #617 Le Vernis
Chanel Delight #607 Le Vernis
Snapshot of jewelry from J.Crew’s Published June Style Guide and online at J.Crew here(I need one of those bracelets!) (Online versions of the J.Crew catalog are published on their website, currently May’s Style Guide is available to browse, I suspect June’s will be uploaded soon)
Pink lavenders
Left to right: Laura Mercier Nude Lilac Lip Glace
Dolce and Gabbana Lilac Nail Polish
Dolce and Gabbana Raspberry Lip Gloss
NARS Ratin Jot Nail Polish
What are lip and nail combinations are you loving right now?
Chanel’s Rouge Allure Velvet formula was released last fall (see swatches on Karla Sugar, Messy Wands and Rouge Deluxe). Being a huge fan of the luxurious feel of the regular Rouge Allures, I was excited to try the new Velvet formula, however the two shades that caught my eye were not available to the US. Since the initial release, Chanel has released La Distinguée 33 and La Furtive 31 exclusively on Chanel.com for a limited time ($32.50 each). Unfortunately it appears that La Furtive (released online last November) is no longer available on their website. I’m not sure if they will bring it back or not. I hope they do.
Rouge Allure Velvets come in the same packaging as the regular Rouge
Allures. I love the pop-up feature of the packaging and the sleek simple
black tube. The coverage is full on me and the lipstick adheres well to the lips. To me these are like a velvet/cashmere blend for the lips. Even though these are described as matte, there is still a slight sheen to these and the texture is soft/smooth. They glide on the lips without any tugging. Lasting power is medium. Finish is rich but natural coverage. Texture settles in to mimic the feel of your natural lip.
La Distinguée 33 is a peach-pink with a velvet matte finish. There is a slightly luminous mixture of peach and pink in the color which gives it depth and a soft glow, even with the matte finish. La Distinguée goes on my lips a brightened peach tinged with pink. On my lips it leans more towards the warm/peach side. It glows and definitely brightens the face without looking too bright.
La Furtive 31 is a satiny peachy nude. This shade was featured on the runway at the 2011/2012 Fall/Winter show (as seen on La Chanelphile and Café Makeup). This color is borderline too nude alone. It doesn’t make me look completely washed out, but almost. I think this one would look best with a slightly deeper liner blended over the lip first. While I feel the color can be easily duped by other neutral nudes (MAC, Bobbi Brown come to mind), I think the formula is absolutely to die for in terms of application and feel. I really hope Chanel brings this back online.
Photos and swatches below.
La Distinguée 33:
La Furtive 31:
Overall, a huge thumbs up for both shades. If I had to decide between the two, I would highly recommend La Distinguée 33. US girls note this is limited edition on Chanel.com, if you are contemplating this shade, order soon!
