I’ve been eagerly waiting for the Chanel summer glossimers ever since I saw them on Karlasugar’s preview. Thanks to a few others, we got a sneak peek from Best Things in Beauty and The Bethesda Bliss – both of whom described them spot on. Also check Karlasugar’s swatches. The colors this summer are super sheer with lots of sparkle. I agree with Best Things in Beauty when she describes these as “lipstick toppers.” Alone they will give a slight sparkle and sheen. Over lipsticks they will enhance and illuminate and give that extra oomph for a pretty pout. I’ve taken a few different shots in different lighting hoping you’ll be able to see how the sparkles catch the light. (Above photo is in direct sunlight.)
Pink Peony 267 is a rosey shimmer
Pensée 277 is a brighter coral peach
Aurore 287 is a light pink-opal with a gold sheen
Swatched you can see how they blend out for a sheer finish, I’m finding these glossimers smoother and less tacky/sticky feeling than the traditional glossimer, has anyone else noticed the thinner texture?
Compared to other shades, L to R: Pink Peony, Blossom, Pensée, Coral Reef, Aurore, Seashell
There are two powder bronzers this summer for Chanel in Bronze Rosé 547 and Bronze Corail 537. Both are called Soleil Tan De Chanel, come with 4 stripes of colors pressed together in a 14g/.49 oz black mirrored compact with brush. They retail for $50 each. The texture is soft and finely milled. These do have shimmer but the finish is soft and luminous without any frost. I found these to be sheer-to-medium in pigment but you can layer them for more color. These definitely aren’t your high-impact brights for cheeks but rather a soft natural bronzey glow. There is enough color to wear these by themselves. The nice thing about having 4 shades to blend together is that now I can skip one extra step of applying bronzer separately.
Bronze Rosé 547 is my favorite with a soft gold, soft champagne, warm copper and soft pink. You can see from my fingers that the color can be easily picked up. Swirling a brush up and down in the powder mixes all the shades into a soft luminous bronze. The key word being “soft.” Once blended together you don’t really see the pink, but it does prevent this from being too bronzey or orangey.
Bronze Corail 537 is gorgeous as well. It’s very similar in the top three shades, just warmer and slightly darker. The bottom is a beautiful coral. On me both look strikingly similar. I don’t think you need both. My favorite is the pink one, but both are lovely.
Arm swatched over a moisturized arm:
Chanel has released a number of 4-striped powders. The only other one released in the US was from Summer 2009 which I find a lot sheerer in color. I had actually forgotten about this one. There have been other 4-striped powders from Chanel but I believe they have all been Asia exclusives (like the one from Tokyo Happening’s collection).
I searched for possible dupes of Chanel Morning Rose and Beige Pétale but could not find anything in my stash that was identical to either shade. Those looking for cheaper alternatives, I do think with a bit more searching it might be possible to find similar colors from Zoya or OPI. However, I am usually of the opinion that Chanel does it best with nail colors.
I pulled colors in the same family for Morning Rose and Beige Pétale. There are quite a few similar shades, but no true dupes. I could not find any bright yellows to compare Mimosa to. But I suspect since this seems to be the “it” shade for summer, other blogs will be doing dupes soon.
L to R: Chanel Riviera, MAC Girls Will Be Girls, Chanel Mistral, Dior Flapper Pink, Chanel Ming, Chanel Morning Rose, Paul & Joe #12
A few shades swatched on the fingers (2 coats each):
Chanel’s Summer Collection has hit counters and I snapped up all three new Le Vernis shades in Morning Rose 557, Beige Pétale 567 and Mimosa 577 (yes, I caved for Mimosa). These are mood changing shades and as soon as I put these on I instantly forgot that it was cold and gloomy. Hours after swatching these, I still have a different shade on each finger and I feel like I’m wearing candy on my fingertips.
The Le Vernis shades have recently increased in price to $25 each which is fairly steep. I remember when Chanel nail polishes were $18, but in all fairness the formula wasn’t quite as good as they are now.
Morning Rose 557 is a warm candy pink with gold sparkles (the sparkles are subtle)
Beige Pétale 567 is a sheer transparent cool-toned cream (I’m loving this shade even though it’s so basic, it applies so smoothly)
Mimosa 577 the most highly anticipated shade of summer is a vibrant pearly yellow (I wonder if I’ll be brave enough to wear this to the office)
The texture and pigment of the nail colors seems slightly different from the classic Chanel Le Vernis texture. I will have to play around with these more but all the shades for summer are 3-coaters. Morning Rose and Beige Pétale applied wonderfully smooth and without any issues. Mimosa, on the other hand, was a disaster for me. It took 5 attempts for me to get a decent finger swatch. I tried it on a bare clean nail, over Chanel’s Base Coat, over Seche Vite’s Base Coat and RBL’s Base Coat. The texture is thick and applies unevenly. It took a super slow and steady hand for me to get it to work. It was difficult to get the right amount of product on the brush. In the end, I applied 3 thin streaky coats. It evens out by the 3rd coat. I highly recommend reading British Beauty Blogger’s experience and Beauty Moogle Zone’s thoughts as well. Close ups below:
Swatches on fingers, 3 coats each color:
Added in Miami Peach (Neimans exclusive, repromote, reviewed last week) for fun:
My favorite shades are Beige Petale and Morning Rose. I’m smitten with Miami Peach too. Mimosa is surprisingly a wonderful yellow (the shimmer on the nail is beautiful) just very difficult for me to apply on my own. I think with practice or a professional application it will look amazing. I’m just not used to having such a streaky finish with the first coat (at least not for Chanel) but much like others have noticed, Mimosa evens out with 2-3 coats.
I did not have time to do any comparisons yet but will try to do some before the end of this week. Off the top of my head, Beige Pétale is more beige than Allegoria which I find more white.
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Jo Malone Tea Fragrances – layering these together creates the most lovely uplifting scents. I find them simple, pure and refreshing! (each scent reviewed here)
Chanel Ombres Perleés de Chanel, perfect for a lovely glow and easy to apply with fingers (reviewed and swatched here)
NARS Kalahari Duo & Fez Single Eyeshadow – I’ve been using my depotted Kalahari and it was about time for a replacement so I bought a new one. It’s one of my holy-grail neutrals. Fez is a beautiful bronzey copper (swatched here).
Chanel Stylo Yeux Waterproof in Ébène is a pure black and stays put all day and Urban Decay’s 24/7 Shadow Pencil Blending Brush is the perfect brush for blending smokey colors (not so great for blending lighter shades all over the lid, but for darker shades and detail areas or smudging it’s great)
Giorgio Armani Blush #2 – the original Armani products were the best in my opinion. Classic nude soft neutrals never go out of style. #2 is a soft luminous peachy pink.
Bobbi Brown Aruba Illuminating Bronzing Powder is a golden shimmer bronze (see it here too)
Chanel Joyeuse from the Le Blanc Asia Exclusive Collection is a beautiful bright pink (see it reviewed here as well)
More bright lips: Paul & Joe Lip Lacquer 02 Can-Can (here too), Dior Model Addict Lipstick (also here) and Chanel’s Rouge Coco Shine in Adventure (I used up the entire sample from the little card I received and went out to buy the full sized version)
Various Chanel Nordstrom counters all over the country have been having a special launch event for the Rouge Coco Shine lipsticks. I love Chanel events because I always leave with great tips, tricks and ideas on how to use new and existing shades.
Today the artist asked me what kind of look I was interested in. It helps to give the artist some direction so they know where to start. They almost always like to try new colors on you (“new” as in don’t own yet) but since I have virtually all the Chanel quads she decided to use Kaska Beige to show me how to do a subtle smoky eye. The face chart of what she used:
Skin and Face:
Ultra Correction Line Repair Fluid SPF 15
Base Lumière Illuminating Makeup Base
Vitalumière Aqua in B20 (see swatches here)
Eyes:
Concealer as a base (didn’t note which one)
Kaska Beige Quadra Eyeshadow
Ébène Stylo Yeux Waterproof (pure black)
Cheeks:
Terre D’or Soleil de Tan Bronzer (soft bronze)
Tweed Corail Bronzer (coral & peach blend also shown here and here)
Lips:
Deauville Rouge Coco Shine Lipstick (pinky-mauve-brown)
The look was subtle but polished. I loved how she did the eyes. In my experience, few artists know how to do Asian eyes without creases. What she did with Kaska Beige:
Step 1: Apply a concealer base to even the eye
Step 2: Dampen a small eyeshadow brush and apply the darkest plum shade on the eyes from the center of the eye outwards to the outer corners (in a smudgey messy way), it was applied about 1/3 up the bottom lid from the center out
Step 3: Take a new clean soft eyeshadow brush and apply the warm brown shimmer all over the plum and all over the lid and blend together
Step 4: Apply the upper right cocoa color in outer corners and under the eyes for extra definition
Step 5: Line with a black liner along upper lashes
Step 6: Take the light cream shell color and dip another clean detail brush and swipe from brow bone downwards for a soft highlight
Blending the golden brown shade over the darker plum was pure genius. The cheeks and lips went perfectly with Kaska Beige.
*Update* Several of my readers have asked for more thoughts on Tweed Corail – I personally love all the tweed blushes. I’ve linked prior features here and here. It gives a lovely soft peach glow that brightens the face with a refined slight shimmer.
For the lips, Rouge Coco Shine in Deauville is a lovely mauve-brown with pink. It’s a complex color in the tube with different shimmers but applies with a lovely glow. It looks different depending on the light angles. I thought it might be too brown from what I saw in the tube but on the lips it looked more pinky-mauve. Another view below, see how it’s more pinkish compared to the views the above photos (because of the lighting/angle). The texture is sheer and glossy. More thoughts on Rouge Coco Shines soon.
As a promotion, the counter gave out mini pink notebooks, a mini mascara and mini skincare item (shown in the first photo at the beginning of this post). For additional Chanel Makeover Features, click on the MAKEOVER tag at the bottom.
Have you attended any Chanel events? What Rouge Coco Shines have you tried? If you went to an event this weekend, please share the details! I’d love to hear what they used on you or what kind of look they put together for you 🙂
