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Dior

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Dior Vernis Golden Era 207

December 5, 2011

I first learned about Dior Golden Era 207 ($22) when Dior first launched their new nail polishes in the revamped formula online at Dior.com. I instantly googled trying to find swatches. I found some via The Purse Forum from sweetart and peach. (who I just found out has a blog called à la peach) and caved when I ordered Silver Lake last month. At this time I’m not sure if it’s just out of stock or is a limited edition – I checked Dior.com and can’t find it listed anywhere.
Golden Era 207 is a luminous sparkling sandy gold with beautiful multi-colored shimmers. There are glimmering particles of silver, gold, red and transparent tiny glitters suspended in a sheer golden-beige base. The finish is rather sheer but layerable. I needed 4 coats to achieve full coverage so I could actually see the gold color (just my preference). With 3 or less the nail polish makes the fingers glow with a soft sheen. I loved how à la peach showed the layering effect with multiple layers (be sure to visit her blog).

Here are some more shots and close ups:

If you look closely you can see the red shimmers:

I looked through my stash and didn’t see anything quite like it. The red shimmers add that extra oomph to make Golden Era truly unique. I think we need more nail polishes like this. (The red shimmer in this is like the flecks of teal in Chanel Quartz – they add extra depth, dimension and sparkle.) I pulled out my other Diors, no dupes to be found from Timeless Gold, Or Divin, City of Gold or Camel.

Swatch comparisons plus two more golds: Chanel Beige d’Or and Estee Lauder Extravagant Pearl.

I really hope this is just temporarily sold out on Dior.com. Golden Era is such a lovely color and being more of a neutral gold, I feel it would be more universally flattering than the Or Divin from holiday this year. Now if I could only find an eyeshadow like this …
One last shot of Silver Lake and Golden Era side by side:
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Dior Vernis in Silver Lake 071

November 12, 2011

Dior has released a new edgy metallic silver nail polish called Silver Lake in celebration of Allure’s 20th Anniversary. It’s exclusive to Dior.com for $22. If you’re interested I suggest you act fast because it’s limited edition. Silver Lake 071 is a gorgeous complex silver loaded with all sorts of sparkles in shades of silver, gunmetal grey, blue and black. On the nails it’s a cooler-toned metallic with very slight blueish tones. I adore it. First question on everyone’s mind is: how does this compare to Chanel Graphite (click here for feature from last July)? It’s similar in the complexity but different in color. The Dior is more of a silver-gunmetal while the Chanel flashes more gold. I think they are different enough to justify owning both, but that’s just me. Scroll down below for the comparison details but first up are some more shots of Silver Lake. Applied with two coats below.

Dior Silver Lake 071

Dior Silver Lake versus Chanel Graphite

Close up comparison shots to a few other metallic silvers:
Chanel Graphite, Dior Silver Lake, Dior Silver Pearl

Comparisons to more shades: Chanel Graphite, Dior Silver Lake, Dior Silver Pearl,
Dior NY57th, OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous

Bottom line: Yes, you can dupe it with other brands, but I love Dior’s quality and finish. The color is to die for and I prefer it over Chanel Graphite. Those new to my blog, welcome! Kindly do not leave links in the comments as I like to keep this an advertising-free and spam-free blog. Also note all content and photos are copyrighted which means I do not allow photos to be republished, hot-linked, or used on other websites, message boards, forums, blogs etc.
Also, check out Makeup Magpie for her lovely swatches and comparisons.
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Dior Couture Golds 554 Eyeshadow Palette

October 22, 2011

Dior Couture Golds 554 Quint ($59 for 6 g/ 0.21 oz) has finally been spotted in-store at Nordstrom. I’ve looked everywhere online for this and have yet to find it listed anywhere yet. It appears to have had a slight delay in release compared to the other items in this year’s holiday collection (much like last year’s Five Golds). If you’re looking online I suspect it might be a while before we see it show up. I’d recommend you call your Dior counter to see if it has arrived. Couture Golds is a particularly festive mix of golds and creams. The colors in the palette are all high frost/shimmer with the exception of the dark blackened-brown. I would describe the shades as (from top left going clockwise finishing at the center):
  • frosted ivory cream
  • frosted warm coppery gold
  • shimmery warm golden bronze with slight beigey tones
  • dark matte black-brown with gold flecks
  • sparkling yellow-gold champagne that has slightly chunky reflective particles

All have excellent color payoff, except for that dark color which I think needs a dense brush and quite a bit of packing on to get decent pigment. All together Couture Golds has a beautiful glowy quality that is perfect for holiday.

Is this a must-have? My initial thoughts were “yes! this is the best palette of the season yet!” I still feel that last year’s holiday quint, Five Golds wins hands down, but I did think this year’s Couture Golds was a huge thumbs up until I swatched it on the arm and thought it looked oddly familiar – like Endless Shine. Here is Couture Golds with some comparisons and swatches. You can judge for yourself on the similarities. There are differences in sparkle quality and undertone. Perhaps they just look identical because of my skintone. For me, they are too close for comfort. After seeing them swatched side-by-side I couldn’t help but feel a bit let down thinking this was simply a re-hash or a previously released quint. I couldn’t fit everything on one arm, so swatches are grouped into twos.

Overall, I still feel that Couture Golds is the best eye palette of the holiday season. The sparking champagne in the center is so gorgeous with the chunky reflective particles. I prefer it over Endless Shine (even though they are very similar) so I can justify keeping it instead of re-gifting it to someone else. Will I be using Couture Golds this season? Absolutely yes. I just feel it could have been a bit more different than something previously released by the same brand.
Have you seen Dior Holiday in person? What were your thoughts?
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Dior Vernis for Holiday 2011 in Exquis 611

October 16, 2011

Dior Exquis #611 ($22) is one of four nail colors in the Dior Vernis d’Or Collection this year for the holiday season. The theme this year for Dior is gold and each of the nail lacquers are infused with gold powder. Exquis has the complexity of colors like Chanel Peridot and Dior Bronze Libertine but I find that Exquis is softer & slightly less edgy making it easier to pull off for everyday. It is an intriguing color of taupe and brown mixed with gold shimmers. Depending on how the light hits your hands sometimes it looks taupe, sometimes it looks dark brown, other times a golden fawn. The finish is smooth and glossy. It requires two coats for full coverage. I’ve grown to love the chiseled tapered brush – it makes application so much easier.

Pretty gold veins:

I could not find a dupe in my stash. I have seen dupe attempts pop up online though some look quite close. The closest I have is Dior’s Bronze Libertine (Neiman Marcus exclusive from last year), but it’s not quite the same.

Some more comparisons on the nail wheel, L to R: Chanel Khaki Rose, Dior Aztec Chocolate, Exquis, Underground, Czarina Gold, OPI Melody in Mocha, OPI You Don’t Know Jacques, Sephora by OPI Already Famous, Dior Bronze Libertine.

Coming eventually, each shade from Dior’s Holiday 2011 collection but for now, here are the four lined up (all are limited edition so I recommend you act fast if these are on your wishlist):

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Coming Soon . . . Dior & Chanel Holiday 2011

October 8, 2011
On the West Coast in Southern California, Dior spotted at Nordstrom & Neimans (just not the quint yet) and Chanel Holiday spotted at Neimans but without testers. First a sneak peek at the nails for holiday. Left to right: Dior Or Divin 221, Exquis 611, Apparat 871, Merveille 651 & Chanel Rouge Carat 587.

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A Few Dior Mitzah Quint Comparisons

September 20, 2011

Although Dior’s Mitzah Quint is quite basic and very neutral, I had a hard time finding another palette similar. I pulled a few with similar tones but none are dupes. Above shows Dior Endless Shine, Chanel Kaska Beige and Dolce & Gabbana Nude. Unfortunately I did not get swatches of all the palettes today before the sun went down and my camera battery died. I do have Endless Shine swatched to compare for you in decent lighting so you can see the difference in shimmer/finish. Most Dior Quints have at least one high frost color, Iridescent Quints have the majority of the shades frosted. As you can see below Mitzah is satiny and almost matte.

Here is Mitzah at night swatched next to a few other palettes, Chanel Kaska Beige, Dolce & Gabbana Nude and Chanel Variations.

Some might say Mitzah is too basic and lacks luster. It doesn’t make the eyes pop or have that intense wow-factor, but it has a kick that gives a beautiful subtle defined eye that can be intensified for a soft-smoky look. I personally love it for everyday. For a bit of an extra shimmer or kick, I’d recommend layering over a more sparkly cream base to add a bit of luster.
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Dior Mitzah Camel and Ebony Comparisons

September 19, 2011
Dior Camel and Ebony are compared below to Dior City of Gold, Dior Sienna, Chanel Khaki Rose, Chanel Particuliere, Dior Underground, Dolce & Gabbana Chocolate and MAC Dim the Lights.
To see how Camel compares to neutral nudes, like Dior Nude Chic and Dolce & Gabbana Nude, scroll down two posts (linked here).
I found Dior Camel truly unique. There wasn’t a shade I owned similar to it at all. Granted I don’t typically gravitate towards yellow-based shades unless it’s a gold shimmer. Dior Ebony wasn’t exactly unique as I found it very similar to Underground. The two are practically identical except when you scroll down to the bottom photo, you might be able to see that Underground has a slightly purplish base while Ebony is more neutral black/brown. In real life you can only see the difference if you look very closely. In the photos I doubt you will be able to tell the two apart unless you tilt your head, squint and try to look for the difference.

I hope these comparisons help. I’m not sure I would classify these new Dior shades as must-haves as they are fairly neutral and not exactly knock out colors. Still they provide a polished subtle elegant look to the fingers which I really like. Quint/quad comparisons to come soon. I didn’t get good swatch comparisons from this weekend so I will have to redo them.