Browsing Tag

Dior

Uncategorized

Chanel Blue Rebel, Coco Blue & Blue Boy Comparisons

September 9, 2011

Here are a few blue comparisons of the new Les Jeans de Chanel shades to other Chanel & Dior blues. Included are Chanel Blue Satin (featured here), Dior Bond Street (here), Chanel Blue Rebel, Chanel Blue Boy, Chanel Coco Blue, Chanel Riva (here) and Chanel Nouvelle Vague (here).

The three Les Jeans de Chanel colors:

Other blues all lined up and swatched on tape (two coats each):

Arm swatches two different views:

Here you can see they have a high gloss finish:

After playing with the blues all day long, I still have the same mixed feelings. While I think there is very little that beats the feeling of having perfect fitting jeans (my favs are Paige and Joe’s Jeans) I don’t associate denim with the words “luxury” or “luxe” or “runway” like I do when I think of the brand Chanel. I thought this was an odd choice of theme for Chanel for Fashion’s Night Out (last year’s Les Khakis, Steel and Strong were much better being both edgy and unique). In addition, the high price tag of $29 per bottle this year is very hard to swallow for colors that aren’t unique or special, even for a limited-edition Chanel piece. Still, I caved and I can rest assured that I won’t have any Chanel regret nor will I have to pay uber high eBay prices to get one when they’ve sold out. To clarify, I do think these are very good high quality blues, but for FNO and for the price, I expected more. Perhaps it is just the recent releases of amazing colors like Black Pearl, Morning Rose, Quartz and Graphite that have overshadowed these basic blues.

Bottom line, nice but not must-haves. Dior Bond Street is more navy and slightly darker than the Les Jeans colors but it still has my heart for blues.

11 Comments
Uncategorized

Dior Smoky Khaki 481

August 30, 2011
This season seems to be the season of new innovations in eyeshadows. Chanel released their Sophisticated Eye Collection with new quads, singles and eyelash curler and Guerlain came out with nine new quads. Dior has also released a beautiful collection of Smoky Eyeshadow palettes with six new trios that have just started to trickle in stores (I spotted these at Nordstrom). Fab Over Forty has details on the full lineup and Cafe Makeup has a lovely feature on Smoky Pink #051. The trio that captured my attention the most was Smoky Khaki #481 ($48 each).

These trios come with a new type of packaging with a sliding top and a mirror that flips open once the top slides back. According to the National Artists at the store, the mirrors are designed at the perfect angle so you can apply your eyeshadow while looking down. The compacts are on the smaller side with a small mirror. It’s great for a detail touch-up but too small to be ideal for normal application (in my opinion). Each trio has three colors with different finishes/textures designed to create the perfect smokey eye by layering. The colors in Smoky Khaki are:
  • Base: golden beige shimmer (soft and buttery smooth)
  • Soft smoky: dusty khaki-brown (subtle shimmer but very fine)
  • Couture smoky: high sparkle khaki gold

Don’t let the sparkle in these palettes scare you. They apply beautifully on the eye without having an overly glitter or frosty appearance. Yes, the sparkle is extremely intense, but the colors look amazing once you apply. The base comes in a soft smooth texture while the other two shades have a slightly harder finish giving them a more sheer finish. The colors are easily buildable though so I found the pigment payoff excellent with a bit of layering.

The trios all come with a small instruction booklet and diagrams. The application recommendations:

I tried this today using my regular eyeshadow brushes from MAC and Trish McEvoy and the result was a pretty polished neutral smokey golden khaki eye. Swatches over NARS Primer:

In outdoor natural light, no flash:

I played with only 3 of the palettes and all seemed to have the same quality and texture and color payoff. I love Dior’s interpretation of the smoky eye this season and am thrilled with the variety and uniqueness of each palette. For me, the traditional smokey eye palette of cream, grey and black doesn’t always work for my skin making me look dead and washed out. The new trios from Dior offer a diverse range of options to give a modern smokey eye. I highly recommend you check these out.
30 Comments
Uncategorized

Dolce & Gabbana Chocolate Nail Lacquer

August 1, 2011

Dolce & Gabbana Chocolate Nail Polish is a rich dark chocolate color, just as it is named. In the bottle it’s a reddish warm milk-chocolate brown. On the nails it darkens to a deep espresso shade without any visible red tones. The formula seems a bit thicker than most Dolce & Gabbana nail polishes but applies smoothly with 2 coats. There is a naturally glossy finish. In my experience, Dolce & Gabbana nail polishes last well past the usual 4 days for me for manicures and over a week for pedicures. I just applied Chocolate today for swatching purposes (not a full manicure) so I can’t assess the lasting power of this color in particular. Overall Dolce & Gabbana’s nail polish formulas seem very consistent for me and are highly under-rated.

Two coats without any top coat

While Dolce & Gabbana Chocolate is very basic, there’s something about the depth of this color that seems sophisticated to me. It’s not the most unique brown since I found it very similar to Dior Underground (from the Rock Your Nails collection) and Chanel Imperial. The difference is very slight with Dolce & Gabbana Chocolate being the richest and darkest, Dior Underground has more grey, Chanel Imperial has the most visible red. I added a comparison of Bronze Libertine from Dior (I think this was a Neimans exclusive?) for another brown-bronze comparison. Although it’s not super unique, I still like it.

In the bottle Dolce & Gabbana Chocolate looks most similar to Chanel Imperial. But when applied on the nail, you can see Dolce & Gabbana Chocolate actually resembles Dior Underground more. Odd, right?

Finally one last comparison to Jake’s spots. He wouldn’t sit still for a photo as he was too busy chomping down his treat. Compared to Dolce & Gabbana Chocolate his spots now look more tan rather than brown. Here you can see the natural shiny finish of the polishes (all without a top coat).

Overall lovely, rich and deep. This will be perfect for fall. I do however suspect this color will be easily dupeable. If I had had the access to all these shades at Saks I would have passed on this since it’s so close to the Dior. However, this is never the case because so many shades are either limited edition or exclusive to certain stores (why we all often end up with dupes). I suspect that this will also be very similar to the upcoming US release of Dior Ebony (as seen on Cafe Makeup from her Paris trip).

What do you think? Will you be wearing chocolate tones on your nails this season? Or when the real fall season arrives? Or are there other colors that catch your eye? This year, the colors for nails seem to be all over the place!

8 Comments
Uncategorized

Dior Blue Tie for Fall 2011: Blue Tie Palette & Serum de Rouge Crystal

July 29, 2011

Dior’s Fall Collection this year is called Blue Tie with a heavy emphasis on deep rich navy blues for eyes and nails. The look featured for Dior is quite dramatic with an intense smokey eye and soft pink lips. The collection launched several weeks ago and I initially decided to pass on the entire collection. I can’t pull off navy on the eyes and I was already smitten with Chanel Blue Satin for the nails. The colors for lips are amazing (there are some amazing pinks and nudes) but did not seem like must-haves for me.
So how did I end up with items from this collection? Well, after I played at the counter and passed, I saw Karla Sugar’s Blue Tie swatches and knew I had to go back. The Serum de Rouge formula is among my favorites (I’m not sure why I haven’t written about them before) for lipsticks. They are truly moisturizing and make the lips glow and feel hydrated without having too much slip. The colors work well to enhance the lips while making them look completely luscious. I picked out Primrose Crystal 215 and Tea Rose Crystal 455.
The Blue Tie Palette in Smoking Blue 001 was kindly sent to me by Dior (a lovely surprise!). I would not have purchased this on my own since navy looks too sharp on my skin and especially given the reports of sheerness and chalky textures on KarlaSugar, Temptalia and  Beauty Moogle. The packaging is indeed stunning in a heavy silver mirrored compact complete with applicators and a swivel lid to protect the lip product from shadow debris. I was a bit weary of how this would perform, but a few beautiful look reviews gave me hope, especially from The RAEviewer, Lipstick Musings and Tiffany’s Makeup Story. Photos first and then my review at the bottom of this post.

My thoughts:
The Blue Tie Palette in Smoking Blue 001 has a quad of smoky colors in sheer matte navy-black, deep denim blue shimmer, deep charcoal with silver flecks and a metallic smoky grey. The lipgloss seems to be a lipstick-lipgloss hybrid and is a sheer petal pink without shimmer. When swatched on the back of my hand, the shadows barely showed up. The texture is indeed rather dry. I layered a primer (UDPP) on the arm and then swatched the shadows as heavily as I could with the sponge tip applicators. As you can see, they are still fairly sheer, especially the top left matte shade. I applied this on the eyes following the tips from the other vlogs and blogs. I was pleasantly surprised to find the color shows up better on the eyes (but only over a  well primed eye.) Still, the product looks so much prettier in the palette. The result for me was a soft smokey eye. If you’re scared of over-doing a smokey eye, then sheer-darks are the way to go because it will be virtually impossible for you to mess up your eye makeup. The colors are layerable for a medium-intense smoky eye. Still, the colors aren’t really me, I would not have purchased this palette on my own. It’s workable, but takes more effort than your average eyeshadow palette to get a decent application.

Primrose Crystal is a nude pink-beige and Tea Rose Crystal is a sheer brighter pink. I picked the most neutral of the options but really all of the colors in this collection are lovely. The colors I picked look sheer when swatched but they work well with your natural lip color to enhance the lips and they do show up. Karla’s swatches are a better representation of the true color (in my opinion). These are pricey at $32 but completely worth every penny. I love the twist-up and click feature. Makes these easy to use and non-messy. They are your easy swipe-and-go kind of lipstick and require no extra tweaking.

Did you try anything from the Blue Tie Collection? What were your likes/dislikes?

22 Comments
Uncategorized

Chanel Fall 2011 Le Vernis Comparisons

June 19, 2011


No dupes to be found. Here are the shades Quartz, Graphite and Peridot compared to prior releases from Rococo Nail Apparel, Chanel and Dior.

The fall shades

Comparisons L to R: Rococo Nail Apparel R2T2, Chanel Trapeze, Chanel Quartz, Dior Silver Pearl, Chanel Graphite, Chanel Kaleidoscope, Chanel Peridot, Dior Timeless Gold


Swatches with 3 different views (since metallics look different depending on the light)



FYI: Polish Police has a comparison of Chanel Graphite to OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous. Those who think it’s a dupe will see from her blog that it’s really not 🙂
16 Comments
Uncategorized

Les Rouges by Dior: Trafalgar, Gruau G and Icône

June 14, 2011

In January, Dior released their limited edition Gris City Collection. This fall, Dior brings us another limited edition nail polish trio in a red theme called Les Rouges. The three new shades are called Trafalgar 747, Gruau G 837 and Icône 862 ($21 each). Fashion Polish gave us an amazing sneak peek last month. I wasn’t expecting these to arrive instore/online until September, but many thanks to a few who let me know these arrived early at the Dior Boutique in Las Vegas! I suspect they will be online at Dior.com soon, store availability will most likely be exclusive to select Dior Boutiques if these are like the Gris City collection. According to Dior:

“Trafalgar 747 A bright luminous poppy red with a hint of orange. A dynamic echo of the spectacular red designs that Christian Dior liked to send out right in the middle of his shows to catch the audience’s attention.

Gruau G 837 Flamboyant and seductive, a sophisticated tribute to the radiant red of Gruau’s illustrations. The eternal passionate red of a chic Parisian. A red celebrated in a blaze at thelatest Spring-Summer 2011 Haute-Couture show, inspired by Gruau G*.

Icône 862 A dense and enchanting subtly pearly red brown, recalling Rouge icône, created by Christian Dior to light up the mythical Spring-Summer 1955 “Atout Coeur” dress. Today the House of Dior still pays symbolic tribute to this refined red with lavish dresses in every show.“

When these arrived at my door, my heart sank a little bit as they looked a bit too basic in the bottle but I knew I had to see them on the fingers to get a better idea of how they would look on me. Two coats each on three fingers resulted in absolute red perfection. They are so much better on the hands than what you see in the bottle (although the color in the bottles is still very pretty).

With a high flash:


In direct sunlight:


Dior’s descriptions are spot on and Fashion Polish had swatches and photographs that are gorgeously accurate. Trafalgar is a vibrant coral red poppy creme with the slightest hint of sparkle. The shimmer is barely detectable but I believe it gives this hot red a bit of depth to prevent it from being flat and shocking from the brightness. Gruau G is a vibrant brick red creme, also has the same finish with a tiny bit of microsparkle. Icône is a deep burgandy brownish shimmer. This one has visible shimmer but the color is dark so unless you look at the nail closely, what you see looks like a cream.



The formula is impeccable. Rich, opaque, smooth, glossy and quick-drying although Icône is a bit thicker and needs 2 full coats to get a smooth application (first coat is slightly blotchy). All swatches are without a topcoat.

Are they must-haves or unique? I would say they are not the most unique and if you have reds in your collection these are not must-haves. Still, once on the fingers, these look rich and classic and the formula is amazing. My comparisons (some are really really close in color):

L to R – Dior Trafalgar, Chanel Enthusiast, Chanel Dragon, Dior Gruau G, MAC Rouge Marie, Dior Icône, Chanel Vamp, Chanel Cosmic Violine

All content and photos are copyrighted. Kindly please do not steal, republish or hotlink on other websites, blogs or message boards.

To those inquiring, yes, I am still on a blogging break. These were just TOO amazing to wait until July to write about and as Chanel fall arrives instores, I suspect I will not be able to contain my excitement either.
17 Comments
Uncategorized

My Must-Have Nail Polishes Plus a Little Update …

June 5, 2011

A few of you have e-mailed me asking “what are your top picks for nails?” This is a tough question! As with many other products, my favorites are subject to change week after week. I’ve picked 5 color categories of what my must-haves for nails are. My favorites fall mainly within a few select brands, but many of my readers either don’t like the brand, formula or price. However, those who do love the same brands as me, for each category I’ve included my right-now favorites by brand/color. Most of these have been previously featured. (Update: It appears the sidebar google search isn’t working so I’ve linked past reviews to each name as applicable below.)

I think everyone needs:






A few nail spam pictures

Django

Black Pearl

Rococo Reissue

And …

The Beauty Look Book is going on a mini-summer break from blogging the month of June. I have quite a few projects coming up which will require more time and dedication. But not to worry! Blog posting for me will not come to a complete halt this next month although there will be a significant slow down in the upcoming weeks. I will have limited time to respond to e-mails or comments but will keep you updated on my latest finds in the upcoming month and complete a few more reviews on things I’ve been loving but haven’t had time to write about yet.

The inside my new Chanel feature will be posted sometime later this week.

23 Comments