Nail Polish

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):

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.

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.