Chanel, Tabou ou Taboo?

 Bonjour! Je sais... je sais, j'avais dit "jamais, plus jamais". Après le fiasco du Black Pearl, j'avais juré de ne plus acheter un vernis Chanel, de ne plus mettre plus de 20€ dans des vernis à la formule plus que discutable et pour des couleurs qui seront pompées dans les mois qui suivent. Mais ça, c'était avant... c'était avant Taboo.

J'ai essayé de résister, de ne pas voir les swatches sur internet, de ne pas constater que beaucoup de nail-addicts souvent insensibles à la marque craquaient les unes après les autres. Et la conjonction des ventes privées Sephora et de mon DocDay la semaine dernière a fini de me convaincre de m'offrir ce bijou. Et je ne regrette absolument pas!!
 

Côté couleur, le flacon promet des merveilles qui ne sont pas toutes présentes sur l'ongle, mais le résultat n'en reste pas moins sublime, un violet profond avec des reflets rouges et des micro-paillettes. Pour la formule, c'est une autre bonne surprise, l'application est très facile et il est opaque en une couche. Bref, j'ai craqué, j'assume!! Ça ne veut pas dire que je deviens une adepte de la marque, loin de là, je trouve quand même que ça reste très cher pour un vernis industriel (autant payer 15€ pour une flacon rempli à la main par la créatrice, ça ne me choque pas, autant plus de 20€ pour une production d'usine, ça fait mal au c...), mais pour le coup, c'est une belle surprise et un joli cadeau!
 

 

 

 Alors, et vous, craquera, craquera pas??

Nailstorming - Tropical Nails

Bonjour tout le monde!! Le Nailstorming de la semaine, c'est "Tropical Nails". N'étant pas une grande fan des tons orangés et jaunes (ni du soleil et de la chaleur des tropiques), j'ai choisi de partir sur des couleurs de crépuscule avec un dégradé bleu-violet-rose. J'ai sorti Cosmos et Pink Plumeria et avant de me poser la question du violet, j'ai acheté Taboo donc j'ai eu envie de l'utiliser.

Le dégradé n'a pas été simple, les vernis néons sont assez compliqués à travailler mais j'aime bien le résultat final (en revanche, j'ai beau adorer Cosmos, c'est une plaie quand il faut le nettoyer, ce que vous voyez là c'est après TROIS nettoyages au pinceau...)

Ensuite, j'avais pensé faire des cocotiers en noir, mais je n'ai pas les ongles assez longs pour que la partie rose fasse la taille du cocotier, donc on ne voyait rien. Comme j'ai opté pour du blanc et que ça perdait tout réalisme, j'ai continué en mettant des motifs d'été sur tous mes ongles, sans chercher à faire un "coucher de soleil tropical".

 

 

Voilà, j'espère que cette manucure vous inspire les vacances et vous fait voyager malgré la météo maussade. Bon dimanche!

Busy Sunday - Chanel Velvet comparison

I didn't see the week-end pass by, that's why I'm late both for my own post and for Minnie's section. I'll work on that today, I swear. On Saturday afternoon, I went in town, and decided to test one of the it-product of this fall, Chanel top-coat Velvet, and to compare it with the mattifying top-coat I have, China Glaze Matte Magic. I applied it on my OPI Play the Peonies, and while it was a 'spur-of-the-moment' idea, it turned out to be the perfect testing base, because it's a shimmery polish. 

I do like matte polishes, but not "pure mattes", as in "cremes with a matte finish", they look like paint. But when you have a shimmery polish with a matte finish, I find the end result really beautiful. And that's why I really don't like Chanel Velvet: as you will see below, it completely erased the shimmer in Play the Peonies and turned it into pale pink paint. On the pics below, I have Chanel Velvet on the left (my middle finger) and China Glaze Matte Magic on the right (my ring finger).

Of course I never had any intentions of buying Chanel Velvet, there are enough mattifying tc out there that are way cheaper than 20 or so euros (the most well-known beside CG Matte Magic is Essie's Matte About You), but besides that, I'm very disappointed in that product, because it doesn't allow any versatility: no matter what polish you apply it on, be it a creme or a shimmer, the result will always be the same. I'll stick to my matte magic and see if I try Essie's when that one is finished!!

As a conclusion to this post, I can't resist showing you what kept me busy on Sunday: cooking!! I tried a new recipe for cupcakes, and most especially for the topping: instead of the usual butter and sugar, I tried with mascarpone, and I have to say it's way more manageable, and it makes the colors pop out a lot more!! So here's my neon yellow cupcake :)

Sephora Diving in Malaysia vs Chanel Peridot

I already told you about Sephora's dupe for Chanel Peridot, Diving in Malaysia, and when I showed it to Minnie on a trip to Sephora, she had a crush on this scarab-colour and we took it. So of course, honour is hers to present it to you. This is Diving in Malaysia in two coats with top-coat.

And to prove my point about it being really similar to the Chanel, here's a comparison: it's Peridot on my thumb and Diving in Malaysia on my pointer (sorry about the crappy quality, I rushed to take pictures when we were home and the light was crappy).

OPI Suzi Skies in the Pyrenees Suede + Chanel Graphite comparison

We continue with the matte polishes with another suede from OPI, the gunmetal grey Suzi Skies in the Pyrenees. I bought that one many months after the others because at first, I wasn't in the mood for dark greys. But winter came and then I wanted to wear grey almost every day. While You Don't Know Jacques was very much reminiscent of the suede that gives its name to the collection, this one is felt on the nails. Like the other, it applies easily and is opaque in two coats.

And when I topcoated it, I took the opportunity to compare it with another of my favourite greys, Lucerne-Tainly Look Marvelous from the Swiss Collection. And since I had been to Sephora and tried on Chanel Graphite, it's in here as well (sorry for the giant smudge on my middle finger, I did it right after coming out of Sephora)

OPI LTLM, Chanel Graphite, OPI SSitP Suede with top-coat

As you see, the two OPIs have the same colour, but not the same finish, LTLM having metallic and green shimmer while SSitP only has silver glitter. And Chanel Graphite has a touch of gold in the gunmetal base which puts it between silver and gold.

Chanel and the Curse of the Black Pearl

 

Ok, I admit, I was looking for a way to place a Johnny Depp pic in a post!! Joking aside, today I'm talking about Black Pearl and my story with it is some kind of curse that many nail-addicts fall under, the curse of the IT Polish. A It polish is THE polish everyone is talking about and wants to lay their hands on at a given point. Most IT items stem from a luxury brand such as Chanel (they are quite the specialists of It Polishes), and since polish is cheaper than their clothes and easier to spot than an eye-shadow, IT polishes are often a success. Said success pertains to the colour more than anything else because let's face it, Chanel's formula is usually craptastic, runny and sheer, and not what you'd expect after paying 20 euros. But well, I, like so many others, fell for the Siren's Call of Black Pearl last winter, even if I waited to have a discount and didn't fork the 20 euros in the end. So here it is, two to three coats depending on how I managed it, no top-coat.

Don't mistake me, I don't regret buying it, I wore it a lot last winter and will wear it again, I adore greys and this one is really the exact colour of a black pearl, it's beautiful. But I'm clearly disappointed in terms of formula: not only is this polish hard to apply, it leaves brushstrokes (as you can see in the last pic), is slow to dry and has a very average wear (I usually apply Seche Vite to speed up drying time, but even with that, I often had smudges and marks, and it would chip after two days at most). But most importantly, there's one thing to know about IT polishes: they are always copied, and quite often, with a better formula and a much, much cheaper price. You already saw my Paradoxal dupe, Barry M's Dusky Mauve (and I tested Paradoxal next to it, they are absolute twins), let me introduce you to a dupe of Black Pearl that I found without searching, Ombre from LM Cosmetic.
LM Cosmetic is a French brand that only sells online and only ships to France, Belgium & Luxembourg, but it's high quality, their colours are varied, and all that for 4,2 euros for 11ml. Check out below to see if you can find which finger sports BP and which has Ombre...

So, it's BP on pointer and ring, and Ombre on middle, and the only difference is the absence of brushstrokes with Ombre... lesson learned, this is the one and only Chanel you'll see in those pages!! And if you live in Europe and like the look of Chanel's next IT Polish, Peridot, run to Sephora and grab yourself a bottle of Diving in Malaysia ;)