chanel intemporel (l'intemporel de chanel )

intemporel is the only polish in chanel's spring collection, l'intemporel de chanel.

i could've easily skipped this one. it's not like my collection is lacking metallic silvers, but i couldn't resist it.

i really  like metallic silvers. for me, they are perfect party polishes (especially since i wear black most of the time, and need some extra sparkle). this one is no more difficult (nor easier) to use than the most of them, but with thin enough coats and quick hands, you can avoid a lot of brushstrokes. that being said, you have to be blind not to notice them, but, for me, they somehow even add to the charms, so i gave up trying to make it look as polished (pun kind of intended) as possible.

natural light:

chanel april (harmonie de printemps )

since i'm in the more "serious phase", i will show you chanel april, from their harmonie de printemps collection for spring 2012, paired with may and june.

i have to say that april is among my favourite "grown up" polishes. i am a fan of everything green, blue, holo and glitter, but even i have it in me to go for more appropriate colours for some special work related situations. i got april solely for these occasions, and it became my go to polish together with another chanel, rose confidentiel.

it is one of those hard to describe beauties. i'm not sure whether to call it a berry red, muted red, reddish plum, so i will go with all of the above. it has amazing formula, i'm sure it suits every skintone and it is one of those polishes every girl has to have.

natural light:

chanel vendetta (bohemian fantasy)

time for a classic, chanel vendetta from bohemian fantasy collection back in the summer 2009.

this polish is so well known, that i find redundant to even write about it. it is a dark, blackened purple with the not that abundant shimmer. it really needs to be hit with light to really shine.

it used to be a popular opinion that it would benefit from being lighter or with more shimmer, but after we got taboo, it was admired from what it is. out of all the similar shades i owned over the years, this one has the best formula.

natural light:

chanel paradoxal (fall 2010)

what is left to say about chanel paradoxal, that haven't been said already? it was released as the only polish in their autumn 2010 collection, and it is still one of the best known chanel polishes,  together with particuilere that was released one year earlier. at that moment, both of these polishes were truly unique, with nothing even close to being a dupe.

the color is now well known mushroomy taupe-grey with purple undertone and shimmer that is really visible only under direct sunlight, and absolutely impossible to capture. for years, i have been searching for ways to photograph it, to no luck.

it applis beautifully and pigmentation is great. i managed to get a couple of rays of sun, enough to wake the shimmer up, but i really like how it looks in shade too, it has some sort of mystery around it and i am convinced that those colors look good on everyone.

chanel mysterious (superstition)

superstition was chanel's autumn collection back in 2013, and i have no idea why i waited to show misterious until now. you can see my other pick, alchimie, here.

misterious was described as a "deep khaki", but i would call that deep very, very deep. it is more like a quite blackened olive green with some grey and brown undertones. a nicely flowing creme, very elegant and pretty.

natural light:

chanel alchimie (superstition)

2013 autumn chanel collection is called superstition, and has three polishes: elixir, mysterious (that i also bought) and today's star, alchimie.

the official descriptions can be problematic, but this time, i think it captured the essence correctly: "a golden khaki". promo photos scared me that it would be really close to peridot (don't get me wrong, i'm a huge peridot fan), but the new one is much less shimmery and golden.

i mentioned already that i'm a huuuge fan of olive color (funny enough, i hate olives), so this one is not an exception. with these shades, you either love them or hate them. although it is a metallic polish, application is easy enough. there is a brushstroke here and there, but nothing really visible in real life.

natural light:

chanel graphite (illusions d'ombres)

after showing quartz and peridot from chanel's illusions d'ombres collection for autumn 2011, it is about time to show the third one, graphite.

graphite is a dark silver, but this is quite an oversimplification of its colour. it is a metallic, foily polish that looks a bit textured, while being perfectly smooth.

this unusual finish gives it more depth, so in shade it becomes more pewter-y, even greenish. formula is amazing, so much that even the chanel brush is not annoying me.

natural light:

chanel mediterranee (mediterranee)

chanel gave us four polishes in their 2015 summer collection, mediterranee. i was circling around lavanda and terrana, but took only mediterranee. i might be regretting taking only one.

these tealish-blue shades are my soft spot. they are hard to photograph, and look different in different lighting, so all of these pictures are both accurate and inaccurate. it is a really pretty muted blue. looks not to flashy, but still amazing on the nails. i really am a fan!

natural light:

chanel rouge moire (rouge allure moiré)

rouge moire is a part of chanel's mini autumn 2013 collection, rouge allure moiré. i only got this one, because rose moire is not my cup of tea.

to be completely honest, this polish is pretty, but i would survive without it. i don't regret buying it, it's just that these shades don't really make my heart beat faster.

the shade is best described as pearly red. it is a cool, berry red with a pinkish shimmer that goes over it like a thin coat, and really pops out in the sun. it has a slight metallic feel to it. the formula and opacity are ok, there is a little bit of visible brushstrokes, but nothing too crazy. bear in mind, i forgot to put the top coat, so they could've been evened out by it.

natural light:

chanel rose fusion (vamp attitude)

rose fusion, from chanel's  2015 holiday collection called vamp attitude, is one of the polishes that always surprises me. i keep forgetting how pretty it is.

i would have probably overlooked this one. the botlle can fool you to think that this is a dull polish, while in reality, it is one of the most complex. the amount of colours and finishes in one bottle is crazy. on  a cloudy day, it is a gorgeous purple to taupe duochrome, while at sun it becomes a more bronzy metallic polish with awesome silvery shimmer.

it is really unique and magnificent, as if you are wearing a different polish every time you look at your nails. the formula is a bit brushstrokey, but it's really fine. i have a lots of pictures, because i couldn't resist.

cloudy day:

chanel quartz (illusions d'ombres)

 today i am showing the first chanel polish i bought, quartz from the fall 2011 collection illusions d'ombres.

i often wonder how it got to be that this is my first chanel, especially when you take into account that quartz came out with peridot and graphite. 

colour is complex, somewhere between beige and taupe, but really rich in multicolored shimmer. formula is decent. it is the most wearable from fall 2011 trio and a nice shade. it is a bit streaky, but it is not too visible.

natural light:

chanel eastern light (reflets d'eté de chanel)

eastern light was at first featured as a part of a limited chanel hong kong collection for winter 2013, with western light, that was almost impossible to find. luckily, it resurfaced in 2014 summer collection,  reflets d'eté de chanel, and it is my only purchase.

i seriously got into whites lately. there is something about a white polish, of course, if it's well executed, that gives king of a clean look. so, no wonder eastern light really caught my eye. formula isn't the smoothest, but is quite self leveling. when you get past the streaky first coat, the second one evens things out, and with addition of a top coat, you should end up being streak-free.

the shade is the purest white you can imagine, and it manages steering away from the kind of a plastic look. i'm really enjoying wearing it.

natural light:

chanel azure (l’eté papillon de chanel)

i guess it can be said that blues from chanel's summer collection l’eté papillon de chanel, bel argus and azure, were THE most talked about polishes of 2013. after bel argus, the star of today's post is azure.

we all know by now that i'm a huge fan of blues in all the shades and finishes possible. i loved this duo ever since i saw the promo pictures and knew i could buy them blindly, but somehow thought that, after piling up one blue polish after another, they will not leave me breathless. boy, how was i wrong!

azure is a turquoise duochrome perfection, a true peacock shade. it screams summer, beach and waves. duochrome effect isn't insanely strong, but just enough for me to keep glancing at my nails at different angles. since it is metallic, there are some brushstrokes, but nothing too bad.

natural light:

chanel taboo (revelation of chanel)

 it's time for one of the most unique and beautiful polishes i own, chanel taboo from their revelation de chanel collection.

where to start in describing this beauty? the color is quite complex. the base is deep, dark cool purple with the shimmery fleck in silver, blue and burgundy color, giving it a bit of a galactic look. in the bottle it looks much more red that on nails

i'm pretty convinced that this polish looks good on both cool and warm-toned skin. and under different lighting, different tones of it can be dominant. good thing is, that it is never almost black and the shimmer is nicely visible indoors. it really is gorgeous, vampy, mysterious but also elegant at the same time!

formula is also great and easy to work with. it is a bit thicker than your usual chanel polish, but it flows smoothly and is almost a one coater. 

natural light:

chanel bel argus (l’eté papillon de chanel)

the moment hot weather starts, i reach for bel argus, chanel's beauty from their l’eté papillon de chanel, from their 2013 summer collection.

i guess it's a known fact that it's named after lysandra bellargus butterfly, but it's only the male that is entirely blue; the top part of the female's wing is brown.

when i wear bel argus, i prefer it to azure, and vice versa. it is another blue gorgeousness, this time, almost electric, deep sea blue metallic. it's duochrome effect is a bit toned down comparing to azure; also, the brushstrokes are less visible!

i can't wait to wear it near the water, it made me daydream of sea today at work! 

natural light:

shade:

i used base (china glaze strong adhesion) + two layers of polish + top coat (essence better than gel nails top sealer BTGNTS).

chanel peridot (illusions d'ombres)

i think it's about time to show the gorgeous chanel peridot, from the 2011 fall collection illusions d'ombres.

when it comes to peridot, i have a story. i admit i am a latecomer when it comes to high end polishes, but peridot was the first polish of this kind that i heard of. there was an article in one serbian newspaper, that was about this collection and mentioned that in many countries, there's a waiting list for peridot. this honestly shocked me, so i was interested to see how this polish looked like, and was surprised that i immediately fell in love with it!

and it sure is one of the shades i feel most comfortable with, although i can understand that it can be too much for some people. i also understand that the first association to it is not the stone of the same name, but the common fly. nevertheless, this combination of greenish gold duochrome (green more dominant in the shade, while gold wins in direct light), with my love for metallic finishes, makes it obvious to me why so many companies tried to make the dupe for it.

it is metallic, therefore brushstrokey, but the formula is impeccable.

natural light: 

chanel rose confidentiel (fall 2010)

at the first look, rose confidentiel is a not my typical colour. i've been looking for something similar for a while, with china glaze's fifth avenue as my first pick, but it was always out of stock when i looked for it. it is an ancient chanel polish from fall 2010 collection.

ages ago, when i fell in love with rose confidentiel and mentioned that it was on my wishlist on one serbian forum for polish addicts, one wonderful girl told me she has a bottle she never uses, and she gave it to me! many thanks, once again!

it was a part of chanel's autumn collection in 2010, together with rose cache and rouge fatal. it is amazing nude rose-beige pink creme with some brown undertones, or, as i like to call it, dusty pink. unfortunately, i am under impression that it changed a bit over the years, with the pink part diminishing on behalf of the brown tones.

formula also suffered and became slightly watery. nevertheless, i still love it!

natural light:

chanel malice (holiday)

malice was the only polish in chanel's holiday collection for 2012.

i was so lucky to get this polish. at the time, i literally got the last bottle in serbia, thanks to the group effort of my dear nail polish girls crew.

it truly is a perfect polish for holidays. a deep burgundy red, filled with ruby red shimmer, it even melts the hearts of red antifans like myself. it looks rich, with a great formula, and i'm really happy i have it in my stash.

natural light:

chanel coco blue (les jeans)

after blue rebel, i am showing another polish from chanel's  THE blue trio (les jeans collection for fashion's fight out 2011). in the spirit of a light blue wednesday, i'm wearing coco blue.

surprisingly or not, this was my first sort of baby blue polish. i never was a fan of this particular shade, it was always too girly for me, somewhere in the lines with barbie pink. also, it was the last one of the trio that i got, but i'm happy that i did.  

coco blue is a cool- toned sky blue creme, with some of the chanel's famous pearly subtle shimmer. in the bottle, the shimmer is a bit in-your-face, but it is barely visible on the nails. in my opinion, it has the function to make the formula smoother and easier to apply. the color is really vibrant under the direct light. it is one of those colors for all seasons, and i've grown to really like it.

for some reason, i was completely sure i that i read somewhere that the formula is terrible, but it is good. not amazing and brilliant, but without any issues in applications. 

natural light:

chanel blue rebel (les jeans)

les jeans  is ancient but awesome chanel collection from back in 2011, and it's time i showed blue rebel. other two polishes were equally awesome coco blue and blue boy.

this collection was supposed to be jeans inspired, and this polish emulates your basic dark, slightly washed out pair beautifully. it is the darkest blue out of the trio, but still too light to be called navy. more like a deep denim shade. it is awesome, well pigmented and with good formula.

i am sure that by now there are plenty of dupes out there, but i am simply happy i have this one.