Chanel Fall 2011

So I'm on a nail polish diet that started sometime...oh let's say Sunday, immediately after I placed my Chanel order. Since that time I've strolled past the racks at Walgreens, gazed upon clearance items at Rite Aid and grasped CVS ExtraBucks in my hot little hands, all without buying anything. On Tuesday, I got my hair cut at my usual place and I pawed through their basket of OPIs but didn't buy any. They even had the Pirates colors! The very ones I wanted. But I left them there. I reminded myself NAIL POLISH DIET and I walked away without further internal debate.

I'm somewhat fortunate in that a lot of the new stuff falls into three categories: Crackle polish, sheer sparkly top coats and glitter. None of these are my favorite things and so I can definitely live without them. Also, I'm still waiting on my Ozotics, I just got my Nfu-Ohs and the Chanels, so I think I'm good for a while.

Anyway my Chanels arrived today so I have lots o' pictures for you.

Part of the "Chanel buying experience" (even though the box comes from what is probably an industrial park in Tennessee and not Rue Cambon in Paris) is the presentation. Yes it's a regular cardboard box but you open it and see this:

All nice and nestled in tons of snowy Chanel logo-printed tissue. Samples on either side and your goodies in a little drawstring bag. (You can use it for your sunglasses!)

I am a fan of the iconic packaging.

What's better than Chanel?

Anyway I am sure you are more interested in the polish, so here we go.

Peridot...where to start.

Some people doubted the duochrome shown in the promo images would actually be in the bottle.

It is!

'Tis also on the nail.

These pictures show three coats. I used Palladio Fuse bonding base coat and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat (I've not had good luck with Chanel and Seche Vite). The formula was great. It is a leeeeeeetle frosty. Just a tad. The tiniest bit. And really, the brush stroke issue is totally workable. It's more something to be aware of rather than a deal breaker.

I'm wearing Peridot as a full manicure, but I also swatched Graphite on three fingers and it's a real winner too.

This is also three coats with base coat and top coat.

There's something going on with Graphite...yes, it's black and silver, but there are other teeny, weeny, not-necessarily-visible particles of something else in there. Pink? Blue? I noticed it when I took off the polish after swatching. It's not that you can see the other colors as sparkly particles on the nail, it's more that they are buried in there adding depth and sparkle. Behind-the-scenes glitter!

I'm super happy with these polishes. Sadly, the release of these polishes has brought up the usual hating about Chanel - complaints that it is overpriced and of poor quality. I'll give you that it's overpriced...of course it's overpriced. It's Chanel! You are paying for those little interlocked Cs and all the trappings that goes with them. It's an indulgence.

I won't, however, agree that the polish is poor quality. If it doesn't work for you that's one thing. Some brands don't work for me either...so I don't buy them. It's frustrating but...it's just nail polish. There's always another color to try.

I do think base coat and top coat are touchy issues for Chanel and I can see how that would be a pain for some people. I understand being impatient with tricky formulas, but honestly the whinging seems more knee-jerk than based in actual fact sometimes. Patience and keeping an open mind goes a long way!

In any event, Fall 2011 is a big winner for Chanel in my opinion. What do you think?