NOTD: Chanel Black Satin

I became fascinated with Chanel Black Satin before my nail polish obsession really started in earnest. Black Satin was released, if I recall correctly, sometime in 2006, and it touched off a frenzy - even The New York Times breathlessly reported on the black/dark nail polish trend.

I wanted it, real bad. At the time I was not yet accustomed to shelling out $18 (remember when Chanel nail polish was $18? How adorable) for nail polish or for that matter ordering nail polish online. Why there was plenty of perfectly good nail polish at every drugstore in town! (And don't ask me why I couldn't have gone to one of these stores and purchased a bottle of plain black nail polish for $1.)

Anyway, I really wanted that Chanel Black Satin with its slight platinum shimmer - the famous Chanel "secret shimmer" - but it was long gone from Chanel counters and I couldn't bring myself to shell out eBay prices for it. So I kind of gave up on it and bought a bottle of OPI Lincoln Park After Dark instead. (Another polish that I still truly love.)

Fast forward a few years and Chanel Black Satin isn't nearly the fashion darling it once was. I picked up a bottle on eBay for just about retail. You can, of course, still buy Black Satin on chanel.com. I am not sure if there is a difference between the Made in U.S.A. and Made in France versions of Black Satin - some people claim there is, some people vehemently insist they are exactly the same. The bottle I have is a U.S.A. bottle, which is different from all my other Chanel nail polish. Whether it means anything or not? I have no idea.

I'm glad I went ahead and got it after lemming it for so long.

Is it different than a $1 bottle of Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme? Well, it is to me. I just wanted the real deal. It does have the platinum shimmer, which I guess you could say softens it a little bit or gives it some depth, but if all you want is black nail polish that $1 bottle of Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme will work just fine and then some. (Or you could buy OPI Black Onyx or Zoya Raven or a billionty other versions.)

I do love black nail polish on shorter nails, so that's why I chose to put it on last night. My nails were getting to that point where they start breaking and looking crummy if I don't go ahead and cut them down, so it seemed like the perfect time to vamp it up.