Chanel Paradoxal Dupes?

Chanel Paradoxal

A while ago I bought Chanel's Paradoxal, from the moment I saw pictures, I just knew I had to have it. And I still don't regret splurging the $$$, because I have a thing for this purple taupe with its secret shimmer. The wear has been great on me and I actually wear this every now and then.

Dupe?

What exactly is considered a dupe anyway? According to the dictionary a dupe is a version identically copied from an original. So when you compare these colors, they have to be fairly identical before you can label them as dupes. This is why I don't consider Models Own's Purple Grey and MNY's #549 exact dupes of Paradoxal. Their base colors are definitely similar, but they're lacking any type of shimmer. MNY tests on animals anyway, therefore it's not even an option for me.

the fun without the $$$

While I love Chanel, I have to admit: it is kinda pricey. Thankfully I've come across some cheaper alternatives: Barry M's Dusky Mauve and number 509 by Hollywood Nails (they even share the same number!). If you look at this comparison you'll notice how close Barry M and Chanel are! They have the same base color and pretty much the same amount of shimmer. The camera shows more blue in Barry M's shimmer, but I looked very hard and didn't notice this myself. #509 by Hollywood Nails is pretty close too, but the shimmer is different: the particles are smaller and more evenly distributed throughout the polish.

Application

The application of Dusky Mauve and Paradoxal is also quite similar, they both need 2 layers and they go on very nicely. #509 by Hollywood Nails is almost a once coater, win!

Chanel Paradoxal costs $23.00 for 13ml, Hollywood Nails #509 costs $4,25 for 15ml and Barry M's Dusky Mauve costs $4,75 for 10ml.

So, if you fell in love with this color too, but you don't want to hurt your wallet, I'd definitely recommend Dusky Mauve by Barry M, I actually consider this a dupe and it's not expensive at all! Yes, the one by Hollywood Nails is relatively cheaper and has better coverage, but I still don't know where you can buy it as it's mostly a salon brand.

Where to buy

You can buy Barry M products directly from their website or from Alice and Jo's Havesentials.

Chanel Les Khakis Collection Swatches!

Hi everyone! Today my camera arrived and I literally tore the package to shreds to get it out and to start swatching immediately. I was so excited about having the new Chanel collection, I really wanted to have them swatched and up today! I'm not really sure if I like the pictures that my new camera produces yet, but I guess I still have to get to know the settings and everything. Right now the pictures look a little bit washed out - i think they're a smidge darker, please forgive me for that. Anyway! Onto the good stuff!

LES KHAKIS DE CHANEL

For VOGUE’S “ FASHION’S NIGHT OUT ”, the fashion event not to be missed, Peter Philips, Global Creative Director of CHANEL Makeup, is celebrating the occasion with the new collection “ Les khakis de Chanel ”.

A new colour harmony of three nail polish shades that can be worn alone or combined : Khaki Vert, Khaki Rose and Khaki Brun. A bold way of wearing nail polish. An ultra sophisticated, urban chic “ camouflage effect ”, for nails that will be getting all the attention.

A little bit about Khaki

To these days, khaki as color brings to mind a brown, even beige, hue. When khaki was adopted for the military, the shade chosen had a clearly darker and more greenish hue. This color was adopted by all the British Empire Armies and the US expeditionary force of World War I, under the name Olive Drab. During the second half of the WWII, American olive drab became distinctly greener, a major departure from the original idea of khaki.

From the first moment I had heard about this collection I knew I would fall for these. Just recently I discovered my love for neutrals, so imagine my excitement about this collection. Neutrals can look so classic and timeless, effortless chic to the max. Well, let's see how I like these brand new Chanels!

Chanel LE VERNIS 267 Khaki Brun

Now this is a special one, Khaki Brun is a murky brown creme with a lot of green to it. I guess this is what they would call "Olive Drab". This color doesn't work that well with my skintone, but I can imagine someone who's a little less pink would rock the Casbah with this color. Application of this one was awesome, 2 coats is all you need. The layers dry very quickly, leaving you with a fantastic smooth and glossy finish. So you could even skip top coat if you'd want.

Chanel LE VERNIS 257 Khaki Rose

Khaki Rose is a really soft and delicate reddish shade of taupe/medium brown. I don't have anything exactly like it and I think I own over 15 taupes.. I absolutely love this shade, since it's so soft and chic looking. Application of Khaki Rose was just as good as Khaki Brun, 2 coats, quickly drying and glossy.

Chanel LE VERNIS 247 Khaki Vert

I think Khaki Vert may be my personal favorite of this collection, it's a bit more cool toned than the other two and cool colors usually look better against my skin. It's a very pretty greyish shade of green, probably one of the few dusty colors I actually like! Just like the other two colors, it almost applied itself.

Conclusion

I love them all. Even if some colors are a bit too warm for my skintone, I still love them. And I'm usually not that big on cremes. I don't know of any exact dupes yet, but time will tell.
My first experience with Chanel nail polish wasn't that great (Nouvelle Vague), but the superb application of Paradoxal showed me Chanel does make awesome nail polish. The texture of these three new polishes reminded me a lot of Paradoxal, they're quite similar if you look at their application, thickness, drying time and gloss. All three are extremely opaque, being nearly one coaters. No cuticle drag, no streaks, just smooth as glass. I can't tell much about the wear yet, since I just got them, but I'll gladly report back. Will you be getting any of these?

Exclusively available in CHANEL Fashion Boutiques starting September 8th 2010, I think the price will be 25 EUR for 13 ml.

The product(s) in this post were provided to me by the manufacturer or their PR company for review. For more information please read my disclaimer

Les Contrastes de Chanel: Paradoxal

Crush Maybe you remember my review on Chanel's previous hit: Nouvelle Vague? I was a bit disappointed to be honest... and then this beauty strolled along. Trust me, I was reluctant. But then the swatches started to haunt me and I knew I just needed to have it. I think I now know what it's like to have a nail polish crush. It won't be out here for a while, but a big sweetheart CP'ed it for me, thank you so much Brittni!!

Secret shimmer

And you know what? I'm happy to have it! This polish belongs to the Les Contrastes de Chanel fall 2010 collection. Paradoxal is a deep purple-y taupe, I really love this color. In brighter or sun light there's this pretty pink/blue-ish shimmer, it's stunning. The shimmer is barely noticeable in normal lighting though, but sometimes the purple sheen will catch your eye. I'm pretty sure I will be wearing this color a lot this fall!

Application

I normally don't use the phrase "it applies like butter", I save it for very very special occasions, and this is one of them. I've used two coats and they just glided on. A lot of people experienced major chip city within a few days, but for me it stayed on for five days with only one chip at my thumb (and that was on the 5th day AFTER I cleaned the house). I used Orly Bonder and Nubar Diamont and it held up really well!

Dupes?

If you're looking for a less expensive alternative you can look into Purple Grey by Models Own, it doesn't have shimmer but the base color is really close!

You can get Chanel Paradoxal online at www.chanel.com for $23.00 or at your local Chanel counter. It probably won't be for sale in The Netherlands until appr. October.

Eyeko - Posh Polish & a taupe comparison

Taupe

Lately I've been on a taupe kick. I'm not sure why because usually I like to wear bright, bold colors that stand out. But somehow I'm really digging taupe, I think it's a very classy color that's easily matched with a lot of outfits. It's a neutral, but definitely not boring in my book.

According to Wikipedia there are many types of taupe:

dark taupe	med. taupe	pale taupe	mauve taupe	sandy taupe	grey taupe	rose taupe	purple taupe

Eyeko Posh Polish, for Ladylike nails

Recently I received Posh Polish by Eyeko, and I quite like it. This creme polish applies pretty smoothly, completely opaque in 2 coats and no other funny problems worth mentioning. I didn't use a top coat this time, and as you can see it's not incredibly glossy on it's own.
Like all Eyeko polishes this one came in such a cute packaging, it says: Posh Polish, for Ladylike nails. And even I do feel like a lady wearing this, haha.

Taupe Comparison

However, I own a lot of taupes, and this one isn't my favorite of the bunch, simply because I like my taupes a tad darker. To show you how it compares to some other taupes I have, I threw in this little comparison:

I do feel like I should have included OPI's You Don't Know Jacques, Over The Taupe and maybe even Chanel's Particuliere, but I couldn't justify buying more of this shade after already owning all of these haha. So please forgive me!

As you can see Eyeko's Posh Polish is quite on the lighter side. I think my favorites are the two Catrice polishes: From Dusk To Dawn and Lost in Mud!

What is your favorite taupe polish?

Eyeko polishes cost £3.50 (€4.- or $5.40) for 8.5ml. Eyeko products can be bought online at www.eyeko.com. Their shipping is extremely cheap: either free (if you're in the UK or Europe) or $5.40 for all international orders.

This polish was sent to me for review by Eyeko

Catrice Ultimate Nail LACQUER vs. Chanel

Hi guys! Happy Easter!! I'm not really celebrating, besides eating too much chocolate of course, so I have some time to show you a few new polishes I'm really excited about.

Catrice, a European brand, released an entire new collection for this spring and summer. This brand normally is releasing pretty conservative colors, but now they really managed to surprise me! This 'Ultimate Nail LACQUER' collection consists out of 32 (!) trendy new colors. Catrice says they were inspired by the new trends that we've seen on the catwalk this year. Sooo of course I had to indulge and buy some of their polishes. 3 of those I'll be discussing today, and they have such an exciting thing in common: they look a lot like some of Chanel's best selling polishes!

Catrice - Sold Out Forever

First off, let me show you Sold Out Forever (lol), which funnily enough, sold out almost everywhere I've been haha. At the moment, this is said to be the closest dupe of Chanel's Jade. Yes, even closer than Claire's Dream Catcher or Charlotte Russe's Jade! Whoa. It even has the legendary shimmer. Unfortunately I don't own any of Chanel's polishes so I can't compare the two :-(. I had a really hard time to get this color accurate, the close up on the left is best to be trusted. I'm really digging the color, eventhough shades like these always manage to create the infamous lobster hands.

Catrice - Lost In Mud

Next up we have Lost In Mud, a color very close to Particulière, I've found a comparison photo here, what do you think? I think Lost in Mud is a tad darker. Either way, it sure is pretty! I don't find Particulière that exciting to pay that amount of money for, so Lost In Mud is a good enough option for me. I enjoy colors like these a lot, they're just so timeless.

Catrice - I Scream Peach!

Last but not least: I Scream Peach! This one is almost identical (a teeny tiny bit darker and more vibrant) to 'What Do U Think' by Essence, which is also known for being a dupe for Chanel's Orange Fizz! (If you haven't yet, please check out this wicked comparison by Megan Chair from Little Music Boxes!) So in theory, this one should be rather similar as well. I just love Catrice for being so trendy ;-). I was surprised to see how much I liked this color, I think this is a beautiful shade of coral.

Note: I want to add that I'm not saying all of these are exact dupes because I haven't compared them myself (yet?), but they are pretty similar in the least!

I'm not head over heels with the formula though. These were all 3 coaters, and all on the thick side, so I had to add thinner to all three. The brush is a bit too short for my liking but other than that everything was fine. Drying time was ok and no bubbling or anything. I have to admit I haven't tried the other polishes from this line yet, so this applies to the 3 above. And I have to say: these polishes are cheap! Only 2.49 euros a piece, so you won't hear me complaining.

Picture is property of catrice.eu

For more information and a complete color overview you can check out their website: www.catrice.eu. Catrice is also releasing The Oceana Collection this summer including four other new shades, 2 of them being mattes! Check it out.

Well, this was it for today! I hope everyone is enjoying their Easter weekend, don't eat too much chocolate! Thanks for stopping by and till next time :-).

OPI - You Don't Know J*cques - Suede

Hi guys! How's everybody doing? I hope fine! As you can see I've changed my blog a bit, that's just me, I get bored so easily with layouts and stuff like that :-). I've also added some pages, so all you ever wanted to know about me is up there now, yay. jk ;-). The FAQ page isn't there yet, because I really wanted to take the time to make it something worth reading. It will be up soon though :-).

Today I have another Suede by OPI to show you: You don't know Jacques. It looks nothing like the regular version, but I absolutely love it. I love how they've added a little bit more warmth to this taupe, it's almost glowy! And I need this little extra warmth, because my hands are the whitest out there (these photos do exaggerate it though ;-) ). This polish is packed with shimmer, which I simply admire, OPI did a really awesome job on creating these Suedes.

The application didn't cause me any problems, I do always have to rush applying mattes, otherwise it will get all streaky on me.

This is definitely my #1 pick if I have to meet with clients or stuff like that. I don't own that many 'worksafe' colors, what are your favorites?