Chanel

Unsung Makeup Heroes: Chanel 505 Particuliere Le Vernis Nail Colour

September 6th, 2013 by Karen 7 Comments

Chanel Particuliere 505 Le Vernis Nail Colour

About the Author
The following guest post was written by Sabrina of thebeautylookbook.com. You can also find Sabrina on Twitter, Instagram, Bloglovin and on her new lifestyle blog stylednotes.com.

Chanel Particuliere 505 Le Vernis Nail Colour ($27 for 13 ml/.04 fl oz) is a classic taupe putty grey cream. Former Creative Director of Makeup Peter Philips designed the color for the spring 2010 collection (read about how he chose the name in his interview with the LA Times here), and years later it’s still a classic, universally flattering staple.

I love it for its no-fuss polished look. Particuliere is an office appropriate neutral with a little bit of edge to prevent it from looking boring. It applies smoothly with just one coat; two coats give fully opaque coverage.

It’s one of those go-with-everything shades, and whenever I can’t decide what to wear on my nails, I end up going with either taupe Chanel Particuliere, or another classic, deep red Dragon.

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Unsung Makeup Heroes: Chanel Rose Initiale Joues Contraste Powder Blush

August 20th, 2013 by Karen 16 Comments

Chanel Rose Initiale Joues Contraste Powder Blush ($43)

About the Author
The following guest post was written by Sunny Hu of mostlysunnyblog.com. You can also find Sunny on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

Have you ever gone from feeling lukewarm about something to realizing that life without it would be pretty tough? Well, that’s my story with Chanel Rose Initiale Joues Contraste Powder Blush ($43). I’d read that it ticked all of the boxes for a good blush when I first got it, but I wasn’t in love. It just seemed so…ordinary.

It turns out, that’s the secret to its versatility!

The long-running Makeup and Beauty Blog Unsung Heroes series features much-loved permanent collection products from a variety of bodacious beauty brands.

Neutral Pink Chanel Rose Initiale is just pigmented enough to show up easily, and the blendability makes sure you never have to fear going too far with it! The tiny shimmer in there looks like a satiny sheen on the cheeks, which gives it a natural finish and keeps it from looking dull.

On the left: Chanel Rose Initiale swatched heavily; on the right: blended out

While Rose Initiale might look like any other pink, it works with absolutely everything! It’s magical! When I can’t decide which blush to wear, I go for Rose Initiale. When I want to take face shots for five different lipsticks in one go, I reach for Rose Initiale. From berry to wine, from nude to red, I have yet to find one single lipstick Rose Initiale doesn’t work well with.

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Chanel Les Beiges Healthy Glow Sheer Colour SPF 15 Face Powder: When It Comes to Chanel, There’s Nothing Boring About Beige

August 6th, 2013 by Karen 37 Comments

Leave it to Chanel to take something as seemingly boring as beige (seriously…the standard dull color of boring apartment walls everywhere) and turn it into something schmexy and worthy of being coveted.

Their new Les Beiges Healthy Glow Sheer Colour SPF 15 face powders are doing just that.

From the elegant packaging to the cozy brush to the sheer, finely-milled powders (barely there on the skin, and perfect for natural-looking weekend makeup, or other times when you just want to look like yourself but a little put together), everything about it whispers “luxury…”

Chanel Les Beiges Packaging — Pretty packaging…

The line comes in seven shades with numerical names, No. 10 to No. 70. Right now I’m wearing No. 40, which is a perfect match for my mid-summer tan.

I’m kind of surprised by how well it works because I find that many beige products have a little too much pink for me. Many of them appear grayish on my warm skin tone, but at least for Nos. 40 and 50, which contain enough warm golden tones and also have a slight sheen, I’m not seeing any signs of gray.

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Chanel Khaki Bronze Le Volume de Chanel Mascara: Heralding the Start of a New Bronze Age

July 30th, 2013 by Karen 15 Comments

Chanel Khaki Bronze Mascara — Wearing limited edition Chanel Khaki Bronze Le Volume de Chanel Mascara ($30)

There was a time when I felt that mascaras in colors other than black were incredibly depressing. Having naturally black lashes, I felt that attempting to overpower their natural pigment with anything other than black seemed like (yawn) a waste o’ precious time. I mean, there are only so many hours in the day in which one can work on important projects like tracking down new shirtless pictures of RyGos.

Ya feel me?

Chanel Khaki Bronze Le Volume de Chanel Mascara, $30 — Khaki Bronze Le Volume de Chanel Mascara, $30

That changed when I discovered fun fringe pigments like blue and plum and their ability to create eye-catching effects on different colored irises.

Plums often look amazing with blue, hazel, brown, green and gray eyes, and blues deepen and enrich brown, green and hazel eyes, among other eye colors.

It was a little weird at first seeing my lashes coated in Chanel’s latest adventure into the world o’ colorful mascaras, Le Volume de Chanel in Khaki Bronze ($30). Much as I love Le Volume (my favorite high-end mascara when it comes to dramatic lift, curl and thickness), I didn’t fall for Khaki Bronze immediately because it lightens the look of my lashes a shade or two, an effect that grew on me over time.

I was on the fence about it the first couple of tries, but I changed my tune when I saw how it looked in pics.

The name describes it perfectly — Khaki Bronze.

If you wear warm bronze, gold or dark khaki shadows often, I think you’ll want to treat your lashes to Khaki Bronze. It creates beautiful music with each of those shadow shades, bringing out their various tones and nuances. I’m wearing it here with the dark golden khaki color in the new Chanel Mystere quad as a liner and with bronze and gold shadows on my lids (MAC Bronze and Woodwinked), and I think they complement each other perfectly.

The Le Volume mascaras are all about drama, so if you like your mascaras quiet (shh…), then you may want to unload much of the product from the brush before applying.

Me, I lurves me some Beyonce/Mariah/Diva-licious lashes, so I go full-on, all-out with two, or sometimes three (or four!) coats.

I exercised a little restraint for these pics… For these I’m only wearing two. 🙂

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Chanel Le Blush Creme de Chanel in Destiny, and Conversations With My Magic 8-Ball

July 29th, 2013 by Karen 21 Comments

Chanel Destiny Blush — Blushing for the camera with Chanel Le Blush Creme de Chanel Cream Blush in Destiny on my cheeks

KAREN: Oh great, all-seeing Magic 8-Ball, may I ask you a question?

MAGIC 8-BALL: Yes, definitely.

KAREN: Can you see my destiny?

MAGIC 8-BALL: You may rely on it.

KAREN: Do you see a new fantastic everyday cream blush in my future? Something that I can just blend with my fingers or any old brush I have on hand, and it’ll last at least six hours, maybe eight?

MAGIC 8-BALL: As I see it, yes.

KAREN: Is it from the new Chanel Le Brush Creme de Chanel line that launched with the Fall 2013 Superstition collection?

MAGIC 8-BALL: Without a doubt.

KAREN: If I were to wear it, might a stranger confuse me with an applicant for clown college? In other words, would my cheeks look like Bozo’s or Ronald McD’s?

MAGIC 8-BALL: Very doubtful.

KAREN: Will it look flawless and natural on bare skin or atop foundation and power?

MAGIC 8-BALL: It is certain.

KAREN: Do you foresee this blush highlighting my pores or emphasizing their size?

MAGIC 8-BALL: Don’t count on it.

KAREN: Interesting… Would you say that it’s similar to the satiny, silky, long-wearing cream blush I’ve been obsessed with for a year, By Terry’s Ginger Glaze?

MAGIC 8-BALL: Signs point to yes.

KAREN: Is it Chanel’s golden beige blush creme in Destiny?

MAGIC 8-BALL: It is decidedly so.

KAREN: SWEET! So…will I be wearing Destiny when I finally win the lottery?

MAGIC 8-BALL: Better not tell you now.

KAREN: 🙁

Chanel Destiny Le Blush Creme de Chanel, $38 — Destiny Le Blush Creme de Chanel, $38

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How Does Chanel’s Mystere Les 4 Ombres Quadra Eye Shadow Last as Long as It Does? It’s a Mystery…

July 29th, 2013 by Karen 19 Comments

Chanel Mystere Quad — It’s a mystery… Or is it? Perhaps I’m wearing Chanel’s Mystere Les 4 Ombres Quadra Eye Shadow ($59) from the Chanel Fall 2013 collection

Current mysteries plaguing my life…

Why does Tabs meow, desperately, for food when his food bowl is still halfway filled? I know you’re always hungry, Tabs, but you can’t be THAT hungry. Is it out of worry/concern? You just don’t want to take any chances?
If Fifty Shades of Grey were made into a movie, how awkward would it be to have to sit through it with my parents? (I’m guessing pretty awkward.)
I want an app like Siri that I can tell all of my problems to, and it answers every one of them with a perfect solution…because my Magic 8 Ball just isn’t cutting it anymore.
Why is binging on television so satisfying? I’ve watched half of the entire first season of House of Cards on Netflix in two days and man! — it’s almost as satisfying as eating an entire tub of HÃ¤agen-Dazs.
Is there, in fact, a mystery behind the Chanel Mystere Les 4 Ombres Quadra Eye Shadow quad? Did Karl have to, like, go incognito or something to track down the secret ingredients? For some reason, I can see him working crazy wigs and disguises, a la Sydney Bristow in Alias.

And now, Chanel Mystere…

I wore it when I visited my in-laws in Redding last week, and I’ll say this right now: when I layer Mystere on top of my good ol’ NARS Pro-Prime, it’s the sh*t in terms of wear time, because Redding is hella hot, like 150 degrees in the shade, yo, like “Oh, mah gerd! I’m stuck in a microwave oven!”

And even though it felt like the heat was doing a number on my makeup, Mystere didn’t fade or crease from dawn till dusk.

Wear time? BOMB.

I like this quad, especially the way it looks on cool-toned gals who dig grays. On me, I think it seems a little awkward by itself, and I have to use some tricks to make it work, like by starting with a yellowish base like MAC Ochre Paint Pot and then mixing in a warm orangey brown like MAC Soft Brown into my crease.

When I do both of those things, which I did in these pics, the warmer colors transition into the cool grays and taupes, making them appear less harsh on my warm tan, but when I don’t, the gray/taupe undertones — of which there are plenty here, as even the light gold has a hint of gray in it — look chalky.

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Unsung Makeup Heroes: Chanel Black Satin Nail Polish

July 24th, 2013 by Karen 22 Comments

About the Author
The following guest post was written by Kelly Keeton of Vampy Varnish. You can also find Kelly on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+.

Do you own a shade of eyeshadow, lipstick or nail polish that started you down a long and perhaps expensive makeup collecting path? I sure do, and her name is Chanel Black Satin (available now in the Chanel permanent collection).

I’ve been into nail polish for as long as I can remember, but there have been phases where I didn’t really think about it much for months at a time. I was in one of those slumbering “dry spells” when Chanel Black Satin came out.

When I first saw it in fashion magazines, I liked it, but I wasn’t completely smitten . I was, however, very interested in any black nail polish that had fashion editors and people in general going gaga.

The long-running Unsung Heroes series features much-loved permanent collection products from a variety of bodacious beauty brands.

Previous to Chanel Black Satin, black nail polishes weren’t really ever seen on anyone other than musicians, artsy types and those into various genres of music, like punk rock, heavy metal and goth. Now, all the sudden it was going mainstream. After seeing it over and over, it started this spark within me that grew and grew, and I knew I HAD TO HAVE IT.

I searched high and low but couldn’t find it anywhere in stores. Finally, I resorted to eBay and spent more on it than I had ever spent on any nail polish before. A whopping $35! At the time, that seemed completely outrageous, but now, after many years of collecting, I can say that it’s not the most I’ve ever spent on a nail polish (yikes!).

Black Satin, as the name implies, has a black base with a silver satiny shimmer running throughout. It has a great smooth and creamy formula, and covers perfectly in two coats.

It might not be the most unique black polish out there anymore, but this beauty definitely started bringing dark nail shades back into the spotlight, and for that, I am grateful!

What item in your makeup collection do you have a great fondness for?

– Kelly

About the Author
This guest post was written by Kelly Keeton of Vampy Varnish. You can also find Kelly on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+.

2-Minute Review: Chanel Rouge Coco Shine Hydrating Sheer Lipshine in 76 Gourmandise

July 6th, 2013 by Karen 11 Comments

Wearing Chanel Gourmandise Rouge Coco Shine ($32.50) on my lips

In less time than it takes to open a can of gravy for Tabs, or buy roundtrip tickets to Paris, or try on a pair of Jimmy Choos, or buy the entire Chanel Fall 2013 makeup collection on chanel.com, you can also find out if Chanel’s new 76 Gourmandise Rouge Coco Shine is right for you.

Ready for a 2-minute review?

WHAT IT IS: A shiny, peachy pink limited edition lippie from Chanel’s Les DÃ©lices de Chanel collection, Rouge Coco Shine Hydrating Sheer Lipshine in 76 Gourmandise ($32.50) lives to soften, hydrate and plump lips for a fuller, healthier appearance.

Chanel Les Delices de Chanel Collection Rouge Coco Shine in 76 Gourmandise — Rouge Coco Shine Hydrating Lipshine in 76 Gourmandise, $32.50

WHAT IT DOES:

Rose flavor and scent (yum)
Packed with tiny flecks of silver glitter (cute)
Very, very sheer on my pigmented lips (almost like wearing a balm), but I can see this still being a flattering “my lips but better” color for gals with lips lighter and more pink than mine
Extremely hydrating
Smooth, non-sticky, lightweight and comfy
Can’t really tell if it makes my lips look plumper, but it’s not one of those plumpers that tingles or stings
1-hour wear time

“The next chapter in the brilliant ROUGE COCO SHINE story: ROUGE COCO SHINE Hydrating Colour Lipshine, an innovative formula with intensified pigments to take colour and sheen to a new level of vibrancy. Sheer, shiny, colour-rich shades are effortlessly chic, infinitely wearable. Hydratendre Complex softens and plumps lips for a healthier, fuller appearance.”

— chanel.com

THE VERDICT: Highly moisturizing, and the bits of glitter give it a little something extra, but unless you’re a die-hard Chanel fan, Gourmandise may seem like little more than a fancy, expensive lip balm. You can probably find something similar for less than $32.50 (but it wouldn’t be Chanel).

PRICE: $32.50
AVAILABILITY: Limited edition, and available now at select Chanel counters and chanel.com
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: B

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen