Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Chanel Nail Polish: Black Pearl

image from amazon.com


Price: $25 for 1.3ml (.4 fl oz)

What they say:
"Classic and trend-defining shades from the runways of Paris. State-of-the-art formula strengthens and moisturizes nails as it delivers long-wearing, high-shine, chip-resistant colour. Applies evenly without streaking."


What I say:
I know I'm going to get some hate for this, but this polish is not that great.  I love the color, but that is going to be duped soon because of how popular this shade is, but beyond that there really is no reason to get this polish.

The shade is like a really dark teal, almost black.  Think real black pearls, and that's what you are looking at.  There is a little sparkle in it, but not over the top, more like a highlighter affect.  Beauty Look Book has a really good review on this polish if you want to see good swatches (something that I can never get in this house's lighting) and comparisons with other polishes.  It really is a nice color, and I wish I liked it more.

Let's talk about the bottle, since that's the other thing that I liked about this polish.  The cap that comes off to show the brush part?  I like that.  It adds a little class, and doesn't just look like another run of the mill polish that you might have lying around your house.  The bottle itself is sturdy, and the shape is easy to hold when my nails are wet, since there's no chance it will slip with its square design.

Formula-wise, this polish sucks.  I have cheap drugstore polishes that work better than this one does.  It's easy to streak, it is unforgiving on mistakes, and it chips like nothing I have ever seen before.  I used the same base and top coat (and Seche Vite) that I always do, and this was chipping within a day and a half.  Now, that's normal for some polishes and with how rough I can be on my nails, and that's not the problem.  The problem is that a normal polish that chips that fast will have a little chip on the tip, maybe the side, and that's it.  It will still be usable, maybe even fixable, and I just go on.  This stuff chips by taking out an entire section of the nail, like a corner, half the nail in most cases, and this is as soon as the littlest chip even happens!  Appalling!

Something about the formula also is messing with my nails more than usual, making them more brittle and peeling more.  I don't know what it is, but whatever it is is really not good.

Scent is standard nail polish, so nothing really bad.  The brush on the bottle is standard... really, everything else is just standard.  Which leads to the next bad part, the price.  NARS charges less than Chanel for its polish, and yet they have a better formula, so this isn't just a high-end thing, Chanel charges too much for too little.  I will gladly pay for NARS, maybe even Dior polish because I know that besides the name you are getting a decent polish, and it is a nice treat.  Chanel is just not worth it to me when OPI and even Wet 'n Wild are superior in terms of formula, and will probably dupe the shades Chanel comes out with soon anyway, if the shade is popular enough.

Overall, I am disappointed in this polish.  I am going to keep it just because I like the color, and it would be a hassle to try and return it, but I'm going to have to try really hard to get this polish to work for me, and that's just not something I like doing.  If Chanel polishes work particularly well for you, you might want to check this out, otherwise skip.

P.S. - Just put the "What they say" on the page, and noticed that everything they say is the opposite of my experience.  That made me laugh.

2/5

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Urban Decay Naked Palette on Sephora!

For those of you who don't have this palette yet (this also includes me), Sephora.com had it back in stock.

Happy Hunting!