Chanel Morning Rose

Hello friends. Here is the polish I had intended to show you yesterday, before I so unceremoniously removed it in preparation for the surprise delivery of Mermaid's Dream. This is Chanel Morning Rose, which was released last spring as a 2011 Limited Edition. Unfortunately it's no longer for sale on line, but I'm pretty sure I've seen it at a few department store beauty counters so you could probably still get your hands on it. I'd highly recommend doing so, too. This cherry blossom pink with tiny gold flakes looks like lip gloss for your nails, and goes beautifully with Spring skin that is just on the verge of a tan.

Chanel Morning Rose, three coats in indirect sunlight

It's so healthy looking. I wear it without top coat because it looks uniquely glossy on it's own. The gold flakes are very visible in the bottle. On the nail they're just enough to give it a subtle shimmer. This is just a hands down great pink and I vow to wear it much more this Summer.

French Horn Nail Polish

Howdy.  When Rescue Beauty Lounge had their "Would you like to see your dream color come true?" contest last spring, I was of course eager to enter.  My color inspiration came from none other than my French horn.

• As a French horn player, my hands hold an extraordinary instrument for many, many hours each day.  The horn produces a tremendous range of tone colors; heroic fanfares, aching melodies, serene nocturnes.  And the bell of the instrument, the deep cavern of sound where my hand rests, is a matching rainbow of colors; brassy yellow, rose gold, oxidized green, dark rust.  It is my dream to have a polish that matches this mélange of metal, so that my fingertips can shine next to the exquisite beauty of the instrument.  Please, if you could create this color, a yellow gold with darker hints, copper accents and a green shimmer, it would be a life-long dream- a shade to lend the beauty of the horn to the hands so essential to it, and a complex, unique metallic unlike anything every seen.

I didn't win the contest, but thanks to Chanel I got my wish!  Peridot is an exact match to the greenish tinted yellow brass of my French horn.

Chanel Peridot

Hello.  I have something special to share with you this lazy rainy Sunday.  Peridot, part of Chanel's Fall 2011 precious metals collection, is a complex sophisticated antique gold/olive green duochrome.  Duochromes, polishes that have two distinct colors depending on how the light hits them, can sometimes be very juvenile, but Chanel has created a very sophisticated take on this with Peridot.  And for the hefty price of $25, they darn well should!

In the light this polish is a beautiful antique gold with lots of sparkle flecks.  In the shade it takes on an olive green sheen.  The less direct light it receives, the darker the olive green effect.  I used two coats of Peridot with no top coat.

Chanel Peridot, two coats

Chanel Peridot, two coats

Peridot is fairly easy to apply and dries very quickly.  So quickly in fact that I had to keep extra polish on the brush so that it would stay wet while I painted.  20 minutes after manicure time and Peridot is ready to take on the world.

Image of Peridot gem, photo courtesy of JTPeters.net

I like the way Chanel has played on the way light hits an actual peridot gem, picking up the range of colors between dark olive green to gold.  Peridot is the birthstone for August, so those of you late summer babies might want to pick up this polish for that alone.  What do you think?  Does this color have you pining?

Step 2 The Beat Of My Paradoxal Heart

Happy Valentine's Day!  When my good friend shared a dream she had about a manicure with hearts on it, I told her about Step 2 the beat of my <3, one of the new Justin Bieber polishes from Nicole by OPI.  She indeed caught the Bieber fever and rushed out to buy it, and it was too cute for me to pass up so I ended up buying it too!  Step 2 the beat of my <3 has multicolored regular glitter and pink and purple heart glitter in a clear base.  It a HUGE pain to get the hearts onto the brush.  It took a lot of time fishing for me to get even just a couple on my nails, but the effect was worth it.  I layered one coat of Step 2 the beat of my <3 over two coats of Chanel Paradoxal and topped it with seche vite to make sure the hearts didn't go anywhere after a couple of days.  I LOVE the way this turned out.  Paradoxal looks gorgeous as always and the pink hearts and flashy glitter are the perfect girly romantic touch.

In these swatches you'll see that I had a rather unfortunate incident with my right hand.  I decided to go a week without wearing polish and two terrible things happened:  I got really sick, and I broke two nails.  When my nails split and peel I can't help biting them, and now my right middle finger looks horribly maimed.  I didn't have the heart to file all my nails down to that length, so I think my left hand will take over as my swatching hand for the time being.

S2TBOM<3, one coat over Chanel Paradoxal

 My left hand in its Castinails debut!

S2TBOM<3, one coat over Chanel Paradoxal

 Heres a closeup in sunlight.  Look at the holo effect on the hearts!  Love it.

S2TBOM<3, one coat over Chanel Paradoxal, direct sunlight

 My original idea was to layer S2TBOM<3 over a silver foil.  I think I may do that later this week and put up swatches.  I'm so in love with this polish I plan on wearing V-day manicures all week!

What color would you layer this over?  And more importantly, have you caught Bieber Fever?

Happy Thanksgiving

I originally hadn't planned on posting today, but so many things to be thankful for have been popping through my mind all day.  I'd like to take a moment to share them with you.

Things That I Am Thankful For
1. My wonderful, supportive, inspiring and amusing friends and family
2. My good health
3. The ability to make a living playing music and my beautiful French Horn
4. The internet
5. Cell phones
6. Winter outerwear- because it's cute and without it we'd be very cold
7. 9-1-1- Thankfully I haven't had to use it, but I like knowing it's there
8. Air travel
9. My Honda

I feel like maybe I'm forgetting something...

Oh Yeah!

10. Nail Polish!
Specifically, fabulous colors and manicures that last.  As I rush of in my elastic-waistband leggings to go be a complete glutton, I'd like to leave you with pictures of Chanel Paradoxal, a manicure that I did on Tuesday that has held up through three days and some serious Thanksgiving cooking.

Chanel Paradoxal, two coats with top coat, indirect sunlight

I'm also thankful for you, Chanel.  This is my second time wearing Paradoxal and I love it even more than the first.

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.  I'd love to hear what you are thankful for!

Chanel Paradoxal

Paradox, n: any person, thing, or situation exhibiting an apparently contradictory nature.  What a perfect name for this polish.  Chanel's Limited Edition shade for Fall 2010 alternates between purple and taupe, with its purple shimmer most visible in bright sunlight.  I wasn't planning on buying this since $23 is a bit much for a polish, but after sampling it at Nordstroms with a friend, we both just about died.  Then when a friend of hers at Saks offered to hook us up with a discount on two bottles, how could I say no?

I was in a rush when I did this manicure.  Having only an hour between dress rehearsal and a concert, I had to decide between shower, food or manicure.  (Obviously I went with manicure.)  Application was just ok but I blame that on my rushing, not the polish.  Every time I lifted the brush out of the bottle the bristles caught the afternoon sunlight and it was just gorgeous.  The first picture shows Paradoxal's purple side while the second two show its taupe alter-ego, which is how it looks most of the time.

Chanel Paradoxal, two coats direct sunlight

Chanel Paradoxal, two coats shade

Chanel Paradoxal, two coats shade

Because I was in a rush I topped it with one coat of Seche Vite, which I think might have dulled the shimmer just slightly.  Next time I'd like to skip that, since the natural finish on Chanel polishes are reputed to be great.  This manicure wore really well for six days with only minimal tipwear, and I really only changed it because I was in the mood for something different.