Nubar Jeans vs Les Jeans des Chanel

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

The time has come for the swatch comparison showdown between Nubar Jeans and Les Jeans des Chanel.  Nubar sent the Jeans for review, but since it's a cloudy day I didn't want to do the real pictures of them, but I figured we could at least find out the answer to the question that's been asked since the promo image came out: Are they dupes to Les Jeans des Chanel?  I think the answers yes, and I have some nail wheel swatches of the pairs together to let you make your own call on that.

Here are all three of each side by side.  They're labelled, but the Nubar Jeans shade is the left of each pair and the Les Jeans des Chanel is on the right (which I screwed up labeling on the top pic of all six, the darkest two furthest to the right are reversed - Nubar's always to left of the Chanel for each pair, I'm sorry!).  They're all two coats.

Nubar Jeans vs Le Jeans des Chanel Swatches, Two Coats

The first pair is Nubar Faded Jeans and Chanel Coco Blue.  That's something a tiny bit more vivid about the Nubar and the shimmer is more visible (the cloudy-day light doesn't show that well, I'll swatch it for real with sun).

Nubar Faded Jeans and Chanel Coco Blue Comparison Swatch, Two Coats

Boyfriend Jeans and Blue Boy look the same except for that the Chanel could use a third coat and the Nubar doesn't seem to need one.

Nubar Boyfriend Jeans and Chanel Blue Boy Comparison Swatch, Two Coats

Dark Wash Jeans and Blue Rebel are dupes.

Nubar Dark Wash Jeans and Chanel Blue Rebel Comparison Swatch, Two Coats

They look the same to me other than the details noted, and they're available on Nubar's site now in the set of three for $19.99.  I had to do the math to find a $67 difference.  Ouch.

That's the update for today, Dear Reader, and my comparison of Nubar Jeans to Les Jeans des Chanel.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!




All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Chanel Peridot

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

After passing on Chanel Peridot with confidence, I saw someone wearing it in person recently, and that completely changed my mind.  I think it's one that doesn't translate to photos terribly well - I've seen pictures where it looks mostly kind of yellowish or gold , and that's not what it looked like in person at all.  I decided to get it somewhere with easy returns in case I hated it, and I don't.  If only I'd waited to get Stairway to Heaven from Nordies...

Anyhow, Peridot seemed like a nice change for today, so I tried it out.  It's a well pigmented two-coater, mostly green with some pale yellow and a strong shimmer.  I used SpaRitual Lacquer Lock as a base and their Tout de Suite for top coat (some experimenting a few years back showed me those consistently work well with Chanels) and two coats of Peridot.  Then I went outside and took some pictures.  This is Peridot in the sun.

Chanel Peridot Nail Polish, Two Coats

Since it's a duochrome, I also took a picture in the shade.

Chanel Peridot Nail Polish, Two Coats in Shade

It took about ten pictures each to get the real color, and even at that neither picture is as cool as in person.  I never knew it had the shimmer that shows in sunlight, but it does.  Peridot is a happy surprise that's kind of made up for the Stairway letdown.  This is not my favorite duochrome color combination (and not terribly far off from Nubar Wildlife but definitely not a dupe), but it's a very nicely done duochrome so I like it.  If it were the purple/green kind, I'd be giddy about it.

That's Chanel Peridot and the update for today, Dear Reader.  I have some new Konad stuff (the two new plates and multiscraper, which looks super handy) to show you this weekend, so until then, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Chanel Blue Rebel

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today is the last installment of Les Jeans de Chanel with Blue Rebel, the darkest of the three.  I put it on last night and managed to scuff it up a little bit before I took a picture, but I can still show you the color.

Blue Rebel is really saturated with color, and one thin coat is almost enough for a manicure.  Two makes it really shiny and rich.  It's just a standard blue, but very nicely done.

Chanel Blue Rebel Nail Polish, Two Coats

This is in direct sunlight, for reference on the color.  Although it is a very nice blue, this is the one of the three with which I'm least impressed.

That's the update for today, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Chanel Coco Blue

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have Chanel Coco Blue to show you, which is the lightest of Les Jeans de Chanel.  It has a nice mica shimmer that give the polish kind of a glow and is distinctly visible as shimmer only in direct light.

For the manicure, I used SpaRitual Laquer Lock base coat, two coats of Coco Blue, and one coat if Lippmann Addicted to Speed to finish it off.  Here's Coco Blue in natural light on a slightly cloudy day.

Chanel Coco Blue Nail Polish, Two Coats

That's all for today, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Chanel Graphite

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Today I'm wearing Chanel Graphite. which is every bit as fabulous as I'd hoped it would be.  It's the dark grey shimmery one released pretty recently, and all it took was two coats of color to be just right.  Here's Graphite in the sun.

Chanel Graphite Nail Polish, Two Coats

I'd count Graphite amongst the really fabulous Chanels - when they do a good one, they really do a good one.

That's about all there is to tell you about, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Chanel Blue Boy

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I received a fabulous gift of Les Jeans de Chanel today, so it seems that my waffling over whether to purchase them resolved itself without a decision ever being made.  All three polishes are quite pretty, but I'd say Coco Blue is the standout of the collection.  It's lighter than I was in the mood to wear, so of the other two I chose Blue Boy, the middle one, to wear today.

Blue Boy is a medium kind of slate blue creme, but bluer than slate blue and I don't know the official name of the shade, but that seems like a close enough description since I'm about to show you a picture anyhow.  I used SpaRitual Lacquer Lock for a base, two coats of Blue Boy, and I topped it off with Addicted to Speed.  At one coat, Blue Boy looked like it might be a jelly, but the second coat made it a super shiny Chanel creme.  Blue Boy is to medium blue what Dragon is to red and Imperial to brown, where the color itself isn't out of the ordinary but the incredible gloss to the polish is.  Whether that's $29 special is a personal call, I think, and I'm just glad my birthday falls when it does so I can stop evaluating whether it's $29 special and just enjoy wearing it.

This is Blue Boy in sunlight after it had dried.

Chanel Blue Boy Nail Polish, Two Coats

I haven't tried a new Chanel creme in quite some time, perhaps since last September, and I'd forgotten the high shine they have.  It makes a simple color really a standout for me, so Blue Boy makes me happy.  I think my reluctance to purchase high-end polishes has made gift giving very easy for people who like me - I'm suddenly really easy to shop for!

That's what I know about Chanel Blue Boy, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Les Jeans de Chanel Online

Hello, Dear Reader!

I'm doing some work way, way too late tonight, but it worked out well in the sense that I checked Chanel's site for Les Jeans de Chanel, this year's Fashion's Night Out nail polishes, at 11:01 p.m. thinking that it was the release date of Les Jeans de Chanel in the Eastern time zone, and as luck would have it they were there for the taking.  Here's their promo image for the category for all three Les Jeans de Chanel shades on their site.

Les Jeans de Chanel Nail Lacquers

Their price is $29 each, and while that's far better than the rumored $39, it's also a heck of a lot for a bottle of nail polish.  Given that my 40th birthday is next week and I was really happy with the Gift to Self of a Chanel order last year, I'm now waffling about these.  There's also a corner of my brain that's been fixated on the shimmer of one of their recent polishes, Graphite, for some time, so I'm still evaluating whether my overtired brain is simply trying to rationalize a Chanel order.

I'm guessing these will go quickly, although I'm open to being proven wrong on that.  If your heart is really set on any of these, my experience is that limited edition Chanels can rarely be found for less than retail, so I wanted to let you know that they're there for the taking at what might be the lowest price for which they can be purchased.

I'd better get back to being productive so I can get to sleep, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Chanel Red Dream

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Although I have a few new things to show you, I felt like wearing a comfy old standby today, so I picked Chanel Red Dream.  It's an older one, a darkish red with a great sparkly shimmer, and although I'm sure I must have shown you this one at least once before, I think it's worth lots of looks.

I used SpaRitual Lacquer Lock and Tout de Suite with this manicure, as I've found that for me SpaRitual's products work well with older Chanels.  In between those I used three coats of Chanel Red Dream.  I took a picture of it with the sun coming and going, and was happy to find that one of the pictures shows the shimmer as it really looks on my hands.  Here's Red Dream.

Chanel Red Dream Nail Polish, Three Coats

I just love this polish.  It actually sparkles like in the picture just walking around, which make it nice to look at without being too much.

That's my manicure for today and just about all I know about Chanel Red Dream, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Chanel Graphite

I know just about everyone would have seem lots of swatches of this polish, but if you're like me, that doesn't matter.  I love seeing swatches of polishes I like on different people to see how it looks with different skin tones and on different shaped nails (I especially love doing that with holos, because they look so different on everyone cause of the shape of the nail, whether its curved or flat and so on)

When I first saw swatches of Graphite I thought I just looked like a blackened silver foil.  But then reading peoples descriptions of the colour, they kept mentioning that it had gold flecks as well as silver.  It's very hard to capture the gold and silver flecks with the camera because it is so metallic and reflective.

When I bought these two Chanel polishes, I put Peridot on first for a quick swatch and photo, then I put Graphite on and was amazed a how beautiful it was.  I really didn't think I would like it as much as I do.  I originally only swatched four fingers, but after seeing it on, I had to finish my mani off and then continued to wear it for three days.  This was two coats with no base or top coat, just Graphite it all its naked glory.

This photo shows some on the golden flecks mixed amongst the silver ones, particularly in the bottom part of the photo.

Here is a shot in the shade, blocking the light source so you can see the speckled appearance of this polish.

What I love about this polish is that it's not just a silver foil.  The gold flecks in it warm it up.  I'm a total gold jewellery wearer. Rings, bracelets, watch, all of them gold, and this polish compliments them so nicely. 

I'm so emmensly happy with my first experience with Chanel polishes.  I hope they continue to step outside of the box and create unique colours and finishes, because God knows we are all getting a little bored of seeing the same shades recycled around.

Chanel Peridot and Ozotic 507 comparison

Look what I finally got! And yes, I LOVE IT! 

OMG Chanel Peridot is just the most beautiful colour.  There are so many reviews and pictures out there of this polish, but here are mine.  As everyone else has said, the application of this polish was perfect. It was smooth and easy to apply.  I did two coats and there are still some slight streaks visible in these photos but they really aren't noticeable in real life, or if they are, I didn't care. 

I took all these photos in indirect light indoors, because I think you can see the duochrome effect  better without full sunshine on the nail.

Here is the start of the light green shift.

And at an even stronger angle to see the aqua green.

Now for the comparison pictures with Ozotic 507.  Both of these are two coats, although the Peridot is much more opaque than the Ozotic.  Chanel is on the index and ring fingers and Ozotic 507 is on the middle and pinky.

As you can see, Chanel is a much cooler toned gold than the Ozotic.  But the Ozotic is a little less streaky.  Chanel looks more foil like and the Ozotic more metallic shimmer.

The shift colour is identical, although you can still see that the underlying colour is slightly different.

Here is an up close shot, showing Ozotic 507 on the left and Chanel Peridot on the right.

I bought Graphite too, and it is gorgeous as well, but I think it might be frankenable, whereas this isn't.  I have already bought a backup of this too, and I generally dont' buy backups.

And for anyone still reading at the end of the post wondering if the colour changing powders have turned up, the answer is NOT YET! - God damn it, where are they already!

Chanel Enthusiast

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have another non-Zoya Smoke manicure, Chanel Enthusiast, which is a bright red creme.  My impression is that it is an LE from a few years ago.  It was the pick of the day because I have something later for which I wanted to just go with red, and I was really drawn to this one when I went to select a shade.  It just seems like a very summery red to me, very vivid and cheerful.

Enthusiast, like Chanel Dragon (another wonderful red) is even and opaque in one coat, but the second coat makes it really glossy.  That doesn't show well in today's picture - it's so hot and humid out that my nails kept getting fogged up when I'd try to take a picture.  It's not awful here (I just kept cleaning off the fog between pics!), but the amazing shine of Enthusiast will be lost in my pictures until it cools off a little.  Here is Chanel Enthusiast about 12 hours after application.

Chanel Enthusiast Nail Polish, Two Coats

So that's Enthusiast.  I Googled it to find the release date, but I got distracted before I arrived at that information by seeing it on Ebay for $70 and decided to address to matter of hunting for it instead.  It's a good red nail polish, but for me a $70 red is nonexistent, so if you like this one, my vote goes to calling Chanel to ask what current color is the closest match (their Beauty customer service is normally excellent).  The Chanel reds that I have are amazing, markedly nicer than any salon brands, and paying retail for them was bearable, but I'd feel kind of ripped off if I'd paid a nickel over retail for Enthusiast.  I'm on a mission to prevent a case of buyer's remorse here!

That's just about all there is today, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Chanel Mimosa

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I've finally gotten around to trying out Chanel Mimosa again, and yet again, I find it somewhat disappointing.  I'd have been mad if I paid for this one.

Mimosa is a yellow with a great shimmer in the bottle, but on me the shimmer didn't translate to on the nail at all. In normal lighting, it's that kind of finish where you're not sure if it's a creme or a shimmer.  The color is nice, but both times I've used it, it required four coats to be even and opaque.  For high end prices, RBL Yellow Fever is much nicer, and since the shimmer doesn't really show up in Mimosa, they're not too different from one another. Here's Mimosa under artificial light.

Chanel Mimosa Nail Polish, Four Coats

See?  It's just a standard yellow.  I could have used unrealistically bright lights and a closer macro shot to provide you with a prettier picture of the polish, but I was more interested in showing you what it really looks like on me wearing it.

Since a standard yellow isn't nearly festive enough to keep my spirits up these days, I added to it from one of the D series stamping plates, D23.

Chanel Mimosa Nail Polish with Stamp from Plate D23

Adding the smiley face, a pattern I've wanted for some time, made me think of something funny.  A good while back, I'd added Konad fake gem decals or some other nail art to a Chanel.  I liked it, it was fun to wear, nothing out of the ordinary.  Someone left a really funny comment on the post, lecturing me about how Chanel is all about simple elegance and reprimanding me for ruining it, and it just went on and on with the "you should know better" kind of thing.  It made me think of one of my aunts, who'd be about 98 now and always wore a hat and a fur coat, and I pictured her getting all irate about what someone else had done to her own nails, which made me giggle.  I think for me the bottom line is that for $23, I'm not just buying a bottle of polish, I'm buying the rights to do whatever the heck I want to do with it!  Today, that was a smiley face.

That's Chanel Mimosa and the story for today, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Chanel Morning Rose

Good morning, Dear Reader, and Happy Mother's Day!

I said I'd pass on the Summer 2011 nail colors, but as a result of a convoluted chain of events that I'll explain in the post for Mimosa, Chanel's corporate office sent me Morning Rose and Mimosa, but it wasn't really for review.  But that's a tale for another day, I just thought I'd get the disclosure bit out of the way because I always forget that sort of thing at the end of a post.  I chose Morning Rose to wear today because it's a color my mom would like, and I think the reason I have it is that I have a big streak of her in me - I've personally witnessed her getting refunds on produce that wasn't up to her standards, so it seemed a fitting homage.

Chanel does some really great pinks, and I'd count Morning Rose amongst them.  It's a delicate rose with big (for a Chanel) gold shimmer bits that show up well on the nail.  I needed three coats for completely opaque coverage, but I'd wager the fact that it's sheer enough to need three coats is why the shimmer shows up so well, so that's a perfectly good trade off to me.  Here it is in the sun after it dried.

Chanel Morning Rose Nail Polish, Three Coats

Pretty, isn't it?  It's the one that I truly coveted from this release, and it lives up to what I'd hoped for.

For something not blog-related, I've been digging around looking at old pictures on a CD, and I ran into some good ones of my mother.  Since I can't actually present her with something for Mother's Day, but she loved being the center of attention with the more eyes on her the better, I figured I'd show you just a few that show off her spirit well.  I like to believe she's in heaven revelling in the extra attention today, most likely giving God plenty of unsolicited advice on how He might want to do a few things differently all the while (and is throwing her head back and laughing now because she really was giving advice).

My mom loved the good things in life, and always took time to smell the roses (or tulips, as the case may be). This one's in 1969, when she was 38.  I look so eerily much like her that it creeps out some of my older cousins, and even I see it here.

My Mom Pre-Me, 1969

She loved me a whole lot - this is when I was brand spankin' new two years later.

Mom & Me

Here's the last, just because it's fun.  My mom wore a super conservative, flying-nun variety habit for eighteen years, and in this picture of us chillin' on the stoop on Chicago's northwest side, you can see that she heartily embraced the more colorful giant prints of the day as an expression of autonomy.  You should have seen some of the wallpaper we had...

Chillin' on the Stoop

That little red afro I'm sporting is her doing because she cut my hair as a regular thing until I was about five.  She also made most of my dresses, including this one, so I always ran around with an incredibly bad haircut and some over the top cool dresses.  She did both of those things and many more because money was tight - she left the convent in 1968, and for eighteen years of service she got her education and $600 to start a new life.  She did a fine job.

I know from emails I've received that there are several readers walking through the grief of a mother's death, and today I have some good news for you.  Not one tear has dropped writing this, but I've giggled a good bit, so it gets better.  I still cry because I miss her plenty, but now I can write and talk about her without tears sometimes and I'm mostly just grateful for the time she was around.  It's been a matter of simply waiting some stuff out, facing and moving past the rest, and it gets better, so hang in there.

That's Chanel Morning Rose and my little Mother's Day tribute to one really good mom.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

OPI Silver Shatter & Chanel Dragon

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'd mentioned that I wanted to try OPI Silver Shatter over Chanel Dragon, so I did.  Dragon is just the shade of red I wanted to pair with Silver Shatter, and it really does give completely opaque coverage in one coat, so it seemed like a good choice.  I still think it was.  Since it was a single coat, I didn't top coat it, I just let it air dry, which only took a few minutes.  Then I added a kind of thick coat of Silver Shatter (I wanted the cracks to be big) and two coats of Diamont to smooth it out.  Here it is in the morning sun.

OPI Silver Shatter over Chanel Dragon Nail Polish, One Coat Each

This is much more what I had in mind for Silver Shatter, and I like it, especially how it cracked across near the tips.  I want to give it a go over a navy blue soon, too.

That's what I know this morning, Dear Reader!  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Chanel Rose Paradise

Good morning, Dear Reader!

This morning I got to try out the last polish in my most recent Chanel order, Rose Paradise.  This one's a limited edition that I've had my eye on for a while, and I figured since I'd wanted it for some time and I could still get it at retail, I should go for it, so I did.  I was reluctant because it's just a classic rose shimmer, but it's a really nice one.

In the bottle, Rose Paradise looks a bit frosty, but once it's dry it is not at all.  It ends up being a fine, dense, uniform shimmer with no brush strokes.  This is two coats dry in somewhat low natural light.

Chanel Rose Paradise Nail Polish, Two Coats

It's exactly what I'd hoped it would be - no alarm bells are sounding, but it's a great elegant, classic rose.  I think more than one version of Rose Paradise has come out, and the information on the box identifying this one is 185 Rose Paradise 159.185.

That's all I have for you today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Chanel Black Pearl

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Last night I tried out Chanel Black Pearl, so that's what I have for you today.  Black Pearl applied well, and it was good in two coats.  It's an almost frosty charcoal with a bit of a teal flash, and I think it really does look a lot like a black pearl.

Chanel Black Pearl Nail Polish, Two Coats

I like it, as I expected to, but I think that I prefer Peche Nacree to Black Pearl by a good margin.

That's it for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!