Chanel Spring 2014: The Vibrant Reviews (Diapason & Charivari)

Chanel Le Vernis #603/Charivari & Illusion d'Ombre #92/Diapason

Following on from MontyC's review of Chanel's Notes de Printemps pastel shades, which features "pastel and electric pinks [...] cheerful reds and vibrant purples", I travelled the "vibrant purples" path and, similar to Ms. MontyC, also purchased two products - the Illusion d'Ombre in Diapason and the Le Vernis nail polish in Charivari.  I had intended to add the other Illusion d'Ombre to my collection thus far, but it just kind of disappeared on me when I swatched it - so it was a no-go for me.  But Diapason now, that's my kinda shade :-)

The Illusion d'Ombre in Diapason

Chanel Illusion d'Ombre in Diapason

Although the collection describes this shade as a "violet plum with a brown base", I would argue this.  This is a gorgeous violet plum shot through with an electric blue base, and definitely my kind of shade.  It reminds me of a plummier version of the shade of my debs' ball dress, all those oh so many years ago.   So for the sake of Memory Lane, I had to have this ;-)

Chanel Illusion d'Ombre in Diapason - swatch

You can see the blue and purple - you can also see the brown at the edges - it definitely blends-out slightly into purple.  Which I love (it means you don't necessarily need to blend it into anything else).

Chanel Illusion d'Ombre in Diapason - it's not as dark in real life

Illusion d'Ombre formulas and finishes tend to be either very metallic or very frosted or a little of both, this one falls into the metallic camp - there is no glitter or frosting evident in this.  It shows up a lot more purple than blue, but you could play up either shade by pressing either a purple or blue shade over it, if you wanted to use this just as a base.  Personally, I prefer to use these on their own and just gussy-up the outer and inner corners a bit with, respectively, a little darkening and a little lightening of the shade (layering- or sheering- it out as necessary).

This shade from the collection joins the permanent line-up of Illusion d'Ombres, but it's nothing like the other purples - look here for more information on those shades (Fatal, Illusoire, Ebloui) - this is by far a more bright, vibrant and electric shade in comparison to those shades' more muted tones.


The Le Vernis Nail Polish in Charivari

Sorry - slightly blurry pic of
Chanel Le Vernis is #603/Charivari

Ahhhh now, although I love this, and really do actually love it, I was a tiny bit disappointed - as with most Chanel nailpolishes, it looks different in the bottle to what it appears on the nails.  Whereas I had thought that this looked like a "soft... smudgy mauve", in fact the PR description of the Illusion d'Ombre applies perfectly to this one - it is most definitely a "violet plum with a brown base" - so precisely that in fact, that I don't really need to expound any further :-)

The swatches...

As with most Chanel polishes, the subtle almost-but-not-quite dual-tone nature of the polish sees it looking more plummy in some lights and more brown in others.  It's far darker than I expected, and it needs two coats - one coat will win you a more mauve-plum shade, but too thin and streaky to look good.  Two shades will bring out the darker brown undertones.

Nicely dark in real life.
Excuse the crummy application :-(

The finish is nicely glossy although I did notice that it wasn't quite as shiny the next day.  This one, interestingly, lasted me three days before starting to chip (with all the typing I do, I barely get two days out of most nail polish before that happens usually).  This I love - and my initial disappointment has given way to seeing me wearing this almost non-stop now for over eight days, topping it up as I go.  Very unusual for me...

Look here for the preview post and here (while the link works) for the Chanel mini-site for this collection.