Saturday, 28 August 2010
Oh, How Fon-dant!
Today was my friend Gelly's baby shower, and somehow, yet again, I managed to get everything done on time. I think that I thrive on last minute pressure, since it seems to be the only time I can really focus on a project and get things done. As I mentioned yesterday, I made the cake for the shower, and also my gift for her, which I finished at 1:07 p.m. today. (I had to be to the party at 3, which was 45 min away, in North Vegas, and I still hadn't gotten ready yet!) The cake was a hit, as was the gift (a hand-crocheted baby afghan in the colors she wanted for her nursery), plus I had fun eating and hanging out with the girls. Plus, as it happens, I am a master of baby shower games, which I find funny, since I know nothing of babies. (They come from the stork, right?) Today's nail design was based on the cake that I did for the shower, incorporating the multi-colored dots of the bottom tier, and the graphic flowers of the top tier.
The inspiration:
The nails:
I used Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud as a base, with OPI Parlez Vous OPI? for the purple, Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Spring Green for the green, and Milani Teddy Bare for the brown. Topped it all off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.
The afghan that I made as a gift:
Completely off-topic, but I need a new laptop (mine is 7 years old), or at the very least, a new keyboard for mine, as mine is missing the 'f' key, which makes it difficult to type, since there is just the silicone nub that goes under the key for me to press. One day. :-D
I'm off to clean up Hurricane Buttercream/Fondant in my kitchen, and Tropical Storm Yarn in my living room. Perhaps tomorrow I'll get to the sewing table/area.
Chanel Les Khakis Collection Swatches!
Hi everyone! Today my camera arrived and I literally tore the package to shreds to get it out and to start swatching immediately. I was so excited about having the new Chanel collection, I really wanted to have them swatched and up today! I'm not really sure if I like the pictures that my new camera produces yet, but I guess I still have to get to know the settings and everything. Right now the pictures look a little bit washed out - i think they're a smidge darker, please forgive me for that. Anyway! Onto the good stuff!
LES KHAKIS DE CHANEL
For VOGUE’S “ FASHION’S NIGHT OUT ”, the fashion event not to be missed, Peter Philips, Global Creative Director of CHANEL Makeup, is celebrating the occasion with the new collection “ Les khakis de Chanel ”.
A new colour harmony of three nail polish shades that can be worn alone or combined : Khaki Vert, Khaki Rose and Khaki Brun. A bold way of wearing nail polish. An ultra sophisticated, urban chic “ camouflage effect ”, for nails that will be getting all the attention.
A little bit about Khaki
To these days, khaki as color brings to mind a brown, even beige, hue. When khaki was adopted for the military, the shade chosen had a clearly darker and more greenish hue. This color was adopted by all the British Empire Armies and the US expeditionary force of World War I, under the name Olive Drab. During the second half of the WWII, American olive drab became distinctly greener, a major departure from the original idea of khaki.
From the first moment I had heard about this collection I knew I would fall for these. Just recently I discovered my love for neutrals, so imagine my excitement about this collection. Neutrals can look so classic and timeless, effortless chic to the max. Well, let's see how I like these brand new Chanels!
Chanel LE VERNIS 267 Khaki Brun
Now this is a special one, Khaki Brun is a murky brown creme with a lot of green to it. I guess this is what they would call "Olive Drab". This color doesn't work that well with my skintone, but I can imagine someone who's a little less pink would rock the Casbah with this color. Application of this one was awesome, 2 coats is all you need. The layers dry very quickly, leaving you with a fantastic smooth and glossy finish. So you could even skip top coat if you'd want.
Chanel LE VERNIS 257 Khaki Rose
Khaki Rose is a really soft and delicate reddish shade of taupe/medium brown. I don't have anything exactly like it and I think I own over 15 taupes.. I absolutely love this shade, since it's so soft and chic looking. Application of Khaki Rose was just as good as Khaki Brun, 2 coats, quickly drying and glossy.
Chanel LE VERNIS 247 Khaki Vert
I think Khaki Vert may be my personal favorite of this collection, it's a bit more cool toned than the other two and cool colors usually look better against my skin. It's a very pretty greyish shade of green, probably one of the few dusty colors I actually like! Just like the other two colors, it almost applied itself.
Conclusion
I love them all. Even if some colors are a bit too warm for my skintone, I still love them. And I'm usually not that big on cremes. I don't know of any exact dupes yet, but time will tell.
My first experience with Chanel nail polish wasn't that great (Nouvelle Vague), but the superb application of Paradoxal showed me Chanel does make awesome nail polish. The texture of these three new polishes reminded me a lot of Paradoxal, they're quite similar if you look at their application, thickness, drying time and gloss. All three are extremely opaque, being nearly one coaters. No cuticle drag, no streaks, just smooth as glass. I can't tell much about the wear yet, since I just got them, but I'll gladly report back. Will you be getting any of these?
Exclusively available in CHANEL Fashion Boutiques starting September 8th 2010, I think the price will be 25 EUR for 13 ml.
The product(s) in this post were provided to me by the manufacturer or their PR company for review. For more information please read my disclaimer