SHANGHAI SURPRISE

Following hot on the heels of that last dis - I will (and must) acquiesce just this once.

My faith has been temporarily restored. This is beautiful.

Thanks for bringing it back (finally!), KL.

full story at http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2010/03/best_bet_striking_gold.html

Image courtesy of nymag.com

PARTICULIERE-LY (NOT QUITE RIGHT)

If you're a regular reader, you'll already know how I generally feel about Chanel polishes (which, incidentally, happens to be the complete opposite of how I feel about Chanel handbags and Mr Lagerfeld - but, I digress....)

So, here's a professional's professional opinion...

If you feel some uncontrollable compulsion to aquire Chanel's current (yet, almost-out-of-favour, as May (and therefore 'Nouvelle Vague') approaches) varnish, 'Particuliere' - I urge you instead to do yourself one large and divert to O.P.I.'s 'You Don't Know Jacques!' or 'Over the Taupe', which is almost a dead ringer for 'Particuliere'.

I took Particuliere off a client the other day. It looks brown in the bottle, ugly khaki out of the bottle and baby-dodo yellow when it's coming off onto a cotton swab. I'm seriously starting to think Karl is playing us with these colours. For real.

Half the $$'s, O.P.I.'s consistency and wearability is infallible (and the same cannot be said for Chanel).

There. I said it.

P.s. Thank you, Vogue Australia - who, it looks, agree with me - with their first suggestion for this nail trend being 'Over the Taupe'. http://www.vogue.com.au/beauty/trends/taupe+trend,2857

Image courtesy of http://www.elle.com/

Check the link for the full story on brown varnish nail trends - http://www.elle.com/Beauty/Makeup-Skin-Care/Nail-Trends-Spring-2010-Shades-of-Brown

NOUVELLE (images)? SORT OF. VAGUE (me)? YES....

Well... that will teach me not to do my research.

Maybe the polish fumes have finally gotten to me...

OF COURSE, there's images! AS IF there'd be NO images!?

...IN FACT, there's some extremely lovely images (as you can see above). And from what I can gather they've been around for a couple of weeks now.

P.s. did Chanel jump up in the air onto the Erykahlidoscope, or is this just a spooky trending coincidence?.... Hmmm.

Limited Edition NOUVELLE VAGUE. Hmmm. Wouldn't necessarily call this blue 'electrifying' (last post) - but anyway, to each their own 'description' and 'creative' license...

From what I've seen in other images, it's a blue version of JADE - very creamy and pastel-ly. Incidentally, it's nothing like O.P.I.'s BLUE MY MIND.

And when it comes to pastels, I think I'm still a fan of the Illamasqua colour range.

Let me break down this little offering for the northern hemisphere's 2010 summer...

Blue = NOUVELLE VAGUE (NEW WAVE)

Peach = MISTRAL

Pink = RIVIERA

Get into it, May '10 - I guess...

Image courtesy of http://www.temptalia.com/chanel-les-pop-up-de-chanel-collection-for-summer-2010

THIS JUST IN!!!

NO IMAGE YET!!! (dammit!)

But! You can count on seeing it here as soon as there is one.

Chanel's latest varnish offering is called NOUVELLE VAGUE and is described as "an Andy Warhol-esque electrifying shade of blue" (due date - May 2010).

Get the full(ish) story here - http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/beauty/article7042998.ece

It will follow suit with JADE, being available globally only in extremely limited quantities.

Am already wondering if it's anything like O.P.I.'s BLUE MY MIND that I, and many of my Bronzdettes wore the stuffing out of a good 18 months ago??
O.P.I. has had a stellar track record so far of having already developed eerily similar colours, yards ahead of these last couple of (newly-iconic) Chanel varnishes.

Guess only time and patience will tell...

WATCH THIS SPACE!

RUNWAY

Givin it to you as it comes down the runway (or there-abouts...).

Chanel goes Minx-ie (and shorter, with a nice soft curve) with silver foil wraps to match the fingerless gloves.

Christian Dior is Parisian, mid-length, crimson, almond shaped with the (1920-30's style) lunulas exposed.

Jean Paul Gaultier has the squared off, icy blue talons.

More amazing images of this collection over at thehouseofpretty.com.

Chanel image courtesy of http://uk.stylelist.com/2010/01/26/chanel-haute-couture-beauty-spring-2010/

Jean Paul Gaultier image courtesy of http://www.thehouseofpretty.com/

GET READY

Here we go again! although...

These colours aren't as instantly recognizable as JADE and alot of brands have already been producing and pushing this putty colour for a minute, so PARTICULIERE ('particular') doesn't look so particularly (haw, haw, haw...) ground-breaking.

The pale salmon pink is called TRENDRESSE ('tenderness') and the nude to round out the trio is INATTENDU ('unexpected').

I wasn't really trying to get caught up in the JADE hype, but I'll give it to this new little offering - these are 3 really lovely, wearable colours.

If you up for shelling out the dough, get into them. Apparently, they are readily available for purchase on the CHANEL website and (I'm assuming) they may actually make to the cosmetic counters, in stark contrast to JADE that was only an extremely limited run due to it being a promo colour.

Related articles for PARTICULIERE...

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/blogs/the-thread/Anticipation-Builds-for-Chanel-Particuliere-79993377.html

http://mamasarollingstone.com/beauty/chanel-particuliere/

THE SAGA CONTINUES

I have since been informed that the infamous CHANEL JADE was actually only ever meant to be a promo, was never intended to be released to be sold and it was only due to much insistence by key 'influential' behind-the-scenes style-sayers that it even made it out of Chanel HQ's.

Hence the limited numbers, hence the ensuing frenzy.

(Truly) 'nuff said. (by me... i know! i'm shutting up....)

Case closed.

COME ON, VOGUE....

Sanity and good taste prevail at Vogue - dope accessories and styling.

Very nice - reminds me of chocolate. Mmmm...chocolate.

Is that a turkey burger?? ....Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

(UPDATE - march 2010... I'm willing to bet my polish collection this is PARTICULIERE by Chanel...)

THEM EBAY HUSTLERS...

Soooooo, re: my previous post regarding current insanity around coveted CHANEL jade nail varnish, what did i stumble across perusing my weekly scroll of sites (in search of edutainment and general obnoxious know-all...) but a sneaky pale green polish in the iconic square bottle with the white labelling and black lid - under an Ebay banner.

You cannot get a bottle of JADE (through the usual channels, r.r.p.) for love, money or influence right now. A client that just returned from Hong Kong (where you can't throw a rock without hitting a purveyor of Chanel and the ilk...) reported the Chanel saleswoman fiendishly and cruelly cackled when she inquried about purchasing one (just one...) tiny bottle.

"You no able to get for MONTHS! Sold out, sold out" came the callous reply.

....which brings us back to Ebay. Not that I personally want a bottle of this stuff - I'm still floggin O.P.I.'s 'hey, get in lime' - but I seriously happen to be one of the precious few. Have a small stab at what the current bids for a bottle of (insipid) JADE are...

For a single bottle, with over 6 hours still left on the bidding, it's already rolling in at u.s.$113.o2.

For a bottle of JADE green and JADE rose, you can buy the pair now for just u.s.$169.00!

W.O.W......

I reiterate - Chanel nail varnish will NOT stay on your nails chip-free for more than 3 days REGARDLESS of even the most superduper base, topcoat and skills you could employ to help your cause. I also reiterate, HOW do you know what brand it is once it's out the bottle and on your nails??? ...Well, you could always have a couple of linked 'C' decals stuck over the top to seal the deal? Those suckas ran me about $3.95 for a pack of 50....

Wonder what Alain de Botton would make of all this....

JADE... WITH ENVY??

SO! here it is.... the reason for the frenzy-inducing buzz around Chanel at the moment.

I hit up a few other spots to see what was being talked about and reports in nail colour at high-end fashion show front rows were 'ALL blue and green' - which i'm thinking...really??

Music/fashion/style maverick, Erykah Badu and reality tv it-girl, Whitney Port (amongst others) were both rockin this shade of pastel blue for, at least, the last 18 months and have since moved on. Which brings us back to green...

As a nail tech, it's possibly the last colour I want to willingly associate with nails, but look - if you have to wear green, Chanel's JADE is probably the prettiest hue you're gonna get. Incidentally, 12 months ago, i picked up a bottle of O.P.I. 'hey! get in lime!' (essentially exactly the same as Chanel JADE (ummm, is this the cosmetic equivalent to a grade-A bootleg designer handbag?? i digress...)) that i've never been able to crack open. I thought for sure one of my brave little fashionistas would have given it a burl, but - nada. Perhaps it does just take the mighty Chanel nod of approval to get this colour over the line.

The last time a Chanel green was incorporated into such a strong launch (in my memory, anyway - 2001-ish?), it was in a series of jelly-like sheer tints/stains. Sheer being the point, no amount of layering this colour got it away from looking like there were fungal infections on all 10 nails - which I think it's safe to say, is not the look that someone who spends $40 a bottle on nail varnish is going for.

At the end of the day, once it's out of the bottle and on your nails...what brand is it again, ladies??