Chanel Spring 2014 Collection Notes de Printemps- Nails + Eyes

Rather than stretch out all of my purchases from the Spring 2014 collections individually, I'm going to feature my acquisitions as of today by collection over the next week or so.

First up: Chanel Spring 2014 Collection Notes de Printemps

Confession: I purchased these before Christmas. They were my "one for you, one for me" purchases while I was finishing my holiday shopping.  Although Chanel's spring collection is quite moody in tone, it's only been in the past couple of weeks that I've felt ready to pull these shades out.

I purchased three items from the collection: both Le Vernis shades, and one of the two Illusion d'Ombres.

My selections should be no surprise, as I'm an avowed Le Vernis collector and enjoyed my other adventure with Illusion d'Ombre from the Holiday 2013 collection.

First, the 2 shades of Le Vernis.

Tapage (#605), $27,  is a bright and cheery red-pink. The promo pictures make it look far more pink than it is in real life.  It's listed under the permanent shades on Chanel's site, so it appears that it will be joining the permanent lineup.  I looked through my collection and couldn't find a good dupe.  However, the real story is the formula.  Tapage is essentially a one-coat polish with flawless formula.  The mani is with two coats, no top coat.  It's a beautiful, shiny, opaque color that self-levels and honestly is one of the easiest I've ever worked with.  Of the two polishes in this collection, I've worn Tapage at least three times so far. It's a perfect pick-me-up color in this pre-spring time of year.

Charivari (#603), $27, seems like an unlikely color for a spring collection when pastels normally rule the nails.  Charivari seemed to be the color I was likely to reach for first out of the two, but Tapage has stolen my heart.  Swatches are with two coats, no top coat.  This is a muted purple creme, significantly darker than Paradoxical.


My other choice from the collection was Illusion d'Ombre in Diapson (#92).  Both it and the other release (Impulsion, #93, a beautiful pink) are joining the permanent lineup.  Since I've been having major pink lemmings lately, I may pick up Impulsion at a later time.

Diapson (#92), $36, is a shimmering purple with blue undertones which can be worn sheered out or built up to its full drama, as seen in the pot.  I've found that it's perfect to set off my blue eyes sheered out with one coat and perfectly appropriate both for day and night.  The Illusion d'Ombre formula gives me 16+ hour coverage (my usual weekday requirement) with NARS eye primer without creasing.  This is a great value in my opinion simply for the number of looks that one can get with one shade.

Luckily, I photographed this before the weather went south for two months!

Outside, in natural light:

Inside, with flash:

The full Spring 2014 Collection Notes de Printemps is available via Chanel.

Next up: My selections from Deborah Lippmann Spring 2014.