Les Jeans de Chanel

Disclaimer: Chanel's animal cruelty status is debated. A lot. I have been told that they are cruelty free by a representative of theirs, who also stated that Chanel grows their own stuff for the most part. Who knows what the truth is? Until I know definitively that they are not bunny safe I will occasionally review them because they always have really great colors. It will only be occasionally because those really great colors come at a REEEEDEEEKULOUS price. And I only rarely will pay that.
End Disclaimer.

So...this collection was a Chanel Boutique and online exclusive. They are no longer available from Chanel, but I am not breaking one of my promises to you. I found these on izzysbeautyshoppe.com, where they are still available. They are not an authorized seller, I don't know how you feel about that, but neither is a single solitary soul on evilbay so...do what you will. I will tell you that they had good service and while it took quite awhile to get my polish (and an out of production perfume I love) they were quick, and patient, with my inquiries. They have a lot of limited editions out there, they're selling them for about what Chanel does, so that's hardly a hardship. Things came nicely packed and in good order. They have a lot of different boutique brands on their site, not a lot of bunny safe stuff, but I think I've established that that is in the eye of your conscience. My not bunny safe may be acceptable to you so act as your conscience dictates. That isn't up to me. Just think of the bunnies, that's all I ask.

On to the shots!

These colors were an education in taking swatches, let me tell ya. I learned some valuable lessons. I did find a way to get color accurate pics in the absence of sunlight and for that I thank them.

They're pretty....but I admit, I was underwhelmed.

Blue Boy is a greyish blue, I was surprised at how blue it is. I think you would call this cadet blue, actually, though I chickened out of art school. (Submit a portfolio..of my sketches...for cri..ti..ci..smmmm....yeah, no. Liberal Arts! Still has "art" in it...Yeah!) It has an intriguing sort of dustiness to it. It's very wearable. Not very edgy. pretty.

This is exactly color accurate. The first shot is a bit greyed out. I was still figuring things out. You should see the pics I deleted! YIKES!
Pretty, right? Yeah. **shrugs**

Blue Rebel is a darker dusty blue. It's a little teal in feel, sort of...powdery. Granted...it's gun powdery...it has a darkness to it. It...wait.

It...it has a lot of green in it...it's...Where have I seen this before?

HOLY CRAP. How about the previous post? Ya think?

Let's just compare that baby.

Ummm....OK. Can you tell which nails are Ciate superficial and which are Blue Rebel? I did this quick and dirty...I just painted a coat of Ciate over the Chanel. Let's try this again for real.

OK...Now I can see a difference. A difference so miniscule as to be negligible. The Ciate is a tad greener. A smidge. It's not a full on dupe. It's extremely close. And when you think of the $20 dollar difference in price? I see no difference at all! For $20 they are identical. Know what I'm sayin'?

Let's throw another dog in the fight.

Because looking at this here? I think I have something else that is really similar.

OK. Well. That is Rescue Beauty Lounge Teal. Teal and superficial...hmmmm....not dead on. But pretty damn close. Teal is not available through Rescue Beauty any longer. I know, I said I wouldn't show you any colors you can't just buy but it's one nail and it's for your own good! Get thee a bottle of superficial to tide you over. Certainly Teal will make a come back and superficial is close enough to keep your jones at bay. And they're both really close to Blue Rebel, closer than this picture would lead you to believe. MDAMO couldn't tell them apart without squinting.

Coco Blue is a pretty silvery blue. It has a shimmer in it, which you can kind of see here. Click and zoom the photo to see better. It's not showing up in the bottle at all, but the nails show it. This is really sheer and watery, this is three coats. Might do better with base coat.

This is a bit more saturated than the color really is but it's close. It's pretty but dare I say it? Unremarkable? I like it...I will wear it. But...there is that "but" hanging out there.

The whole set was on the watery side and needed more than a coat to level out and look nice. Coco Blue required 3 coats to be opaque. No other complaints really...I would just suggest that before you go blow a wad on these that you consider if you really love them. I bet you can find similar colors (ahemsuperficialahem) and be just as happy for less. However, if you just gotta, then Izzy's is where I found them.

Happy Talons!

Ciate superficial

Ciate is a new brand to me but I've been pretty impressed. They wear nicely and they have fun colors. I can't remember how long I wore this one but it was at least 5 days. Maybe 6. The flaws it started to develop were fixable but I am, after all, a polish hound and I start to long for a new color in a few days.

I've always had a short attention span. BRIAN. The dipwad I dated in college who told me I had the attention span of the average 5 year old.


SQUIRRELL!

What was I talking about?

Oh yes.

Ciate is a British company who has their polish made in France and MDAMO and I were debating whether "Ciate" is meant to be French or Italian. I think French. Regardless, pretty colors, nice wear.
And cute bottles!

This was after a couple days wear.You can see the tip wear, which with my job is flat inevitable. I shuffle so much paper it isn't even funny. I spent 5 hours today cleaning up employee files. (Writing this on Sunday. Yeah, I had to work Sunday. Not bitter! Not. Bitter.) There isn't a lot of polish in the world that can survive that.
As you can see, this is a pretty cadet blue with a vibrancy but still sedate.

Still looks pretty good. It applied nicely and was easy to control. Even I did OK, though you can see the remnant of where I flooded the one cuticle. Probably watching Big Bang while painting my nails. That wouldn't be extraordinary. Penny is good polish inspiration. I'm wearing a Penny color right now. It didn't survive the filing in perfect shape. It did well...new Deb Lipp Gel Lab system...trying it out for you guys. (Me Likey!)

This is actually closer to the feel of the polish. It's darker than it appears above, but not this green...this was before I learned the trick I learned with the next post. I wish I'd figured that out oh... years ago! Alas. This really is a darker color. It's blackened almost. But it's not this dark. It's somewhere in between. GAH!

Bottle shot before I took this off. You can see it's chipping and wearing. I was having some issues with my Nailtiques. I think it was just flat old. I tried a new bottle and did better on the next one.

Those little bows are pretty securely glued on there. I had visions of icky glue blobs and no bows on the bottles, but so far they're staying on.

The label. Oh no! It's flammable!
They all are, but the little fire always kind of amuses me for some odd reason.

I took a ton of shots of this for some reason...I liked it, but not, like.. Knackered liked it.

This shot is to show you that it started to do something weird...I had Orly Nail Armor under this and as the polish wore it was like Nail Armor started to absorb it. Or something. You can see the particles in the Orly pushing up through or the Ciate sinking down in...I'm not sure. It was odd. It was like the surface thinned or something. I can't even explain it. I just thought I would show it to you. Pretty strange stuff!

I recommend this brand fo sho. It's fun, fun colors, easily available through Sephora, where this came from, and if you are one to display your bottles they're really cute. I get really good wear with it and it's easy to apply. Plus, it's not really all that expensive. It's not drugstore but if you shop sales you can get it for a good price.

Happy Talons!