French Week 2011 Day 1 - Chanel Le Vernis

Le Vernis from Chanel was my first major beauty product purchase back when I was in middle school.  This was when I was first getting into both beauty and the French language, both of which hold my interest right up to this day.  Le Vernis is one of the most iconic products from the Chanel beauty line and a top seller for them year after year.  Starting with all the hype around the Vamp shade after it appeared on the runways in the mid 90s and then continuing with the Black Satin and Blue Satin shades that were impossible to find several years ago, Chanel Le Vernis is a most sought after product and often causes one to try everything from visiting multiple counters in one day to trying to buy the half-used testers of the sold-out shades.  In fall of 2009, Jade became an instant sell-out and inspired many nail polish companies to try and quickly create as many similar shades as possible.  The trend continued into fall of 2010 with Paradoxal quickly becoming the top shade of the season to own and wear.  This fall, Chanel is ahead of the pack with the lovely metallic silvers and golds that will be hitting the counters within days.  It is rare that a beauty product has this much impact over such a long period of time...

"Classic and trend defining shades from the runways of Paris.  State-of-the-art formula strengthens and moisturizes nails as it delivers long-wearing, high-shine, chip-resistant colour.  Applies evenly without streaking." 

This nail polish is available in wide range of unique and trend-setting shades.  They are...

- Peridot - pure shimmering gold
- Graphite - pure shimmering silver
- Mimosa - bright yellow cream
- Black Pearl - shimmering black with silver pearl
- Pearl Drop - shimmering pearl
- Black Satin - pure black cream
- Blue Satin - navy blue cream with a hint of silver shimmer
- Intermezzo - off white cream
- Quartz - deep shimmering beige with cool undertones
- Beige Petale - sheer light cream beige
- Orange Fizz - orange coral cream
- Peche Nacree - sheer warm peach cream
- Particuliere - medium cool taupe cream
- Inattendu - warm peach cream
- Django - sheer warm white cream
- Morning Rose - cool bubblegum pink cream
- Rose Paradise - medium warm rose cream
- Mica Rose - sheer light pink cream
- Rose Insolent - medium cool magenta cream
- Rose Confidentiel - neutral rose cream
- Jade Rose - sheer light pink with a hint of silver shimmer
- Tenderesse - light lavender with a hint of cold shimmer
- Ballerina - sheer light pink cream
- Allegoria - shimmer light neutral pink shimmer
- Vamp - deep black plum cream
- Paradoxal - iridescent deep taupe plum shimmer
- Rouge Fatal - deep cool blue red cream
- Lotus Rouge - deep neutral red cream
- Dragon - deep warm red cream
- Vendetta - deep black plum cream
- Gondola - deep magenta cream
- Imperial - deep warm mahogany cream

My favorite shade of this polish is Blue Satin, of course!  Navy polishes are my love and this is one of the best (if not the best that I have ever tried).  I use this polish by itself or layer it with their discontinued Azure shade for extra sparkle.  This first released in their Spring 2008 collection and I was able to buy the last bottle that my local Macy*s counter had several weeks after the initial release.  All Chanel polishes are very shiny without the use of separate topcoat and remind me of the finish of a Mercedes sportscar.  Every shade that I has used is very long-wearing and wears for a week or more (with minimal touch-ups). 

In addition to the Blue Satin; Vamp, Paradoxal, and Dragon are my favorite shades of the line.  Vamp is the original classic and is the shade that both launched this product's cult following and began to make non-mainstream nail shades popular.  Paradoxal is a work of art and can only be seen to fully understand the shade and the many variations of it that are seen just by waving your hand.  Dragon is another one of those perfect deep red shades that haven't been ruined with the addition of a ton of shimmer.  Deep reds are second to navys in the shades that I go nuts for and I love that Chanel makes top quality picks for both shades. 

French fashion would not be the same without Chanel and any shade of Le Vernis is the perfect complement to any runway look.  An iconic cult product indeed...

photo courtesy of Chanel