I have been anticipating the relaunch of the Chanel Rouge Allures ever since I saw preview pictures of the various colours.  A lot of the shades were a departure from Chanel's usual line-up - there are a lot more vivid bright shades and a lot less "safe" colours. 

I made a mental wishlist before I headed to the counter - Exaltée, Enjouée, Excentrique and Pimpante - I skipped the reds since I have far too many red lipsticks already and not enough opportunities to wear them!  Pimpante was slightly too light for me (I think - I did not try it on my lips), Enjouée when swatched looked too similar to coral Rouge Allures I already have (Coquette & Hyde Park), and so Excentrique was my pick.

Yesterday I picked up two lipsticks that are opposites in extremes - Chanel's Relaunched Rouge Allure in Excentrique (in your face bright orange) and Dior Rouge Nude Lip Blush in Grege (subtle pinkish nude).  Reviews coming soon.

x Sylvie

For Vogue's Fashion Night Out, Chanel released 3 'twin sets' of matching nail polishes and Rouge Allure Velvet lipsticks.  My interest was piqued only by Provocation - the darkest shade of the three.  I was temporarily tempted to buy the matching lipstick Provocative when I was in line at the Covent Garden pop-out - but then decided it's probably wiser to wait for Rouge Noir in thenew Rouge Allure formula.

Vertigo is one of those colours you either love or hate.  I didn't commit to buying it until I had a manicure done at the Covent Garden pop-up store - and then I knew I had to have it in collection.

Recently I have tried to cut down on my beauty purchases, hence the lack of posts in August (but that is also due to time issues).  Instead of buying almost everything that looked good/interesting, I have been editing my wishlist down to the essential "must-buys" from each collection (I skipped the entire Dior Autumn collection).

At first I thought I had to have Lumiere d'Artifices, the stripey sequin palette from the Chanel Autumn 2012 collection.  But after looking at swatch photos and trying it in store, it's a big no for me - the colour just doesn't show up on me.  Then I thought is it absolutely necessary to buy Rose Initiale, another pink blush?

This post is a little late but I hope it will be useful to my London readers.  I still find it really irritating that the UK gets every seasonal makeup behind the rest of the world - but hopefully the pop-up boutique at Covent Garden makes it a bit better for Chanel lovers.  The autumn collection is now in store at the pop-up before all the other counters (they will have the autumn collection on the 24th I believe).

Sky Line is part of the Blue Illusion de Chanel makeup collection, from Chanel's spring/summer 2012 Haute Couture show.  The entire Haute Couture collection featured the colour blue and was inspired by the glamour of air travel in its heyday.

Since the Chanel Paris-Bombay Métiers d'Art show back in December last year, I had wanted to get my hands on Diwali and the Nirvana Illusion d'ombre.  Sadly Nirvana never made it into production, so I only picked up Diwali from the Bombay Express collection.  And just as I had suspected, the Route des Indes de Chanel is disappointingly far too gold and sparkly for me.

Holiday is the brightest but probably the least interesting of the three le vernis in the Summertime de Chanel collection.  Don't get me wrong - it's a lovely colour (especially against tanned/olive skintones) but I feel it is one where you can easily get a similar sort of colour from any brand.

For the Summertime de Chanel collection, I skipped the Sable Beige/Rose Luminous Bronzing Powder as I felt so underwhelmed by them for a number of reasons.  Firstly, I'm not a huge fan of bronzer and with my skin type I don't really need glowy bronzer.  I was also disappointed by the same sort of stripey powder palette again.  Yes I see why they used the stripes again but it just feels a bit boring to see the same sort of thing again.  And generally I feel I have to develop a better edit of products I buy from each collection - rather than buying something because it's the star product or because it's a limited edition collectable.

Anyway now to the product I am reviewing in this post.  By skipping the Luminous Bronzing Powder,  my budget allowed me to pick up Sable-Émouvant.  My first impressions when I saw preview images was yawn - another neutral eyeshadow palette (I have nothing against neutral eyeshadows but you only really need so many of them).  But I changed my mind once I swatched it at the counter.

To be honest, initially I disappointed and really regretted getting Delight.  I was low on time so I grabbed all three summer nail polishes without examining the colours properly.  I painted it on my toes and it looked a bit too yellow-gold - in the bottle it has a slight pinkyish bronzey tinge.

Usually I avoid Chanel Glossimers because they tend to be not very pigmented and all the different shades actually end up looking the same - just glossy & shimmery.  On top of that I'm more of a lipstick girl than lipgloss - I don't like the stickiness and hate getting my hair stuck on my lips.

However, once I swatched Calypso, I wanted to buy it straight away.

Island #597 is definitely my favourite nail polish from the Summertime de Chanel 2012 Summer Collection.  The colour and pearlescent effect is just beautiful and flattering against my skintone.

I very nearly didn't buy Frisson - May has been a killer month for nail polishes, and I felt like I had spent far too much on Dior nail polishes already.  But I am very glad I did buy it, because I think I actually prefer it over Distraction.

The long awaited Roses Ultimes de Chanel collection finally launched in London.  Out of the four nail polishes, I picked up Distraction and Frisson (which will be reviewed later this week).  I skipped Attraction (silver white) and Tentation (magenta) because these kind of colours don't look good against my skin.  Not being a fan of lip gloss, I skipped all the glossimers.

Joues Contraste in Fleur de Lotus is part of the 2012 Le Blanc Fleur de Lotus makeup collection and is an Asia exclusive.  The two feature products, the blush and the green Illusion d'Ombre in Riviere, immediately reminded me of traditional Chinese paintings of Lotus flowers - intense coral (or pink) with a light wash of green.

For the past few months, I didn't wear any foundation because it didn't seem to make any noticeable difference to me.  But when Chanel launched their new foundation, Perfection Lumière, I decided to give it a try.

I have used Mat Lumière and Vitalumière Aqua previously.  They were good but not good enough to make a huge difference - Mat Lumière was ok but I found lasting power wasn't that great, Vitalumière Aqua was a bit too much like a tinted moisturiser for me.

Out of the three Le Vernis for Chanel Harmonie de Printemps Spring 2012 Collection, I only picked up April, as May & June were too washed-out pastel for my skintone.  In fact I think I wouldn't have purchased April at all if my birthday wasn't in April.

My initial reaction when I saw this Éclosion was - peach & plummy brown together on the eyes? Will it be wearable?!  After wearing it for the last few days I can safely say yes.

Rouge Coco Shine in Flirt #69* is my cup of tea...because it's coral! I have a couple of Rouge Coco Shines and I love the formula - they are great for days when full on traditional lipstick is just a bit too much.