Chanel Paradoxal

I have never been a lucky sort of person so I was totally amazed when I won not once but twice on the Lipglossiping Advent New Year give away!



I was so excited when Charlotte confirmed I had won Paradoxal as I had really fancied it back when it came out but would never be tempted to part with the sort of wedge Chanel demand for their nail polishes, I mean how much better than any other polish can brush, application and formula be?


I know all about aspirational products and the adoration those interlocking C's generate but hey its only nail varnish.

Just goes to show what I know!  It's a bit like the nail varnish angels have left heaven, decended to your kitchen and have applied this for you, given your cuticles a quick nudge and massage and done the washing up too.  Of course being a mousey greyed purple its a bitch to photo and all you get is the shimmery purple, which is lovely but frankly I have a million shimmery purple polishes.  What I really love is what you actually see when you aren't pointing a camera at this, that mousey greyed out colour.  Its not in this next photo,

But by the miracle of me being a photographic genius, or perhaps because I can make stuff happen in LightRoom! it is in this one:


I was in swatching mode not mani mode on Sunday when I took these photos so slapped 3 coats on my left hand, no base and no top coat, today its Wednesday and whilst its no longer looking perfect it only has a couple of little chips and some tip wear, neither of which were bugging me til I typed this and now it has to go! I consider myself incredibly lucky to have won this, but I think I may live to regret it as has potential to cost me a fortune, the brush, application and formula of this are all exemplary and the hideous price for a bit of nail paint is fully justified.

Totall unexptected - NAIL MAIL!!

My complete huny of a friend Rae, from Jersey, has sent me a package and it contained 3 Jessica mini purple nail varnishes!! They are absolutely gorgeous and I had to take photos as soon as I opened them!

Are you seeing what I am seeing? A taupe/grey that looks purple and glittery in the sun? Could this be a Chanel Paradoxal dupe?? I saw Chanel Paradoxal reviewed on All Laquered up and Michelle described it as being in the griege family and I just wasn't seeing it, surely its just a purple sparkly polish? Then I saw the Nailphile review and her photos and suddenly I was seeing the whole griege thing. And now I think I may have a dupe on my hands, how exciting, Rae I can't thank you enough! What do you think - this pic shows the greyness with the sun picking out some of the purple sparkle.


And another taken indoors with the flash to really unleash that sparkle

How exciting cant wait to swatch this - promise I'll do it asap!

The other 2 colours are fab two there is a light metallic purple and a very regal deep plum which is the only one with a name sticker - Windsor Castle, how apt! There was one other name sticker that had come off a bottle and it was Bird of Paradise and I am wondering which of the other 2 it came from.

Ok thank heaven for Google! Its called Venus was her name and it is from the Goddess collection of 2008, so waaaaaaaaay before Chanel came up with the idea of a grey/purple combo! What a find. There are some great swatch photos here - seeing as my swatch photos are generally craptacular!

PS - Rae is a fantastic writer who I have been nagging to blog forever, well since I met her in France 2 years ago! She has just set up her blog so bob along and follow, that way she will be obliged to write something!