Chanel was my first nail polish-love.
My mother is one of those incredibly elegant European women that manages to look fabulous no matter what. She never leaves the house without her hair and make-up done. She believes that "ladies always wear stockings" and that a women should 'dress' to travel - and certainly should never wear jeans. She was and is my style inspiration. When I was growing up she always had a bottle of Chanel Rouge Noir on her vanity and I've always associated it with that easy, Burberry-wearing (oh this old thing?) elegance that my mother possesses.
Flash forward several years and I have my own bottle of Rouge Noir, my own sense of style, and a nail polish collection that spans many brands. I only own two Chanels (Rouge Noir and Lollipop) and when I want to splurge on luxury polish, I usually go with RBL (seriously have a problem). I'd honestly forgotten the beauty of Chanel, until I *needed* Particuliere.
I love these edgy neutrals that have come out in recent years - they are very me. And I don't care if they're trendy, passe, cliche or boring. I love them and will wear them for a long time to come. (This is how I justified the Particuliere purchase...) I bit the bullet yesterday and I'm *so glad* that I did! I had totally forgotten how awesome the Chanel formula is!! At first I was wavering on buying Particuliere because I have it's cousins OPI You Don't Know Jacques and $OPI Metro Chic. It is closer to YDKJ than I expected:
That's 1.5 coats (2 but really could have gotten away with one thicker one) of Particuliere and like 3-4 of YDKJ. I love YDKJ but if you don't leave a lot of time between coats it gets all gloopy and balding. Particuliere applied just like my RBLs - flawless, easy to control, the works.
I decided later to make it my mani and I'm really happy with it. I feel like an elegant European woman myself but this time in *my* colour. I may not have a Burberry coat to drape over my shoulders but I think I am going to walk a little taller today. :)
Now I'm just going to have to avoid buying more Chanel polishes because I've fallen in love all over again!
Who else sprang for Particuliere? Anybody have a polish that makes them feel really ultra elegant and sophisticated? I'd love to hear about it! :)
<3 kittytokaren
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19 comments:
I'm hust praying they will have it in the tax-free shop I'll be hitting in a couple of day. I looking forward to this one. For years - before I even knew about the great brands out there - I looked for the mauve/taupe/browns plane vreams with now shimmer or frost effect. They existed only in my head. Now id another story, and I can't get enough of them. I look so great on you.
Sorry for the bad spelling, I forgot to read it before publishing. :D
Hey there friend!
Haha no worries! I got what you were trying to say!! I also love neutrals with no shimmer or frost - and literally every neutral was a frost until colours like YDKJ started coming out.
This is definitely one of those 'trends' that i'm going to wear long after it stops being trendy. I'm glad I'm not the only one! :)
Hope you're enjoying the day,
<3 kittytokaren
That is beautiful!
I love how you wrote this. I'm glad you allowed yourself to indulge into something luxurious like this, sometimes you just have to :-P.
I'm not too sure about Particuliere though, I must admit it's very pretty, but I think her cousins will do just fine for me :-)
@gildedangel - thank you! you are always so sweet to leave comments!
@michele - thanks!! :) yes the little luxuries really make life great. i would agree that if you aren't super into these taupe colours, particuliere's cousins are just fine - i am a huge fan of metro chic! i think its worth it just because i love these colours so much and wear them all the time.
<3 kittytokaren
I have a metallic gold polish by sephora that I think makes my nails look longer and that makes me feel elegant :)
But generally just taking care of my hands and nails and having a nice polish with no chips makes me feel really good, no matter the colour!
You have beautiful nails and a beautiful way with words. I like the personal touch that came with this post - very interesting!
I have several of these taupe-y colors now: Channelesque by GG, the Metro one by Sally Hansen, and another by Rimmel. But I still want Sephora's Metro Chic and Chanel's Paticuliere. I love these dusky, taupey shades!
Glad we're at least two taupey girls out there still, when the trend is something else. But to tell you the truth: I think this will continue to be trendy for a long, long time. Good for us! :)
Have a beautiful sunday!
I want that polish so bad. It just gorgeous
I love comments! I'm sorry if its annoying that I respond to them, but yeah:
@Rebecca - ooo whats it called? It sounds very nice :) and I agree, well manicured hands go a long way to giving one some confidence!
@Crystie - Thank you so much! I really couldn't post about this without mentioning my mother. I think Channelesque is v close to Metro Chic. Commander in Chic (the SH) is a fair bit lighter than Particuliere if I remember correctly. (haha I'm sorry to enable you!)
@laquermanic - *hi5* Let's take this Taupe Trend Train and ride it all the way to Classicville! (haha nerd moment!)
<3 kittytokaren
Hahahaha! Classicville. Gotta love that train. :D
i love it !!! i want it !!! :)
Get it!! It's totally fab and to me - worth the money. :) It's going to go for beaucoup $$$ on ebay after it's no longer sold in stores!
I love this post! Glad you're part of the team.
Aww thanks D:) that really means a lot. It's seriously an honour to be here!
My bottle of Particuliere arrived today. I thought it would be greyer but I'm certainly not unhappy about it - I love taupes and mushrooms too.
You have such pretty skin and nails :) the colour really does do wonders on you!
sadly this colour wouldn't suit me...I've tried a few greyish colours but they just look so weird on me!
There is one nail polish combo which makes me feel extra fancy;
Revlon firecracker over two coats of sinful colors in deepest ruby :)
Helen - hey there! I love your blog! For me Particuliere looked pretty brown in the bottle but on my nails and in direct light it was a lot greyer.
Xunga - Thank you that is so sweet! Your combo sounds super gorgeous! I'm imagining the end result looks like the glitter is lit from within! Like Ruby Pumps but way way better. :) I feel like every woman either has their fancy colour or is looking for it! <3
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