Chanel Spring 2009 And One Good Perennial Lipstick

My expectations from spring makeup collections are always limited. They usually tend to be heavy on pink and other pastels which rarely agree with me. The good news about Chanel Spring 2009 Bohemian Fantasy collection is the lack of any Barbieness. It's darker than you'd expect, with the best item in the range being the deep violet nail polish and the chocolaty plum eye shadow in the Les 4 Ombres Quadra Eye Shadow (the silver gray is also very cute if less useful).

The bad news for me is how most of the colors look on my skin: Not Good.

The collection would probably look best on the cool-toned among us. Even the bold reds are geared for women with rosier complexions who can pull of pink based and beige lip colors. The blush was also too light for me and looked unnatural.

As for the items I liked, I already have very similar colors in my stash (including a violet nail polish. Zoya came out with one several seasons ago), so I don't actually need either. But that eye shadow compact is the one thing worth trying in the collection. The pigments were better than what you usually get in these Chanel quads.


The one thing I just couldn't understand was the lip palette. I looked at it, touched it, circled it, but unless I'm missing something major here, there was never ever so little actual material for so much money. If you think Serge Lutens lipsticks are atrociously priced at $75, this thing with its six tiny droplets of color (almost sample size) goes for $60. Did any of you discover a secret pocket of lip cream anywhere inside the compact?

My advice: skip the limited edition items and go for the regular collection. My latest discovery is Rouge Allure lipstick in Attitude. It's a mellow red with a dark rose base. It has more than enough personality to be considered a red, while still being daytime friendly on olive skin. It's a pretty and lively color which would serve you both in the cold months and later on this spring.

Like all Rouge Allure lipstick, it's comfortable to wear, moisturizing and wears for quite a while (unless it meets hot tea first). Definitely my favorite makeup item these days, with the added benefit of not having to hoard several before it goes away forever.

I tried to take a picture (with and without cats), but couldn't capture the exact color. You'll need to see for yourself in person, as the miserable color swatches on Chanel website are crappy (as are most of the images they use. They are rarely true to life. Someone in their marketing department needs to have a chat with the people at Sephora, Benefit Cosmetics, Nars and Bobbi Brown, to name a few companies who usually get it right).