Well, it is official. Chanel nail polish sucks. At first I thought when I bought the famous "Black Satin" a few years ago and was completely disappointed, that I just didn't use a good enough top coat or maybe I was too rough on my hands? I came up with every excuse in the world so that I could place the blame anywhere but on Chanel. After all, it's a $25 nail polish it has no business being less than amazing quality. I have now come to the conclusion after my third stint with this stuff that it is entirely and without question, OVERRATED! Sure, the packaging is gorgeous, the shade selection unique and very pleasing to the eye, and the name recognition is unmatched. But do you notice that not one of those glowing qualities has anything to do with the actual product that goes on your nails with the purpose of staying on your nails for longer than it takes to apply your top coat.
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| Chipping pinky nail, index finger, and thumb nail = unacceptable |
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| Again, look how stunning OPI Teenage Dream is w/ the Peach Necre |
I was sucked in to browsing the Chanel counter when I saw their Spring 2011 line that included the Peach Necree as well as other stunning and springy shades. Don't get me wrong, I adore the shade. I am all about peach this season and every season before and after it. If the formula were as nice as the shade then we'd be in business. This is where the tables turn on Peach Necree. I have painted my nails a total of four times with this stuff and with three different brands of top coats each time. Do you see how much I wanted to make this stuff work? I took my perfectly loyal and durable top coats that have done nothing wrong and hoped that I could put the blame on one of them for failing my Chanel polish. I was left with nothing to do but face the truth. It was the Chanel.
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| The disaster continues on my left hand with a chipping pinky and ring finger |
Operation: Make Chanel Polish Work
First, I used three coats of Peach Necree with the Sally Hansen Diamond Shine. This stuff is amazing, if nothing else, for the shine factor that it gives your nails. Its the icing on the cake to any nail color and the best part is it stays shiny! Usually the shine part of any top coat will kind of begin to dull the more you use your hands and the more time passes but I love the Diamond Shine for standing up to this common top coat occurrence. I think this combination started chipping the minute I looked down to make sure they were painted evenly. Attempt #2 was also done with Diamond Shine with the exact same results. It has to be the Diamond Shine, I told myself. Attempt #3 took place exactly two days ago and this time I used my favorite and most reliable top coat, the new OPI top coat from the Designer Series which by the way I would have never purchased had I known it was $12.50 as opposed to the sensible $8.00 that I pay for one without the fancy silver metallic cap! So the polish plus the token glitter nail in OPI Teenage Dream was looking good for a solid 24 hours before it all went to hell. Its very odd because rather than just one or two nails chip over the course of a few days, it all happened at once. Currently, there are four fingernails that have experienced major chipage in the last several hours alone. But Teenage Dream + OPI Top Coat is hanging in there like the polish powerhouse that it is and tempting me to go full glitter on the nails formerly painted with the Chanel Peach Necree.
Oddest part of all and a point in the Chanel category is that my toe nails are painted with three coats of Chanel Peach and two very thick coats of OPI Top Coat and have been going strong for days. I guess since I don't brush my teeth, bathe my children, or get the mail with my feet they endure less chip inducing practices. But all is not totally lost, I do like the fact that Chanel polish has two caps. You get a smaller twist off cap that goes directly on the bottle of polish and then you get a larger cap to cover that cap. I believe this is a "spill proof" method because it makes it very difficult to leak out of the sides like my other polishes can do sometimes even if I've screwed the cap tight.
But perhaps the most irritating part of this whole experience with buying Chanel, is that you get LESS product than a typical OPI shade but its so much more expensive ($25 compared to $8). And yes I know, its Chanel, I get it. Chanel has a reputation for luxury to mantain. But they also have a reputation for quality to mantain and it seems to me that that the quality stops short of the nail polish category.
Overall Grade: D+
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