I hope you are having a wonderful, awesome weekend. I am celebrating the end of lectures (insert double triple yays here) although there are still exams and stuff to go through. Still, it is great to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
On blog side of things, soon I will be blogging more regularly, I can't wait for it. I am also very excited to have invested in two monster soft boxes for photography. Editing photos were taking lots of time because I didn't have enough light in the room. Also one confession, I didn't know how I could get the best out of my DLSR after that many years. Now that I am experimenting more with the manual settings, I started getting an idea of how to get a better photo and edit less. With that I am hoping to get more done in less time. I just mounted the soft boxes, so excited to shoot the second part of Urban Decay Gwen Collection and Dior, Givenchy & Clarins Spring Collections on the weekend. Hopefully everything goes smoother than before.
Then I say "that many years". In two months it will three years of blogging and in a week the blog is about to hit the 4 million counter. I am so grateful for that. Thank you all very much from the bottom of my heart. I think I will write a proper blog post about these but , you know, just for the time being. Today I have Chanel Spring Collection for you. I have picked all the Illusion d'Ombre (#118 Moonlight Pink, #122 Ocean Light, #126 Griffith Green) out of habit, one of the lipsticks (Rouge Coco Shine #118 Energy) and that beyond gorgeous blush (Sunkiss Ribbon Blush Harmony). My thoughts are right after the jump, hope you enjoy.
 |
| Chanel Spring 2016, Sunkiss Ribbon Blush Harmony, Illusion d'Ombre #118, #122, #126, Rouge Coco Shine #118 Energy |
I was a little disappointed by the fact that I paid significantly more for the single pieces to get them in the States since the collection was launched even before new year there. Then it took over three weeks for these to arrive here. Then the collection was already launched in Germany but my package was not there yet, sigh. I was about to buy them (at least the blush) once more to avoid that the products were sold out. Then I got super busy and couldn't find time to visit the counter. Good thing because the package appeared a few days ago. All the items here are ordered sight unseen. I would like to check out the palette because it has one of my favorite color combinations, purple with green, but the palette is not released in Germany yet because of some logistics problems. The thought behind my picks were like this: I collect Illusion d'Ombre and nail polishes, so no brainer, the blush can't be skipped really and I need a lipstick to complete the look. Here is one more look to my picks, before I start with the review & swatches.
 |
| Chanel Spring 2016, Sunkiss Ribbon Blush Harmony, Illusion d'Ombre #118, #122, #126, Rouge Coco Shine #118 Energy |
Let's start with new Illusion d'Ombres. I love this formula and own every single of them including ones which were released overseas. I don't have problem with them drying out because they are water based and can always be applied with a damp brush. The three shade which are being newly released are:
#118 Moonlight Pink: A very light peachy pink with satin finish. This shade is a great everyday color to pop on your lids. If you have deeper eyelids though, it might not show up. I think this shade is great if you have very light or deeper complexion. Everyone in between would have problem in seeing it. If you have like nude make-up though, it is still something to enjoy.
#122 Ocean Light: A medium pastel blue with almost matte finish. This one doesn't go as smooth as the other two, doesn't blend as good and stays patchy ones applied. The color pay-off is also not very good. Chanel has better blue IdOs, I wouldn't recommend this one unless you are into pastel blues and always wanted a shade like this.
#126 Griffith Green: One word, gorgeous! Look at the light green shimmer in the deeper forest green base. This one almost acts like a duo chrome on the swatches. On the eyelids, it didn't look half excited as it did on the swatches. Griffith Green is still such a unique shade and it is a stunner. If you like to see its duo-chrome effect more, you might need a deeper base underneath since it has a transparency to it. I will try to apply it over a blackish base and take a photo for you later.
 |
| Swatches: Chanel Illusion d'Ombre #118 Moonlight Pink, #122 Ocean Light, #126 Griffith Green |
The eye look below was not a success but still I thought it gives you an idea how these blend (or now blend after half an hour of trying this and that. I started with the green on the outer corner, I wanted to combine it with the peach, I was doing ok, until the blue came in between them, ugh, no go. Probably I will save the blue for an occasion I can't think of at the moment but maybe I come up with something. Moonlight Pink looks cooler on the eyes and it really gives a nice brightened look. Green needs a bit more experimenting, blue, no comment.
 |
| In-action: Chanel Illusion d'Ombre #118 Moonlight Pink, #122 Ocean Light |
And the absolute star of the collection, Chanel Sunkiss Ribbon Blush Harmony. Not the design is taking my breath away but the quality. Chanel really knows how to put a collector's item together. I love the fact that it is nicely pigmented and the design doesn't go away after a few usages. I used it quite a few times last week but it still looks pristine. I also love that you can adjust the shade to you needs. Get a little from lower corner, it is warmer, a little from upper right corner, it is cooler. Everyone make-up lover needs this one, seriously.
 |
| Close-up: Chanel Sunkiss Ribbon Blush Harmony for Spring 2016 |
There are three Rouge Coco Shines in the collection, I went for the most wearable option for me between an Orange (Shipshape), a cool light pink (Mighty) and this natural raspberry pink, which I picked up called Energy. I need every bit of energy I can get lately. You can see nice lip swatches of Mighty and Energy on fair skin tone with cool undertones from Melanie, all the shade on medium olive skin tone from Sabrina. Now that I tried everything together, I thin Shipshape would be more unique to my collection and would match with the blush much better so I might go back to pick that one. Energy is a great everyday shade so it already managed to get inside my bag. These are all so called "hydrating" Rouge Coco Shines. You might already know, there are also Rouge Coco Shines with more pigment but I personally prefer the hydrating ones for a casual without mirror application.
 |
| Chanel Rouge Coco Shine #118 Energy |
Here is a swatch of Sunkiss Ribbon Blush Harmony with all shades mixed together. I don't think you can really pick up individual shades all that well but you can adjust the final shade by swiping your brush in one direction. I can see that this one may look orange at some fair skin tones with cool undertones, on me it is almost like a bronze pink due to the bronze part in the middle and orange on the corner. Texture of this one is to die for, it has a very subtle shimmer which makes it look beyond natural. It is also very pigmented so swiping my Suqqu Cheek Brush once is enough to get me clown cheeks. Fair ladies might need to use a fan brush or a very soft brush with that one. I love it.
 |
| Swatches: Chanel Blush Sunkiss Ribbon, Rouge Coco Shine #118 Energy |
I am hoping to review the nail polish Chanel Le Vernis #683 Sunrise Trip in a separate post as I always do but I have to admit that my motivation is low. I needed to apply the polish two times to get the right application. It is a very tricky formula which is gloppy. So you either get it too thick, which doesn't dry even after half an hour. If you apply it too thin, than it looks too transparent to start with. Oh and did I mention tat the first time around I got bubbles like crazy on every single nail? This never happened to me with a Chanel nail polish before. I don't feel comfortable recommending Chanel Le Vernis #683 Sunrise Trip to anyone who is not a Chanel nail polish collector although the shad is to die for. Anyway, brighter side of things, it lasts so long but without a base coat it stains a little.
 |
| FOTD: Chanel Spring 2016 Sunkiss Ribbon Blush, Illusion d'Ombre #118, #122, Rouge Coco Shine #118 Energy |
Here is the full look, loving the blush and the lipstick. I could really live without the others but since I am collecting Illusion d'Ombre and nail polishes, probably I would have picked them up nonetheless. I have to tame my collector behavior. Have you seen the new nail polishes of Chanel without the names in the front. They don't call my name. I hope the formula is nice. I really think Chanel's formula didn't need a revision, but I guess beauty industry is so competitive these days so they need to constantly "reformulate" to be able to sell. I also saw Dior's single eye shadows are going for a reformulation. I remember them being reformulated just 3 years ago. What do you think about constant reformulations?
 |
| FOTD: Chanel Spring 2016 Sunkiss Ribbon Blush, Illusion d'Ombre #118, #122, Rouge Coco Shine #118 Energy |
Final thoughts: Chanel gets cheerful & colorful for Spring. Although I like some color on me, I still found the more natural items of this collection to be more exciting. My picks are Rouge Coco Shine in Energy and Sunkiss Ribbon Blush Harmony, the latter can be a bit challenging to pull off for very fair complexions, as the name suggests "Sunkiss" it has some bronze, orangy tones in there but the formula and design makes it worthwhile to check it out.
Have you picked up anything from Chanel Spring?
Disclaimer: The products in this post were purchased by me.
I am not paid for this review. All opinions are honest and my own.