swatch: chanel illusion d'or over american apparel hassid

when the chanel noir et or paris-shanghai polishes (black velvet, gold lamé, and illusion d'or) first went up on the chanel website, i was tempted by them but ultimately decided not to purchase any. once they appeared to have sold out, however, i felt a momentary panic... maybe i did want them after all, and now they were gone forever, never to be seen anywhere again except for on ebay for $300+! (lest my male friends who read this blog think i'm being hyperbolic, that's what really happened with the last chanel limited edition nail polish, jade - it now sells for several hundred dollars.) so when i saw the polishes back up on the chanel site, i clicked "purchase" without letting myself think twice.

i ultimately wound up purchasing both black velvet (mostly for the packaging, not gonna lie) and illusion d'or. since black velvet can't be worn with topcoat and i'm a slave to my quick-dry, i'll be waiting to wear that one 'til i have a nice chunk of free time; illusion d'or, however, i put on the day after it arrived.

first, a bottle pic:


and a close-up of the polish in its bottle (those little purple iridescent pieces are the coolest thing about this polish, imo):


and now for some mani pics! i put one coat of illusion d'or over american apparel hassid, a fabulously pigmented black that works great for layering! here's the result in overcast light:


in regular natural light:


and finally, in bright sunlight so that you can see how dense yet fine the glitter is:


also, here's a close-up so that you can see the individual glitter particles better. please excuse the leftover red polish on my nail!



all in all, i think illusion d'or is quite pretty. it's still growing on me - i normally prefer cremes or in-your-face bling - but i do like it, especially when the purple bits catch the light.