Chanel Holiday has slowly been trickling in and has finally arrived on the West Coast in Southern California at Neiman Marcus. My local counter did not have any testers or display yet but I suspect all counters will have the full collection soon. First up is the newest Le Vernis shade in Rouge Carat 587 ($25) a rich ruby red infused with the most beautiful fuschia iridescence. It has “holiday” written all over it. Karla Sugar gave us a sneak peek at full line up earlier this year. According to her charts, the color appears to be Limited Edition for holiday.
As another reference, I loved Fruity Lashes review and swatches. She has excellent descriptions and I too see Rouge Carat as a red shade even though it flashes pink and looks quite complex in the bottle. To me, the texture seems thicker than most Chanel polishes I’ve tried. It applies beautifully with just one coat and on the nails the pink fuschia shimmer barely shows up. I find that it helps balance out the warmness of the red color making this a neutral red, but it still pulls warm on me. I’ll show a few different angles in an attempt to show the shimmer and complexity.
Here it is swatched with two coats although a single coat was sufficient:
My comparisons show that Chanel Rouge Carat is very similar to Shanghai Red. The difference is that the shimmer and base in Shanghai Red is more pink. More pink and red comparisons below to Rococo Nail Apparel in Trash, Chanel Dragon, Chanel Shanghai Red, Chanel Cherry and Chanel Pulsion.
Bottom line is LOVE. The complexity of the shimmers in Chanel Rouge Carat make it stand out among other red shimmers but it’s still a beautiful classic red. I suspect it can be easily duped by other shades from OPI (who also does an amazing job at creating killer red shimmers) but I feel Chanel usually does it best. I would have liked the shimmer to be a bit more flashy or show up more but the rich pigment and color is beautiful as is and absolutely perfect for the holiday season. That being said, I’m still enamored with the Spring and Fall colors that were released this year so it might be a while before I wear this one as a full mani or pedi.
