Chanel L'Été Papillon de Chanel: Le Vernis Nail Colour in Azuré

When I first saw Chanel's Summer collection, L'Été Papillon de Chanel, at Bloomingdale's in New York earlier this month, I didn't care at all for the make-up collection (I have no interest in coloured mascara and eyeshadow crayons), but I knew I had to have the nail polishes. There are three in total, but I only picked up the blue shades and left the coral because it didn't look unique enough to justify $27. Plus, you know how I'm a sucker for blues. Azuré is undoubtedly the shade with the most hype from this collection — I mean, just look at how gorgeous it looks in the bottle.

Azuré is a medium-dark duochrome teal blue in a metallic finish. It will flash iridescent turquoise, green, royal blue, and indigo depending on the lighting and angle. It goes on smoothly and evenly, without any pulling, bubbling, or streaking. It is completely self-levelling. Due to the nature of the finish, brush strokes are visible, so applying with a steady hand is recommended. It has medium-high to high pigmentation; the first coat looks semi-sheer, but it is completely opaque with a second coat. It is lighter and less green than China Glaze's Deviantly Daring, and less sparkly, more metallic, and more muted than OPI's Catch Me in Your Net and Zoya's Charla. As duochrome polishes are becoming more popular, there are more and more shades like this coming out, so I wouldn't necessarily call this a must-have... but it sure is gorgeous, so if you don't have anything similar, then this is worth looking at (whether you can justify the $27 price tag is another story). Perfect time of year for this shade, though — it's exactly as I picture the ocean to look at the beach, getting the subtle nuances of the sun shimmering in the water and the colour shifts of rolling waves.