Chanel Spring 2011 Collection Sneak Peek

Chanel's spring collection is due to launch in the UK on Friday 28th January, but I was lucky enough to snatch up a few items from eBay, so I thought I'd share my initial thoughts on them. I haven't worn most of them yet, so it's all based on swatches.

I got Les 4 Ombres eyeshadow quad in Regard Perle, Le Crayon Yeux Precious Eye Designer in Gris Scintillant, Rouge Coco in Jersey Rose, Rouge Allure in Flamboyante and Glossimer in Nakkar.

Read my review and see photos and swatches after the jump!

First up is the eyeshadow quad. It's a real beauty this one, I really like all the shades, there's a good mix of shades and the colours quad work really well together. There's a beautiful very dark green with sparkles, a pale but warm rosy pink, a warm champagne gold and a beautiful white gold that I can see being a fantastic highlighter. The eyeshadows are very well pigmented and their texture is soft and smooth, the swatches below were done with just one swipe. I have seen comments about the European baked formula (the US version has square not domes shadows) is less good than the US version, but quite frankly, this one is wonderful. I'm not too sure about the price as this isn't out yet, but I'm guessing it will be around £36.

The swatches below are in the same order as the palette, top row first (left to right), then bottom row (left to right).

Taken with flash

Taken without flash indoors

Taken without flash on a sunny day

Next up is Le Crayon Yeux Precious Eye Designer in Gris Scintillant. It's a sparkly dark grey eyeliner, quite similar to Mac Black Swan Pearlglide and Urban Decay Oil Slick 24/7 eyeliner in colour, but it has a harder texture and therefore doesn't glide on as easily as the other two. I'm wearing it today and it's lasting well on me, and hasn't smudged 9 hours on. The pencil comes with a smudger on the other end and I did try it yesterday to create a very quick smokey eye which worked pretty well. The question is, is it worth £16 when you can get Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliners for £13 (when did those get so expensive???) and Mac Pearlglide eye pencils for £12.50? I'm going to have to say no. It's okay, but not great, certainly not up to the same level with Urban Decay and Mac.

Here it is next to the eyeshadow quad (on the left)

Taken with flash

Taken in direct sunlight without flash

Last but not least are the lip products. I got Glossimer in Nakkar, Rouge Coco in Jersey Rose and Roige Allure in Flamboyante. They are all lovely in different ways.

Glossimers in general are fantastic, non-sticky, smooth, very luxurious. Some shades can be quite sheer, Nakkar is medium sheer, it gives a nice colour but it isn't as bright as it looks in the tube. It's a lovely strawberry pink with gold shimmer. Glossimers currently retail for £19.40. 

I'm not the biggest fan of Rouge Cocos, although I have 2 of them and I like them, I do find them quite sheer and not that long wearing. Jersey Rose is a light rosey-pink colour, bit on the nude side. It's quite sheer, a my lips but better sort of shade. Rouge Cocos retail for around £22.

My personal favourite of the 3 is Rouge Allure in Flamboyante, which is a much brighter pink, cooler than Jersey Rose as well. I prefer Rouge Allures to Rouge Cocos as they are more moisturising and less sheer (at least the shades I have tried). Rouge Allures retail for around £23.

Nakkar, Jersey Rose, Flamboyante

Nakkar

Jersey Rose, Flamboyante

Nakkar, Jersey Rose, Flamboyante
Taken with flash

Nakkar, Jersey Rose, Flamboyante
Taken without flash

Nakkar, Jersey Rose, Flamboyante

Taken without flash in direct sunlight

Well there you have it. There are a couple more things I'd like to get from this collection, the Ombres Perlees de Chanel palette and Aragonite Glossimer, so I'm hoping to go shopping on Friday or Saturday. I'll be sure to show them to you once I have them.Until then, here's a picture of the eyeshadow palette (isn't it gorgeous)?

Image taken from chanel.com