Chanel 2011 Holiday Lip Products

I know I’m late on this one, as Chanel’s holiday collection has been out for a while now, but I went back and forth so much about purchasing products from this collection that I wanted to save posting until I had decidedly decided what I was getting.  Chanel’s 2011 holiday collection features glammed up traditional holiday shades, lacing their products with sparkle, shimmer, and gold.  One might think this collection boring, but I found I liked the simplicity and sophistication.  However, because of the lack of uniqueness, I found myself skipping out on a lot of the collection.  Like I said, I fought with myself on a lot of the products.

Initailly in my cart on Chanel.com, I had Beige Lame, Rouge Carat, Enivree… and I think a couple of other items.  Slowly but surely I talked myself out of purchasing those products.  I couldn’t justify it mostly based on what I already had in my collection.  These didn’t stand out enough for me. I only ended up picking up two of the lip products:  Rouge Allure Laque in Empire and Rouge Allure Extrait de Glosse in Triomphal.  I already owned RAL in Dragon, which I will also feature in this post. 

 Chanel’s Rouge Allure Laque is THE BEST liquid lipstick formula on the market, in my humble opinion.  So SO SO sad that Chanel has decided to discontinue this formula.  WHY?!?  For what?  I do not know, but if you want to snatch up any remained ones, you better get to it fast because the news has been spreading like wildfire and many of them are no longer available.  How I am kicking myself for not getting a backup of Dragon…

The formula goes on like silk and doesn’t dry out the lips. The applicator is very easy to use, which makes this product even more amazing because it’s easy to apply without any extra tools (ie. Lip brush).  It is a slanted doe-foot applicator but, as you can see, it is much more angular so you can get a really nice crisp line.  The sponge is stiffer than your typical doe-foot applicator so there’s les “squish” and better control of the product. The formula lasts a good 6 hours on my lips and is very resistant to fading even after eating.  Dragon had the slightest bit of fading in the center of my lips after lunch.

Empire is very similar to Ming except that it is a slightly warmer pink than Ming and has gold sparkle.  There isn’t a huge difference between these two on the lips, so I think you could probably skip if you already have Ming.  If you’re looking for a backup of Ming and can’t find one, Empire is a suitable substitute.

Chanel’s Rouge Allure Extrait de Glosse is also my favorite lipgloss formula.  They are pigmented but not overly so and non-sticky.   They do feel a little thick on the lips, but not incredibly noticeably so.  If I used gloss more often, I would certainly purchase more.  I own Confidence and now have added Triomphal from this holiday collection.

 The applicator on this is also different from most lip glosses.  The sponge applicator is beveled on both sides.  It took some practice to get used to the flex and give of the applicator at first.  I think in the end, this type of applicator gives you more control of the gloss.  It’s nice because a shade like Triomphal is quite pigmented and it would be annoying to have to whip out a lips brush to apply gloss. 

 

Here are swatches of the products.  

Dragon, Empire, Triomphal.

I'm still figuring out how to take decent lip swatch photos.  I don't own any fancy cameras or anything.  Until I do, I hope these arm swatches will suffice.