Judicial Review: Chanel Peridot

Let’s just get this out of the way: I don’t want to write this post.  I’d been avoiding it until Jenn politely nudged me.  Why am I openly hostile to something so seemingly harmless?

The Hell with harmless: it’s gorgeous, right??

I’d been coveting this polish for over a month.  Finally two weeks ago I went to the Chanel counter at Saks and saw the bottle in person.  It was even more beautiful than it had looked in the magazines.  I happily forked over $25 and proudly took it to my pedicurist.  She immediately expressed skepticism: she’s been doing my pedicures for around 7 years and I have always preferred dark, rich colors. Essie Wicked is a favorite of mine.  We tried something light and shiny once before and she wouldn’t even let me walk out the door: she took it all off and started over because she knew I’d hate it.  (And I would have but I was trying to be polite.)

I assured her I was going to love it – how could you see the color in that bottle and question the inevitability of that??  When she finished she asked me what I thought.  I looked at my toes and thought “Hmm, that isn’t how it looked in the bottle.”  It just looked green and shiny.  I said it out loud.  She agreed.  We tested (on my thumbnail) putting a dark navy coat down first, then the Peridot on top. The Peridot was so opaque you really couldn’t tell there was an undercoat at all. I left, reassuring her (and me) that it was just different, convincing us both that I’d love it once I got used to it.

I hate it.  And the reason I hate it isn’t what you’d think.  I hate it because my feet are the one part of my body I love without reservation.  I like to think there are people diazepamhome with foot fetishes that would give up all other feet for a chance to spend one moment with my feet.  I fantasize that I am approached by a foot model scout who begs me to travel the world modeling my feet.  (I decline of course, because my real career is more important to me.)  Even with the calluses on my pinkie toes from wearing ill-fitting shoes in my 20s and the scratch marks from my cat pretending he doesn’t know that’s my ankle and not his toy, I love my feet.

And this polish makes my feet look ugly.  I’m posting a picture and since you’ve never seen my feet before this post you’ll definitely be unimpressed.  (It’s the polish!)  Perhaps in the future I’ll post another picture reviewing another (darker) polish, and you’ll still be underwhelmed.  That’s okay.  Maybe I’m delusional about my feet but I feel so betrayed by this polish: it defiled something I loved without reservation.  You can’t put that genie back in the [nail polish] bottle.

So fine, here’s my objective review:

The good: it’s very opaque; you could likely get by with a single coat.  It has lasted two weeks without a single chip (dammit).  The gold-green color is pretty (on somebody).

The questionable: the color in the bottle appears to have a blue-ish tint but that isn’t evident when you apply it, even after two coats.  Not even after a dark blue undercoat (dammit).  It’s also a little thick, in the way all shiny or glittery polish is thicker.

The verdict: if you’re looking for a shiny green-gold polish that covers evenly and lasts a long time, this product is for you.  Dammit.

Beautypendence rating: 

Wendy’s personal rating: [do we have any icons that convey a dream dying?  No?  Okay.]

Images: Chanel; Collage from upper left (Pear cut, Cushion cut, earrings, drop earrings, oval cut, ring, loose stones; Author’s own