Saturday, February 27, 2010

Chanel Rouge Coco = Pure Luxury for Lips

Yes - I am a die-hard Chanel fan and went nuts over the new Rouge Coco Lipsticks. Even though I love the unique smaller independent brands, if I were pressed to pick only one brand to use, it would hands-down be Chanel for the color selection and quality.

When I heard the news of the upcoming lipstick launch, I initially thought, oh great, another brand revamping something just so they can charge $30 for a lipstick. But when my friend and I checked out the new lippies, we couldn't contain ourselves. We were like kids in a candy store and bought way too many lipsticks - but at least we can feel like we look good.

Most of the shades are available at all Chanel retailers. The U.S. Exclusives I know of include:

  • Chanel.com - Teheran #56
  • Saks Fifth Avenue - Byzantine #28 (vibrant berry wine/almost fuschia color with slight shimmer)
  • Neiman Marcus - Gardenia #13 (featured one post below)

While swatching the colors at Saks and Bloomies, I started at #01 and swatched consecutively so I wouldn't miss any colors. However I lost track after I ran out of space on my hand and I didn't see 07, 12, 30 or 35 in the line up at any of the counters. So the investigator in me wonders if they simply skipped those shades or if those are exclusives elsewhere.

So far, to our knowledge, Nordstrom and Bloomies do not have exclusive shades. We didn't even think to go check out Macys. In 2 hours we had literally shopped until we were ready to drop.

If anyone has details about the other major department stores exclusives, please let me know!!

Some of the colors I bought: Mademoiselle, Ruban Rose, Gardenia, Muse & Rose Comete. I swatched these today but failed miserably. It's cloudy and rainy and the swatches were just very blah. The remaining shades I purchased will be featured at a later date.


Swatch fail, please don't let these crummy swatches deter you - this is for the commenter who wanted to see how Gardenia compared to Ruban Rose.


Pigment: The pigment is excellent. Some of the colors are a bit sheerer than others - but they those are the ones like Perle, Ruban Rose and Rose Comete. They aren't super sheer like Aqualumieres - it's just some of the lighter colors have a more transparent finish.

Texture/Finish: I'll reiterate that I think these are a great swipe-and-go lipstick. I loved the Peter Phillips videos featuring his discussion of these colors. La Chanel Phile is great for info and news (thanks to Leslieal for pointing this out to me). The formula is moist and creamy and easy to apply, yet lightweight. My SA said it's like they took the Rouge Allure + Aqualumiere and mixed them together for a rich creamy moisturizing lipstick.

Scent: No overpowering scent. There is a subtle hint of a lipstick smell, but it's nice and soothing. I can't put my finger on exactly what that scent is though. I have one of the pickiest noses and only tolerated the Hydrabase Lipstick Scent simply because it was Chanel.

Packaging: These come in a new metal tube rather than the plastic. It definitely has a more luxurious feel. The Chanel design team did a great job giving this lipstick a higher-end feel in the material without changing the classic packaging - one among the many thing I really appreciate with Chanel. I really like the fact that they have kept the same classic packaging over all these years keeping the product true to their brand image and feel. I love that they are classic and trend-setters both at the same time.

The lipstick caps have a more snug fit to the lipstick itself. There's no loose feeling when you push the lid down. The tube is metal like the Rouge Allures.

One more thing I am happy to report is that they have maintained the same product weight for the Rouge Coco as with their other lipsticks. They are still 3.5 g/.12 oz. Big YAY from me - especially when it's a trend with other lines to revamp packaging and give us consumers less product.

Here are a couple of the Hydrabase tubes compared to the Rouge Coco Tubes, left to right: Lilac Sky Hydrabase, Rose Comete Rouge Coco, Rose Baby Hydrabase (Euro)


More color features to come soon!

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