Chanel and Wear

This is just a quick post to talk about the wear of Chanel polishes. Many people complain about Chanel chipping on them. I think a lot of this is just body chemistry, like how base coats work differently for everyone. But the trick for me to get Chanel to last is wearing Chanel base coat.

My theory on this is that most American brands of polish are made by one of a few manufacturers - you've seen this in all the dupes that come out at the same time and the trends that crop up in polishes. You also saw it when Maria from Cult Nails saw her formula get sold to Claire's - or when Guerlain and Laura Mercier had similar gardenia imprinted products come out around the same time. Even though each brand has tweaks on colors to match their formula's specifications, most of the base colors and add-in pigments come from the same select manufacturers. Chanel, on the other hand, manufactures their polish in France, so it has a completely different formula. Thus, while most American-brand polishes and base coats play well together, Chanel plays differently. The one time I forgot to use Chanel base coat and used CND Stickey, it got a couple big chips in three days. This theory is obviously mostly anecdotal and conjecture, but I have never had a problem with wear of my Chanel's when I use their base coat. In fact, they usually wear like iron.

The above photos are of both hands today, which means almost a week of wear (I put Holiday on on the 15). These were taken really quickly, so they are not at all color accurate! But you see that the only real wear is very minimal on the tips. I have growth near the cuticles, but there has been no chipping there or anywhere. I usually try not to do anything too crazy on my first day of wear, but after that I am not easy on them. That includes prying open my very heavy duty key ring (see here to get an idea of how thick and unyielding it is), showers, washing my hands frequently, picking off labels, scratching (the bugs have come out for summer people, and they love my blood!), etc. I could wear this even longer, but my nails have gotten too long for comfort, so I'm doing a new mani/pedi tonight.

After the jump a picture of wear on my feet. Don't click if you are foot-phobic!

This is Chanel in #519 Rose Exuberant (it's cooler than this picture shows; good swatch here). I've been wearing this since May 3. No wear, just growth. I run almost every day for 3-5 miles, so I'm not easy on my feet, but I have no problems with chipping at all.

In conclusion, if you have Chanel polishes you love, but can't get them to stay - or have stayed away from Chanel polishes because you've heard of bad wear - I really advise you to check out their base coat. You could just try out the tester at the counter to see if it holds true for you, if you're still gun shy. I've had mine for over a year and half and am only about half-way through, so it will last you long enough to get a return on that purchase. I use it only for my Chanel polishes and use CND Stickey or NailTek Foundation II for the rest. It is well worth the small investment. Hopefully I'll have a new polish post up tomorrow. I hope your Monday hasn't been too rough!