Chanel in #561 Suspicious + Comparisons and Lynnderella Layering

Direct sunlight

Thanks for voting everyone! This is not my post-election mani (that would be Nails Inc. in Baker Street), but I'm still working on my backlog. This is Chanel in #561 Suspicious. It was released with the Fall 2012 "Les Essentiels de Chanel" collection and is currently part of the permanent line.

Suspicious is a ruby pink creme. Chanel describes it as "fuchsia" (hardest word to spell ever!), but I don't think it has enough blue in it for that. It is deeper and has much more red than other Chanel pinks.

The formula is perfect. You would only need 1 thicker coat, but I used 2 thin coats.

I really love this color, but - and I know this sounds crazy - I feel like it makes my nail beds look wider/fatter. You can't really see it with the macro function, but I asked my mom about it, and she saw it too once I'd pointed it out. This is probably just a weird me only issue, though!

Worn October 3 - 7, 2012.

Indirect natural light

Indirect natural light

Direct flash

Direct sunlight

I don't have any pinks that are similar, but then I'm not a big pink girl. Here's a comparison for color reference:

Left to right: Chanel in #519 Rose Exubérant, Chanel in #541 Tentation, Chanel in #561 Suspicious, Chanel in #475 Dragon

You can see how close to red Suspicious leans when compared to Chanel in #475 Dragon, which is a true red creme. Chanel in #541 Tentation has a similar base, but it's packed with fuchsia shimmer. The closest Chanel pink I own is Chanel in #519 Rose Exubérant, but it's much lighter.

There are more pictures of Suspicious here: The Beauty Look Book swatches and comparisons, Ommorphia Beauty Bar swatches and comparison, Polish Police swatches and comparisons, Joey'space swatches, Audreyeleven's Flickr swatch, Temptalia swatches, and Polish or Perish comparison (dupe alert!).

Before I took Suspicious off, I decided to try Lynnderella in Very Pretty Vampire. According to Lynn, Very Pretty Vampire contains "multiple sizes of burgundy hexagons and squares in a dark blood-red base with scattered black and red multi-sized accents." It's from the Fall 2011 "First Edition" collection. The base is slightly tinted, but it does make polishes darker, although it's not streaky. There's slight shimmer in the base. 

It wasn't hard to apply, and 2 coats of thinned Gelous, plus 1 coat of Seche Vite made it smooth. This was not a good layering combo! It makes me nails look like they have a weird rash on it. From other swatches I've seen, this is not the polish's fault, just my layering choice; I needed a darker base.

Indirect natural light

Direct sunlight

Direct sunlight

More layering combos with Lynnderella in Very Pretty Vampire can be found from Steffels (swatch stick over vampy maroon jelly)  Polish Wasteland (over burgundy shimmer), The PolishAholic (over black creme), Cosmetic Habit (over red creme), and, my 3 favorite combos, Steffels (vampy maroon jelly), More Nail Polish (over vampy maroon jelly with microglitter), and Nailin' It! (vampy purple shimmer).

Do you dislike this layering combo as well? And what do you think of Suspicious? Fat nail issues aside (haha), deeper pink cremes are one of the most flattering colors on my nails even though it's not a color I gravitate toward. It's my go-to for my toes.