Chanel Envolee (427) Levres Scintillantes Glossimer ($29.50 for 0.19 fl. oz.) is described as a “coral.” In the tube, it appears like a warm coral-red with shimmer, but swatched on the skin, it takes on a much softer, lighter color–more soft orange with gold shimmer than coral. On lips, it adds warmth and maybe tints them to something slightly darker, but it’s very minimal and the shimmer is hard to spot (it is not a very sparkly shade).  There is a number of sheer glosses that are similar to this.

Sheer gloss should have a more visible impact than a clear gloss would. On my lips, this shade makes my lips look glossy and adds more pinkness to them (you can see that my lips almost look a bit washed out when they have nothing on them). Because the effect is subtle, it makes this gloss more readily duped–there’s nothing particularly notable about this shade. It wears three hours on me, and the consistency isn’t too thick or too thin, doesn’t get tacky, and is comfortable and lightly hydrating while worn. But I recognize that many readers need some special oomph to merit splashing out this much on a gloss, and if that’s you, keep going and don’t look back on this one.

We will always see and hear the debate between clear, sheer, and opaque gloss and what is or isn’t worth it and what does and doesn’t make it worth it. If you prefer opaque gloss, Glossimers (generally) aren’t going to be your number one go-to. Sometimes they have semi-sheer to semi-opaque color, and more frequently (in the past couple of years), many of them are very sheer. The press release described Envolee as just “coral,” whereas Eden, another shade, is described more aptly as a “translucent raspberry”–so this should be more pigmented than Eden, but it is not.

Chanel Envolee (427) Levres Scintillantes Glossimer

Chanel Envolee (427) Levres Scintillantes Glossimer

Chanel Envolee (427) Levres Scintillantes Glossimer

Chanel Envolee (427) Levres Scintillantes Glossimer

Chanel Envolee (427) Levres Scintillantes Glossimer

Chanel Envolee (427) Levres Scintillantes Glossimer