Chanel’s Aurora Blues spring 2008 collection is centered around shades of icy blues, including Blue Satin, which is a dark, rich navy blue that’s nearly black with extremely subtle shimmer. It is already sold out at many online retailers (including Chanel’s site), but it is available at department stores already — I picked up mine just this Wednesday. Unfortunately, while they had the stock available, there was no display, so I couldn’t play with much and only purchased Blue Satin. I apologize for my shoddy application, in advance, as I was just testing it out and cleaned it up later.

What makes it worth it: If you are a fan of Chanel polishes, this one will not disappoint you in color pay off, texture, or application. What I have always liked about Chanel polishes is how much depth each color has, and I love that even one coat can almost be enough. Two coats makes it absolutely dreamy, but you would never even have to consider going for a third with a Chanel polish. The color itself is a gorgeous shimmery navy-blue-black in the sunlight, but in regular, indoor lighting, it looks like a matte blue-black (more like black with undertones of blue).  I have heard some compare this to OPI’s Russian Navy, but I personally find that Russian Navy has too many purple-blue undertones and reflects to be a good substitute–at least not in terms of similarity–because Russian Navy is divine in its own right. The polish hasn’t chipped yet after three full days of wear, and I actually do not have much visible tip wear, either, which is surprising. This polish definitely holds up in terms of wear. Blue Satin is also ultra glossy, which I love, and the shine hasn’t worn off over tmie, either.

Why you might pass: I wish it had more noticeable shimmer, especially in regular lighting.  Sure, it’s nice that there’s a different look to my nails in sunlight, but considering I’m indoors the majority of the time (hello, it’s cold outside!), I’d like a bit of reflecting shimmer from time to time.  Also, the price of Chanel polishes are expensive: $19.00.  This is not exactly an easy price to pay for a bottle of nail polish, especially when there are so many shades that are less than $6 a pop (so you could end up with three for the price of one Chanel polish!).  I personally wouldn’t say that this shade is worth the $19.00 unless you’re a polish fan and addicted to blue hued lacquers.  If you have the money to spend, go for it, because the shade is lovely, but there’s no shame in admitting that it’s out of your budget!