Chanel Vertigo Le Vernis / Nail Lacquer Review, Photos, Swatches
Chanel Vertigo Le Vernis / Nail Lacquer
Chanel Vertigo Le Vernis / Nail Lacquer ($26.00 for 0.40 fl. oz.) is described as a “grey-black.” I’d like to describe it as one weird color that’s impossible to describe! In the bottle, it’s like a deep, dark smoky plummy brown with bits of shimmer in it. In natural light, it’s an inky brown with a hint of gray and touch of burgundy. In bright light, it’s a plum-tinged brown with bronze and red shimmer. Cult Nails Enigmatic is redder, lighter, purpler. Rescue Beauty Lounge Recherche is purpler, more eggplant than brown. Illamasqua Baptiste is definitely purple. Chanel Paradoxal is purpler, less brown (but it’s kind of the closest in “feel”). China Glaze Bogie is duller, more purple.
Oh, Vertigo is a complex one, which is what you hope for when Chanel debuts a new shade. I don’t know if it’s a pretty shade or one of those pretty-ugly kind of shades that people either love or hate. I see myself closer to the love it crowd, but I don’t think it’s particularly flattering against my skin tone, so it’s not something I’d end up reaching for. I always appreciate it when a brand manages to come up with a color that’s more nuanced or harder to dupe. I wish the shimmer was more noticeable, though, because it’s nearly invisible under most lighting conditions!
Chanel’s formula wears a full week on me with minor tip wear but no chipping. The consistency of Vertigo was just right–not too thick or too thin–and it applied easily and evenly. The color was fully opaque after two coats.
Chanel Vertigo Le Vernis / Nail Lacquer
Chanel Vertigo Le Vernis / Nail Lacquer
Chanel Vertigo Le Vernis / Nail Lacquer
Chanel Vertigo Le Vernis / Nail Lacquer
Chanel Vertigo Le Vernis / Nail Lacquer
Chanel Vertigo Le Vernis / Nail Lacquer
woah, that is really something! I think I can safely say, I’ve never quite seen anything like it. That always impresses the heck out of me. I don’t think this would look particularly flattering against my skin tones either..if only the shimmer were a little more predominant, that would change it maybe. I just ordered Frenzy last week and didn’t even look at this assuming it was a dark purple black.. which it kinda is, but not really. LoL I think someone with really pale cool undertones would rock this puppy like no tomorrow!!!
i wish the shimmer was more prominent!
@MIRIANV I agree! Honestly, if you’re going to put shimmer… it has to be at least SOMEWHAT noticeable, LOL! Otherwise, why bother?
@Christine (Temptalia) It has all the right ideas, just needs more “umph”. maybe more plum and bronze shimmer. I’d pay $26 for that.
@Christine (Temptalia) Took the words right out of my mouth! I love the Chanel formula and understand the high rating, but Chanel should have made this a bit more special. After Graphite, Quartz, and Peridot last fall, this year’s polish offerings are really disappointing.
@MIRIANV Totally agree! I hate when I have to put your nails at a specific angle and lighting to get the shimmer to show up. It’s so annoying when you know it’s there and is really pretty, but you can’t see it.
So this may be the one that take my Chanel Vernis virginity. The name grabbed me- could I love the movie more? And the color made this PPP go all swoon-y. Yes, please!
I love it’s complexity! What a great, moody sort of color perfect for rainy winter days.
I’m definitely in the “love it” camp – what a cool, complicated color! I’d buy it if I bought regular nail polish (I get shellac manicures every two weeks) but I’ll have to hope for a shellac dupe or something close.
@blueraccoon
You COULD wear it on your toes….
Wow, your swatches look a lot darker than some of the other ones I’ve seen. I completely agree, though–I passed on this because the shimmers weren’t visible–and I think just a touch more would have taken this polish to the next level!
Might this be similar to Armed and Ready by Essie?
@TheCandyfloss1 I don’t think I have that one!
@TheCandyfloss1 Armed and Ready has a green undertone, and Vertigo appears to have more of a plum undertone. Vertigo reminds me of a darker, browner version of Essie’s Smokin’ Hot.
I don’t particularly like this one, even if it’s more complex shade than we usually see.
I love the subtlety of the shimmer; any more would be too much, IMO, and make it less sophisticated. I don’t spend alot on nail color (I find DS works just as well as HE), but I will be making an exception for this one. I probably have *very* similar shades to the base color of this one, but they definitely lack the shimmer.
I kind of love this. It’s definitely not a shade I’ve seen before!
How do you get the polish to wear for a week? I get major chipping with Chanel nailpolish after a couple of days… Do you use a fantastic base/top coat?
I get the same wear with or without a base/top coat, actually 🙁 I typically use Zoya’s Anchor + Armor for base/top coats, though.
Personally speaking I find that I get better wear when using Zoya’s base/top than when using a quick dry top coat like Seche Vite. 🙂
Some things with nail polish seem to be based on your personal chemistry. I have trouble getting anything to wear more than four days without chipping. Mattes? Forget about it.
However, nothing stains my nails!
@Quinctia Yes I find this to be so true! I have purchased @ 15 Zoya polishes and with Anchor base, thin coats and extended time between coats I have NEVER had a Zoya NOT smudge on me. Oh and finished with Armor as well. They will not work for me under any circs., but they perform beautifully for others 😀
ROFL @ Vertigo “‘is described as a “grey-black.’ I’d like to describe it as one weird color that’s impossible to describe!” I actually choked and accidentally snorted my Diet Coke while reading that last sentence. Hilarious. As for the colour, wow….. I THINK. What I’m seeing on my laptop monitor is mesmerizingly complex and lovely. Smoky dark grey-brown-black-plum. Faint sparkles of gold (that I wish were far more pronounced and intense). But that colour, that colour! I like it even more here than I do the lighter, more purple grey shade which appears in another blog’s swatches.
Unfortunately, the swatches that appear on my *phone* are far, far less complex or unique. There, I see almost pure black. No lovely smoke, no purply-plum nuances, not a hint of grey, brown or burgundy. Nothing but generic jet black. I’m really starting to wonder which version of things is more accurate — my phone or my 2 computers (which, in the past, haven’t always shown colours as described by the company)? I think this is a nail varnish that one has to swatch in person to really know.
@Kafka Probably the hardest part about posting photos/swatches of makeup on the internet is that there are 239487234987 monitors, and every single one has settings you can change – and factory settings differ from brand to brand to model to model! I have a color meter for my monitor, but it’s like… well, that’s great for me, but what about everyone else? LOL!
@Christine (Temptalia) It’s a testament to my love for Temptalia and you that I went to look up this alien Color Meter of which you speak. En plus, I even struggled through various gobbledegook explanations of programs that involved far, far too many numbers! Numbers! ;D LOL. I was hoping for some program that would automatically fix my monitor colour (beyond just the one in the Windows OS which seems to have done nothing) and, preferably, without my inputting changes. Alas, not. The funny thing is that when I’ll sometimes double-check swatches on either of my parents’ computers, the colours look identical to those on mine. I’m still bewildered at how Bobbi Brown’s supposedly “smoky mauve plum” looked metallic expresso on 4 diff. computers and a cellphone, but everyone else (except for one other person) saw purple! Ah, well. xoxox
@Kafka You might try typing in color balancing your monitor or something… they’ll give you grayscale charts, which is somewhat helpful.
But honestly, it’s a struggle no matter what. My monitor, which I bought FOR graphic editing, came factory set and looked tinted green! I was like, “Maybe I have color vision problems!” yet when I look at white walls, pieces of paper, etc. right next to me… they’re not green-tinted, LOL!
That’s exactly the kind of colour you expect from a 26$ nail polish from Chanel: something new and difficult to describe. Again, this is the kind of colour I will have to see for myself in order to make a decision on whether to buy it or not, but either case well done Chanel.
Fantastic post! You did a great job describing such a unique color. I wish the shimmer was a bit more noticeable as well. If it was, this would be a no-brainer for me. Right now, I’m on the fence and leaning towards no.
How did you get the polish to wear for a week? I get major chipping after a couple of days… Do you use a fabulous top/base coat?
I get the same wear with or without a base/top coat, actually 🙁 I typically use Zoya’s Anchor + Armor for base/top coats, though.
I think your description is perfect. It sort of reminds me of Mac’s Bloodline pigment in a nail polish…
Gorgeous! It’s funny, I saw this in store and was drooling over it — but the shimmer shows up way more in the bottle than it does on the nail! I think this color is so unique, though.
I actually am considering this for the price. It is such a neat colour, never would I normally think of spending that much for a polish.
Do you have any certain base and top-coats that you use or is it the manner in which you paint your nails that gets you the wear that you achieve? My tips chip after a day or two with nearly any formula from any price point.
@KadieLeeSilva I almost always use Zoya’s Anchor/Armor, but I’ve tested wear without and with base/top coats, and I get the same wear no matter what. I can wear no base or top coat and go a whole week without chipping.
That’s a gorgeous color!
Ooh, this *is* really pretty! I love seeing colours that are complex enough that they’re actually hard to describe — and a plummy burgundy-brown nail varnish definitely falls into that category.
That said, though, I definitely couldn’t pull this one off 😛
Oooh, that’s a great color. Could be a good alternative for black. I like it.
Wow! I love dark colored lacquer. I wonder if you are using a top coating above the Chanel coating.
I use Zoya’s Armor!
Ooh, it’s like Paradoxal, redux.
I keep coming back and looking at this..
@LaFeaDelbaile Uy! Pues no sé dónde demonios está la Visa, churri.
Essie’s Liquorice is the perfect dupe, a bunch of people told me 🙂
*Licorice, sorry 🙂
I have seen this shade two weeks ago in Paris and love it. Then I came back to Italy and bought it last week. I love it! Really cool looking. It’s not shining at all. It’s unique really…