Review: Chanel Exceptionnel de Chanel Collection

If you are not reading this on mymakeupreviews.blogspot.com or in a feed reader, this site has stolen my content.

UPDATE 27July, 2008:
YAY! We are getting D'or Joues Contrate Gold Fever (154MYR) and D'or Le Vernis Gold Fiction (84MYR) for the fall collection. So the sales girl was wrong! I am going to check them out, especially that Joues Contraste of course!

UPDATE 25 July, 2008:
Chanel sites have added this collection. However, the USA site only has the mascara in BLACK. Therefore, please refer to this link for the entire collection:
Exceptionnel de Chanel

I finally drove down to CBD to check out the launch of Chanel Exceptional De Chanel Collection because my lemming beat my senses!!! Grrr..



Exceptionnel de Chanel Intense Volume And Curl Mascara - 102MYR



There were lots of brand new sample brushes of the new mascara so I just grabbed one to have a look. The sales girl explained to me that the short and intense bristles are for volume and the long and sparse comb bristles are for lengthening and supporting the lashes. As I was not interested in trying it on my lashes, I asked her to “demonstrate” on her lashes (since she hasn't put on makeup yet!.) She promptly did!!!

She rolled the rubber brush (like Inimitable Mascara's flexible bristles) from bottom of the lashes to the tips. She did 2 coats and her lashes looked fuller and longer immediately. I was impressed by how the mascara looked on her so I decided to get one.

There are 4 colours: black, brown, blue and purple. I picked black as that’s the only mascara colour I use. (I was tempted by the deep blue though!) By the way, this mascara is NOT waterproof but smudge proof. Hmmm...

This is how my 102MYR Exceptionnel de Chanel Intense Volume And Curl Mascara looks like. It better works magic for me! I'd update with its performance when I have a conclusion.






Les 4 Ombres #93 Smoky Eyes - 180MYR


Swatch


Then I proceed to check out the eye shadows! I tried the quad first as I had been dreaming about it since I saw the picture online. There are 3 shimmery (& somewhat sparkling) shades – white, silver and gray (most sparkling among the three). ARGH!!! BUT THE BLACK IS MATTE!!! The sales girl tried to convenience me that it’s not that matte. (She insisted that it’s pearl. NO, it’s just matte on my skin...) I wanted a true back with shimmers or at least a metallic finish. What a disappointment!

All 4 shades are on the sheer side but they are very buildable. After few layers, the combo looked fabulous on the sales girl’s eye lids. (She has about the same skin tone as mine so I think I could use the quad for sure. But I have a problem with MATTE finish so I passed the quad. Besides, that black isn’t a true black. It's merely a dark gray on me. My Make Up For Ever Diamond Shadow 307 Diamond Black is probably 5 times more black than that. Even Shu Uemura’s ME Black is a much better choice if you want a BLACK black eye shadow.)

However, if you want a convenient smoky eye shadow palette and don't mind its matte finish black (dark gray), this is the one to get. The 4 shades work like a charm and I could see the girl's eyes just popped. I had to talk to my own sense not getting it because I have way too many similar shades lying around in my makeup cabinet. It nearly got my money. But no, that matte black saved my $$$.



Ombre Essentielle #69 Black Star & #70 Platine - 102 MYR each



Swatch


So I checked out the 2 new eye shadow singles. Now, the Ombre Essentielle #69 Black Star is a much better black compared to the black in Les 4 Ombres #93 Smoky Eyes. And Ombre Essentielle has a smoother texture too. This was my dilemma. I was thinking whether or not I should get #69 Black Star. So I went to MUFE counter upstairs just to compare the swatch (on my arm) with MUFE Diamond Shadow 307, again, I gave it a pass as Diamond Shadow 307 is still a much darker black (and it is sparkling).

Then there is Ombre Essentielle #70 Platine. It’s a bit like the silver in the quad but again, the single has much better texture in comparison. This is not a colour I use often and I have a similar shade in MUFE so I passed it too.

If you were to ask me to choose between the singles and the quad, I'd probably choose the singles because of the smooth and silky finish. And #69 Black Star is really nice. I am just way too picky when it comes to black eye shadows as I have tried quite a few but so far, none beats my Diamond Shadow 307 (in terms of colour). If You talk about texture, then Chanel Single is smoother than my Diamond Shadow 307 but less sparkling. (They are very different in both texture and finish!) I stay put with my MUFE because I am too used to it!



La Ligne de CHANEL #Noir-Lame - 105MYR

This is the new powder eye liner duo. I saw the girl put this on her effortlessly and the two colours work well together. (She put one layer of the matte black then topped it with the sparkling one. I didn't see a dramatic effect from the sparkling shade though. You don't expect to see "glitter liner" effect from this.) I am not sure about its staying power as I’ve only seen it applied on (but I left the display in 20 minutes.)

According to the sales girl, this can be used wet or dry but she's only used it dry to show me. My guess is that with a good sealant, the eye liner duo can stay put for a long time even if it’s not waterproof??? Anyway, I am a bit iffy about this product as I don’t see why I should get a powder eyeliner duo when I am already using MUFE Eye Seal to transform eye shadow to eye liner? And why should I use 2 colours to get a somewhat sparkling black eyeliner? Besides, I have a big problem with MATTE finish eye makeup...

However, all of the above was only my personal preference. I still can see its usefulness for people who prefer powder eye liner. And I can see people using one shade at a time, depending on the occasions. It's a product worth to look into if you are fond of powder eyeliner.

Then finally there are new eye brow pencils too. Ah, I didn’t know there were such products in this collection until I saw them today. They looked fine but I am not a pencil makeup person so I passed them all immediately. However, they looked quite lovely and the crayon felt smooth. (I think there are 4 shades?) Again, I can’t comment on pencil makeup as it is just something I can’t deal with.The brow pencil is 92MYR each. Oh I can't imagine spending that amount of money on a pencil that I could kill in 2 sharpening sessions! (Well, that's another story...)

And I asked the girl when will the fall collection reach Malaysia and I got the saddest news... WE ARE NOT GETTING FALL COLLECTION!!! So my guess was right. The Exceptionnel de Chanel Collection is just what we get here. No fall collection... No fall collection... NO FALL COLLECTION in Malaysia!!!