Holo pigment is reportedly expensive and difficult for nail polish companies to get a hold of and my understanding is that this is why holo nail polishes are in "shortage". There have been multiple examples of holographic nail polishes becoming duds in future batches, including OPI My Private Jet, Color Club Revvvolution, Nfu-Oh 61, to name a few and often clamoring amongst nail polish hoarders about which version was acquired. Muggles, as non-nail polish obsessed people are called, often have no clue what we are talking about.

Color Club Revvvolution was one of my first holographic polishes, but I'm still not sure if this is the holographic version or the dud version. It's charcoal, beautiful and makes rainbows! Holographic polishes are notoriously difficult to apply because of streaking, making many people turn to aqua bases, but this was done over my usual regimen of ridge filler and base coat and it was simple and streak free. The other thing about holographics is that certain top coats will dull the holographic/rainbow effect. My usual shiny top coat is Seche Vite, but I decided to try out SH Insta-Dri with the red top as many have said that it does not dull the holographic effect. The jury is still out on this one, but I do find that SH Insta-Dri chips much more quickly than Seche Vite and has a duller gloss when dried. What's your favorite top coat for holos?

Chanel Les Khakis de Chanel was released in 2010 with Khaki Vert, Khaki Brun, and Khaki Rose. When the promos first came out, I was convinced that I needed every single one of them, but alas this was before I got really suckered into the Chanel craze. I ended up putting off getting any of them when the swatches came out and then decided pretty late in the game that I wanted at least Khaki Vert, which took me a few trips to different stores, but finally found one at Bloomie's on 59th (all the while dragging my poor boyfriend and his luggage around the city). It's my favorite green nail polish, in all its dirty murky glory. This was 2 coats, the first thin and the 2nd coat thicker, covered with a thick layer of SV. Easy application, great formula. Almost opaque with the first coat, but I'm not that careful with my first coats so usually need a second coat to cover minor imperfections, leaving a beautiful creme finish. I definitely regret not picking up Khaki Brun and Rose while I had the chance. Still stalking the bay of evil to add these to my collection, but they've been going for prices that I am not quite willing to pay just yet. What do you regret missing out on? Chanel has been proven to be many people's most expensive regrets.

Chanel Lune D'Argent was released with the Chanel Tokyo Collection. This collection has been a huge lemming of mine and I've finally gotten my grubby hands on 3/4 colors, and now only if I could get my hands on the last, most elusive one. The reviews of this collection are not terribly impressive. Being that I am a sucker for Asian exclusives, I knew I had to have this in my stash. I had originally planned on a black french, a copy of what was seen on an Asian celebrity on TVB, but it lacked some pizazz, so I thought what a great opportunity to try out Chanel Lune D'Argent, a very sheer holographic silver microglitter that flashes blue, red and silver. This was 2 coats of Chanel Lune D'Argent over one coat of Illamasqua Boosh at the tips. The tips were freehanded and the straight-edge cleaned by acetone. Others have used scotch tape, but I've never quite gotten the hang of it. What do you think of unconventional french manicures?

Chanel Blue Boy was released with Chanel Les Jeans de Chanel collection during FNO 2011. Unfortunately, I was on 24 hour call the following day so couldn't go out to FNO, but for sure, one of these years I'm going to go out to NYC FNO events. There was a lot of buzz about this collection selling out quickly as the Chanel Les Khakis de Chanel collection with reports of 300-400 people on waiting lists at B&M stores. The collection was released at midnight on chanel.com and as far as I know didn't crash the site, but I did wake up at 1am to order. I decided to start off the collection with Chanel Blue Boy, which is the medium blue. Above pictured is 3 coats. Application was not as easy as I hoped it would be. The first coat was streaky, but interestingly enough looked almost jelly-like, but by the 3rd coat, it became clear that it was meant to be a creme. No noticeable hidden shimmer this time as Chanel is sometimes known for. If you love Chanel and love blue nail polish, this is not one to pass up on.

Chanel Lilac Sky is a light purple/lavender with a barely noticeable silver shimmer. This is my second attempt at applying it as I was quite disappointed with the formula the first time. It felt thick and gloopy, streaky on the first coat, and too too thick on the second coat. This was actually three coats, as the second coat still left some bald patches despite its consistency. Next time, I'll thin the bottle and try again. I've yet to hear of this complaint with Lilac Sky. It's very pretty in the bottle (lots of silver microshimmer), but a bit blase on the nail. Nonetheless, a nice shimmery summery purple, and purples tend to be rare in the Chanel line. It would've gone perfect with my prom dress, way back at the beginning of the millenia.

If only my nails were in better condition, I'm sure I would love all the polishes in what I call the "Chanel Gloss" line, which off the top of my head includes Dream Gloss, Rose Gloss, Abricot Gloss, Sun Gloss and I believe a few more. They're all quite sheer on the nail, but do build up in color with each coat. Sun Gloss is particularly sheer. The first coat appeared clear and the color consistency seen in this picture is a whopping 4 coats + a coat of SV. It's garnered many comments, but the sheer effort it took to apply this one put it in my "probably never again" book, but maybe next time I'll try this with underwear. It is quite pretty. What kind of underwear do you wear?

As much as I love Chanel, I cheat sometimes and dibble dabble into other brands. It's really hard not to, especially when I'm often reading other blogs and MUA NB, when all these beautifully lacquered nails display other brands that are just different. To be honest though, I was interested in Dear Laura pa nail polishes way before Chanel became and obsession. Dear Laura pa nail polishes are from Japan and unfortunately take a litle more work to obtain in the US. Luckily, if you live in either California or NY, you'll probably be able to find a small store that carries them. If you're in NYC, there is a place in Chinatown that carries the line for about 5 dollars a pop (which for such a small amount seems like a hefty price tag, but they are quite va-va-voom on the nail). For those of you who are not from the East/West Coast, I've heard good reviews about www.cosmelandusa.com based out of California. (I cannot vouch for this information. I have not orered from them.)

Above is 2 coats of pa AA01 layered for 2 coats of Illamasqua Boosh (one of my favorite blacks). pa AA01 consists of silver dolphin shaped glitter, silver star shaped glitter and blue star shaped glitter interspersed in a clear base with blue mini glitter and silver hexagon glitter. It's pretty dramatic when layered over black. I've also done it over blue, but the black gives it a much greater contrast. Removal unfortunately still a pain, although not quite so bad with Zoya Remove. What are your thoughts on glitter?

Chanel Peridot was released recently as part of the Fall 2011 Illusion d'Ombres de Chanel collection along with Chanel Graphite(LE) and Quart(Perm). Based on the rumblings of internet forums and boards it seems that you either love it or hate it. One, it's a foil. If you love foils, you'll probably love Peridot. Secondly, it's a green-gold that pulls more gold than green. Unfortunately, it's another one of those polishes that has a beautiful duochrome in the bottle which doesn't translate well to the nail (not as poorly as Chanel Matador). Gold in artificial light, but the green shows through in bright natural light, with a beautiful duochrome of teal-green-gold. At first glance, it seemed a bit ick to me, but if you stare at it long enough, it does leave you mesmerized. Don't stare at your nails when you drive!

I already had Chanel Crystal Blue on and wanted to jazz it up a bit, so decided to layer Chanel Azur over it, which gave it another level of pizazz. Gold, blue, pink microglitter interspersed over an almost white baby blue with hidden blue microshimmer = droolworthy. I think that the picture says it all. At some point in the future, I'll put this beautiful sheer over a white and/or black to show it's true potential. My feeling is that it'll be more beautiful over white, but black may show it's true colors better. Until next time. Meanwhile, I'm mentally preparing myself for a 24 on - 24 off - 24 on again weekend at work. Le sigh...

I am not a fan of reds. Have never been and probably never will be. Therefore, this being in a stash is probably the biggest indicator that I am a nail polish collector/hoarder, which up until a few months ago I vehemently denied. There are differing descriptions of this nail polish. I've seen it described as a duochrome and also as a true red. In my opinion. Chanel Matador leans more towards a shimmery/metallic red than a duochrome, although in the bottle it has a beautiful amber/red duochrome. This is another one of those nail polishes that is more interesting in the bottle than on the nail. I found it on Amazon for 29.99, so at least it wasn't an arm and a leg to acquire. 2 coats, easy to apply formula, topped with a coat of SV.

This was one of my great eBay finds, landing in my grubby hands for less than 12 dollars shipped. I was surprised when I won the bidding. It has been described by others as liquid silver and I'll have to admit that I was skeptical about putting it on just looking at the bottle. I'm not a huge fan of metallics/foils and therefore left it my untrieds for a long time. I finally put it on recently and it got so many compliments. The formula is a bit runny, but that probably made it easier to apply. This is 3 thin coats topped with SV. It was almost streak free, but alas like all metallics there are still some visible streaks. Looks brilliant and almost mirror like in bright light. If you're a fan of foils, this is a must have, if it weren't so hard to find. Are your a fan of metallics/foils?

Chanel Strong, one of the two nail lacquers released with the Chanel Soho Story Collection, the collection released by Chanel for Fashion's Night Out 2010. It was tempting last year, for me to go stand in line on FNO to get my greedy hands on Strong and Steel (the other nail lacquer) and in retrospect, now that I have them, I'm glad I didn't. Strong is beautiful in the bottle, dark purple with a burgundy shimmer, but unfortunately it does not transfer to the nail at all. From a distance, the nail looks black, especially indoors. In bright daylight/glaring sun, it looks near black with questionable red shimmer. Up close, and I'm talking macro, stick my finger in your face close, it is a very darkened purple with hidden red microshimmer. It's beautiful if you stare at it up close, but otherwise not that impressive. Have you ever been disappointed by a polish on the nail when it appears beautiful in the bottle?

I'm taking a break from Chanel today. I made a promise to my boyfriend that I would stop spending ALL my money on nail polish, so I began to limit myself to one brand and the one I chose was Chanel. In fact, I had been doing pretty well with sticking to just one brand, but then all the news and fuss came out over the Nars Night Series and my vow sort of went out the window. There are 2 additional Nars sitting in my stash (Nars Midnight Express was getting loney without compadres).

To be honest, Nars Night Porter was not as impressive as I had heard and I always fool myself into believing that I will love green nail polish. There are very few dark greens that I've fallen in love with (reason why I don't see myself paying the big bucks for lemmings such as Essie Dominica Green, OPI Rainforst, OPI Jasper Jade). That being said, it did have it's redeeming properties. Opaque in 1 coat, although this was 2. Beautiful red and green and gold microshimmer hidden in a dark money green base. Great formula, easy to apply. Dries relatively quickly and hadn't chipped (but I did only wear it for 3 days). However, in my opinion, not worth it's price tag. Hopefully, Nars Night Flight will be more to my liking. I mean, it is blue afterall.

Chanel Paradoxal is a part of Chanel's permanent nail lacquer line. When first released, there was a lot of talk about dupes including Revlon's Perplex, BarryM's Dusky Mauve and recently GOSH's Mystical. I've never been interested in the dusky purples (OPI YDKJ, ChG Channelesque), but my sister seems to love them and when it came up on evilBay as part of a lot, I couldn't resist. I did not have high expectations for it, but the formula, the color, and the wear left me quite impressed. A one-coater for the careful, although this was two coats. I wish I had used SV over it, but I was trying out SH Insta-Dri (red bottle). While SHID settled great when first applied, it quickly lost its luster and made my nails peel. I bet it would be even shinier with a coat of SV. While many would say it's not worth the $25 price tag given all the very similar dupes (I can't say, I don't own the dupes for comparison), I found it to be one my best wearing Chanels and the color is quite flattering and wearable. Are you a Chanel lover or are you a dupe lover?

Chanel Crystal Blue. The formula is very very sheer, taking 4 coats to achieve a white-blue near opaque base color embedded with hidden baby blue shimmer, very reminiscent of Chanel Berlingot. Probably worth a try with underwear the next time around. Easy application, beautiful color, and blue, my favorite NP color (pink is still my favorite color overall; blue is my boyfriend's favorite color - a good excuse for presents). What more could a girl ask for?

Rain, rain, go away, come again another day. Here's to wishing Hurricane Irene goes out to sea and misses NY completely. Otherwise, I'm going to have a miserable 24 hour call tomorrow, that may turn into a 48 hour call. Wishing all of you a safe weekend despite the hurricane.

Pink is my favorite color, but there are a million light pink nail polishes out there, so how do I justify a pink Chanel, just cause it's Chanel? Because it's pink awesomeness in a bottle. Berlingot from afar looks like any other pink, but up close there's a beautiful blue hidden shimmer giving it a lilac-pink look. It's super flattering and many occasions appropriate (but how many hard core NP lovers give a second thought to that). Unfortunately, it is super sheer and this is in fact 4 painstakingly painted coats. Perhaps next time I can try it over a nude/white to save some polish, but it garnered so many nice comments, I forgave it. At least I can say that it is not in the least streaky, just quite sheer. Sometimes us nail polish hoarders need a palette cleanser too! What's your go to palette cleanser?

Set your expectations low or you'll be disappointed. This is one of the more sought after Chanel vintage colors and when I was first saw pictures of it around the web, I didn't think much of it. I was never a fan of the murky looking green. However, I happened upon it one day and felt that as a collector (yes, I must admit, I collect nail polish) it would be regretful to pass up. It came home to me (via the mail) and I put it on right away. I guess I like murky greens after all. There's someting about Vert Sacrilege that I can't quite put my finger which appeals to me like no other (dark) green has before. It's subtly disgusting, and has garnered so many awed comments (even from boys). Pictured above is 3 thin coats. Quite difficult to avoid the streaking. Even Seche Vite wasn't able to settle it down. But, overall, I guess Vert Sacrilege is a must have for Chanel collectors. Darn...

Cheers to the inauguration of my obsession. Chanel vernis. I recently read an article that in times of financial crisis, more women turn to makeup, especially nail polish as their fashion statement. There is nothing more attractive that neatly groomed, beautifully polished nails. They don't have to be over the top, but just your classic well manicured lacquerized digits. I'm even more impressed with a man that has well groomed cuticles. So from a reformed nail biter to you, I'm going to dedicate this blog to beautiful tips everywhere, fake or otherwise.

Chanel Melrose, a part of the Chanel Robertson Boulevard Collection released in 2008. A bright Barbie pink to brighten anyone's summer day (although I'll have to admit that I'm not particular to season appropriate colors). The formula is a little bit on the thick side, but still require 3 coats for opaque coverage due to some streakiness. This may have been due to operator error in trying to use thin coats. A fellow NP lover reported that the best way to apply Chanel nail polish is to do a thin coat, which is inevitably streaky, and then follow that with a thickish coat. The few times that I've remembered this tip, I've been quite happy with the results. How do you apply your nail polish?