How to be trendy without waiting until February

Chanel are known (amongst other things) for setting nail polish trends. You remember the jade right? It’s barely being wiped off fingernails around the world and we are already gearing up for the next collection. Did you catch the pictures from their S/S ’10 collection; Lily Allen performing, barnyard, clogs, hay bales? Do you recall seeing the delicious lacquer on the fingernails? Chanel are calling it taupe, although the official name is Chanel Le Vernis Particuliere. There are 3 shades in the spring 2010 collection – Particuliere (taupe), Tendresse (shell pink) and Inattendu (neutral creamy peach maybe?), but all the attention is on Particuliere.

In my opinion, it’s the perfect neutral - a mix of grey, warm brown and olive, with a hint of lilac. It looks good on pretty much every skin tone as long as you have short, tidy nails. After some intense googling, I have discovered that the closest match to a colour already on the shelf is OPI for Sephora Metro Chic, which, coincidentally I have been rocking for a year now (see pic, right). Take that! Pow!

Sadly, you can’t get OPI for Sephora here (WHEN will you start shipping to Aus, Sephora?! Custom laws be damned!!) BUT it is also a very close match with OPI You Don’t Know Jacques, OPI Over The Taupe, OPI Parlez-vous and Essie Mink Muff (of all those colours, I can only verify You Don’t Know Jacques myself – the rest is based on swatch comparisons online).

Alternately, you could go for the real thing. It will be on Chanel counters for about 15 seconds on Feb 21 (you should probably get on the waiting list if you’re a real keen bean – call 1 300 CHANEL [no, I’m not kidding]), although the trend, in my opinion, will be over by then and we will be lusting after the next colour. Fickle, aren’t we?

Price: OPI for Sephora US$9, OPI $19.95, Chanel $40
From: Sephora, David Jones, DJs/Myer
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Picture credit: guess whose fingers...