Spend heaps and live lavishly

I'm afraid that title isn't the most practical advice for recent times. But it doesn't take much to inspire pining for a more glamorous and extravagant lifestyle in me; be it watching flicks modern (Moulin Rouge!) or old (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), or flipping through Vogue or Dita's Burlesque/Fetish and the Art of the Teese. Even 2009's Sherlock Holmes had me salivating over Rachel McAdam's stunning pink satin frock with the cinched waist and bow. I, quite simply, adore having lovely, girlie possessions.

This is partially how I justified buying two tubes of Chanel lipstick in the space of 3 days, and why my friend the lovely founder of this blog has asked me to jump on this page for a product review.

I count myself lucky to have found Chanel's Rouge Coco Shine line. I was in a rush and it was exactly what I was looking for. I wanted something not quite as sheer as lipgloss, but less heavy than lipstick. Matte lipsticks and I don't do well together at all.


I bought two shades. The first was no. 63, a lush red for drama on the lips, which I wore with pale skin and winged black eyeliner - Dita's trademark look.

As I mentioned, it wasn't as heavy as a conventional matte lipstick. I glided it on and it had perfect intensity; it gave a lovely wet shine, and I didn't end up resembling a clown. Thank goodness.

The second shade I bought because I was so happy with the first. No. 68 is a pale nude shade, which I wore to keep the drama on the eyes i.e. dark smokey eyeshadow.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the quality of these. The consistency of the nude wasn't quite as good as the red. And I'm not sure about sites touting these as 'hydrating'; I wore these respectively with a thin layer of Lucas' Papaw Ointment as buffer, and still my lips dried out far quicker than I'd liked. This could be a personal issue though.

I'm not big on lip colours. I don't line lips well and I'm terrible at choosing shades appropriate to my skin tone. And at $50AUD a pop at their David Jones counters, these do not come cheap. However I'd be lying if I said I regretted buying these, or that I didn't love knowing I was carrying around a little tube of Chanel in my handbag.

-M