Tag Archives: Chanel Sourire vs Flirt

CHANEL – ‘Magnolia’ Rouge Coco & ‘Sourire’ Rouge Coco Shine new for Spring 2012 (swatches & review)

 

While I absolutely adore basically everything that the house of CHANEL puts out, including their fashion creations as well as luxury leather goods, the seasonal makeup collections excite me the most – in particular, the spring/summer collections.  And the fall collections.  Winter collections are pretty amazing too. I can’t leave out the cruise collections.  May as well just admit that I love them all! Just in time for the warmer days ahead, CHANEL is releasing 3 new Rouge Coco lipsticks, along with 3 new Rouge Coco Shine lipsticks, 1 of each that I show you today.

 

 

‘Magnolia’ is a dainty-looking rose pink hue, which interestingly enough, reveals a hint of blue in its base when seen indoors or with indirect lighting, then takes on a peachier cast in sunlight.  While the formula is fairly moisturizing, I was hoping it would apply with more coverage than it did, but in all fairness, a shade this delicate may wind up looking chalky if it were more opaque. Lasting power was about 4 hours before it faded significantly, although I did like the soft way my lips felt once it was gone. The barest hint of shimmer that is apparent in the tube, does not translate when applied, although it does serve to add some depth to the overall colour.

 

‘Magnolia’ is the shade shown in this promotional ad, as well as the colour the model is wearing – THAT’s the shade I fell in love with!


with flash


closeup


‘Sourire’ is the prettiest petal-pink hue in a tube of lipstick, that I’ve seen in the longest time. Looking neither too “girly” nor “old-lady”, I jumped all over this shade for its fresh yet sophisticated hue & sheen. The shade was disappointingly very sheer when applied; then something happened – I fell totally in love with its light bloom of colour. The Rouge Coco Shine range is basically no more than luxury tinted balms, and yet the finish is buttery, the shine is not garish, and they leave your lips feeling nourished.  The downside is that lasting power is weak; 1 -2 hours if you’re careful (ie: no eating or drinking) and the price – ridiculously high.

 

with flash


closeup (with flash)

The following swatches are on un-primed skin, with ‘Sourire’ on the left, ‘Magnolia’ on the right:


in sunlight


with flash

Flirt – left, Sourire – center, Boy – right

I pulled out 2 more Rouge Coco Shine I own to compare – the following swatches are: left – ‘Boy’, middle – ‘Flirt’ (previously reviewed here), and right – ‘Sourire’. In terms of formula, they are all identical, lasting basically the same length of time, while ‘Flirt’ seemed to deposit slightly more colour overall.

  • Boy – very close in tone, slightly more mauve based
  • Flirt – a peachier pink, a touch more coverage
  • Sourire – the most pink of the three


in sunlight


with flash

 

The following swatches are on my bare and un-lined freshly exfoliated lips, to best show the true colour of each lip product:


Magnolia (in sunlight)


Magnolia (indoors)


Magnolia (with flash)


Sourire (in sunlight)


Sourire (indoors)


Sourire (with flash)

Curious to know if lining and filling in my lips with a similarly-toned pencil would significantly enhance the depth of colour with both ‘Magnolia’ and ‘Sourire’, I applied NARS’ ‘Sex Machine’ Velvet Matte Lip Pencil all over as a base, followed by a healthy layer of ‘Magnolia’ and finishing with ‘Sourire’ on top, for some added shine.

The verdict: while I can say that the tone was a few degrees deeper and that this combination made the colours of both products last a little longer, I prefer the more natural look and feel of them without.


NARS ‘Sex Machine’


closeup


Magnolia/Sourire (in sunlight)


Magnolia/Sourire (indoors)


Magnolia/Sourire (with flash)

 

Final thoughts: Anxious for the summer collection to launch, I pounced on these two items, even though I couldn’t test them at the counter as they hadn’t been officially released yet, and no testers were available.  I confess that my initial swatching was a touch disappointing as I was expecting them to look more like the picture (you’d think I’d know by now that all these ads are totally retouched), but since I don’t like to wear heavy products in the spring/summer anyway and I’ve been looking to wear lip products other than glosses, I find that these two are an excellent compromise. As a matter of fact, I wore ‘Sourire’ alone today, and found it to be just the right amount of tint for my daytime look, although it does need frequent application to maintain said look. Are these shades must-haves? In my opinion, no – even if the formula is good.  That being said, there were a couple of new darker hues that show possibilities … something tells me I’ll be going back for another look …