Today is my country’s birthday! Established as a self-governing country in 1867, Canada as a country actually dates even further than that; Jacques Cartier landed on these shores in 1535 and proclaimed it in the name of France, but even before that, this land was inhabited by Aboriginals who named it “Kanata”. So, in honour of Canada’s 144th Birthday (still looking pretty hot, by the way!), I’ve prepared a tribute….the beauty blogger way!

To commemorate the day, I looked for a red lacquer that captured the essence that is purely Canadian, and I found it in CHANEL’s ‘Dragon’. This is an intense and incredibly pigmented lush red crème shade, barely needing more than one coat to be fully opaque, although I did layer two coats for swatching purposes. I love how sunlight (top photo) brings out a more warmer hue, while shaded light (bottom photo) emphasizes its slight cherry leanings, but no matter the lighting, it never strays far from its true scarlet self.  Self-levelling and intensely glossy, this is the red to end all reds!  All swatches are with a-england’s ‘The Knight’ and ‘The Shield’ base and top coats (reviewed here) as well as two layers of lacquer.

Final thoughts: Once in a while, a lacquer comes along and achieves instant cult status and CHANEL has certainly seen its share of iconic hits, beginning with Vamp, all the way up to the recently released shades of Graphite and Peridot.  Among these hits, there are other polishes that rise above even that and attain the more exalted status of “classics”, and ‘Dragon’ is indeed one of those shades.  Thankfully this polish is part of CHANEL’s permanent range…no hoarding necessary!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CANADA!

*Disclaimer: image courtesy of Shopped or Not.