CHANEL Riva vs. Havana Dreams

Good day to you all!

It was back in early summer when I first heard the whispers that CHANEL would be releasing a pale blue nail polish shade for their cruise collection. At the same time, Sephora by OPI had launched a new collection and among the limited edition shades, was a baby blue called ‘Havana Dreams’…which I promptly picked up! Without knowing if it would be within the same tone as CHANEL’s, I did hope it would be. Then just over a week ago, the first promo pics starting appearing about ‘Riva’, CHANEL’s baby blue polish….I just had to swatch my version to see how close it came….see the results for yourself! The always amazing Michèle and her fabulous nails published the first actual pictures of Riva — you can check out her article here.

Havana Dreams (natural lighting)

Havana Dreams (sunlight)

CHANEL Riva (courtesy www.lacquerized.com)

Havana Dreams (natural lighting)

Havana Dreams (sunlight)

CHANEL Riva (courtesy www.lacquerized.com)

The most obvious difference I notice between the two, is the subtle shimmer Riva seems to have, versus Havana Dreams’ more flat finish, but that will have to be determined finally in person to be sure. Havana dreams, as most light pastel colours tend to be, was slightly streaky in application, requiring 4 thin coats to get to full opacity. In the pictures above, Riva still seems to pull a little cooler, but it could be the different lighting used. I can’t wait to be able to try CHANEL’s version for myself and look forward to a sky blue shade….it’s like the first breath of Spring!

Havana Dreams (natural light)

Final thoughts: while I like the idea of a pastel to herald the (soon to be) warmer season ahead, it seems a bit too ‘bright’ for my fingers right now, although I can definitely see it being a stunning pedi colour, especially on tanned feet! Havana Dreams is still showing as available on Sephora.com and retails for $US 9.00/CAD 12.00 for 0.5 fl.oz/15 ml.