Let’s face it, a collection titled “The Essentials”, whether it be in French or not, is not exactly a collection that will have me riveted to my seat in anticipation. Even before the colors are revealed, I pretty much have low expectations of being wowed.

How did I feel when I actually saw the shades? Pretty much the same. However, even though there are no colors that would make me jump up on the table, do a victory dance and then run out and buy 5 more for back-ups, there truly are some damn nice staples in this collection.

Suspicious is probably my favorite of this collection. I’ve seen other photos of this on the web that make it very pink looking. It is a pink. But it’s a pink that comes as close to be red as it can without actualy being red. I have been wearing this for the last several days and it seems to coordinate with everything.

Frenzy is a grey/beige color that surprisingly went well with my skintone. It’s another color that would go with anything. I can’t say that I’ve been a big fan of cremes in the past, but they’ve been growing on me. Kinda scary.

Now let’s talk about Vertigo. First, what’s with the name repeat? There aren’t enough names in the French dictionary that this has to be used again (bottom right). Second, when I first saw this color, I immediately thought, “oh no, not another Paradoxal.” I can’t stand it when a bottle of polish has a gorgeous shimmer that disappears on the nails. But I was incorrect in my first assumption, it was not another Paradoxal (I added a swatch so you can compare). It was far, far worse.

At least with Paradoxal you can see shimmer if you catch the light just right. With Vertigo (2012 version), you can see the shimmer….. approximately .5% of the time you’re wearing it. I spent a few hours trying to capture it, and then it dawned on me, why if no one is ever going to actually see it in real life. So the swatch you see is what you’ll experience – a dark grey creme. Do I like dark grey cremes? Actually, yes. It was one of the first shades that broke my no-creme rule. However, if I’m expecting a shimmer (especially one that looks gorgeous in the bottle), then I feel a little gyped if it doesn’t actually show. Do you think perhaps Chanel labelled the wrong bottles with Suspicious as the shimmer in Vertigo is suspciously missing?

In the end, I’d have to admit the collection name is very appropriate. These shades are foundation colors that will get alot of usage due to their ability to complement just about any wardrobe color combination. The application on these were superb – two coats to absolute opacity. Maybe I’ll get on the table and do a little dance just for the hell of it.