Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Vintage Chanel Clair-Obscur - Degrassi Showdown Finale Week

Happy Tuesday everyone! Today I have for you one of my vintage Chanel polishes, Clair-Obscur. I chose this polish for Degrassi countdown week because it reminds me of my favorite character on the show Clare Edwards (hence the "Clair" portion of the name). Clair-Obscur (chiaroscuro in Italian) is a term that originated during the Renaissance period used to describe the tonal contrasts between light and dark in art. The backgrounds and shadows during this time were often quite dark and obscured, while the bodies depicted would be very light, bright and clear. Hence, clair-obscur.

*Degrassi babble ahead*

I felt like Clair-Obscur was the perfect polish to dedicate to Clare because she has really been having such a rough time lately. Her parents divorce, boyfriend crashing his hearse into wall, new boyfriend becoming stepbrother, getting arrested, etc. all seem to pale in comparison to what Clare has been going through this season. Sure, she has her boyfriend Eli and her bestie Alli back in her life but things have become a bit darker for Clare, obscured if you will. She landed her dream internship only to be fired for reporting that her boss sexually harassed her. She is afraid to tell Eli about the harassment, so she has been lying about the whole situation. A girl who once prided herself on the clarity of her writing and purity of her faith is now spiraling down into a dark and depressing place.

*end Degrassi babble*

Chanel Clair-Obscur was released in 2000 and is no longer available to purchase from Chanel anymore, so I picked up this bad boy from eBay. Vintage Chanels can be quite pricy but this one wasn't too bad. The formula on this was typical for a non 3-free polish, a bit runny and thin so had to do 3 coats here for opacity.

The color of Clair-Obscur is hard to explain. It has a dusky lavender base with a very strong flash of greenish-gold. I have nothing like this color in my stash and I've never seen anything like it! It is subtle but has an unexpected edge with the hint of green in the gold. It dries to a satin finish, but I preferred the look with a topcoat so that is what I have pictured here.

So here is 3 coats of Chanel Clair-Obscur with topcoat. Enjoy!





And here is the character who inspired this post, Miss Clare Edwards, who has been described as "a riddle wrapped in a mystery stuffed inside an enigma." (Notice the use of clair-obscur in this picture....mind blown!)


Thanks for stopping by today! See you all tomorrow =)

28 comments:

  1. Holy freaking cow! What an amazing, complex polish! I'm in love! It looks great on you, fantastic swatches!

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    1. Thanks girl!! Isn't it fab?! Once I decided to start collecting vintage Chanels, this bad boy was numero uno on the list!

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  2. This is very different from any other polish I have seen, sort of mysterious - very lovely, thanks for sharing!

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    1. I'm glad you liked it!! It's definitely different from anything else I have in my stash, I love it!!

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  3. LOL. Your so funny! I remember watching the original when I was super young. I didn't realize that the new Degrassi aired in the states

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    1. Haha yay!! Did you watch the original Degrassi Junior High/High or Degrassi The Next Generation?

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    2. Degrassi Junior High/High. It was sooo cheesy but I think alot had to do with the way it was filmed

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  4. Old Chanels are so rad! It's too bad a lot of their recent releases have seemed a little dull. Well, I guess in my case that's better because I can't afford Chanel.

    Also, all your Degrassi tweets really make me want to watch it but I don't think I get the channel it's on. :(

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    1. They are!! Chanel has definitely had some dull releases lately, but they have also done a few stellar polishes in the past few years so that helps =) They are quite pricy though, I always keep my eyes out for them on blog sales/eBay =)

      Degrassi is on TeenNick and they play reruns on MTV. They have the episodes on teennick.com for free though!

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  5. Gorgeous polish! I really love the purple and gold tones in it.

    I haven't watched Degrassi in a few years, but it was one of my favorite shows during my high school years. I especially loved the original, older seasons with characters like Emma, Manny, Craig, Spinner, Jimmy, etc.

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    1. Thank you!! Yes, I do miss the old days of Spinner, Paige, Manny and all those folks but I love this cast as much, and maybe even more than the originals. Crazy right? It's that good!

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  6. This is so ridiculously awesome!

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  7. What a great colour! And your intro totally brought be back to high school art class, haha!

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    1. LOL yes!! I had to dig into my memory a bit about my art history class from last year =)

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  8. What a unique looking polish! It's absolutely gorgeous on you!

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  9. So gorgeous! I love the flashes of gold and green. :-)

    ~ Yun

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  10. I love the Clair-Clare connection! Also that color looks like it's from the future!

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  11. What a color! There's something so striking yet understated about this beauty that I really like!

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