Chanel Paradoxal Swatch, Review & Comparison
 Coco Chanel’s iconic style was a study in contrasts. She boldly mixed black and white, masculine and feminine, classic and modern. Paying tribute to her unique vision, Peter Philips, Global Creative Director of CHANEL Makeup, has created a makeup collection for Fall 2010 that brings bold emphasis to the eyes, and keeps lips soft and delicate.
I am the furthest thing from a style icon but I can still relate to the contrasting theme of Chanel’s Fall 2010 makeup collection. In some ways I am a walking paradox. A math and science girl like me could never have imagined a career as a blogger. As a Chemical Engineering major, I dropped out of Freshman English three times. True story! Keeping the emphasis on the eyes and nails, Peter Philips has mixed dark and stormy with sweet and feminine and the star of the show for me is Paradoxal, a grey violet shade that the wordsmiths at AOL StyleList have dubbed “griolet.” |
Paradoxal is definitely more grey than violet. It’s a deep and mysterious taupe-y grey with an undercurrent of purple shimmer that gives the color a cool sheen in natural light and a hint of sparkle in the sun. Indoors it looks much darker than it appears on camera but it was pretty bright on the day I shot this.
For me it’s a great twist on the greige look of last Fall that gave us way too many warm toned polishes and not near enough options for the cool toned girls. Consider Paradoxal to be Particulière’s violet cousin.
Sunlight
Application & Formula: The pigmentation in Paradoxal is spot on. It’s what one would expect from a Chanel lacquer. Smooth, flawless coverage in two easy coats. I had such ease of control over Paradoxal that I was able to create curves along my cuticle that are about as perfect as I can get them. No cleanup necessary.
The question that remains… does Paradoxal have a twin? Unfortunately no. I had a hunch that Dior Lemon Balm might be a winner but, even if it was, it’s LE and not a cost effective alternative. Sephora by OPI Metro Chic is a cool toned taupe but it’s much lighter than Paradoxal. In my stash there are no twins but if you already own Lemon Balm it may satiate your need.
Sunlight
Bottom line: Paradoxal is unique enough to warrant a look. It’s sure to be one of the hot colors for Fall. Considering that it lives up to the high Chanel quality standard nail fanatics have placed on the brand, you won’t be disappointed in your purchase.
Chanel Paradoxal is available now on Chanel.com and at Chanel counters nationwide. Polishes retail for $23/ea.
So what do we think? Are you on board with “griolet” as the big trend for Fall? Do you have suggestions for possible Paradoxal dupes?
Disclosure: A product sample was furnished by Chanel. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.
It’s a cool colour, but doesn’t make me want to race out and buy it/find a twin as much as Jade did.
I recently found your blog (I think via style.com?) and I gotta say, I wish I knew about it sooner. Would’ve saved me all those nail polish disappointments! Love your blog!
And I can’t help but comment on this, but awesome, chemical engineering! That’s my major too
Another smash hit from Chanel. Who thinks of these? Genius.
The color looks very violet to me, although I see the ‘greige’. Absolutely love it! I’ve never tried a $23 bottle of polish but I’m tempted…still contemplating a $14 bottle of butterLondon.
I still haven’t bought a Chanel polish, but I’ve been tempted, but i will say, i love Butter London. =) I personally have gotten the best wear from their polishes.
$23, ugh. i want but not at that price
This color is amazing, it might just be fabulous enough for the $23 splurge!
There’s a shade that’s been out awhile by Rimmel that is very similar if not dead on I actually have it, when I find the name I’ll let you know, but it’s definitely very similar to the Chanel.
Interesting… it looks so purple to me. It looks like essie sexy divide on my computer, but I’m guessing it must be different in person since you are describing it as so unique. I’m intrigued.
Yeah, it’s not that purple in person. It doesn’t really come across as greyed on camera. It’s definitely much different than Sexy Divide.
I already got my bottle, I can’t wait to receive it! Sooo stunning!
Ok my bad it’s not dead on, but it’s in that color family it’s called Nightlife, I have two bottles and one I mixed with another and actually it made a shade damn near the Chanel, but again that is from mixing. Sorry.
Thanks for the heads up. I’ll have to check it out. Even if it’s not a dupe it could be a good low cost alternative.
Out of curiosity, what did you mix it with?
Is it comparable to Essie Sexy Divide?
No the grey really darkens this whereas Sexy Divide is more like a blackened plum
I think Sexy Divide packs more of a “purple punch”
Mine looks much less shimmery…
This may be my first chanel polish. I’m a bit turned off by the shimmer in it, but everything I’ve read says that it’s not nearly as noticeable IRL, so I’ll probably at least go visit it at a chanel counter and see for myself. This looks like the perfect fall color.
The shimmer is only apparent in bright light and sun. Indoors it’s more of a creme
It’s gorgeous! This might very well be my very first Chanel purchase. I’m a bit new in the lacquer addiction game and haven’t spent over $12 on a polish yet – with a color like this I’m jumping off the deep end. Love it!
Gorgeous. Can’t wait to put it on when I get mine later today.
Glad to see you swatching again.
This kind of reminds me of a grey-ed out OPI Ink color. It’s a neat color, but it doesn’t have me rushing to any Chanel counter!
Wow, that is one gorgeous nail polish. I’m not sure if I’ll be paying 23$ for it but I really do want it….
This is beautiful! I will have to pick this up!
This will be my first nail polish of chanel. The color and the greyge-Effect looks gorgeous to me. Thank you so much for the wonderful pics.
best wishes,
Petra
Very neat color, actually, and generally the Chanel polishes fail to excite me. I just don’t think it’ll work with my skin tone – I think it’ll somehow look mauve on me.
Beautiful! I’m debating whether or not to pick this up. Ugh!
I didn’t know you are a chemistry girl! I teach high school chem, and in a previous life did research at Cornell.
The color is beautiful! Now I wonder if Lemonbalm is like CHG Bogie?
I bought it last week (2 bottles!) and am in love with it. It’s PERFECT for my very fair, cool-toned skin. I can’t wait for fall to come so I can bring it out.
This is really a very unique color — as some mentioned, it looks purple online, but in real life it’s purple with a sort of murkey grey undertone. That sounds weird, but it’s not — it’s almost like the purple is an interesting twist on purple, something with depth. Chanel really hit it out of the park with this one (and the eye shadow quad and pink explosion blush).
I ordered it right before I saw this post. Glad to hear that you like it.
That is an awesome color!!
Any chance of getting a swatch of this next to Zoya Kelly? I’m just curious whether the base color of this is similar to Kelly, which looks like a grey/violet creme.
Kelly is dolphin skin blue-gray to my eye. It may be a dupe for that YSL gray from last fall.
I find this a little boring. I’m tired of purples.
Happy for my credit card though!
yes yes its so pretty- the one a coupla back vengeance was a dud for me hope its a dead on dupe for it or wait hope i get this job so i can buy nail polish like i used too.
I thought it was going to have more of a gray hue to it, I am kind of disappointed. I already bought one so I hope I like it better on and in person
I love this color! I am wearing it now.
I was wondering how this might compare to the fall Butter London polish Marrow that your raved about during Fashion Week. Do they look similar??
From what I remember of Marrow, it was more reddish purple so I don’t think they’ll be dupes.
I’m going to have to see this in person. The pictures on the blogs are all over the place – some more purple, some more taupe/grey. If it leans purple like in your pictures, I like it! When it leans more taupe, I don’t!
Unfortunately, no one’s pictures are going to be dead on and they’ll never match up. The light we shoot in, the light we edit pics in, camera settings, our monitors, etc all differ so it’s near impossible that you’ll ever see a polish show up the same on every blog. Like I mentioned in the post it does appear darker and more grey in person than it does in my shot.
Eh. It looks pretty in the light, but it doesn’t really do a lot for me.
Great post! How does this compare to Vendetta by Chanel? In these pictures they look pretty similar, with Paradoxal being a bit lighter, but not enough to warrant buying.
a chanel SA told me that paradoxal was a mixture of particuliere and vendetta. so there you go!
Oh wow, your swatches are really great. I was already contemplating getting it, but now I know for sure. It’s good to hear it applies very well, because Nouvelle Vague kinda disappointed me in that department..
As for lookalikes, I’m thinking Purple Grey by Models Own could be close, minus the shimmer though..
It looks like the dark sister of Essie Demure Vixen =)
i picked up this shade earlier this week and LOVEEEEEE it. perfect for cool toned pal gals like me!
hm. its nice, but i have vendetta and i dont want any of my chanel colors to be even remotely similar
i justifiy my little collection by saying they’re all different!
to me, vendetta is much different because it’s SO blackened. like vendetta doesn’t look purple at all unless you’re in sunlight. paradoxal is nowhere near as dark. it just looks like a murky gray indoors.
Looks pretty cool, but not cool enough to spend 23$ on. Hell, I’d probably have to pay even more over here in Germany, if I could find it at all.
On an OT-note: Any idea when you’ll be reviewing the China Glaze Vintage Vixen collection? I’m dying to see those colors outside the bottle..
I’ll Vintage Vixen up next week. I wanted to wait until closer to the actual launch and to have enough time to do comparisons.
I do like this colour combination, and here it reminds me of a UK drugstore shade I really like a lot: Boots No 17 Shimmering Sequins (Ltd Edition), which is way way cheaper. Of course in person I’m sure it looks way different and applies way nicer, but $23 a bottle – not for me!
Hmm, purple, taupe and grey – my three favourite shades all mixed together in one polish – I definitely have to check this out in person. Not on counters yet where I live though so I’ll have to wait another couple of weeks.
@Jackie Thanks for reminding me about Marrow. Per ALU Feb ’10 post it due out in 3 – 6 weeks. As for the Chanel, I’m on the fence. I love the look of them but I’ve never owned one that I felt was worth the money. There are too many (I want them all) great polish lines in the under $20 range to justify $23+ even if this does turn out to be the next Jade.
I ran to Nordstroms and grabbed this one, it is gorgeous in person, I am so happy I made this my first Chanel purchase!
Great colour love it, I have not seen there turquoise that Beyonce was sporting, will that ever be released?
That color, Nouvelle Vague, came out a couple months ago and it sold out already.
China Glaze For Audrey or Orly Gumdrop will be pretty good substitutes, they’re almost identical, just without shimmer. I personally prefer cremes, anyway =)
I was on the fence about this color, until I saw it in person at the Chanel counter. I was there for the Vert Khaki eyeshadow but just fell in love and had to have it!
Great review as always
Do you think NARS Purple Rain would be a good dupe for it?
How does this compare to Chanel’s Vendetta from a few seasons ago? They both seem like REALLY dark purples.
I ran out and grabbed this color and can’t wait to try it. In the bottle it looks darker and less sparkly than Vendetta. It looks nothing like any other purple I have.
Oh I want this one too. I am now addicted to Chanel polishes, especially the limited edition ones.
How would this color look on olive toned\ dark skin? It looks good on you. I must say this is a odd color.I have nothing like it!
I wonder how it compares to Dior Liquorice
Thanks so much for posting the comparisions! Any idea how does it comapared to “Silver purple” from Dior?
Silver purple is much more icy whereas Paradoxal has an earthiness from the taupe-y grey base. They don’t look anything alike.