Chanel Paradoxal...and some other recent endeavors

As a high school English teacher (I know...the enemy!) I've found myself trying to explain the meaning of a paradox more than a few times.  Next time, I may just have to bring in a swatch of Chanel Paradoxal, the newest color in the Chanel polish line.

As soon as I saw other bloggers swatch this, I knew it had to be mine.  I walked my butt over to Neiman Marcus...then left Neiman Marcus to go to the ATM, because I forgot that they only take cash, AmEx, or an NM card...and then walked back into Neiman Marcus to complete my purchase.

Paradoxal is lovely (like every other Chanel polish I've tried) and it dries to a smooth, glassy finish in two thin coats.  I could have gotten this to look good with one thick coat, but I'm a two coat kind of girl.  The color is hard to describe.  Inside it looks like a dusty plum, or even a dusky grey.  Outside it's a purply, taupey shimmer that is just so beautiful.  I am in love with this color and I cannot stop putting my nails in the stream of sun coming through my window.  It's Chanel and it's lovely.

Indoors

In the sun

Violet shimmer!

A more mushroomy side of Paradoxal

Bottle color!

I also tried a new eye last night, so I thought I'd share--I rarely go all out with eye makeup (even though I have a lot of it!)  However, I do love glitter as much on my eyes as I do on my nails:

This was a whole mess of Urban Decay colors (my favorite) with Chanel inimitable mascara.  I really like more neutral, taupe yet shimmery, eye makeup in the summer.  I finished this off with peach blush and a nude lip.

Lastly, I've been taking a watercolors class this summer.  It's the only paint medium I have never worked in, and boy is it hard!  I decided to make a brush roll for my new watercolor brushes so they weren't mixed in with all of my other painting supplies.  I made this on my sewing machine from a $3 placemat and some brown satin ribbon:

Hope you enjoyed--thanks for reading!