Dior Holiday 2008 – Black Diamonds

On my recent trip to NYC one of the stops on our “beauty tour” of the city was the LVMH offices for a visit with Dior Beauty. We were treated to a viewing of the current and upcoming Dior collections and, of course, I was most intrigued by the Vernis nail lacquer. I don’t have pics to share of the spring and summer colors but I can say I spotted a few winners coming our way (think bold for summer).

One of the gifts of creating this blog has been discovering brands that are new to me, testing polishes I normally wouldn’t encounter. Dior is certainly one of those brands. It’s not that I live in a bubble in the middle of nowhere but I never really considered prestige or department store lines when shopping for polish. I figured they were an add-on item and assumed the quality would be no match for salon lines. Well, you know what they about ass-uming.

Similar to brands like Chanel, YSL and N.Y.C. the chrome cover pulls off Dior bottles to reveal a “CD” embossed, slightly rounded, ribbed cap. The brush is flat (think OPI or NYX) but extremely firm making application precise and accurate. It was the easiest application I’ve had with a new brand in a long time. No trial runs necessary. The lacquer just flows on the nail and dries relatively quick while still maintaining its glossiness. Though I did my five day wear test with one nail minus top coat and it was chip city! So no forgetting the Seche Vite when I wear Dior.

Black Sequins has been getting tons of celebrity buzz. In fact Jennifer Lopez, who is known for wearing a neutral nail, donned the black sparkler for Elle Magazine’s Women In Hollywood Tribute. Similar to Sephora by OPI Never Enough Shoes minus the gold flecks, Black Sequins’ jet black base is so pigmented that even the silver micro-glitter that’s peppered throughout doesn’t lighten its appearance. Plus, it dries smooth. Bonus!

Pure Diamonds looks just as the name implies, like crushed diamonds on your nails. It’s so glitzy, it’s almost iridescent. The only issue is opacity. I needed three coats to get there which would make this a good option for sheer lovers who want just a thin coat of icing on their nails. Or you could use it for layering to bling out your favorite creme.

Poison Blue stirred up all sorts of craziness when it debuted last year (and quickly sold out). You know how I feel about blues so I was disappointed that I never got my hands on it then but, when I heard that Dior was bringing it back for holiday, I jumped at the chance to test it out. Regardless of any semblance of shimmer you may see in the bottle, for all intents and purposes, Poison Blue is a dark blue creme. As I learned from the masterminds at CND, shimmer can be used for depth and reflectiveness yet still dry as a creme.
Of course I had to test this one against its rival, Chanel Blue Satin, and what I found is that Blue Satin is darker, more black based yet its shimmer actually does show up in bright light. Poison Blue has a much lighter base that is similar to Lippmann Rehab, resulting in a less blackened final result.

Unfortunately, finding all three polishes in the same place won’t happen. Each polish is carried by different retailers and sells for $19. Black Sequins is exclusive to Sephora and still available on Sephora.com (direct product link). I found Poison Blue on Dillards.com which means you should be able to buy it at your local department store Dior counter while Pure Diamonds is carried at specialty stores like Bloomingdales, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom.

image credit: WireImage