Sunday 12 February 2012

Yves Saint Laurent - Les Fauves - Griffe D'Argent

This post has the longest title ever! Please excuse me, French speakers out there, if I have butchered your language by including every word I could read on the box.

This is my first luxury nail varnish review, so I am super excited about it!

My husband got back from a business trip yesterday and, since his airline has misplaced his luggage containing the nail varnishes I'd ordered, he must have felt sorry for me and bought me some YSL in the meantime. I'm not complaining!

He chose the duo after seeing the silver, and the lady who sold it to him told him that the black was to do French tips, but it is in fact, a shatter/crackle topcoat. From what I have read, YSL is the first luxury brand to jump on the crackle bandwagon and they called their line The Big Cats (or something like that). It comes in duos of 6 ml bottles in ochre, khaki, gold or silver with the black crackle top coat.

I was surprised to learn that this is a new line. I was under the impression that crackle polishes were  one of 2011's trends, but I suppose if a big couture house like Saint Laurent has just launched these limited edition polishes, we might be seeing them for a while longer.

The silver polish goes on like a dream. The brush doesn't look like anything special but it does the job magnificently and the formula is very smooth. I am not very good at applying light colours so I could see some brush strokes after two coats, which didn't bother me much because I was going to use the crackle on top anyway. I could have got away with just one coat, as opacity was very good, but I applied a second one nonetheless. Drying time was much quicker than I expected, which was a bonus.
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The crackle worked better than OPI's. I would imagine that it needs to justify the elevated price tag, but the effect was more prominent than what I have achieved in the past with Black Shatter. I applied thickish coats on a couple of nails and these turned out quite well. The gaps are fairly wide and you can appreciate the colour underneath. It definitely looks feline, I can completely see where YSL got the inspiration from.
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I can't comment on staying power yet as I've only had it on for a day. I know we have seen this silver/crackle combo before, but I have to say it looks pretty stunning. Today, a girl at a beauty counter asked me if they were Minx nails, so maybe that's a compliment.

Click to enlarge
Brand: Yves Saint Laurent
Collection: Les Fauves
Name: Griffe D'Argent
Type: Crackle/Shatter Duo
Pantone equivalent: N/A
Make Up Alley rating: N/A
Potential dupes: Many!
Buy it from YSL £28

I used:
1 x OPI Natural Base Coat
1 x OPI Ridge Filler
2 x YSL Silver
1 x YSL Crackle
1 x OPI Top Coat (which I later regretted!)

Metadata:
Canon EOS 450D - 50 mm - f/1.8 - ISO 400/800 - indoors - overcast

8 comments:

  1. De verdad que con ese plata tus uñas parecen de Minx (definitivamente era un cumplido). Yo no veo ninguna marca de pincel notoria, es hermosamente liso y brillante. Tengo algunos prejuicios con comprar esmaltes de marcas de lujo (en el sentido que no le veo grandes ventajas por lo caro que son) pero el plata es un color dificil y este se ve divino, se nota la calidad. Un gran regalo (me parece una linda "curiosidad" que ahora tengas un shatter de YSL en tu Colección)

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    1. Yo opino como vos y ya sabés que me gusta encontrar las baratijas, pero la verdad es que se nota que es un producto de calidad. ¿Vale £28 por 12 ml de producto? No lo sé, pero me encanta que mi marido haya pensado en algo diferente :-)

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  2. Me encantó el plateado de YSL, y opino, al igual que Julie, que no se ve ninguna marca de pincel (algo extraordinariamente inusual en este tipo de colores).
    Felicitaciones por la compra-compensación!
    Saludos =)

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    1. ¡Muchas gracias! Hoy volvieron las valijas así que pronto se vienen mis esmaltes nuevos :-)

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  3. Te queda divino !!! Bien x tu marido !!!
    ahora... esos tonos no son muy fauves que digamos no?
    Me encanta tu blog!!!

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    1. ¡Gracias! A mí me dieron la imagen de animal print, por ahí no tanto el plateado, pero el dorado sin duda tiene esa onda (yo no soy amiga del dorado, por eso mi marido me compro éste). Me presta atención cuando lo aburro hablando de uñas, no me puedo quejar :-)

      Me alegro mucho de que te guste el blog, ¡agradecele a las chicas de Twitter que insistieron!

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  4. Me encanta leer que maridos/novios/amantes/whatever regalan esmaltes.
    Mi novio me regalo Mettalic 4life de OPI, es un tierno! Y se nota que me escucha, aprendio un monton sobre esmaltes en este año de noviazgo, tanto que es el quien me dice a mi, por ejemplo 'no, esos dos violetas no son iguales, Compratelo!'

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    Replies
    1. Qué amor! Mi marido hasta me fomenta el vicio y lee mi blog :-) Sin ir más lejos, ayer lo escuché hablando de esmaltes con su hermana jajaja

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