Chanel Pearl Drop

Thinking about doing the Carbonite/Graphite comparison I mentioned in my latest display post reminded me that I never so much as swatched Chanel's Pearl Drop. It's been sitting in my stash untouched since it arrived with Black Pearl. I can't now recall why I decided to buy it. I suppose there was some element of "ain't no regret like Chanel regret", but I didn't get Pêche Nacrée, the other polish in the Spring 2011 collection, so that can't be all there was to it. Maybe in addition to taking notes when I paint my nails, I should start taking notes when I haul. Maybe I should also make myself fill out a requisition form, justifying why I need to add a particular polish to my collection. That might slow me down nicely. Regardless of why I bought Pearl Drop, it's here in my stash, so on to the swatches and comparisons...

Pearl Drop is a gold-leaning white shimmer with frosty tendencies. I'm guessing Chanel intended it to be worn sheer, because it took me four coats to achieve something resembling full coverage, and even then I fancy I can still see hints of the yellow staining on my nails (my index and ring fingers are particularly bad right now). In some lighting conditions, the gold sheen is pretty obvious, in others it's more subtle. You may notice bubbling in some of these photos; that's not the polish's fault but rather summer's, as it was super hot and humid the day I did these swatches (outside, as I did not have free run of the house with its wonderful central air conditioning).







Of course Pearl Drop is not the only white with gold shimmer in my stash, so I pulled out some of the others for comparison: OPI Oh So Glam, Zoya Gaia, and Orly Meringue.




Top to bottom: Oh So Glam, Gaia, Pearl Drop, Meringue.


Top to bottom: Oh So Glam, Gaia, Pearl Drop, Meringue.

The Zoya is the odd polish out here; it's more white than the others and has a scattered flecked gold shimmer that lets the main color show through more. The OPI and Orly are closer to Pearl Drop; neither is a dupe, and I like both of them better than the Chanel. My favorite is the Orly&msdash;it just glows. It also took just three coats; the others are all four.

I thought perhaps Pearl Drop would make a good layering polish, so I tried that next. Here are the base colors I used:


Top to bottom: Revlon Top Speed Stone Wash, Borghese Boticelli Nude, Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Red Hot, Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Jet Black.

I added two coats of Pearl Drop over the white, nude, and red, but only one over the black because it pretty much covered up the red at two coats; I didn't like that look and didn't want to do the same to the black.



I like Pearl Drop over the white and peach better than I like it on its own, but not enough to think I'm going to want to wear either as a full mani. If I want that look, I'll use a single polish that gets me close (like Oh So Glam, perhaps, or Gaia).



My favorite layering was the single coat over black, especially in lower light levels (last photo below). That I could see myself wearing as a full mani.





I don't exactly regret buying Pearl Drop—I did have fun playing with for this entry, if nothing else—but I don't think it's anything I'd recommend to someone, especially at Chanel prices.