Chanel Paradoxal

I have a lot of nail blogs that I follow, and this past season, Chanel Paradoxal was ALL the rage.  People have gone nuts trying to dupe this color or find a dupe (Barry M and Models Own have very close dupes I've seen).  I really wasn't interested in a purple taupey grey but I figured I'd go to the Chanel counter and just ask "Do you have a bottle of Paradoxal" and if they did, I'd buy it and if they didn't, I'd move on.  Well, they had one, so here we are.


Did you know that the boxy Chanel cap is a fake?  I didn't until I pulled it off by accident.

Now you can paint with either the small round grooved top or the thick block top - either one works just as well.


Paradoxal is a smoky grey with purple shimmer.  I used a base of Seche Natural, 2 fully opaque coats of Paradoxal and a top of Seche Vite.

Here in the sun you can see the purple well but the grey isn't as pronounced.  It almost looks like a hazy fog?

In the shade, you can see more of the dirty grey coming though and just a bit of the purple in the bottle.  I think I need colder weather to feel like this is an awesome color but it seems so out of place with all the sun I have here.  It's just barely getting down to the 80s as far as weather goes!  For the price, I don't feel this was a unique color or the best formula, but you're wearing Chanel... if brands matter - then go for it.  :P


Chanel sells for $23 a bottle and can be purchased in stores or online.