The baby blue polish that was first spotted in the Chanel Cruise 2010 show at St. Tropez caused a lot of buzz online. Is that a new shade? Isn’t that Nouvelle Vague? Will Chanel be selling that? Will it disappear as fast as Chanel Jade?
The answer? Yes. No. Yes. No.
That baby blue polish, later revealed as Chanel Riva, was released with Chanel’s Côte d’Azur Makeup Collection late last year.
It came out in the US the day I was leaving New York and I hated that I missed the chance to get my hands on it.
Luckily, Tatin spotted Riva while shopping in Hong Kong and grabbed one for me. And the awesome part? She got it for HK$180, the same price as other Chanel shades. In the US, Riva was sold for $27, $2 more than the last limited edition release.
To say that I was excited to try Riva on my nails is an understatement. My big love for Chanel polish is no secret and I was sure I was going to love Riva.
But here’s the thing – I had no idea that Riva was such a freaking diva.
And she is. She really is.
I love Chanel polish for the rich pigment and fantastic formula. But Riva is unlike any other Chanel polish I’ve met.
The first time I tried to paint my nails with Riva, it took me a long time. A long long time. I had to keep redoing nail after nail.
It was sheer and thick and streaky – a deadly combination of qualities.
This was three coats and there were still some bald patches.
Riva is a cross between jelly and cream, thus the need for multiple coats.
I soon realized that waiting a few minutes between coats helped a lot.
And when I was done, Riva was so freaking pretty that I almost forgot how difficult the application was. Almost.
Here’s the funny thing – a couple of hours after I painted my nails with Riva, Jill asked me to go out and get our nails done at our favorite place.
Cool, I thought. I wanted to see my favorite nail girl use Riva. It’s time to see if Riva is really a diva or if I should just blame my crappy painting skills. But it was my favorite nail girl’s day off. So I gave the sub careful instructions. “This polish is a bit of a pain in the ass so we need to be careful and wait for the coats to dry before adding a new one.”
She probably thought I was a weirdo.
I used medium coats while the sub used thin coats. As a result, at the end of my second Riva mani, the color wasn’t as rich as it was earlier. In fact, it was underwhelming.
And here’s the awful part – it chipped the very next day.
Today, I decided to give Riva another chance.
And I don’t know if it’s because I was more relaxed or if Riva knew I was planning to write about what a diva she’s been but she behaved much better.
She wasn’t such a diva today. Application was much easier.
These are photos of Riva with flash.
And these are photos of Riva in natural light when the sun was already on its way down.
Such a pretty pale blue.
Soft oceanic blue, as Chanel describes it.
I hope Riva doesn’t chip tomorrow.
And I hope she continues to behave.
Because I want to love Riva, I really do.
Before its name had been released, I really thought Chanel Riva was just Nouvelle Vague.
Clearly, I was wrong.
Nouvelle Vague has a lot more green in it.
Nouvelle Vague is also darker.
Nouvelle Vague just needed two coats to be opaque.
Riva needed four.
Nouvelle Vague is also creamier than Riva.
But this doesn’t mean I love Nouvelle Vague more than I love Riva.
I love them both equally.
I might even love Riva more, if she weren’t such a pain.
Don’t be fooled by Evilbayers who are claiming that Riva is now sold out and are selling bottles for as much as $55. Chanel Riva is still available on the Chanel website.
