Chanel Fall 2011 Picks

In the last several weeks I purchased some items from Chanel's Fall 2011 collection and from the Byzance Collection, which was just launched, and exclusive to Chanel boutiques.  I only picked up a few pieces in total, only the items that I felt I really needed to have.

From the Fall 2011 collection I picked up:

• Chanel Illusion D'Ombre in Epatant #84
• Chanel Illusion D'Ombre in Fantasme #81
• Chanel Le Vernis in Graphite #529

From the Byzance collection, I only picked up the eyeshadow quad in Topkapi

I didn't swatch the products because there are a million blogs out there with really great high quality swatches, and I also didn't want to ruin the pattern on the eyeshadows by doing a heavy swatch. 

The reason why I picked these items is that I think theyre the most unique products to come from the collections.  Epatant was the must have mousse eyeshadow which I find to be gorgeous and haven't seen anything come close (except for the green in Chanel's Spring 2011 eyeshadow quint, which isn't as metallic as Epatant).  Fantasme, although it's not as pigmented as the other shadows, is quite versatile and can be worn alone or over other eyeshadows to give your eyes a dramatic glittery effect, not suitable for every day wear.  In fact, I thought that the black mousse shadow could be recreated by taking a heavy black shadow and swiping Fantasme on top (also a reason I did not pick this one up).  I also didn't think the reddish, purplish, or the peachy champagne eye shadows were unique enough, as I have a million eyeshadows similar in tone to these products.

From the Byzance collection I only picked up the eyeshadow quad for the silvery taupe and the gold eyeshadows.  Of the two blushes, Rouge just didn't seem like something I could pull off, given my skin is very fair and it would only make me look doll-like (in my opinion).  The Or blush seemed more of a highlighter to me than a blush. The red lipstick looked gorgeous, but I have so many red lipsticks that I never wear, I figured it would just go into the pile along with the rest.

Overall, while I think there were some amazing products in these two collections, I personally didn't feel I needed anything other than the products I purchased.  I guess I wasn't inspired enough or felt like I could get enough use out of the other products to pick them up, especially when my makeup collection is already pretty big, and counter space/storage space for makeup is really limited in typical NYC apartments.  The products I featured in this post I felt were the best and the "must haves" of these collections, I hope others agree!