I definitely took the slow boat in acquiring this much chatted about colour; Chanel released Black Pearl back in December 2010. I'm certainly not a hip trendsetter with some of my finds, but I was inspired to purchase this shade upon getting a manicure at the lovely Park Hyatt Milan. I would like to reiterate here I am by no means spoiled - who am I kidding? The experience of getting a manicure at their spa was decadent and much needed after spending two weeks travelling around Tuscany, oh woe is me. Upon arriving to Milan for the second time on our trip, I booked my appointment and was squeezed in that same afternoon. A short elevator ride away and the typical exchange of pleasantries (in broken Italian mind you) was all that stood in my way. I was asked to lay down on a bed and relax and all I could think was am I getting a massage instead, crap?! But nope, that's their standard way of giving a manicure at this calming retreat, who knew? Laying down was probably the worst thing I could've done after just arriving from Florence by train; I was tired and growing semi-conscious from the serence music playing in the background. The manicurist nudged me awake from a slight slumber (I was merely resting my eyes) in order to pick a colour and the only thing to catch my eye was this Statue of Liberty-hued number. Black Pearl is one part gray and two parts patina - I had to look that one up;) In the bottle it struck me to be a bit of a duo-chrome, but I didn't really see that after application. But what did appear were little bubbles, you know the ones - they show up, say hello and rain on your heavenly manicure parade. I'm not too sure why it happened, but I think it has something to do with the cuticle oil combining with the polish. I was annoyed to say the least, however, my nails looked much better from when I first walked through the door.

Before departing Italy, I dragged Scott one last time to Sephora - poor guy, he's absorbed more information about makeup than he'd care to admit thanks to me! During my final cappucino-fueled haul I made sure to grab a bottle of the lovely 513 for future adornment and this too. Last week, I finally took it out for a spin and I'll be honest it's been a while since I last painted my own nails. The only thing I owned was a nail file and cuticle trimmer, so I forced myself to hit up Myer and Petra Hair for a few other necessities, e.g., buffer, polish remover and cuticle cream. While not perfect, I think I still did a pretty good job.

A few things to note about Chanel's polish (at least for this shade):

The bottle top is deceptive, it pops off and reveals a stub - the handle was unweildy at best.
The laquer is heavy, so make sure you wipe the excess off on the inside of the bottle before applying.
I applied two coats in order to get the opaque coverage below.