Kanebo Coffret D'or Beauty Sharp Designer Face Color 02 Pure Pink (blush) review/ swatch

As usual I'm seriously lagging behind on using any new purchases lol. I was looking to bring some items to my holiday (which is a good time to experiment with new things while I have time on some nights to do a more full makeup). 

I was looking for maybe 2 blushes to bring with me on holiday that's versatile. Looking at this palette I thought, of course, it has blush, highlighter, contour plus a dual end brush, what could be more convenient!

You can get a palette to fit these blushes in that will have a mirror, but I consider it rather unnecessary as the item on its own comes in a plastic pull-out container which works just fine.

You pull it out like photo below:

Instructions, suggested use etc:

Now for the actual item, 02 Pure Pink contains a patterned blush (I think the color variations goes all the way down to the base of the blush powder), and on the bottom 3 shades for highlight and contour.

Overall the whole thing is surprisingly very unpigmented- I swatched it below in the same order as how it is arranged in the palette. Pink on top, and 3 different shades on bottom row from left to right.

As you can see the pink is a pale pastel and rather sheer. However it's probably the most pigmented color in the palette and can be built up to a more pastel pink blush. The bottom shades of highlighter to contour have quite little pigmentation.

All shades have slight shimmer but not really pore emphasizing so I consider it very subtle.

Overall I know a lot of reviews complained about the sheerness, but I find it still shows up on my skin and looks even nicer when layered with other things. e.g. the highlighter shade goes well as a really subtle highlight under eye and on brow bone etc, while the pink adds a nice luminosity to other more pigmented blushes. The contour is fool proof (though even slightly too subtle for me- it will never look like a bronzer) and very easy to use for beginners.

Rating 3.5/5

Kanebo Coffret D'or Nail Gel Top Coat N review/ swatch

Ok I couldn't quite find this top coat on the Coffret D'or website- there's a Gel Mode Top Coat on the website which is probably the 2011 version of this one.

There are two topcoats on the website at the moment, there's a gel top coat (which just means it's gel-like finish like those gel-nails) versus the jewlite topcoat (which is in a square bottle).

This was purchased in 2010. Look how gorgeous the bottle design is- it's like a diamond cut crystal blue bottle (the topcoat is clear). It contains 12ml.

This is what it should look like when purchased- there's a bunch of stickers on it but easily (and meant to be) taken off.

The ingredients etc in the back :

The bristle is just the right size, it's not as big as OPI prowide brushes, this is more like standard nailpolish bristle size (e.g. Chanel's bristles).

Swatch below with 2 coats of Chanel 521 rose cache nail polish before top coat:

Here's after topcoat- see it adds a slight gloss to the polish.

Overall I like the topcoat during applicator, it glided on really easily (I didn't have to wait for the Chanel polish to dry completely, I usually just do two coats of polish, from right hand, then left hand, then I go back to the right hand and start applying the topcoat from the first finger I painted with colored nail polish before).

It doesn't seem to have much issue with gooping up (sometimes the topcoat can just apply too thick a layer). It has a medium gloss - I do not find it to be more shiny than my usual Seche vite top coat. It dries pretty fast compared to a lot of other top coats but not as quick as Seche vite. I probably finish both my nails and have to wait for 10 minutes (and careful not to ding my nails on anything hard otherwise it will still leave a dent).

It has a typical nail polish smell, not too strong. However the biggest issue I had with this was the tiny air bubbles- there are some super tiny bubbles (I didn't shake the topcoat before application either). It's not visible in the photos but I did notice some tiny bubbles in real life. 

Overall 3.5/5. It's not bad at all compared to a lot of other top coats I've used, but I wish it dried faster and also have less bubbling issues. I have no issue with using this up but not sure if I would repurchase.

Kanebo Coffret D'or Nail Color PK155 (2011) swatch / review

This is part of the Japan haul, for Kanebo Coffret D'or new 2011 nail polish collections. The bottles are now in a roundish bottle (each contains 8ml), as opposed to the squarish ones from 2010.

The consistency has not varied much against 2010 versions, i.e. it depends on which color and finish you get. While the color codes do not spell out the finishes, I believe when marketing the product Coffret D'or does allocate the polishes into 'quardrants' like shine, clear, shimmer etc for different finishes.

In the bottle it looks like a slightly sheer iridescent light pink , not a full pearl to give a pearlised finish or that opacity, but more like very very fine shimmers that more resembles an iridescence.

On the nails it reminds me of OPI Princesses Rule! or something, but not as sparkly but just the color base is similar. Sheerish pink. It does not offer full coverage even with 2 or 3 coats, it will still be sheer, just that the iridescence increases.

Now, here comes the bit where I explain why I do not love this polish- it's a bit plain, while in photos it does show up as a pretty soft lightly sparkly pink, in real life there are some random 'glitters' spreaded throughout. Which means the surface does not feel flat and it actually makes it look uneven in real life (you can actually feel the bumpiness too). The glitters are just so unnecessary additions to this shade.

See below photo. It still doesn't quite capture the very sparse glitters but  you can see the surface looks a bit uneven on one of the finger tips.

The finish is also not fully glossy and shiny- there is some gloss to it but not the usual high-shine I would expect from a good quality polish. I didn't follow with a topcoat.

It still lasting well after 3 days though- have not experienced chipping yet.

Overall 4/5 for the wear but 2.5/5 for the color and finish. It is just somewhat lacking. If this was priced at a drugstore price for like $3USD or 4 USD a bottle that's fine with me, but Coffret D'or polishes are a bit pricier than that (depending on whether you bought from discounted drugstores or not you are probably still looking at 8USD+ ).

Kanebo Coffret D'or Jewelight Nail Color Polish review (BE73/PK150/PK151/OR49/PU20/SV14/GD18)

Here are the rest of the Coffret D'or Jewelight Nail Color shades (from 2009 and 2010). I will try to swatch / review these progressively, but you can get an idea of the color first. They typically apply very close color to what they look in the bottle.

From left to right:

BE73- sparkly ivory chamapgne with ultra fine shimmers.
PK150- french soft pink with very few subtle shimmers. It's a fair bit less sparkly than BE73.
PK151- Semi-translucent pink petal that is glossy and with a gold fine shimmer throughout.
OR49- translucent summer orange (that still builds up to a orange tinge) with gold shimmers.
PU20- lavender purple that can be built up to semi opaque with rainbow shimmers.
SV14- sparkly silvery shimmer with a few flecks of rainbow shimmers.
GD18- deeper champagne gold (without bordering to yellow gold) with dense gold shimmers.

SV14 on left, GD18 on right

PK150 left, OR49 on right

OR49

PK150

PU20

BE73 and PK150

Kanebo Coffret D'or Jewelight Nail Color Polish Lacquer BE73 review/ swatch

Here's a swatch of another Coffret D'or Jewelight Nail color in "BE73". BE stands for Beige series.

BE73 really has a pretty jewel finish, in the bottle you can see how it's a very pale champagne beige gold with shimmesr. The shimmers are extremely fine, which doesn't make it foiled nor metallic nor frosty nor iridescent. I would say it's sparkly finish.

Here it is- it's so clean and pretty. 3 coats would bring out the more ivory white gold undertone, while 2 coats look more translucent sparkly champagne. It reminds me of a less opaque and frosty version of OPI I Only Drink Champagne.

On the left is 3 coats, on the right is 2 coats.

Overall 5/5. This is a pretty versatile color. I can see it being a good wedding nail color or for day to day office wear. The consistency is smooth and easy to apply. Drying time is moderate. (I use seche vite topcoat over it).

Kanebo Coffret D'or Jewelite Nail Color Polish PK148 review/ swatch

Kanebo Coffret D'or Jewlite Nail colors are released since early 2010, with new colors added constantly to the line (and occassional bottle revamps).

I'm reviewing "PK148", which is a light shimmering pink pearl, it's like cherry blossom pink, very pretty and dlicate.

You can see the soft shimmers infused in the polish:

Comes with average sized bristles, not as great as OPI Pro-wide brushes, but works fine for me.

Here it is, 2 coats on nails. The shimmers are extremely fine which really makes this a pearly finish instead of shimmery. However it is not frosty at all. It's relatively opaque for a light color like this.

 

Overall 5/5. A very pretty feminine pink, I actually cannot think of an Essie or OPI dupe for this. (Though the Japanese brands tends to release a lot of similar colors to this).

Kanebo Coffret D'or Nail Color OR43 swatch, PK152, YL08 (Summer 2010)

This is a bit of a late review given Coffret D'or is already releasing the 2011 Summer/Autumn new nail colors (and I think the packaging may have changed already?). Anyway, here were the 2010 summer edition colors, OR43, PK152 and YL08. I've only swatched OR-43 so far.

PK152 is a blossom light pink with silver flecks, OR43 is an apricot nude with silver/nude flecks of shimmer, YL08 is a very soft yellow with silver shimmers. They are all very soft, feminine colors easily wearable for spring and summer.

Here's the individual shots of OR43 which I will swatch today.

I think this picture below where I'm holding the bottle shows the best color both on nails and in the bottle- you can see the shimmers more clearly. On the nails it's a very gentle shimmer, just fine silver shimmers throughout evenly, it's a gorgeous office friendly color. Looks so feminine and pretty, usually the fear of wearing apricot nudes is it brings out too much yellowness or sallowness in my skintone, but this one doesn't.

A few more different shots under different lights and rooms to show what it looks like.

Coffret D'or nail colors wears very well, it lasts a good 4-5 days for me (which is how often I remove my polishes). I'm wearing seche vite top coat in these pictures and I think the base coat was Orly bonder.

The formula of Coffret d'or nailpolishes themselves are NOT quick dry, as is often with most Japanese nailpolishes. However a quick dry topcoat like Seche Vite easily fixes this problem, so my drying time is just similar  any OPI polishes with Seche vite on top.

Overall rating 5/5. You can find these on ebay or just google, a few websites probably sells these.

Products reviewed above are all self funded. Not affiliation with the brand.