Christian Louboutin Scarabée II: A Study of Insanity

I would like to start out this post saying, I do not typically write posts about polishes I am going to return, in fact I don't think I ever have. I don't return polishes very often, I can only think of two instances when I've returned polish and they both were expensive (though nowhere near this expensive) and I think it is justifiable to return a luxury product if it doesn't meet your satisfaction. On the other hand, returning a 5 dollar mascara because you didn't like it, not a fan. Obviously stores have return policies and if you want to return it and they let you, go for it. I however, don't return things to the drugstore unless I didn't open them or it was a foundation type product that was the wrong color (that I feel is acceptable) everything else doesn't seem worth it to me. However high end makeup/polish I return that on the drop of a hat.


Anyway this is supposed to be a review and not a discussion on my return habits. Since the Louboutin polishes came out I was intrigued, I already thought spending 27 on Chanel/Dior polishes insane (though I have done it for ones I found unique) so could a 50 dollar polish really be that much better? My first instinct was, Never would I ever buy something that price that was just polish. Then after I thought about it, I told myself if something really unique came along, maybe I would, maybe. So, the other day, I was on the Nordstrom website buying myself a new bottle of the perfume I wear because I had earlier that day pumped the last bit out of my old bottle. Since I was already ordering something I figured I'd look at the nail polishes and the Christian Louboutin Scarabée collection popped up. At first glance it looks like any other duochrome collection so I just ignored it. Then, I was like "well since it is limited edition maybe I should look at photos of swatches in case I do want it, so I can buy it before it sells out". I looked at some photos and the blue color looked kind of different than other blue duochromes and I kind of had a weird last month or so and I had some spare money so I figured why not. First let me show you the excessive-mess of the packaging.

without the outer box

back of box

arm comparison, this thing is huge!

So as you can see the package is totally over the top, it was kind of exciting to get this in the mail, and at the same time kind of scary. I'm not some celebrity, I'm not living in a huge mansion, why do I need a polish this big? (actually the bottle holds the same amount as a Chanel bottle/Revlon parfumerie/Butter London, 0.4  oz). Besides feeling  too inadequate to even own this polish the color wasn't that impressive.  The particle size and the overall brightness were lacking for me. The particles were too small and the polish on the nail was too dark, not vibrant enough. In the sun it looked nice and the duo chrome did shift really well.

However, since I own a couple of similar polishes I like better, I knew this would sit on my dresser (because there is no way this is fitting in with my other polishes) and collect dust. I only have photos of this polish on one nail because I actually didn't wear this as a full manicure. After painting this on my swatch wheel I keep to record all the polishes I have I was not impressed. So I decided to just paint one nail with Scarabée II and the others with similar colors I have.

bottle size comparison, China glaze, then CL, OPI, and Chanel (L-R)

One coat (L-R): Chanel Bel-Argus, OPI This Color is Making Waves, Louboutin Scarabée II, China Glaze Deviantly Daring

Same as above but with two coats

Sunlight!

As you can see the Louboutin is much duller in the sun, and that is not something I"m a fan of. I was really hoping to like this polish because it looks beautiful from the promo photos but in real life it just wasn't worth it, especially when I prefer all the other three polishes so much more.

Had to do a panorama shot to get these all in, but here is all of the polishes together, in this lighting they look very similar in the bottle, they are definitely all different, and I think if you like this sort of polish and you have the money to spend it is different enough to have I think. For me however, I couldn't justify keeping it when I could use that money for other things. Maybe if Christian Louboutin puts out a more unique collection in the future I might buy one again, but based on their permanent colors, I don't count on that happening. I feel the same way about Burberry and DG and a lot of other brands that just started doing make up/nail polish more recently none of them really have colors that are unique enough to justify the price. While I understand there is a market for super fancy nail polish, and people who are more likely to have money to buy super fancy nail polish are probably not going to be the kind of people who want different and interesting colors.

Lastly here is a video I took while in my garden (sorry for showing off my white sunflowers, I couldn't help but put that in the background) so you could get a better idea of the bottle if you were curious. I very much hope this was helpful for anyone out there looking for a review on this polish. Since I didn't wear it as a full manicure I don't have much to say about the wear time, but I can say I found the dry time to be longer than all the other polishes I swatched it with. I saw reviews on Nordstrom's site saying these polishes wear for three weeks, but I have doubts about that, I'm lucky if I can get 3-4 days wear out of any brand.