Review: Chanel Sculpting Veil Notorious

You well remember this notorious sucker, don't you? It was flying off the shelf everywhere last year. One search on Google, you'll see millions of photos on millions of beauty blogs. I feel like everybody owns it. And I bought into the hype. I rushed to Neiman Marcus to get it without even trying it on. Why? Because I thought I'd look seductive like this. Because Neiman ran out of tester. Because EVERYONE was talking about it. Because I began to succeed in a decent contouring, which I battled for years. I regret. 

Now this post won't be a complete rant on Chanel Sculpting Veil Notorious ($43 for 0.14 oz). Instead I'll tell you why I'm not impressed with everything about it.

Notorious is a sheer shimmery grey with a tiny hint of mauve. It's smaller than a regular Chanel round blush (0.21 oz) and was priced the same. Not a good sign! On my cheeks, it's more wearable than in the pan. I found it look more flattering in the photos as the camera generally takes away 20% color intensity. So it's kind of believable that I have defined cheeks. It does give me that runway high-fashion fierce cheeks. If I just stopped here then I like it. However, this grey color however doesn't complement my skin tone in real life. It's just off and unnatural looking. My hubby was asking me why my cheeks looked grey. Oops!!!! I did blend it out and used a very light hand.

Then I tried Notorious as an eyeshadow. Grey is one of my favorite eyeshadow colors so I expected to love it. Nah. Not at all. Notorious is so sheer and doesn't hold off until I finish applying my makeup. The texture is dry and a little hard that requires 3-4 layers for the color to show up on my primed lids. I can deal with the low pigmentation but I dislike the texture. *Sign*

If you have cooler and lighter skin tone than mine, Notorious will probably flatter you better. It doesn't have enough depth to show up without looking hollow on me. Until today I haven't figured out how to coordinate it with the rest of my makeup. I think it suits editorial makeups better than everyday.

Swatched under direct sunlight

From all the reviews I've read so far, people either love Notorious or hate it. This shade is definitely more tricky to pull off than friendly bronzer or brown-based contour powder. I agree with Lily of ChloeAsh that Chanel Notorious isn't easy for someone how's new to contouring. 

Bottom line. Not for me. The quality isn't as good as regular Chanel blushes. And it's more expensive.

Did you get Chanel Notorious? If you passed it or missed it, what did you think? I know some of you really love it. I would love to hear your thoughts.