There were murmurings in the beauty world during the last couple of months about a very hush hush new coterie of nail colours from Chanel. Peter Philips, it was widely rumoured, was busy at work developing a limited edition trio especially for Fashion's Night Out. Tentatively dubbed "the camouflage collection" while in development, the Chanel FNO threesome were ultimately named Les Khakis, and now they're causing the usual furore that we've come to associate with Chanel nail polish launches.
And that's despite the fact there's almost another full week to go before they're unveiled and available for purchase at Fashion's Night Out (September 8th in London; 10th in New York and Paris.)
Khaki Rose, Khaki Brun and Khaki Vert are all flat cremes and are variations on a muddied, muted military theme, making them oh so AW10. They're also oh so limited edition, and it remains to be seen if they'll even be available in Ireland. If you've already decided that you need these new neutrals in your nail varnish army, though, worry not - I've been busy sussing out dupes for all three. Now, these camo-type shades aren't exactly all over the high street - yet, give it a couple of weeks! - but with a small amount of initiative it's totally possible to get the look.
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Let's kick off with the easiest to do: Khaki Rose. This actually looks more pink in the bottle than I think it does on the nails, where the pink undertones seem to get a bit lost. If you already own Particuliere or one of its 99.9% dead-on dupes like H&M Dust & Diamonds, €3.95, or Barry M Mushroom, €4.50, they're really close enough to Khaki Rose in tone that you need not bother lusting after it. If you don't, or you just must have those pink undertones, then get yourself a bottle of Rimmel Beige Baby. I predict it will fly off the shelves just as soon as the masses get their hands on Khaki Rose and see how lookie-likey they are, so stock up now!
Khaki Brun is a brown with olive green undertones that reminds me of pond sludge (nice, eh?) and to the best of my knowledge there isn't currently anything quite like it out there. If you have a bottle of MAC Dry Martini from last year's AW09 collection, dig it out - it's a bit darker and a bit greener than Khaki Brun, but definitely from the same military family and would make a passable enough substitute. To get a more accurate colour match, you'll need to get creative. Remember that bottle of Barry M Mint Green that you bought when Jade was hot hot hot? Dig it out, and mix it with Barry M Mushroom (or similar) using a 1:3 ratio to franken your very own custom Brun-a-like shade.
Khaki Vert is the lightest of the three colours in the collection. A muted green, it's hard to get something similar on the high street - anything that doesn't have glamorous, grass, or pastel leanings is inclined to be a bit snot/Shrek-coloured.
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What it is reminding me of rather a lot is Essie Sew Psyched, which is new for AW10, but if you're up for another bit of DIYing you can recreate the look of Khaki Vert at home using Barry M Mint Green and Mushroom again, and adding a very small amount of white nail varnish to the mix. For this franken, use a 3:1 ratio of Mint Green to Mushroom and just a couple of drops of white.
Note: Frankening is the process of mixing two or more colours or textures of nail varnish to create a unique shade or finish. If you're seriously into frankening, you can buy empty bottles complete with brushes and mixing balls from sites like Transdesign. Otherwise, just clean out an old or almost empty bottle of nail varnish using nail varnish remover - obviously it's going to be easiest to do this with a bottle that used to hold clear polish! - and allow to dry fully before you begin the mixing process. It's a good idea to test your frankenpolish combo outside the bottle first to get an idea of how the colour will turn out and what ratio you should be using to create your intended shade - just mix a couple of drops together using the ratio you plan to go with on white paper or plastic, and use an orange stick to stir.
