Le Volume de Chanel

I always have at least one book on the go - I'll read before I go to bed, before I get up in the morning, on the train/tube to work, on the tube/train home from work - you name it, it'll be tucked into my bag. Last week, though, it ceremoniously got left behind so to fill the void, I picked up the go-to Stylist and flipped through onto the Chanel mascara giveaway. The first 30,000 people to respond would be sent a sample of the new Le Volume de Chanel*, so I gave it a shot and found it sitting on the doormat early Saturday morning.

Predictably, the packaging is top-notch simplicity, sleek and monochrome. A generous sample size, the wand is on the larger end of the scale, described as a 'snowflake' brush with alternate longer and shorter bristles. Application is quick, easy and rewarding - giving me length I'd forgotten I had, with a dark colour pay-off. I applied two coats just to be sure and was pleased with the result - for someone who's been wearing false eyelashes everyday for the past six months, this was a pleasant surprise.

There's no fragrance which I was slightly disappointed with (I love YSL's Effet Faux Cils Shocking and Lancome's Hypnose mascaras for their fragrance) and the staying power is average - doesn't rub off too easily but it's a lot easier to remove than Benefit's They're Real! (another long standing favourite).

Having not forayed much into the Chanel make up range, I was pleased that the mascara lives up to the brand's hype. Of course, Chanel's high-end reputation means prices are higher than your average drugstore brand - but of course, for those saving the pennies, there's Chanel-owned Bourjois - mid-range products at drugstore prices.

Chanel Coco Noir

Chanel's Coco has always been a huge part of my childhood - its distinctive fragrance instantly takes me back to my childhood, watching my mum get ready for many a glamorous evening. It filled the house long after my parents had left and I was in bed, under the watchful eye of a babysitter. 

I was lucky enough to be given the newest addition to the Coco family yesterday...and I'm already in love with it. The packaging is equally seductive as its scent - grapefruit and bergamot topnotes, rose and jasmine and patchouli middle notes and a sandalwood, tonka bean and white musk base - and I've been fawning over the jet-black bottle ever since I unwrapped the perfectly pristine Chanel bag.

Chanel Coco Noir(*) is available at Selfridges for £75.00 for 50ml

I'm definitely not one for sweet or florals - my signature perfume being the original Dior Addict - and so Coco Noir is right up my street. The fragrance has real lasting power, with the different notes    giving way to each other as the day progresses. Whilst Coco may lack No. 5's-bottle-sold-every-five-seconds prowess, its little sister Noir definitely makes up for it with sultry, seductive sex appeal.