Chanel Rouge Coco Shine from Summertime de Chanel 2012

There are two limited-edition Rouge Coco Shine ($32.50) lipsticks featured in Chanel's Summer 2012 Collection. Oddly, they are not the Rouge Coco Shines that are featured in Chanel's upcoming "training" materials sent to Chanel counters earlier this year. I had featured those early this month. They are extremely pretty - just not what I expected.

I did a double-take when I first saw them at Bloomingdale's. I was sure the product representative had pulled a switcheroo (the norm in some stores). Nope! She had put out exactly what Chanel sent her. I went back to purchase them when I got Chanel's e-mail featuring its summer makeup.

The shades are En Vogue, shown above at left, and Empriente, shown at right. They are perfect shades for summer - ripe, juicy, and in the oh-so-fashionable shades for this season.

I took a few swatch photos in full sun. En Vogue, the peachy coral, is shown at the top of my arm, and Empriente, a pink nude is shown below. Both are shiny, sheer, and luscious, the hallmarks of Rouge Coco Shine.

I want to assure you that I don't have skin cancer (to my knowledge). That dark red mark on my arm near the bottom left in the photo directly below is a bruise. I fear it will be with me for weeks, so I'll only mention it once. I've tried to cover it up for swatch photos, but the result was ghastly in photos. Maybe I can find my super-strength Dermablend and try again.

Rouge Coco Shine joined Chanel's lipstick offerings last year, with the amazingly successful launch of Boy. Since then, Shine has rocketed to the top of favorites lists everywhere. It lasts a reasonable amount of time, and it provides stunning color and great hydration. The only fault I can find with Rouge Coco Shine is that the shine doesn't persist as long as the color does. I like shine - it makes my lips look fuller - so I refresh after an hour with a gloss.

There are also two new Lèvres Scintillantes gloss shades in the new collection. They mirror these Rouge Coco Shine shades. One is coral, and the other is golden beige. I decided to pass on the glosses since I'm well stocked for summer. I'd love to have them, but even I have limits!

You can purchase Chanel's new Summer 2012 colors at Chanel online, where shipping is free through May 4, or at Chanel counters. Locally, I found them at Bloomingdale's Tysons before any other counter had received them. I looked again yesterday at Nordstrom, and they had still not arrived there. Same for Saks Chevy Chase. They will arrive soon, I'm sure.

Photo at top courtesy of Chanel; other photos by Best Things in Beauty