Dior’s Spring 2011 collection is heavy on grey, and there are two new nail polishes in grey and pink.  They’re already available on Nordstrom.com, and they say that they’re Nordstrom exclusives.  I’ve been happy with the recent Dior nail polishes, including the big wide brush, so I’ve been looking forward to trying out these new colors.  I have swatches and a few comparisons coming up.

I’ll start with the Pink, labelled Rose Fanfreluche, or Pink Boa.  I am a sucker for the French-y packaging!  When I pulled this one out of its box, I almost gasped–it’s really nice and vibrant, a gorgeous creamy pink that leans slightly peach.  Dior calls it boudoir pink in the promos, and it really is–it’s like the Platonic form of adult pink.  In the bottle.  When I tried to apply it, I was not happy.  This was due to a combination of the poor condition of my nails and the way that the Dior creme formula is very different from the Dior shimmer formula.  The big brush suddenly seemed like a liability-it drug the polish off my nails in spots, it glopped too much on, and I couldn’t get close enough to the sides of my nails for fear of painting all over myself.  This polish is very sheer, and even with three coats you can see every problem my nails are having, including being stained yellow from remover at the ends and having a peely middle fingernail.  It also looks like a more conventional, bluer pink on my nails than it does in the bottle.

It’s hard to see in my pictures, but there is a slight hidden shimmer in the color, that only shows up in direct sun.  In the shade, it looks cooler:

So, moving along to the grey, Gris Montaigne was originally released in the limited edition Gris City collection, but now it’s available more generally.  This one is also a creme with a very slight shimmer that doesn’t really show up on the nail.  I had to use three coats of this for opacity as well, although it did apply better than the pink.  This grey surprised me with how dark it dries, darker on the nail than in the bottle.  I do really like this one, it’s somehow warmer and more purple than the other grey cremes I pulled to compare.  I wondered how it would compare to something like Zoya’s Kelly or CND’s Asphalt, but although I have eyed both of those I don’t have them. (Ed: I do have Kelly now)

In the picture below, I have Gris Montaige on my index finger, Rescue Beauty Lounge Stormy on my middle finger, Lancome Le Gris L’Wren on my ring finger, and Gris Montaigne again on my pinky.  I do like Gris Montaigne the best out of these, I think – it’s a warmer, less blue-grey color and it seems more suited to spring.

In comparison to these other grey cremes, Gris Montaigne (Ed: now also available at Sephora.com)  looks even warmer than it does by itself.  I think this one is the winner of the Spring 2011 Dior polishes.