Review: Chanel Pearl Drop Nail Colour Spring 2011

Pearl Drop, a white with intense gold pearl flash, is one of three nail polishes Chanel has released for Spring 2011. The other two are Pêche Nacrée, a soft iridescent peach-pink, (which I also purchased) and Black Pearl, a shimmery greyish black green (this was sold out at my counter, but I did see it in the tester - as well as on all the SA's hands). Of all three, Pearl Drop was my favorite. I freely admit to being a white nail polish whore- I want them all! I have dozens of different colors in my stash, but no other color looks as clean or pops as much against my skin as white. I own just about every white polish out there, give or take a few. My only gripes with white polishes is when they have too much of a silvery look, which ends up giving it a greyish look on my skintone, or when they are too sheer. Not the case with Pearl Drop (this is 2 coats + topcoat):

It can look a bit whiter at other angles:

The best part about Pearl Drop that it's the rare, quite opaque white- I only had to wear two coats to get good coverage (most of the time, I do three). I started to wonder if I had any dupes for this. Zoya Gaia instantly came to mind, but it's much sheerer. The gold pearl is much finer in Pearl Drop, while Gaia has more of a sparkle. But if you're not feeling nitpicky, or you don't feel like splurging $23 on a nail polish (Zoyas are only $7 a pop), you could lay down a coat of any white cream (like Essie Marshmallow) and do two coats of Gaia over it for a super close color. Bottle comparison:

The only other white-with-gold shades I can think of are OPI At First Sight (which was wayyy too sheer. I hated it) and Rescue Beauty Lounge Moxie (which I believe is discontinued. And also way too sheer), which has too much of a dull greenish hue to it (L- Moxie, R- Pearl Drop):

Moxie has the flash, but it just doesn't have the clean, snowflake white base that Gaia and Pearl Drop have. As best shown here:

SO. Is Pearl Drop worth it? If you really love white polishes and collect as many as you can, or you just really love Chanel, then yes. If not, stick with Zoya's Gaia- because it's close enough.