On a scale of pink eyeshadow zombie-ness, with one being 100% human and 10 being 100% zombie, the NARS Bouthan Eyeshadow Duo gets a solid ONE. Human all the way!
First, it’s pink eyeshadow, and pink isn’t always the easiest color for me to wear on my eyes, especially bright pinks.
I always approach pink eyeshadows cautiously, because some of them can look a little sketchy (i.e., like I’ve been crying, or have been turned into zombie…a crying zombie).
Sometimes, though, when I find the right pink, everything just clicks.
And here’s a duo that falls into that category. 🙂
Maybe it’s because neither of these shades contains a lot of red, and reddish pinks, at least on my lids, enhance the zombie effect. The shadows in Bouthan are further from red and closer to purple on the color wheel.
Oh, and both of them sparkle! The darker purplish pink shade, especially, which looks very striking loaded with so much dense golden glitter.
Pink and glitter often add up to “scary!” — but not here. Both of these are user-friendly and brighten eyes surprisingly well.
I like to wear either of these — both of which, by the way, feel smooth, last all day long and blend like a dream — from my lash lines, and barely into the crease.
I’ll take a flat eyeshadow brush, pack either color on my lids, and blend out the edges with a domed shadow brush. Then, after curling my lashes and applying a layer or two of mascara — heck, I almost look wide awake! 🙂
It’s a neat effect, and one I didn’t expect from this duo.
For the record, I do see a small amount of fallout, but it’s so minimal that I’m like, “No big whoop.”
Life is challenging enough as it is, so why should pink eyeshadow have to be difficult?
With Bouthan, I guess it doesn’t! — and that’s my favorite thing about this duo.
That and the glitter. 🙂
There’s plenty of it here to satisfy the glitter junkies among us, for sure, and NARS somehow struck a beautiful balance between pigment and sparkle.
Pink plus glitter can go from great to tacky in the blink of an eye, but both of these shadows keep it elegant. Picture pink versions of NARS Night Star turned up a few notches.
PRICE: $34
AVAILABILITY: Available now at NARS counters and narscosmetics.com
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: A-
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Nice duo! I’ll keep my eye out for this.
Hi April,
Yay! Wait ’til you see the glitter in person. It’s so pretty!
This looks lovely on you, but I’m scared of pink eyeshadow 🙂 Like you said, the crying zombie look is not what I’m going for!
It happens sometimes… but this one is so not scary! Try it. 🙂
A tip for pink eyeshadow I learned from Bobbi brown is to always wear eyeliner with pink or red shadow so there’s more separation between the color and your eye so you don’t look sick 🙂
That’s a great tip, Laurel! 🙂
To be quite honest, this collection really isn’t doing anything for me. All of the color are not ones that I would really ever wear. It’s certainly interesting and fun to look at but not for me :/
I’m sad to say this is not my favorite Nars eyeshadow look that you’ve done, and I love pinks! I prefer your stronger eye looks, like Outremer.
I personally love red/pink eyeshadows and I love the way this looks. 🙂 I like the whole color scheme NARS decided to take for the spring collection 🙂 Thanks for the review
I actually really love all the colors in this collection.
I like the pinky shadows. I’m a bright eyed bushy tailed look kinda gurl. 😀
Nice duo, although I wish the pink wouldn’t have that much purplish tone.
I assume you like this duo better than last year’s Douce France trio (I forgot the season)?
I love pink eyeshadows and these look very pretty and easy to wear!
The darker one looks purple… but they do look really stunning on you! I love Nars Shadow’s… so easy to work with!
There is no way I would have predicted the look on your lids from those colors in the pan. They totally look purple! I know. Will I never learn to stop judging colors by how they look in the pan? Probably not. At least I’ll continue to be surprised by the difference. 🙂 Oh, and these pinks are great on you!
OK- don’t know how to pronounce Bouthan but I am getting an Empire Strikes Back pronunciation “many Bothin spies died to bring us this information” LOL one of the lines we love to mock from that film! On to the shadow…I was always scared of looking like I went back to the 80’s with shades like this, but you manage to make it look wearable. Love the look and the cute sweater. baby it’s cold outside! in the bay area now. stay warm
I picked this up with the blush from the collection and was worried this was going to be a pink hot mess. But you’ve shown it to be very soft, feminine, and usable (which was my original hope). I’m excited to get mine now, whereas I was a little worried before. Thanks!