NARS

Get Glossy Gorgeousness AND a Creamy Finish With the NARS Velvet Lip Glides

August 17th, 2016 by Karen 32 Comments

You know what happens when you say to Siri, “Yo, Siri, take me to the nexus of liquid lipstick and gloss!” and you hop into your Honda Civic (that you lovingly refer to as “Murray”), and Siri keeps saying nonsensical things like, “Keep right, then keep right,” and even though you’re thinking, “Siri, you WACK, girl,” you listen to her anyway, because you have a feeling that you’ll still end up someplace good?

And then you roll up to this little slice of NARS heaven known as the NARS Velvet Lip Glides, and you think to yourself, THANK YOU, LAWD, FOR HOOP EARRINGS, PIZZA SLICES AND THE NEW NARS VELVET LIP GLIDES?

nars velvet lip glide doe foot — The NARS Velvet Lip Glide doe-foot

Yup, NARS did it again.

Just plunge an arrow — and don’t even bother with the bow — straight into my makeup-loving heart, because these liquid lipsticks (Or are they glosses? It’s hard to tell…) are true love. Like, I could dance with them at a wedding, and I’d see our entire future together.

nars velvet lip glide danceteria — Wearing NARS Velvet Lip Glide in Danceteria

Basically, these are… Honestly, I can’t figure out how to classify them. They feel like medium-weight, non-sticky glosses similar to the MAC Cremesheens, but they pack a lot of pigment and look like liquid lipsticks…except that they have a creamy finish, so they don’t dry up like liquid lipsticks, which means that your lips don’t end up looking like a cat butt. 🙂

They start off moderately shiny and stay that way for about an hour before wearing down to a soft matte finish. I find that I usually have to reapply them after about three hours.

nars velvet lip glide bound — Wearing NARS Velvet Lip Glide in Bound

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NARS, You’re a Peach for Introducing 6 New Shades of Radiant Creamy Concealer

August 3rd, 2016 by Karen 14 Comments

I like eating peaches…and I like wearing peach-toned under-eye concealer.

What does this have to do with NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer?

Well, the whole “eating peaches” bit has absolutely nothing to do with it. I’m just super obsessed with peaches right now, and I got a huge box from Trader Joe’s last week, so I’ve been in peach heaven.

But the thing about peach-toned concealer is marginally related, because NARS just added six new Radiant Creamy Concealer shades to the line, and a couple of them have peachy undertones, woo-hoo!

Back when NARS first released their creamy, full-coverage Radiant Creamy Concealers, it shook up the makeup world. A lot of peeps fell in love (myself included), because of how good they were/are at doing so many things.

And they completely cover everything.

EVERY. FRICKIN’. THING.

Yet somehow still look natural.

nars radiant creamy concealer swatches 1 — From the left, NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer in Chantilly, Vanilla, Creme Brulee (NEW) and Canelle (NEW)

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The Six New NARS Hardwired Eyeshadow Shades for Fall 2016

July 22nd, 2016 by Karen 22 Comments

Could there be a hidden corner of the human brain tucked away near the back that makes us hardwired to make grabby hands whenever we see shimmery, sparkly, glittery things?

Solely based on my experience, I think the answer to that is “yes,” LOL! Because homegirl wants ALL OF THE GLITTERS. 🙂

All of them…

I definitely feel that familiar, inescapable tug in my gut when I open the NARS Hardwired Eyeshadows.

NARS is adding six new shades for fall, coming exclusively to Sephora starting August 1, and holy wow! — the shimmer.

Like the previously released Hardwired Eyeshadow shades, these shine bright enough to see from across a room — heck, or across town. Maybe from across state lines, even.

These highly pigmented powder shadows have varying levels of glitter, shimmer and pearl, so you get a lot of light reflecting back when you pop them on your skin. It’s very eye-catching.

nars hardwired parallax — Wearing NARS Hardwired Eyeshadow in Parallax on my lids

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The New NARS Sculpting Multiples: Twice as Nice and Coming Soon to Sephora

July 18th, 2016 by Karen 15 Comments

The new $39 NARS Sculpting Multiples are twice as nice, because you get, not one, but two shades in each stick — two shades of creamy NARS Mutiple goodness, which you can wear on your eyes, your cheeks, your lips, or to sculpt and highlight yo’ face.

A regular single NARS Mulitple stick also sells for $39, so these are double-your-pleasure duos.

One of the shades in each duo is a lighter shade for highlighting, and the other is a darker shade for contouring.

I’m not really a big contour-er (is that a word?), but if you are, that’s what the darker shades are for. Me? I’m more about the highlight (although I will also play with the countour shades too). 🙂

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NARS Fall 2016 First Impressions

July 6th, 2016 by Karen 16 Comments

Ooh, the NARS Fall 2016 collection makes me wanna unleash my inner artiste!

Look at all those pencils… My goodness. I’m tempted to grab one of my adult color books.

Coming July 15 to NARS boutiques and the NARS website, and sometime in August to Sephora and NARS counters, this one’s mostly about the pencils.

nars fall 2016 eyeliner — NARS Velvet Eyeliners from the left in Black Moon, Mambo, Curacao, Kaliste, London, Blue Lotus, Last Frontier, Las Pozas and Darklight ($24 each)

The big news? The new $24 NARS Velvet Eyeliners, which are coming in nine shades. They’re like smokey kohls…

They get soft and smooth, so you can smudge and smoke ’em out, making them great bases for smokey eyes looks and, of course, you can also use them to line your lash and water lines.

On my water lines, though, I get some transferring onto the skin along my lash lines, which isn’t a big deal to me, because I just end up smooshing and smudging them out anyway (’cause homegirl likes it SMOKAYYYY!), but it’s there.

The collection also includes two NARS contour blush duos, three eyeshadows and two red matte lip pencils.

nars fall 2016 contour blush — The $42 NARS Contour Blushes in Melina (left) and Talia (right)

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The Day in Beauty Vol. 20: The New $49 NARS Survival Kit 2, Connor Claire Cuteness and Wine for Yo’ Cat

June 25th, 2016 by Karen 31 Comments

We made it to Saturday, babe! Great job. 🙂 Wherever you are, I hope you have a nice weekend lined up.

I felt like switching up my makeup game today because I’ve been all about black eyeliner, beige and brown lids and nude lips lately. I love that look (it’s easy), but I felt like doing something different, hence the NARS Survival Kit 2 ($59), the second of two new limited edition sets coming soon from NARS (July 1 exclusively to NARS counters at Nordie’s). This one comes with two eyeshadows, two blushes, a mini gloss and a mini mascara.

This one incorporates color in a fresh way with everyday shades that aren’t intimidating, but also aren’t really typical of nude/neutral looks.

Beginning with Tokyo II Eyeshadow, a light satiny violet, which creates an absolutely gorgeous wash of color on the lids, ya know, if you don’t have a lot of time to get ready and you want to wear color, I think Tokyo II is a great way to go. Here I quickly buffed it on my lids with a domed brush and blended out the edges with a tapered brush.

Rich, warm reddish brown Galapagos, which is one of my absolute favorite NARS shadows, has tiny flecks of golden glitter. It also makes an appearance in the palette in this kit.

SO pretty and SO much hotness in smokey eyes, especially with a black base under it. Here, though, I decided to keep it simple, since I only gave myself 20 minutes to get ready this morning, so I used Galapagos as a liner by wetting an angled brush (the NARS #47, which I think is THE BEST angled brush for winged liner!), then applied Galapagos on my upper lash lines.

Wetting the brush intensifies the shadow and makes the brown richer and yummier and more milk chocolatey…and also makes the gold flecks really come through.

nars survival kit 2 k — Wearing NARS Survival Kit 2 on my eyes, cheeks and lips

Of the two blushes in this kit, Modesty and Daydream, Daydream is a satiny mid-toned peachy pink kinda like NARS Orgasm, but without the golden shimmer running through it. Sometimes I like colors like Daydream a little more than Orgasm, to be honest, because they don’t come with the same shimmery gold drama.

I mean, Orgasm’s really pretty too, but if you’re having a “big pore day,” it’s not always easy to wear.

And Modesty works well as a warm golden beige highlighter. I only need to use a little because it’s pretty shimmery and intense.

The kit also comes with a juicy, plummy red gloss called Phantasia. It’s so pigmented that it’s almost like wearing a liquid lipstick, but the glossy aspect of the gloss subsides over a few hours, leaving behind a soft stain.

nars survival kit 2 packaging — The NARS Survival Kit 2 packaging

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Sometimes Your Survival Depends on a Pretty Pink, and for Those Times There’s the NARS Survival Kit 1

June 23rd, 2016 by Karen 15 Comments

“I need makeup to survive!” she exhaled, placing the back of her left hand against her forehead melodramatically and tipping her head.

OK…so maybe eyeshadow, blush, gloss and mascara aren’t as important to your day-to-day survival as, you know, food and water, but they’re handy to have around! — especially when they come in chic limited edition packaging like they do in the new NARS Survival Kit 1.

The new limited edition set will cost $59 when it arrives in the Promised Land, also known as Nordstrom stores and the Nordstrom website, July 1st with a compact containing two powder eyeshadows and two powder blushes, a mini lipgloss and a mini mascara.

NARS Survival Kit 1

Naiade Eyeshadow
Audacious Mascara
Kalahari II Eyeshadow
Off Limits Blush
Mata Hari Blush
Party Girl Lip Gloss

I’d like to make a shout-out to Kalahari II, one of the eyeshadows in this kit. It’s a glistening taupe-plum, and I think it’s one of those “Ya gotta have it!” pieces from NARS. I’ve been wearing it for years (it’s also in the permanent collection). It lasts all day long and looks amaze-balls with bronze eyeshadow and/or liner.

nars survival kit 1 swatches — NARS Survival Kit 1 swatches

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The $325 NARS Cult Survival Kit: 11 Full-Sized Classics to Survive Work Days, Date Nights and the Zombie Apocalypse

June 22nd, 2016 by Karen 27 Comments

nars cult survival kitnars cult survival kit — The new limited edition $325 (yes, that’s the price) NARS Cult Survival Kit

Oh, NARS… You totally feel me dawg. I like how your new splurge-arific Cult Survival Kit, despite costing $325, doesn’t actually contain anything one might expect to find in a real life survival kit.

No water purification tablets, matches, heirloom seeds or weapons.

But you DO get full-sized versions of 11 NARS products.

Granted, would you really be carrying a fancy white lacquered box filled with makeup goodies into the sunset while roving gangs or zombies were chasing you? Probably not…although I might, because that’s how I roll. 🙂

Should the world fall apart, I’d like to wear a little gloss — just a little — until the zombies eat my brains.

nars cult survival kit — Everything comes in this sturdy white lacquered box

This kit is $325 bones, dude! But before you wave your hand and say, “Oh, hell no, girl,” check it: everything in it is full sized, and they’re all NARS cult classics handpicked by the man, the myth, the legend himself, François Nars.

Even at $325 for this kit, you are saving a little money, because if you were to purchase each of these items separately, it would cost you $361, so not only do you score $36 in savings, you also get a chic keepsake box.

nars cult survival kit open — What’s inside?

OK, so what have we got up in this mix? To start, two blushes — matte red Exhibit A and golden peach Orgasm (yes…Orgasm).

nars cult survival kit orgasm exhibit a — Blushes in Orgasm (left) and Exhibit A (right)

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