NARS

Product Shout-Out: NARS Saint-Raphael Precision Lip Liner

September 21st, 2017 by Karen 3 Comments

OK, this is one of those off-label uses of a makeup product, so if you’re a stickler about only using products in the way they’re intended, you might want to look away. For a second.

On the other paw, if you’re open to experimentation, I found a very effective color corrector completely by accident.

Well, technically, it isn’t a face product. It’s an opaque matte orange lip pencil, NARS Precision Lip Liner in Saint-Raphael. It’s one of the new NARS Precision Lip Liners.

I’ve been using it to color-correct a desiccated former pimple that’s now purple, and it totally works.

I wouldn’t use it on under-eye circles, though, because it is a lip pencil, and I don’t know if it’s approved for use along water lines or around eyes in general. But I’ll use it on my chin, my cheeks, forehead, nose and the sides of my mouth.

Here I’m using it as a color corrector on my chin to hide Julian the pimple, who is STILL plaguing me.

We (or I) could literally talk about color correcting for hours. I think it’s fascinating, but to briefly summarize (haha, good luck to me), orange color-correcting products appear to cancel out/neutralize purple and blue shades, because orange and purple sit across from each other on the color wheel, where they stare each other down 24/7, throw shade and give each other the evil eye…

Typically, you’d apply orange color correctors on purple areas, then layer concealer or foundation on top.

karen bare skin before with julian — The before shot: Julian the pimple is obsessed with me…

nars saint raphael as color corrector — It’s called makeup improv, and I’m into it.

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NARS Precision Lip Liner Is Marvelously Melty

August 31st, 2017 by Karen 6 Comments

GIRL. In the ’90s, the lip liner situation wasn’t cute.

I wore lip liner just about every other day from approximately 1993 to 1999, and I spent between 10-60 minutes on each of those days tugging liner across my lips.

That works out to between 182.5 and 1,095 total hours of my life, because skipping liner was NOT AN OPTION. There was an unwritten rule among our crew that if you wore lipstick, you also had to do the liner. Don’t know why, but this was regarded as the truth.

Now, due to modern advancements in makeup technology (ooh!), we have ultra smooth liners now, like the NARS Precision Lip Liners, which can line and fill in lips with absolutely no tugging.

These are cool. They’re new to NARS and available now for $24 each in 26 shades.

All kinds of colors, from nudes to brights to some crazy shades, like this deep, dark black shade called Nasty Girl, which I would’ve LIVED for in 1994, because that’s when I was lining and filling in my lips with black eyeliner (!).

The thing about this pencil? It glides, slips and slides along the skin, so when you trace your lips with it, it doesn’t tug or skip.

There are other liners out there that move as easily as this. I like to call them “melty” lip liners. Urban Decay’s Glide-On pencils are similar, as are the MAC Pro-Longwear Lip Pencils, but I’ve noticed a tipping point when it comes to applying those. After a certain amount gets on my lips, they starts to look thick and heavy, especially when you layer something on top of them.

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The New NARS Velvet Matte Foundation Stick Doesn’t Stick to the Status Quo

August 23rd, 2017 by Karen 7 Comments

These new NARS Velvet Matte Foundation Sticks have me completely rethinking what I thought about stick foundations, which had previously brought up bad memories for me of thick, heavy, cake-face coverage and suffocating pores, but this new NARS incarnation feels light and looks like a tinted moisturizer…BUT IN CREAM STICK FORM.

You’re blowing my mind, NARS!

The Velvet Matte Foundation Sticks are sheer satin cream stick foundations now available in 20 shades at NARS counters and Sephora for $45 each.

The shades include…

Siberia (Light 1) — light with neutral balance of pink and yellow undertones
Mont Blanc (Light 2) — light with pink undertones
Gobi (Light 3) — light with yellow undertones
Deauville (Light 4) — light with a neutral balance of pink and yellow undertones
Fiji (Light 5) — light with yellow undertones
Ceylan (Light 6) — medium with yellow undertones
Punjab (Medium 1) — medium with golden, peachy undertones
Vallauris (Medium 1.5) — medium with pink undertone
Santa Fe (Medium 2) — medium with peachy undertones
Stromboli (Medium 3) — medium with olive undertones
Barcelona (Medium 4) — medium with golden, peachy undertones
Syracuse (Medium-Dark 1) — medium-dark with brown undertones
Tahoe (Medium-Dark 2) — medium-dark with caramel undertones
Cadiz (Medium-Dark 3) — medium-dark with caramel and red undertones
Macao (Medium-Dark 4) — medium-dark with yellow undertones
New Guinea (Medium-Dark 5) — medium-dark with red undertones
Trinidad (Dark 1) — dark with warm yellow undertones
New Orleans (Dark 2) — dark with yellow undertones
Benares (Dark 3) — dark with golden undertones
Khartoum (Dark 4) — dark with espresso undertones

nars velvet matte stick foundation swatches — Swatches from the top: Mont Blanc Light 2, Deauville Light 4, Ceylan Light 6, Vallauris Medium 1.5, Stromboli Medium 3, Syracuse Medium/Dark 1, Cadiz Medium/Dark 3

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Countdown to National Lipstick Day on July 29th! NARS Dragon Girl

July 25th, 2017 by Karen 13 Comments

Huh! I almost just called this shade “Dragon Roll,” and I do that every single time I wear it…

Why!?

Contrary to what my brain thinks, this is not a delicious sushi roll. It’s a lipstick from NARS called Dragon Girl.

I guess I just really love sushi?! (I do.)

Dragon Girl is in the NARS permanent line of Velvet Matte Lip Pencils — ya know, the ones that look like a crayon that you sharpen.

They have a matte finish, but it’s not just any old basic, flat matte finish. It has a kick to it — a light stain that gives it a softness that you don’t get from truly flat mattes. I think it makes it more approachable.

But that’s not even the main reason I’ve been all about this shade for years. Seriously, it’s my favorite NARS red, and NARS is well-known for their reds.

I’m just sayin’. There’s so many good ones!

Dragon Girl is a chameleon color because, depending on what I’m wearing on my eyes, cheeks, and even my clothes, it can look very different. Sometimes it’s a blue-red. Sometimes it’s a pink-red, or an orange-red, or sometimes it’s got a berry tone. It’s a red that works with everything, and for a desert island challenge, if I had to pick just one NARS red to wear ’til forever arrived, it would be Dragon Roll —

Girl! Dragon Girl. I did it again… 🙂

nars dragon girl swatch final — She’s a Dragon Girl

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The NARS Powermatte Pigments: The Nudes

July 6th, 2017 by Karen 9 Comments

nars get it on — Get It On! (actually…the exclamation mark is mine, because I like the oomph it adds to this tan rose’s name.)

I realize that some of the shades in this batch of nude NARS Powermatte Pigments look straight-up bold on me, but I figure they could work as nude lippies for deeper divas.

Which reminds me, that’s one thing I’ve always loved about NARS. They try to cover the color gamut with shades for lighter lovelies AND darker divas, so yay, diversity! 🙂

Today is the day, too. These new $26 Powermatte Pigments are available as of meow (here’s a more in-depth review).

These moisturizing liquid lipsticks last about five hours for me, and they have a thinner consistency than usual for their liquid brethren. They’re almost watery, and yet gloriously easy to control.

Overall, I’m all about the dainty pink nudes, like Get It On and American Woman. I also like Slow Ride, which is a brownish pink, because there’s something kinda ’90s about it.

If you, like my friend Bernadette (hey, Berna!), whom I was just talking to last week, have designs on quitting your nude lip habit and moving into bolder colors, well, you probably wouldn’t wanna get anywhere near the Powermattes, because these nudes are addictive. But girl, I won’t stop you from feeding that nude fire if you have to. ?

nars save the queen — Save the Queen — a dusty mauve

nars american woman — American Woman — a chestnut rose

nars walk this way — Walk This Way — a rosy pink

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The NARS Powermatte Pigments: The Brights and Bolds

July 6th, 2017 by Karen 11 Comments

nars low rider — Wearing the new bright peachy pink NARS Powermatte Pigment in Low Rider on my pout

If you grab one or more of the new NARS Powermatte Pigment liquid lipsticks, of which there are 20 shades that are $26 each (available starting tomorrow at NARS boutiques and the NARS website and coming July 13th to Sephora), may I gently suggest that you refrain from applying them in public? Because it is SO frightening when someone with bright red liquid lipstick all over their teeth smiles at you. In a way, it’s kind of vampire chic, but in another way, it’s f*cking scary!

My bad for not realizing that ya only need a little for full coverage…

nars get up stand up — NARS Powermatte Pigment in Get Up Stand Up, a bright pinkish coral

By the time I finished swatching this batch, which includes the bright and bold colors in the line (I’ll have pics of the nude ones soon), I figured out the best way to apply them is to take a little off the applicator before touching it to your lips.

nars give it up — NARS Powermatte Pigment in Give It Up, a fuchsia

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Soft Glam Makeup for a Friday Night With NARS Kalahari and Mekong

June 30th, 2017 by Karen 9 Comments

nars kalahari amour mac patisserie — Baby wing!

I got a little gussied up because I’m going out to dinner tonight (as if I needed an excuse to put on makeup, ha!). It’s a belated Geminis birthday dinner with my friend, Marisol, who also celebrated her birthday this month.

I’m calling this “soft glam makeup,” although that’s not my phrase. I’m borrowing it from SoCal sweetheart and makeup artist extraordinaire Vanessa Haro. Vanessa does makeup for weddings and various other photo shoots for booty-licious babes, and I love her style. It’s classic yet très schmexy, and very similar to what I like to wear.

nars kalahari eye closeup — Get a little closer

Anyway, lately I’ve been rediscovering spectacular shades from the permanent collections of some of my favorite brands, and I’m wearing a duo called NARS Kalahari in this look that I’ve worn off and on for years. It has a satiny, plummy taupe on one side and a shimmery golden taupe (you know I love those golden taupes, girl!) on the other, and both sides are drenched in pigment.

Normally when I wear this duo, I try to keep it (relatively) simple by blending the satiny plum on the outer half of my lids and my lower lash lines with a tapered blending brush. Then, I pat the shimmery golden taupe side on my inner lids with a finger and soften the edges with a matte neutral taupe or a tan shadow in the crease, and a matte beige on my brow bone (I’m wearing two NARS single pan shadows here called NARS Blondie and NARS Biarritz).

The “soft glam” part comes from combining Kalahari on the lids with the winged liner, because winged liner is cool, man! And you can modify it in an endless number of ways.

I’ve been totally into a “baby wing,” where I start from the midpoint on my upper lash line, then flick out toward the outer corner, and I do juuust the thinnest flick when I do it.

It’s noticeable, but it doesn’t take over the entire eye look, like when you use black liquid or gel liner and do a massive flick, and it takes over your entire look and you start feeling like you have to put on falsies to balance everything…

Talk about opening a can of worms.

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NARS Liquid Blush: I Have Buckets and Barrels of Love for This Line!

May 11th, 2017 by Karen 16 Comments

nars liquid blushes 1 — The new NARS Liquid Blushes

Here, let me get in there and give you a quick shoulder rub for a second, because I really wouldn’t want you to pull a muscle doing the snake as you celebrate when I tell you that the new NARS Liquid Blushes are permanent. YAY!

They’re also going to be on counters sooner than I thought. They’ll be available starting May 12th at Sephora stores, NARS boutiques and online. Again, YAY! 🙂

OK, remember the NARS Orgasm Liquid Blush I talked about from the Orgasm Collection earlier today? It’s actually one of the four Liquid Blushes coming out May 12th.

That’s, like, one sleep away!

They’re $30 each, completely new to the NARS fam (as in they’ve never been seen before), and you get a 0.5 oz. glass bottle with a pump.

What’s it like to use one?

Slippery like a silicone primer, these super concentrated liquid blushes have a consistency comparable to a runny lotion. You can wear them under or on top of powder blushes.

You’ll only need one or two drops for your cheeks, and I just use my fingers to blend them in. The liquid spreads and stretches out evenly over the skin.

They’re sooo easy to use and kinda fun, too.

Four shades based on NARS powder blushes in the permanent line

Coincidentally, all of them are shades I happen to love and have been obsessed with for years. Weird! It’s like NARS had a direct conduit into my brain or something…

Anyway, other than golden peachy pink Orgasm, there’s golden apricot Luster, golden coral Torrid and dusty rose Dolce Vita.

Dolce Vita is the closest one to its counterpart color

It’s also the darkest of the four. I think it’s the closest one to its powder counterpart. It looks like someone took the back of a spoon to a pan, crushed the powder, mixed in some liquid, and poured that into a bottle.

nars dolce vita liquid blush swatch — Dolce Vita

Less shimmer, more satin with Orgasm, Luster and Torrid

As for the Liquid Blush versions of Orgasm, Luster and Torrid, they’re much less shimmery than their powder blush versions, making them more like satins that occasionally glimmer with micro-glitter here and there. Like a base color with very little pearl.

nars lustre liquid blush swatch — Luster

I think all three look lovely when worn by themselves. They create a natural, dewy cheek effect with colors that last a full day on my dry cheeks.

nars torrid liquid blush swatch — Torrid

But the REAL fun starts when you layer these three shades with their counterpart powder blushes. It amplifies the base colors a bit more, so you see more of the coral, peach, apricot or rose.

nars dolce vita liquid blush k — Dolce Vita

The verdict

Buckets and barrels of love ? for this line! My hope is that NARS releases more shades in the future. The lovely colors layer well and don’t fade. Oh, and don’t worry — the bottle seems bigger than it looks because a little goes a long, looong way. I’m pretty sure you’ll like these, and you may even love them. Highly recommended!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen