My NARS collection

Hello ladies!

I have been loving NARS products since I discovered them some years ago. I own the NARS Sheer Glow Foundation (in Montblanc) which is my favorite foundation ever, a couple of Velvet Matte Lip pencils (you can see swatches in previous entries), a lipstick (in Funny Face), a lip lacquer (in Baby Doll), a blush (in Orgasm, of course, it's an essential!), a nail polish (in Purple Rain) and some eyeshadow duos.

EYESHADOW DUOS

NARS eyeshadows are quite varied and there is an amazing range of colors available. You can buy them in singles or in duos. Since the price of duos and singles isn't very different, I have bought some duos instead of singles (although I have some written on my Christmas list for Santa). 

I have only one cream eyeshadow duo, which is Burn It Blue, and I don't like cream eyeshadow very much because it tends to crease, but the colors are just AMAZING, and in my local store they had run out of the eyeshadow duo called Persepolis (which has similar intense turquoise and blue colors).

My favorite of all three would be Jolie Poupee, because it has a matte light lavender color and a shimmery beautiful purple, and both of them work really well and look beautiful. I think these pictures don't do justice to how pretty this duo is, but the close-up might give you a better idea.

My less favorite (although I don't dislike it) is Demon Lover, because it's a toned down color, which, if you look at the picture just below, looks like a muted version of Jolie Poupee. In this case, the purplish color is matte and the bluish gray is shimmery. This duo works very well for everyday looks and darker smokey eyes if combined with black eyeshadows or darker versions of blue and purple.

 (Burn It Blue, Jolie Poupee, Demon Lover)

(Burn It Blue; cream eyeshadow duo)

 (Jolie Poupee)

(Demon Lover)

BLUSH

I am afraid I'm not quite a person who loves having different blushes, because since I found my perfect color, Orgasm, I haven't needed any other color just yet. Orgasm is a beautiful pink coral with some fine shimmer which doesn't show up but looks amazing under every light.

(Orgasm)

You can see the goldish shimmer under the light, but it disappears once applied on the cheeks.

LIPSTICK

I love love love lipsticks, but I have quite a collection so I only buy a new one when I think its color is too attractive not to have. NARS lipsticks are quite expensive (the same as eyeshadows, etc.) so I only own one lipstick, but it has soon become one of my favorites, due to the fact that the color is so BEAUTIFUL. I can't wear it on a daily basis, but I do use it when I go out with my friends or when I want to look especially nice.

(Funny Face)

It's a bright fuchsia, but I think these pictures don't do justice to how beautiful it really looks.

LIP LACQUER

As you already know, I love lip products, but in this case, I raved about this product for some time. The problem is, it didn't look as good on me as I would've liked but the finish is beautiful and I think any other person might've loved it for more than I did. My problem is the color is too light for my pigmented lips.

 (Baby Doll)

Ok, looks at THIS! It looks so beautiful. I am definitely going to try it again, 

because I just feel bad not giving it another chance!

NAIL POLISH

I am a downright nail polish junkie. I know, my family knows, my friends know. And that's okay. But I am a cheap nail polish junkie. I mean, I don't like to spend too much on nail polish, even if my collection is outrageously large. I haven't got any China Glaze, or Essie, etc. products because they're not sold in Spain. But most of my collection is Kiko Milano, and I have them in every color, every finish, etc. (I LOVE THEM) and they are quite cheap.

So, when I bought my NARS nail polish, I just did it because it was the most amazing color I had ever seen and I HAD to have it. Since my favorite color is purple, and I had no purple nail polishes, I think it was just fair that it was way more expensive than the rest of my nail polishes. You do pay for quality at NARS, that's what I always tell my mother when she says I buy too many expensive NARS products.

(Purple Rain)

The flash picture didn't pick up the pinkish undertones and shimmer of the purple nail polish. 

Isn't it just BEAUTIFUL?

P.S. I'm wearing Kiko Milano's black nail polish on my nails.

(Last but not least)

FOUNDATION (SHEER GLOW)

(Montblanc)

I had never found my perfect match, because I have quite a pale skin but I have yellow undertones, and many brands haven't got a wide range of colors in the foundation department. When I tried out this foundation, I just jumped with excitement! It's my perfect color match and it looks amazing on my skin! 

The only problem I have with this foundation is that my skin is combination, so some hours after applying it, my T-zone starts getting greasy and the foundation starts moving around, with the result of having rubbed off after 4 or 5 hours after application.

CONCLUSION

I will not review the Nars V.M. Lip pencils because I have already done this in a previous post. About NARS, oh.. what to say? I am in love with all of their products. This Christmas, my wishlist will be full of single eyeshadows from this brand (for my Christmas list, check out my next post) and some duos I haven't been able to get before. 

NARS love to you all,

Maria.

Products I love: NARS VELVET MATTE LIP PENCILS

You might have heard about them, or maybe even you already own some of them, but NARS Velvet matte lip pencils are life-changing for me. Why? For starters, I am a lip junkie, and I own dozens and dozens of lipsticks, and many of them have similar colors, although I do try to vary a little when buying new ones. 

I love reds, you must know, but I am not a red-wearing person. Maybe I don't have the perfect red for my skin (very pale with yellow undertones) or maybe I'm wearing them in a way I shouldn't. The thing is, I mastered eye makeup and I didn't bother too much with dark lipsticks (and I'm referring to any kind of tones different to nudes) which was a BIG MISTAKE.

That said, I love these lip products because they're so easy to apply and there are a wide range of colors to choose from. I am now going to show you the ones I own and some swatches.

These are all five of them:

(Left to right:) Damned, Cruella, Sex Machine, Dragon girl, Belle de jour.

(Left to right:) Damned, Cruella, Dragon girl, Sex machine, Belle de jour.

(I apologize for the bad conditions some of these are in, because some caps have been peeling some plastic off, and my bad, I haven't sharpened these for the pictures. PLEASE, do excuse me.)

Damned

My "Damned" lip swatch was really really bad, but I would describe it as a really toned down reddish fuchsia (sort of purplish), which isn't bright, but dark and dull. I actually, don't like it too much, I made a mistake when I picked it up at the NARS counter. I do believe people's recommendations are always nice to check out, but I shouldn't have NEVER bought this color.

It does look nice on darker skins, but not on my very pale one. Period.

Cruella

See? This is what I meant when I said "not in good conditions." It's the second color I picked up ever from Nars, just after Sex machine. It's a really nice brick red, which does work quite well although it somewhat clashes with my skin tone again, but it looks way nicer than Damned, that's for sure. It's a dark red, but not reddish brown sort of dark, and it can even look kind of bright in some flash pictures. (Really quick application in the next picture, I am aware it's a terrible mess, I'm sorry.)

Dragon girl

(a.k.a my love at first sight)

It looks like a bright fuchsia, right? But it isn't, I assure you, it's a pinkish bright red, that's perfect both for summer (sooooo many months to go) and for winter (it gives a punch of color to all those neutral and dark clothes, doesn't it?). I totally recommend ANYONE to try this color, because it looks amazing on all sorts of skin tones and types. It's my favorite red of the bunch (or even of my whole lipstick collection) because it's lively and BEAUTIFUL.

Sex machine

This was the first NARS velvet matte lip pencil I bought. I was 16 or so, and my mother and I were shopping and she thought this dusty pinkish color would suit me well. As you can see, it's quite nice with pale skin, I have never seen it on darker skin tones but I would highly recommend you to go to a NARS counter to try them out, whatever your skin tone. It does look good on the picture, but in my opinion, it's way too dusty and dry, and it goes on a little chalky, so I don't think it looks that flattering (on me, at least.)

(And last but not least)

Belle de jour

This lip pencil is a nice caramel-nude tone, which looks quite nude on the lips, as you can see, although I do have quite pigmented lips, so maybe a paler lip will see an orange-brown tinge in the pencil's undertones (you can clearly see it's a light caramel brown in the product itself.) It's a pretty color, although, I have noticed that all lighter colors look chalky on the lips (on mine, at least) and that's something I don't really like.

(Tips: for correct application, you should exfoliate your lips and put some chapstick (or vaseline) on before putting these lip pencils on, because they ARE MATTE, which tends to mean that they dry your lips after some time on. They don't bleed, though, so you need no lip liner underneath this product.)

That said, I hope you check the full collection out, because it is A-MOH-ZING. 

Good night ladies,

Maria.