Hello Friends! Yes, it is that time again when I go crazy for NARS. I often do live swatches and product demos on Instastories on my Instagram @teacupofmakeup (click here if you are not already following me). I confess I have been a #NARSissist for years and I do have a sizeable collection. This Spring '18 collection was no disappointment and I am in love (I guess I always say that about NARS). In Australia, NARS is exclusively available to Mecca (shop their store here). For my International friends, you can find purchase NARS from Sephora or the NARS website (where you can also find stockists).
The "Wanted" eyeshadow palette and the "Under Arrest" Lip Cover were sent to me by for consideration. I do thank Mecca for these. Most grateful to you.
I do apologize in advance to my cruelty-free readers. It is unfortunate that NARS is selling into China now, which requires mandatory animal testing. My review and/or purchase of NARS products does not mean that I condone animal testing. I do hope that China changes its policy on this and step up to International standards. However, I have been a huge NARS fan for years, even before they started selling into China. My appreciation for NARS goes beyond the formula (generally good). I will find cruelty-free dupes for these products and update this blog post ASAP with them.
I did not get the full collection. I just picked what I liked. So this post only covers the following items (in the above photo) from the top, clockwise:
"Coucher De Soleil" Cheek Palette (RRP$71)
"Hell Gate" Lip Cover (RRP$38)
"Summer Fire" Lip Cover (RRP$38)
"Under Arrest" Lip Cover (RRP$38)
"Rêve Salé" Cheek Palette (RRP$71)
"Wanted" Eyeshadow Palette (RRP$86)
Prices quotes above are in AUD. Each items is a limited edition item.
I have to start with the "Wanted" palette.
I feel that with each new collection, the design and visual concept keeps getting more and more intriguing and at times rather surprising.
I generally do not like useless packaging (there are products that come with so much packaging I can hardly find the actual product). However, with the Wanted palette, the aesthetics of the design did surprise me. Okay, it was a bit excessive, but it did add to the luxuriousness of the palette.
The eyeshadow palette comes in a silver reflective box that opens like a book. There is a pop-up mechanism inside the silver box with pushes the palette up. Uhhh... I really liked this novel and almost quaint aspect of it.
The palette has 12 shades in it. It is clearly a warm toned palette. I suspect it was designed as a competitor to Urban Decay's Heat palette and Tarte's Toasted palette and many other recent warm toned palettes.
There are 3 glitter/chrome shades; 3 satin shades and 6 matte shades.
The glitter/chrome ones did at first seem a bit crumbly (especially the olive gold one) when I I first swatched them, but once applied, it looks like a liquid chrome eyeshadow. I felt that the pigmentation was a winner on these. I would recommend pressing it onto your eyelids as I did experience some minor fallout. These are shades that you want to pack on for that "kapow" effect.
The 3 satin shades stand up well against NARS' popular duo eyeshadow formula. Finely milled, with minimal fallout. They blended out well.
The 6 mattes did not disappoint, though the lightest two shades seemed a tad bit dryer than the other 4. The darker shades are creamy and blend out well. I like the fairly neutral colour choice of the mattes which makes this palette very wearable for every day. I particularly like the burnt sienna and the dark brown shades. However, these shades are fairly dupable.
YAH... I am a package whore. Gahhhhh... I LOVE product design, so I do look fairly closely at the design and overall aesthetics of each item within a collection and the overall feel of the collection in general.
I LOVE the pixelated cover and the silver tones of the eyeshadow case. It is quite different from the other two NARSissist palettes (which had black cases with a mirrored overlay on top).
The reddish/burgandy eye look trend continues this year, but I am seeing a lot of olive golds and yellows coming in (case in point: the olive gold glitter/chrome shade).
The 12 shades make for a very wearable palette and I think I will definitely get a lot of use out of this one. The somewhat compact size of this palette also makes it super handy for the purse/gym bag.
The swatches above were swatched on white 200 gsm art paper. I think I might have said this before, but I prefer to do swatches on paper and scan them in. I feel that my skin's specific undertone could affect your perception of the shades. I have included a "live" swatch of this palette on my Instastory Highlight under "Swatches" on the profile page of my Instagram @teacupofmakeup.
WOWSERS! Ta dah! the two cheek palettes. The cases seem somewhat similar to the older NARSissist eyeshadow palettes. They are pretty stunning. One is a lighter gold overlay (the "Rêve Salé" Cheek Palette); and the other with a rose gold overlay ("Coucher De Soleil" Cheek Palette).
The "Rêve Salé" Cheek Palette on the top and the "Coucher De Soleil" Cheek Palette below. The embossing on them is super pretty.
The "Coucher De Soleil" Cheek Palette swatches on the left. I feel this would suit medium to dark skintones. Thought anyone could use as the shades are very versatile.
The "Rêve Salé" Cheek Palette swatches are on the right. I feel that they would suit fair to light medium skin tones.
The "Rêve Salé" Cheek Palette
(Gahhh so pretty!)
The "Coucher De Soleil" Cheek Palette
There are 4 of the Lip Covers in this limited edition series. The one I did not pick was "Embrasse Moi - Shimmering peach pink". This shade was a bit more "sheerer" then the other three.
From the left to the right:
"Under Arrest" - Peach beige
"Hell Gate" - Black Cherry
"Summer Fire" - Pink mauve
Summer Fire is not as creamy as the other two and I had to build up the colour. Bit of a shame though, as it is a beautiful shade for every day.
From Mecca's website, they are described as:
Rich, pigmented color glides on with velvety and smooth ease, delivering a long-lasting, luminous finish
The comfortable formula is infused with Passion Fruit Seed Oil and Vitamin E to moisturise the lips and protect from free radicals and pollution
These Lip Covers are like a blend of a liquid lipstick and a lip gloss. It is a bit hard to describe the texture. On the lips they felt comfortable and my lips felt moisturized. On me, they lasted for about 3-4 hours without eating anything and only drinking cooler drinks. They did leave a fairly even stain on the lips as they wore off. Again, they felt a lot like a lip mask. Very comfortable and non-drying.
The applicator of the Lip Covers is a nice small doe-foot. This is perfect for me as I have uneven lips. I found it easy to apply and build up the colour I wanted. I also found it fairly easy for me to apply it on the go (even in a moving car, which is what I sometimes have to do if I am in a rush).
HOW DOES IT LOOK APPLIED AS A MAKEUP LOOK?
Well, expect some looks to be published. I usually do daily demos of anything I fancy on my Instagram (@teacupofmakeup) and I'm now on Vero under "Teacup of Makeup". So follow me there. I'm quite excited about Vero as it does (currently) allow me to post up to 5 min long videos.
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I hope you found this very quick review helpful! Drop me an email (makeupmanic88@gmail.com) or DM me on my Instagram (@teacupofmakeup) and let me know what you would like an in-depth review of. I hope you found this review useful. Yours Truly with Lots of Love, TeacupOfMakeup. 待会见! 可爱的小茶杯!
