Preview: NARS Spring 2013

My goodies from NARS for Spring 2013 have arrived!

Clockwise from top: NARS Sangria blush, Persia eye shadow, Cythere lip gloss pencil

As I hinted in my makeup intelligence post on NARS Spring 2013, I picked up the blush in Sangria, matte eye shadow in Persia and the lip gloss in Cythere. I was most excited about getting Sangria but in the back of my mind I knew I had to get Persia. And I am so glad that I did!

Full face look feat. NARS Persia eye shadow (Mekong in crease, Kilimanjaro on browbown), Sangria blush (over Luster and Super Orgasm) and Cythere lip pencil over MUFE #10C lip pencil.

I’m currently testing these products but I can definitely say all three are worth purchasing, especially the Persia eye shadow. If you are a medium to dark and darker brown girl, you need Persia in your life! And even if you have strong red undertones as I do, blending this color with NARS Mekong (or any other cool toned dark shadow) will make it work. An added bonus about this color (which is insanely pigmented by the way) is that it makes that Maybelline Color Tattoo cream shadow in ‘Fierce and Tangy’ orange worth using again. NARS Persia looks stunning on top of Maybelline’s Fierce and Tangy.

NARS Spring 2013 collection is available now at NARSCosmetics.com and coming to Sephora.com and NARS counters in upscale department stores in February.

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Preview: Spring 2013-Maybelline Color Tattoo Metal Cream Eye Shadow

Spring has sprung in the budget beauty department too!

New for Spring 2013! Maybelline’s Metal-finish Color Tattoo Cream Shadows

Maybelline has come out with five (5) new metal finish cream eye shadows from the Color Tattoo collection. They are:

Inked In Pink – A shimmery warm-toned pink
Electric Blue – A deep dark blue
Silver Strike – Sparkly and very metallic bright silver
Barley Branded – Warm champagne beige
Gold Rush – Bright yellow metallic gold

Unlike with Maybelline’s Fall 2012 collection, the Spring 2013 Metal cream eye shadows are not limited edition. They are showing up in the likes of CVS, Target and WalMart. I am currently having fun testing these out and will post reviews as soon as I can. I did not pick up Gold Rush as the bright yellow looks like death warmed over on my cool-toned skin. However I can tell you that if you are medium-dark to dark-skinned, definitely pick up Inked In Pink and Barely Branded. You’ll thank me later.

Any colors catch your fancy?

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NARS High Society Eye Shadow Trio: The Rundown

Let’s be honest. After getting burned by the epic fail that was NARS Christmas 2012 eye shadow trio Arabian Nights, I wasn’t going to get this. But I’m a sucker for purples and the matte green mixed in was so different for fall I had to give it a try.

High Society eye shadow trio from NARS Fall 2012 collection

NARS eye shadow trip offering for Fall 2012 comes in a sleek, black mirrored compact with three (3) separate eye shadow colors weighing in at 0.17oz of product. The three colors is a shimmery lavender shade, a matte green just a shade lighter than hunter green, and an amethyst shade.

Swatches of NARS High Society eye shadow trio (flash)

The lavender shimmer is nice, pigmented well enough but I find it lacks the iridescence of Iceland (purple side) and gold shimmer of Strada. While I like it as a highlighter shade, NARS makes colors in their core line that do it better. The matte green is definitely not my favorite but I also am not very fond of NARS matte colors in general. Fuji has a subtle sheen while green side of Blade Runner has more of a frost. This matte shade serves well to darken and provide interesting contrast between the amethyst and lavender shades but not good for much else. The amethyst shimmer (my favorite color of the bunch), is pigmented nicely and I love this to smoke out my eye along w/ the lavender shimmer shade. It is slightly darker than Knight Rider.

NARS Fall 2012 look with High Society on eyes, Outlaw on cheeks and Rouge Tribal on lips

When worn over Too Faced Shadow Insurance in Candelight, I got at least 6 hours worth of wear but the color intensity wore off a bit. I couldn’t see the individual colors themselves but they did blend together for an interesting yet subtle look. As I prefer more intensity, I used Make Up For Ever’s Aqua Cream in #16 and only used the amethyst and lavender shades. This definitely helped to amp up the color and keep it a bit more vibrant and true to pan. The matte shade I found disappeared too quickly for my liking. Had a hard time blending it and even when worn on the lid alone it just looked ‘blah’ on me. Didn’t move me like my beloved Fuji, Blade Runner or Night Flight.

NARS High Society Eye Shadow Trio–remixed!

While I do like two out of the three shadows in this palette, I don’t believe this is worth picking up if you are still working on your NARS eye shadow collection. I do believe you are better off picking up Strada and Fuji eye shadow singles and layering it over a cream base such as MUFE # (light purple) or Urban Decay’s Morphine shadow pencil. If you have very oily eyelids like me a an eye shadow base such as TFSI or NARS is required.

NARS High Society Eye shadow trio retails for $45 USD and is now available for purchase at NARSCosmetics.com and in Sephora stores and NARS counters at Neiman Marcus and Lord and Taylor.

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NARS Rouge Tribal Larger Than Life Lipgloss: The Rundown

NARS Larger Than Life lipglosses I have fallen in love with since my first purchase of the shade Gold Digger. With the introduction of the Fall 2012 collection, the shade Rouge Tribal is so gorgeous, so iconic for fall that I think it to be the centerpiece of the collection.

NARS Rouge Tribal Larger Than Life Lipgloss for Fall 2012

A deep wine-burgundy with a metallic finish, Rouge Tribal . It is much more deeply pigmented than L/’Oreal Infallible, and slightly not as metallic as Illamasqua’s Hermetic.

A closer look at me in full NARS Fall 2012 getup. Definitely a different Fall look than I’m used to.

My biggest pet peeve with NARS’ Larger Than Life lipgloss in general is how small the brush is. If you have very thin lips this may not be an issue but if you have full lips like I do, an applicator this small is such a pain to use. I realize this was probably done to emphasize how the gloss can be applied with precision but Yves Saint Laurent and Chanel have an applicator on their lipglosses that do just as precise a job with an applicator wide enough to apply the product quickly and evenly without major frustration.

NARS Rouge Tribal retails for $26 and is available at upscale retailers like Sephora, Nordstrom and as always at NARSCosmetics.com.

NARS Rouge Tribal Larger Than Life Lipgloss–amazing burgundy wine to make the lips pop this fall!

Oh NARS Rouge Tribal Lipgloss, in much love I am so…

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NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer in Martinique: The Rundown

I am so in love with this product I went back for the lighter (and better match to my Winter/Spring skin) shade in Martinique!

NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer in Martinique

Martinique (which is an island in the Caribbean and yes I was geeky enough to look it up) is described by NARS as a medium-dark with red undertones. If you wear NARS Sheer Matte/Glow in Cadiz or New Guinea, or NW40 – NW45 in MAC foundations or Make Up For Ever Velvet Mat+ in 70 – 75, this shade is a good color match.

If you’ve read through my review of NARS Tinted Moisturizer in the Polynesia shade, you know how impressed I am with this product. While I loved Polynesia, it really is too dark for my Winter skin (though it did give me a gorgeous summer bronzed look!). After a trip to my local Sephora where they’d just gotten these in stock, one of the sales associates picked out Martinique for me straight away. I took a sample home and was so impressed how well this shade matched my skin that I bought the full size.

For reference, Seychelles was too yellow in tone though the shade did match and Malaga was also very yellow and obviously too light for me. Cuba was also too light. Also while these colors were too light, the yellow tones were more apparent and the color didn’t look ‘ashy’ on me–just an undertone mismatch.

So let’s get to some picspam of NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer in Martinique!

Back of the container with sunscreen active ingredients and usual cosmetics warnings

NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer in Martinique, swatched on NW43 skin (no flash/HDR)

Martinique swatched on NW43 skin w/flash

Martinique swatched w/o flash (overhead light)

By now you’re probably wondering how Martinique compares to Polynesia and of course, I’ve got you covered there. Polynesia is more of a dark chocolate as compared to the milk chocolate color of Martinique. The picspam speaks for itself.

Side by side comparison of NARS Pure Radiant in Martinique & Polynesia

Swatches of NARS tinted moisturizer on NW43 skin from left: Martinique, Polynesia (w/ flash)

I mixed Martinique with Polynesia and got the PERFECT shade!

From left: Make Up For Ever Velvet Mat+ in #75, NARS Pure Radiant in Martinique, NARS Sheer Matte in New Guinea

I’ve had Polynesia for about a month and Martinique for about two weeks and my impression of this product has only gotten better. I’ve noticed (and other people have too) how my skin is improving with the consistent use of this product. A few acne scars that I had been covering up with concealer have begun to fade noticeably and I’ve got this nice glow going on! Another added benefit is this product has no artificial fragrance and neither is the natural fragrance overpowering.

NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer is now available at NARSCosmetics.com, Sephora.com and Sephora stores, and of course at Nordstrom.com and Nordstrom stores.