I recently attended a Nars press day for their Fall collection and other new releases. Despite all the gorgeous daring eye colours (take a look at the promo pic above), I played it relatively safe and left with two lipsticks from the collection. The shades/formulations I chose were Pure Matte Lipstick in Montego Bay, a gorgeous nudey pale pink, and Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Train Bleu – a very, very dark berry colour that is gonna be perfect Autumn/Winter evening affairs.
Montego Bay in Pure Matte Lipstick (t0p) and Train Bleu in Velvet Matte Lip Pencil (bottom)
Train Bleu, in the Velvet Matte Lip Pencil- a formulation I’ve not tried until now, is really great for achieving striking vampy lips, you can layer this up till it’s practically black, and it’s quite easy to keep in place as you have the precision of it being a pencil still (with the coverage of a matte lipstick). However, be careful when out drinking as the centre of the lip wears ever so quickly away (use a straw!), as it’s tricky to apply the colour on a lip that has any moisture, AT ALL on it, you’ll need to blot crazily with a tissue prior application/touch ups to absorb any moisture and the product should adhere to the lip better. Texture is really creamy for such a matte product. The shade is particularly great for darkening a lipstick colour you already have, which is one of the reasons why I chose it.
Train Bleu Velvet Matte Lip Pencil (left), Montego Bay Pure Matte Lipstick (right)
Unsurprisingly, I’ve been wearing Montego Bay more often than Train Bleu, in fact I actually haven’t stopped wearing it! It’s such a prettifying shade, and works perfectly with the super matte texture (super matter but still fairly non drying!). It really brightens without being over bearing and finishes your make-up in a really understated way, I love it. Whilst it may not be a unniversally flattering shade it will definitely suit a very wide spectrum of people. It’s great for day time, but also beautiful for evening if paired with a strong or smoky eye . So easy to wear, literally swipe on, smudge/rub your lips together and you’re good to go. Lasting power – AMAZE.
Here’a video from Grazia Online where they feature this lippy in creating the perfect nude lip.
Two other products that Nars had recently launched and were displaying at the event was the Larger Than Life Long-Wear Eyeliner (where again I was really boring and chose the straight black colour, Via Veneto), and the Concealer stick (I was colour matched Biscuit).
I’ve only used the concealer a few times and whilst it’s good with covering up blemishes, I have found it a bit on the dry side. I think this concealer is meant to be really good for the under eye area as it claims to be crease resistant – I need to test this out more thorougly but generally I prefer my under eye concealers to have a little bit more give with blending.
The Larger Than Life Long-Wear Eyeliner is really good, my all time favourite long wear eyeliner is Clinique’s Intense Quickliner but this is a great alternative – I’ve wear it on my waterline and it stays in place really well. It’s not an inky deep black, but I like this as sometimes you want a neat tight waterline, and this is perfect for creating that; I find it just gently defines. By the end of the day I can notice a teeeeny bit of smudging, but as I tend to wear it a little blended out and smokey, it actually works well with my look (am wearing it in pics above). The cool thing about these eyeliners are that even though they are mechanically winded up, they have a sharpener attached at the end so you can get the point of the pencil nice and sharp again!!
So these are all my new bits from Nars, what do you like best?
Lx
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