All posts tagged: nars cosmetics

Day to Night with Urban Decay Naked Basics & a Palette Comparison

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The Urban Decay Naked Basics has been treated as though it was a savior of the eyeshadow world. It’s a 5-matte-1-satin neutral palette that works as a standalone palette or the perfect companion to either of the two über shimmery Naked palettes. The pigmentation is of excellent quality, as to be expected from Urban Decay. The colors are just a bit too light for my skin tone. I feel like it’s a bit uninspired, but that’s from someone who likes playing with makeup. If you’re looking for something that will give you a great neutral eye day after day, then this might be your best bet. Swatched, top: Crave. Swatched, L-R: Venus (satin), Foxy, W.O.S. or Walk of Shame, Naked 2, Faint The colors are gradations of a standard brown, and while this is completely usable, I’d love to have seen something more “exciting,” like the purple-toned Tease from the Naked 2 Palette. The other awesome thing about this palette is the overall portability of it. This is freaking small and handy, great for traveling, …

Favorite Things: NARS Eyeshadow Duos

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Here’s the thing about NARS Duos—you think you know better, but the colors really do go together. I found that to be true especially with Paramaribo and Grand Palais. I have four NARS duos, but I have my eye on a few more. Here’s a collective post of mine so you can see how awesome they are and maybe try one or two out for yourself. All of them swatched together! Oooooh~ Habanera is one of the first duos I bought, highly influenced by Kim of Gunk Fury, who sadly does not seem to update anymore. She used it for a smokey eye, tutorial here. Habanera is very pretty and soft with a “mint frost” and a “sparkling charcoal plum,” but it does not get that much love from me, because I bought it at a time when I was scared of über shimmer and just bought stuff because I was impressionable. I am not scared of glitter anymore, so let’s remedy this lack of Habanera love. Paramaribo is another duo I got when I …

Quickie: NARS Trio in Ramatuelle

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Ramatuelle is a NARS trio that came out as part of their Summer 2013 collection, if I’m not mistaken. I think it was my first NARS eye product purchase, and it was the only eyeshadow I thought to bring on a month-long trip to Europe… for some reason. Anyway! It has three colors: “silver, icy peach, apricot,” and it is something that is way cooler than I would normally have chosen, if I knew then what I know now. Luckily, I bought it blindly, because I am pretty in love with it. It’s a very unassuming trio with such a soft selection of colors. The lighter two, which are a satin and a shimmer, look pretty close to each other and don’t offer a lot of contrast. However, I am so impressed by how the cool and warm tones complement each other in a way that you wouldn’t expect. It’s inspired by Ramatuelle, a city in the South of France. Eugenia from Ommorphia Beauty Bar talks more about that here. I love how François Nars …

NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencils in Bahama and Dolce Vita

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The NARS lip pencils have always intrigued me, and Krysty’s review of the Satin Lip Pencil in Sex Machine convinced me to finally go ahead and check them out. I was originally set on getting that, but I went with my gut instinct that told me I wouldn’t like a cool blue pink on myself, so I looked for a different color. The first one I got was a warm, deep brown with red undertones called Bahama. Here it is in action. I rather like it, though it’s a bit too dark a brown than I prefer. I do love wearing it, though with fresh, clean eyes and strong brows, like in this look. The Velvet Matte Lip Pencils glide on with an effortless smoothness, carefully coating each inch of lip with a beautiful opaque shade. I loved this so much, I decided to get myself another matte shade, this time in Dolce Vita, which is a deep pinky red. This is another color that seems to be great for everyday wear, if you are …

NARS Duo in Paramaribo

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This NARS Duo called Paramaribo is one that I really wanted to love. It’s one of the first NARS Duos I got, the other one being Habanera (review) and I was so impressed by how velvety-soft the eyeshadows were, and how beautiful the pigmentation of both colors were. Paramaribo came out with NARS’ Spring 2012 collection, and it pairs two colors—a metallic brass & metallic bronze—together. To me, it just looks like two different greens, but as we’ve already established, I am sometimes unrefined. 🙂 Anyway, I busted it out for a proper review as it seems to be a very beautiful, very sunny duo. “Paramaribo” is the capital in Suriname, South America. It is located near the Suriname river, and viewed from the top, you can see where they may have culled inspiration from, when creating this duo. Suriname has a very rich history of European colonization, as well as very a diverse populace with a variety of religions, cultures, and beliefs. I guess, much like a lot of other places. 🙂 Though the …

4 Product Face

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Here’s a very quick and basic day look that you can throw on easily, and with only 4 products! It’s very light and ideal for when you wake up late, or if you don’t necessarily want to bring a whole lot of products along with you on a holiday. Here’s what I used to achieve this look: PRODUCTS: — NARS Tinted Moisturizer (Alaska) — The Body Shop Brow & Liner Kit (02) — BECCA Beach Tint (Guava) — Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder (Luminous Light) TOOLS: — Marionnaud N°38 Eyes (Slanted + Spoolie) — Hakuhodo H601 brush — shu uemura eyelash curler If you’re keen to know how I did it, watch this video: The only thing I would do differently for this look was to maybe pat a little bit more of the brown shades on my eye to kind of intensify the color, and maybe add a bit of the darker brown to the outer ‘v’ for depth. Other than that, I think this is a pretty good look! It looks grossly simple and …

Softly Special: My Top Five Favorite Eye Palettes

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I know I did Lipstick Week not too long ago, but the truthiest truth out there is that I’m an eyeshadow lady. I fricken love the stuff. I think that’s really where it all went downhill. I can remember the first eye product I purchased that changed everything and how I looked at eye makeup (i.e. bareMinerals’ READY 2.0 in The Scenic Route). And then I was doomed to a life of swatching. I don’t know if I want to make a whole week’s worth of celebration out of this, because eye swatches are much, much harder to do than lipstick swatches, but I’ll begin by outing my favorite eye palettes for all of you. What I basically look for in eyeshadow palettes is versatility, which I feel like entails a good variety of tone, texture, and shade. With that little checklist in mind, I looked at my palette collection and picked out a few favorites. Here goes nothing! Honorable Mention: Guerlain Ecrin 4 Couleurs in Turandot (Review) This was the first high-end palette I …