I made my first trip to the NARS Boutique in Los Angeles on Melrose last weekend (follow them on Twitter @NARS8412Melrose or the official NARS account @NARSissist). The boutique has a sleek and modern design with large wall-sized NARS prints, clean crisp kiosk displays and individual mini booths in front of large mirrors for makeup application. One of the artists helped show me how to use the new contouring powders. In addition I loved playing with the new brush line and matte multiples. The Melrose store opened in late 2012 – if you haven’t been to a NARS boutique before, I highly recommend visiting one.
Some snapshots the store kindly let me take of their beautiful store:
Have you been to a NARS boutique before? If so, which one?
I’ve been testing out a few new primers and smoothing products and thought I’d share my favorite staple primers along with some new discoveries. I’m not typically a primer kind of person. I’ve found most that I’ve tried don’t really do much to extend the wear of makeup and end up adding an extra layer of product on my face that I don’t really need. I’ve tried dozens of primers at makeover events and from tiny sample packets. There are so may different options on the market these days it can be a bit overwhelming. Different products offer a multitude of effects. Some will smooth the overall look of your skin, add a glow, give a matte look and then there are some that are just basic primers to help the application of your foundation. I have normal and sensitive skin. For your reference I’ve broken down my primer picks into two main different categories:
Tom Ford Illuminating Primer ($72 for 1 fl oz) is one of the best glow primers I’ve ever tried. I tested this on numerous occasions each time I was able to visit a Tom Ford counter under both the foundation stick and liquid formula. The counters kindly made a few small samples for me to test before I caved and purchased the full size (I’m still in price shock). The Tom Ford primer is packaged with a clever twist pump dispenser. It has a soothing fresh scent with a slight herbal undertone. What I like about this one is that has a more yellow-like pearly glow which I found perfect for my needs (most I’ve seen have a pinkish glow). It helps extend the wear of makeup and adds a glow without making you greasy. It helps smooth the skin and adds an all over glow to prevent your makeup from looking flat. Be aware that this is on the dewy side, if you’re oily I wouldn’t recommend this one. I also found this one works best with the Tom Ford Foundations. See The Convenient Beauty’s review.
NARS Pro-Prime Radiance Enhancing Primer ($34 for 1.1 oz) is the next best alternative to Tom Ford’s primer at a more affordable price. It has a reflective pearl quality that is the perfect mix of opal, gold and champagne. It has SPF 15 and a little goes a long way. I find this one photographs well with a flash. It has a creamy but thin and easy to blend texture to give an all over glow without being too glowy. Lasting power is better than average for me but it won’t make your makeup last all day long (you will need a touch up in the afternoon). I really like this for the effect it gives and how it helps makeup look smoother.
MAC Strobe Liquid ($32 for 1.7 fl oz) isn’t really a traditional primer, but I like to use it as one over moisturizer and underneath liquid or powder makeup. It’s another great smoothing glow product with a super thin liquid texture. It dries well to help makeup stay in place and prevents it from sliding around – but note you only need a tiny bit on the face. It’s on the more glowy side so I would recommend topping with a regular powder or foundation. This one is also good for mixing in with foundations to add a glow without making you look white. It has a more opal/blueish sheen.
Chanel Base Lumiere Illuminating Makeup Base ($45 for 1 fl oz) is one of the most fluid primer/bases I’ve ever tried. (I’ve repurchased this multiple times.) It has a blueish violet sheen but it disppears into a clear finish on the skin. The key to using this is to make sure you use a thinner lightweight moisturizer underneath otherwise it will make the skin oily. If you’re a serum + moisturizer kind of person, I would recommend skipping one of the items before using this one. I like this best with Chanel foundations as it helps prime the skin with a subtle glow and also helps extend the wear of foundation. Make sure you use as little as possible – if you overdo it it will be too heavy and feel thick on the skin.
Lancome Visionnaire 1-Minute Blur ($55 for 1 fl oz) is currently available at Sephora locations in the US. I received a press sample of this (hence the white lab tube). It’s a skin smoother/finisher designed to smooth the skin, erase imperfections and pores. It has a creamy neutral colored texture that disappears on the skin. This video has a good visual of what this will do for the skin. I suggest testing at the store if you can, reviews indicate this is either a hit or miss. I saw a noticeable difference in my skin texture when using this and used it under a liquid foundation (tested with Chanel and NARS). I loved the results for the overall look and it truly erased any signs of pores on my face. It helped my makeup last all day long (quite impressive) well through the evening. There is a very light fragrance to this which I found on the subtle side. The only thing I didn’t like about this was that I could actually feel the layer of product on my face – not necessarily a bad thing, but I tend to prefer face makeup that is more weightless and thinner in texture.
Clinique Superprimer Color Correcting ($27 for 1 oz) I bought this at Sephora after reading rave reviews about the Superprimers. I was a bit overwhelmed with the color options and honestly have no idea if I picked the right one for me. I decided to go with the peach color corrector since traditional white ones are often too pale and white for my olive skin. I didn’t notice any color correcting quality with this one but the color matched my skin pretty well once blended. It has a thicker airy creamy texture that has a velvety feel on the skin. The result: long lasting makeup all day long from morning until late at night (around 11ish before I took it off). The peach color disappeared and gave the skin a smooth matte look. If you test any of the options at the store you will see a noticeable difference on the back of your hand. I like that the primer didn’t change the color of my foundation even though it has a peach tint. I’m not sure I picked the right option, if you’ve tried the any of the Clinique primers I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Dior Pore Minimizer Skin Refining Matte Primer ($42 for 1 oz) is a primer that wins for most innovative packaging. It’s a tube with a pump dispenser. I have not purchased this after testing a couple counter-made samples but wanted to share my thoughts. This offers the most matte finish that I’ve ever seen. It smooths the skin out similar to the Lancome but has a thicker feel on the skin (at least for me). I found this blended well on the skin and provided a lovely smooth look. There was a huge noticeable difference. I felt it was too dry for my normal/combination skin even though it didn’t look dry at all. I suspect if you have skin that is on the oily side, the Dior Matte Primer will work wonders for you.
Do you have any favorite primers, smoothing products or glowy bases? I’d love to hear about your thoughts and experiences for what has worked on your skin tone or skin type.
The Giorgio Armani Maestro Mediterranea Collection brings us an extension of the Maestro Fusion makeup line with three new Fusion Blushes in 300, 400 and 500 ($52 each for 15 ml/0.5 fl oz) and one new Liquid Summer Bronzer ($64 for 30 ml/1 fl oz). These come packaged similar to the Maestro Fusion Foundations with a squeeze dropper to dispense the liquid onto the back of your hand or onto a brush before blending on the face. The summer colors have intense pigment and look extremely dark if you see them directly in the bottles. Fortunately these blend extremely well with a blush or fingers and are easily layerable. The texture is very liquid with a satiny finish. The feel on the skin is almost like velvet and lasting power is very good from morning to late evening without fading.
I picked Fusion Blush #400 (the lightest of the three) after testing the colors at the counter. This has a frosted bottle that is skinnier and smaller than the other Maestro Fusion items. #400 is a coral red pink that is easy to blend. I really like how pigmented these are. I found the Fusion Blush performed much better than the Face Fabrics – however I’ve never been a huge fan of the Face Fabric formula. They have always felt too silicone-like on my skin. The new Fusion Blushes have a slightly velvety feel but they adhere to the skin well. I give this one a huge thumbs up although I feel this one is extremely overpriced for the size.
The Maestro Liquid Summer Bronzer is a lovely neutral bronze. This one has a very subtle shimmer to the color that doesn’t show up on the face but gives the skin depth. I am surprised that this formula only comes in one shade of bronze. I do think it will suit fair to tan skins but those with darker skintones may find this one won’t show up. I really love this one for the texture and color. I do think application can get a bit messy if you’re not careful with the packaging.
Swatches, three ways to show the intensity of the color and how you can blend/build color.
I’m overall really pleased with the results of the Summer Maestro Liquid Blush and Bronzer. I’m not thrilled with the prices – although these are luxury items and well designed in all aspects from packaging, formula and long-wear quality I do think the prices are on the steep side. Right now they are listed as limited-edition but I’m not 100% sure if they are.
You can find the entire collection now at Nordstrom. All three shades of Blush Fusions are also available online now at Bloomingdales and Neiman Marcus (I suspect they will have the bronzer online soon and the entire collection will show up at other retailers shortly).
Did you check out the collection yet? What were your thoughts? (PS I picked up a few of the new cheek and sun fabric powders but haven’t had time to test them out yet.)
Tom Ford Spring Fling Lip Sheer (sold out online, check your stores if you are interested in this color as soon as you can if you want to locate, swatches here and here)
