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Base Makeup NARS

NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation and Soft Velvet Loose Setting Powder

February 7, 2015

This spring NARS has released some new products for the face including the All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation ($48 for 1 fl oz) and the Soft Velvet Loose Setting Powder ($36 for 10 g). I’ve been testing these for a couple weeks now. I purchased the liquid foundation in store after swatching several of the shades. The NARS team kindly sent the powder for review with Beach as their best guess for my color match. Today I’ll be sharing my thoughts on the formulas, wear time, texture and swatches with comparisons.

For quick reference, I use the foundation in Punjab and powder in Beach:

The All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation is incredible. It has a lightweight fluid texture that gives you full coverage with one to two pumps. To me it has a similar texture to the Chanel Perfection Lumiere Velvet Foundation but has a more natural looking finish that has just the right amount of glow. On me this one covers most of my scars and imperfections flawlessly. Coverage is slightly heavier than the Tom Ford Traceless Perfecting Foundation but the overall look and effect is similar to me.

In terms of wear, the new NARS foundation blends into the skin flawlessly without streaking or caking. It gives medium to full coverage and evens out the skin beautifully. For wear time, I found it lasted all day long without getting oily or glowy. I do think what you use underneath will make a difference, since this is on the luminous side, if you are oily you may want to go lighter on the moisturizer or base. For me, these days to prep the skin these days I’ve been using Ole Henriksen’s Pure Truth Serum and Sheer Transformation Moisturizer. Sometimes I’ll use primers and my current favorites are the NARS Pro-Prime and Tom Ford Illuminating. For me I find the texture of the NARS foundation is easy to blend so I find that it doesn’t need a primer.

For color, I am a match to the NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation in Punjab. I’ve been matched to this color in most of the formulas, it’s a good medium color with olive and yellow tones. Finding something with the right mix of olive and yellow undertone is hard for me. I’m often in between shades or find that I have to mix colors. Most foundations are not yellow enough or too olive. Punjab is the perfect match for me and I was thrilled to find that the new formula’s color to be an exact match. If you’re similar in skin tone to me but not as olive and are a bit more pink/peach go with Santa Fe. For reference, I found the swatches of all the foundation shades on Café Makeup extremely helpful.

I have two sets of swatch comparisons below to other NARS foundations and other brands. I’ve reviewed most of the items below before. I’ll link reviews where applicable:

  • NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer in Alaska
  • NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer in Custard and Ginger (I mix them, review)
  • NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer in Groenland (my match)
  • NARS All Day Radiant Weightless Foundation in Punjab
  • NARS Radiant Cream Compact Foundation in Punjab (review)
  • NARS Soft Velvet Loose Powder in Beach
  • NARS All Day Luminous Powder Foundation in Punjab (review)
  • Chanel Perfection Lumiere Velvet in B30 (review)
  • Cle de Peau Beaute Cream Foundation in O30 (review)
  • Tom Ford Traceless Perfecting Foundation in Bisque 04 (review) 
  • Dolce & Gabbana Luminous Foundation in Caramel 110 (review)

Bottom line I give the foundation a huge thumbs up. I think it’s their best foundation released to date. I’m a huge fan of the Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer for texture and finish but sometimes I want more coverage. The new foundation is exactly what I wanted for an amped up version of the Tinted Moisturizer. I love that there is no detectable fragrance and on me it really did last all day from morning to evening without budging or sliding.

Next on to the powder. I tested a number of NARS powders in the old formulas at makeup events (both pressed and loose). I didn’t like any of them because I found they caked on my skin on top of foundation. It wasn’t until NARS released the Light Reflecting Loose Setting Powder that I changed my mind about their face powders. It’s one of my top picks for setting powders because it doesn’t alter the color of your foundation and even though the powder is white it doesn’t make you look like a ghost or powdery. Given my love of the reflecting powders, I was excited to try my sample of the new Soft Velvet Loose Setting Powder in Beach. After playing with this for a few weeks, I have mixed feelings.

There are eight different colors of the loose powder. Even though I was sent Beach for review, I went to the counter to look at the shades in person to make sure it was the best color match. Eden is also very close in color but it’s more pink, while Beach is more yellow. On my skin they looked almost identical, but since I prefer yellow tones, Beach is the better of the two for me.

The powder is a soft and lightweight with a very finely milled texture. It feels silky on the skin and truly weightless. When dusted over the All Day Weightless Luminous Foundation I found it set nicely if I applied while the foundation was still a bit dewy (as in it didn’t set all the way). A little goes a long way so you only need a sheer wash of powder to set the entire face. The powder performed well over the NARS tinted moisturizer too creating a soft sheer matte finish.

It didn’t work so well over other foundations though and I’m not entirely sure why. It caked over the Chanel Perfection Lumiere Velvet Foundation, the Tom Ford Traceless Perfecting Foundation, Cle de Peau and also the NARS Radiant Creamy Compact Foundation. It settled into pores that seemed to be blended and covered perfectly by those foundations. My personal preference is to use the Light Reflecting Loose Powder or the All Day Luminous Powder Foundation as a setting powder. Still, I have seen some pretty good reviews on this one, if you’re near a NARS counter I recommend checking it out to see how it wears on you. My experience might not be typical with this one.

Overall, huge thumbs up on the foundation, mixed thoughts on the powder. If you’ve tested these please share what you thought and what shade you were matched to. I know readers often need to order sight unseen and your comments on color matching are always helpful!

You can find the NARS All Day Weightless Luminous Foundation and Soft Velvet Loose Setting powder at all NARS counters now. Online at Nordstrom, Sephora, Saks, Neiman Marcus and NARS.

The Soft Velvet Loose Powder was provided as a press sample for review consideration. The All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation was purchased by me.

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Base Makeup NARS

NARS All Day Luminous Powder Foundation

September 29, 2014

The latest from NARS is the All Day Luminous Powder Foundation ($48 for 0.42 oz/12 g). It’s a super lightweight powder foundation that comes in 15 different shades. I was sent the shade Punjab (Medium 1) for review which is a good match for my medium with olive/golden tones. NARS also sent a press sample of the new Powder Foundation Sponge puff ($6.00) which can be used to roll or pat the product onto the face. For reference, I use the Radiant Cream Compact Foundation in Punjab (swatches here) and the Tinted Moisturizer in Groenland (swatched here). The Powder Foundation in Punjab seems to be slightly lighter than the Cream Compact version but it warms up on the skin to adjust nicely without oxidizing or darkening as the day goes on. The description from NARS:

NARS Cosmetics introduces All Day Luminous Powder Foundation. Silky and ultrafine to the touch, this medium buildable foundation offers versatile coverage and shine control with broad spectrum SPF 24 that lasts up to 12-hours. NARS exclusive Light Reflecting Complex™ optimizes light reflection to enhance skin’s translucency while Luminosity Enhancing Technology – a blend of 17 amino acids, Vitamin C derivative and Marine Fennel – promotes cell renewal and helps reduce the look of hyper-pigmentation and wrinkles.

The NARS powder foundation comes in a square mirrored compact. It has a compartment at the bottom for a square sponge. The sponge itself is interesting because it has two different textures, one is more fluffy and velvety like a puff, the other side is a spongey texture. I prefer the spongey side because it picks up more product and applies smoothly on the face. I tested the separate round puff as well and found it gave more coverage with a buffed-looking finish to the face.

I am extremely picky when it comes to powder foundation. Many end up looking heavy or cakey, emphasize pores or dry patches or even end up breaking me out. I have tested quite a few and my current top two picks include Dolce & Gabbana Powder Foundation in Warm 100 and Chanel Double Perfection Lumiere Powder Foundation in 20 or 30 Beige depending on how dark/tan I am. Although powder foundations are often designed to be worn alone instead of a liquid/cream foundation, I almost always use my powder foundations over liquids or tinted moisturizer as a setting powder. Both the Dolce & Gabbana and Chanel have this beautiful soft velvety finish that blends very nicely on the skin. They both cover imperfections, stay put, look natural and don’t darken. The NARS All Day Luminous Powder Foundation by comparison is quite a bit lighter in texture while still offering medium buildable coverage. I like that you can control the coverage easily.

A quick look at the packaging:

On the nails, Louboutin Miss Loubi

I tested the NARS several ways, alone and then also on top of different foundations. I also tested it with the sponge and also with a brush.

When used alone I found it performed really well with just moisturizer and primer. Right now, my current skin prep routine includes a layer of SK-II Cellumination Cream Illuminating Moisturizer or By Terry Cellularose Nutri Baume as moisturizer followed by a primer like the NARS Light Optimizing Primer. As a standalone foundation, I found it covered the skin nicely and evened out the complexion. There was no caking or seeping into pores. It is incredibly lightweight so you don’t feel like you have anything on your face. I found it amazing at how it gave my skin a luminous glow even though there is no hint of shimmer in the powder itself. I found it did last all day from around 7:30 am through 7:00 pm without any touchups required. I found it applied best with the square sponge that comes in the compact or with the round puff you can purchase separately.

Over foundation it looked equally nice. I tested it over the NARS Radiant Cream Compact, Tinted Moisturizer and also over Laura Mercier Smooth Finish Flawless Fluide. It applied smoothly with a fluffy brush over other foundations. With the sponge I found it was a bit too heavy-looking with the powder foundation + foundation combination. I do think your skin needs to be well-prepped and moisturized for smooth application, although I find this to be the case with any powder foundation in general.

Close up of the powder surface, it has a very soft silky texture:

Swatches:

Swatch comparisons:

After testing this for a few weeks I give this a huge thumbs up. There’s no detectable scent and it’s huge for me that I didn’t get any breakouts or irritation or clogged pores from using this (many powder foundations don’t work for my sensitive skin). Right now Punjab is the perfect match, it looks a bit peachy in the compact but it applies good on my olive skin. I like that it has enough yellow undertone so it doesn’t turn pinkish on me. If you have olive or golden skin tones you know the pain of finding awesome formulas that don’t match the skin color because they are too pink or warm. Bottom line it does last all day and it has a lovely soft luminous silky looking finish.

The NARS All Day Luminous Powder Foundation is currently available at NARS Boutiques, narscosmetics.com, Nordstrom and Sephora. The Powder Foundation retails for $48 and the round Powder Foundation Sponge retails separately for $6.

The powder foundation and puff was provided courtesy of NARS for review consideration. 
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Eye Makeup NARS

NARS Dual-Intensity Eyeshadows | Dione, Callisto, Himalia and Subra

July 11, 2014
I picked up four more NARS Dual-Intensity Eyeshadows in Dione, Callisto, Himalia and Subra ($29 each). I’ve been using the more natural Europa and Andromeda on a regular basis for a natural glowy eye. The other shades in the line are more intense in color and sparkle. It was hard to narrow down my picks and I will probably pick up at least one more shade sometime in the future. All the colors are phenomenal in texture, pigment and lasting power. They have a sort of creamy finish but act like a powder. The texture makes these adheres well to to the skin and while I wouldn’t call them budge-proof, they last quite long without fading. 
  • Dione is a sparkly silvery taupe, it pulls very cool on my arm but on the lids it’s more neutral
  • Callisto is a very sparkly cool lilac champagne, it’s similar to Dione, but on me Callisto is more pinkish/lilac and paler in color
  • Himalia is a neutral warm and cool kind of gold, it has a warmish base but the shimmers are cool, on me it’s a neutral tan-nude golden color, it’s shimmery but not frosty
  • Subra is a dark purple, red, brown shimmer, it also has a subtle shimmer finish
Dione and Callisto are similar on my arm and in the pan but the difference is noticeable on the lids. Both have a high shimmer factor that borders on frost but aren’t too frosty. I was really happy to see that there was no fall out on the face during application or throughout the day. Himalia and Subra are shimmers as well but the shimmer is more subtle in finish.

Here they are swatched next to Europa and Andromeda. They are swatched dry with fingers.

Close ups of each shade show how they have a good base color and different colored shimmers. It gives these shadows a multi-dimensional look.

 
Some comparisons, two sets with:
MAC Coco Pigment (discontinued)
Tom Ford Platinum Cream Color (discontinued)

Chanel Magic Night Eyeshadow (discontinued)

Huge thumbs up. The Dual-Intensity shadows have a really smooth pigmented finish. They apply easily with fingers or a brush. I’ve found them extremely versatile – you can wear these alone with a liner, layered together, under or over powder shadows. The uses are really endless. Applying with a damp brush intensifies the color. Between Dione and Callisto, I prefer Dione because it has less contrast with my skin and therefore looks less frosty.
The Dual-Intensity Eyeshadows retail for $29 each. There are currently twelve color options and every color looks amazing. I bought mine from Nordstrom.
Have you purchased any yet? What are your favorite colors?
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Eye Makeup NARS

NARS Dual-Intensity Eyeshadow | Andromeda and Europa

June 19, 2014
There’s been a lot of buzz about the new Dual-Intensity Eyeshadows ($29 each) from NARS. There will be twelve shades launching July 1st on narscosmetics.com (update, these launched this morning). These are a new dual-application formula where you can apply them dry for a sheer wash of color for a luminous glow or apply with a damp brush for more intense color. You can see all the shades listed at The Non-Blonde and swatched on Temptalia. There is a diverse range of options from natural barely-there colors to dramatic navy and black. I have half a dozen on my wishlist to check out when they officially launch. Today I have two of the neutral romantic shades to share with you, Andromeda and Europa.
Both of these shades are on the lighter neutral side. They have a lovely glowy sheen rather than an intense shimmer or sparkle. The texture is slightly creamy but they act more like a dry powder shadow. I found lasting power to be very good without any eye base. The dry finish helps these adhere well to the lids.

Andromeda is a pale ivory pink with golden shimmer. It has a lovely sheen in the shimmer which gives a really lovely all over wash to the lids. I suspect this one will go nicely with any of the darker shades. Pigment is easy to control, I was able to apply with my fingers and a brush for a nice soft wash of color. For my light-medium skin it gives a nice neutral wash of color giving the lids a nice highlighted glow. When you  hold this in the sunlight you can see how there is a slight multi-chrome finish to the shimmer which gives your lids some depth in the glow.

Europa is a medium neutral-warm peach pink with a pearl sheen. I’m at the right skintone where this one looks like a barely-there color. I can definitely see the color on the lids but it’s very natural making it a soft no-makeup kind of eyeshadow. It gives a hint of color to the lids and makes the eye glow. On either paler or deeper skintones this will be more visible. My skintone almost matches this one. Applying this with a damp brush intensified the color with more pink, but it’s still very natural looking. This one also has a good mix of cool and warm in it. I would say the base is a warmer pink-peach while the pearl has a cool-toned sheen. It’s not a pure duo-chrome but the combination of the base and shimmer gives it a very subtle duo-chrome effect.

Swatches applied with a damp brush and dry with my fingers:

I’ve been playing with these the past week. I like to layer them together, the pale Andromeda color first, then applying the darker Europa on top with a dense brush and packing it onto the lids. Add a simple black eyeliner and mascara and you have a super polished glowy lid to go with a dramatic bronzer or lip.

What I like about these is that they are not the typical high-frost pale shimmers. If you’re in want of dramatic color you might find yourself wanting more. The good news is that the Dual-Intensity line will have plenty of other dramatic shades to choose from. I personally love these for that no-makeup look for a no-fuss easy swipe and go application that gives the eyes a nice polished look.

A few comparisons to some other light pink neutral shimmers:
NARS Nepal Eyeshadow (one of my favorites)
Tom Ford Pink Haze Cream Color for Eyes (discontinued, swatched here)

One last photo, left is Andromeda, right is Europa:

First impressions are a thumbs up for this neutral makeup lover. I can’t wait until July 1st because there are so many other pretty dramatic shades that I can’t wait to check out. Update as of June 20th, the shadows are now available for purchase on narscosmetics.com, Lord & Taylor and Beauty.com. Have you been able to swatch or see the NARS Dual-Intensity Eye Shadows yet? Do you have any on your wishlist?

The Dual-Intensity Eye Shadows were provided courtesy of NARS for review consideration. For more information see my Disclosures.

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NARS

NARSissist Eyeshadow Palette

April 30, 2014

The NARSissist Eyeshadow Palette ($79 for 0.03oz x 15 shades) is a glorious palette of 15 neutrals. It comes in a large mirrored compact and includes a wide range of colors, textures and finishes. I’m late to the party with the NARSissist Eyeshadow Palette (it launched back in January). I thought long and hard for months about purchasing this one because I already owned many of the colors individually and also thought the Urban Decay Naked eye palettes might be duplicates. The Sephora VIB sale earlier this month pushed me over the edge. I put it to the test for several weeks. It was also the only powder eyeshadow palette I brought with me on my recent trip to Dallas. I’ve been really happy with this palette, the versatility is impressive. This one palette has all the colors you need for a multitude of looks: natural, smokey, bronzey, etc. It will take you from day to night.
The colors in the NARSissist Eye Palette include (from left to right, from top row to bottom)


All About Eve (1 side) – shimmery champagne
Madrague (both sides) – matte cream and matte tan
Fez – shimmery copper
Bali – matte soft brown
Coconut Grove – matte brown
Nepal – shimmery peachy pink
Ashes to Ashes – soft grey shimmer
Brousse – shimmery soft plum
Mekong – dark blackened brown with gold flecks
Bellisima – white base with gold sparkle flecks
Lhasa – shimmery light grey mauve
Bad Behavior – shimmery gunmetal
Dogon – darker blue-grey metallic
Pandora – matte sheer black

There have been mixed reviews about the palette, some have reported a different quality and texture of the palette shades compared with individuals colors. Overall I found the palette to be very good quality on par with the individual colors. There were a couple shades I found to be sheerer in texture and harder to work with (my personal experience). Colors I found to perform different in this palette included:
  • the matte colors of Madrague (the regular duo applies smoothly, this palette’s version was a bit chalky)
  • Ashes to Ashes (the singles I have are more pigmented and smoother in texture, but the palette applies ok, just different texture)
  • Dogon (individual is creamier in texture while the palette is drier)
The palette still worked well with no issues for application from what I tested. The colors I noticed differences for still applied well, it just took a little bit more work for me. Close ups and swatches below of the NARSsissist Eye Palette:

Many have asked how this compares to the Urban Decay Naked and Naked2 Palettes. There are similarities in the concept – all have a mix of shimmer and matte neutral-ish colors. I find that my Naked Palettes (1, 2 and 3) are the ones I reach for the most frequently out of any of the eye shadows that I own. The differences between NARS and Urban Decay are mainly in packaging and texture. Both brands have distinct shadow formulas, I can’t say one is better than the other, they are just different.

I’ve swatched them below for your reference. There wasn’t enough room for labeling the swatches but the colors are in the order of the palettes. (To have enough room on my arm, I skipped one of the Madrague shades from the NARS palette because it didn’t show up on my skin in the photograph.)

Overall love. As you can see above there are similarities between the NARSissist and Urban Decay Nakeds. Your preference will depend on a number of factors, such as packaging preference, if you own a lot of the individual colors already, texture preference (Urban Decay is softer and more buttery, NARS is more like traditional shadows in texture with more complex shimmers).

I believe the NARSissist Palette is limited-edition. It may take a bit of hunting to find it in stores, but you can still find it now online at Sephora, Beauty.com and Saks.

Did you buy the NARSissist Palette? What did you think?
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