Nars Hearts New York Set: Review

 Blush, Bronzers, NARS, Powder  17 Responses »
May 072013
 

Nars Loves NYC03a

Just as I’m heading to New York City for a short trip, this incredible NARS Hearts New York City set ($65) arrived on my doorstep. Start spreading the news, Cafe Makeup loves this set. As much as we are on the road, this combination of neutrals with an edge combination is perfect for travel, or to keep in a bag for an ultra-long day away from home. The palette is slim, sturdy, and perfect for slipping into that tight bit of space.

This contains:

  • Amour Blush: Dusty rose with a hint of peach
  • Biarritz single eyeshadow: neutral cream colored beige matte
  • Nepal single eyeshadow: Soft, shimmery peach rose
  • New York single eyeshadow: Plum brown matte
  • Galapagos single eyeshadow: Bitter chocolate infused with gold
  • Laguna Bronzer:  a soft, slightly warm-to-neural everyday bronzer
  • Chinatown nail polish
  • Dolce Vita lipgloss

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The palette holds the powder products. I love that the lipgloss is separate, and that the palette has no creams (which can get messy over time) The palette has an enormous mirror, which is perfect for travel.

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 I cannot think of a more efficient or perfect set up. I’ve loved Galapagos for so long, it’s a perfect liner color. The warm Nepal and the cool blue-burgundy New York play well together. Biarritz is an understated ivory matte which says “sophisticated.”

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 The Amour/Laguna combination is a perfect goes-with-anything combination.  This palette was made for us. Here’s Liz using Amour, Laguna, Nepal (lid wash) and Galapagos (in crease and beyond):

Nars Hearts NYC Look 2

Application was pretty fool proof. I didn’t notice any difference between the single version of Galapagos and the one in this set. Liz applied Nepal and Galapagos on her lids with the Edward Bess Luxury Eye Brush, with a touch of Biarritz in the corner of her eyes. It was fast and foolproof. You can see how beautifully Nars Galapagos and Nepal do together on her lids (no base):

Nars Loves NY

Liz is also wearing Dolce Vita in both pictures (above), which is one of the only glosses that I’ve already gone through twice:

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Dolce Vita gloss is a true “your lips but better” shade that goes anywhere.

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Nars Dolce Vita on Liz:

Nars Dolce Vita

Nars Chinatown is a beautiful vampy dark red:

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This dries to a shiny hard finish with full saturation in two coats. The texture is thin but highly pigmented:

Nars China town

I love Nars Chinatown (no topcoat):

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 Swatches of all shades in the palette:

Nars Hearts New York Swatches1

Overall, Cafe Makeup hearts the Nars Hearts New York City set. I love how all of the products come packaged together for a well-coordinated, sophisticated look. For us, this set was a 100% winner.

This is available online at Nars Cosmetics, and will become available soon at select retailers (Barneys, Lord & Taylor, Saks Fith Avenue, Henri Bendel, and Bloomingdale’s Soho).

 

Nars Pierre Hardy: Boys Don’t Cry and Rotonde Blushes

 Blush, NARS  10 Responses »
May 052013
 

Nars has engaged in an artist collaboration with Pierre Hardy, the French designer who has designed for Hermès and is known for his gorgeous shoes. Some of his designs are very geometric, a theme picked up the design of this cosmetics collaboration.

Pierre Hardy

 The collection includes two Both are impressive.

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 Boys Don’t Cry is a beautiful reddened coral, which reminds me of a fruit punch flavor. This is a beautiful face-brightening color that will look amazing on warm and cool skin tones. It has plenty of pigment, so it should show on all ranges of skin tones.

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The gold imprint overspray will wear off after a few uses. After it’s gone, the blush is matte in texture. It’s nicely milled. 

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Although it looks bright in the pan, I found that using a my standard blush brushes worked well. I adore this color for summer. Here is Boys Don’t Cry on Liz:

Nars Pierre Hardy Blushes Applied1

Swatches of Boys Don’t Cry on the left (swatched light and heavy) along with Rotonde on the right:

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 Nars Rotonde for Pierre Hardy is summer-friendly, brightening orange-peach.

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 This is a gorgeous warm orange that looks amazing with summer brights.

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 I have to use care applying this one– my Nars Yachiyo brush works well, as does a duo fibre brush. On Liz:

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I was really impressed with the quality of these vibrant blushes. They have very good staying powder, I was able to get a good 10-hour day out of them. If you love these colors, these are well worth a look. In fact, I’ll say that you really should look at Boy’s Don’t Cry–it’s an unusual color and absolutely gorgeous.

These blushes were sent to Cafe Makeup without charge for consideration for review. This post includes affiliate links (for more information, see About Cafe Makeup).

Available on Narscosmetics.com, Nordstrom.com, Barneys.com and elsewhere.

Nars Satin Lip Pencil Finale

 Lip Pencil, Lipgloss, Lipstick, NARS  13 Responses »
Mar 282013
 

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Despite some delay because life got in the way, we were pleased to be able to present the entire line of Nars Satin Lip Pencils. Like many Nars releases, this includes some highly usable, yet unusual colors.

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These are unique enough to create a “what’s she wearing?” look.

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Unlike prior releases, these had no scent or taste. The finish is slightly glowy, which fades to a rich stain. The glow lasts for the first hour or less, the stain far longer. Please keep in mind that nothing lasts on us. We didn’t notice any bleeding, but we don’t tend to experience bleeding with any lip products. Although the initial experience with these feels moisturizing, the sensation does wear off along with the gloss after 1/2 hour up to 1 hour. The rich stain left behind is pretty, but those with drier lips will notice the change (and the appearance will look as dry as your lips actually are).

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After playing with these, I found the standouts to be Lodhi, Biscayne Park, Rikugien, and Yu. I hope you enjoyed this little series. Which did you choose?

Nars Satin Lip Pencils

Nars Satin Lip Pencils are available online at Nars Cosmetics online, Nars boutiques (New York City on Bleecker, Los Angeles, and San Francisco on Fillmore), Nordstrom.com, and other Nars retailers that include Sephora.

Nars Cosmetics provided these pencils to Cafe Makeup without charge for consideration for review. This post includes affiliate links. For more information, see About Cafe Makeup.

 

Nars Palais Royal Satin Lip Pencil Review

 Lip Pencil, Lipgloss, Lipstick, NARS  Comments Off
Mar 282013
 

Nars Palais Royal1

Nars Satin Lip Pencils ($25) each are just being released. Our overview of all shades and the formula is here. This is part of a series of posts that looks at all shades on lips. At the close, we’ll do a wrap up post of all shades again for this 13-pencil release. Here, Nars Palais Royale is a rich sangria color.

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This color does appear to have the look that one’s lip would have after drinking  a rich glass of red wine:

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Nars Satin Lip Pencils are available at Nars online website, Nars boutiques, Nordstrom.com, Sephora.com and other Nars retailers.

Nars Cosmetics provided these pencils to Cafe Makeup without charge for consideration for review. This post contains affiliate links (for more information, see About Cafe Makeup).

Nars Hyde Park Satin Lip Pencil Review

 Lip Pencil, Lipgloss, Lipstick, NARS  1 Response »
Mar 282013
 

Nars Hyde Park1

Nars Satin Lip Pencils ($25) each are just being released. Our overview of all shades and the formula is here. This is part of a series of posts that looks at all shades on lips. At the close, we’ll do a wrap up post of all shades again for this 13-pencil release. Here, Nars Hyde Park acted as a bit of a chameleon. Here are my set of swatches, including Hyde Park which reads as a dark red:

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On Liz, Hyde Park looked much lighter in tone than the swatch when applied. Here she is, applying Nars Hyde Park while she is wearing Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill Shimmer #11

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Close up of Liz wearing Nars Satin Lip pencil in Hyde Park on lips:

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I noticed that Hyde Park shows up much more red on other blogger’s photos, and a touch more brown on me when applied. For that reason, Liz and I double checked and so tried Hyde Park again in outdoor lighting when we met for lunch last Saturday. Truly, the color applied on Liz just as you see in this photo.

For those reasons, Hyde Park is one shade that I would strongly encourage you to try in person before you buy. Fortunately, I think the Armani Eyes to Kill Shimmer in #11 is a winner on everyone–I love a shimmery taupe, don’t you? (full review to come soon)

Nars Satin Lip Pencils are available at Nars online website, Nars boutiques, Nordstrom.com, Sephora.com and other Nars retailers.

Nars Cosmetics provided these pencils to Cafe Makeup without charge for consideration for review. This post contains affiliate links (for more information, see About Cafe Makeup).

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