Monica
Well-known member
I’m a girl on the go. Like many of you I have a full time job that pays the bills, I’m a student (working towards an English and Mass Communications degree) and family gal. When I buy makeup I go for things that are pretty, can multipurpose, and are long lasting. It’s tough to find a lip product that will keep looking good for hours after you apply it or an eyeshadow that hasn’t completely faded away at the end of the day.
NARS sent me a few items from both the Summer and BLKR 2014 collections to share with you guys and this time around I decided to enlist the help of a few of my friends. This weekend my friend Irene invited a few of us over to BBQ and to show us around her new home. I thought it would be fun to get a little glammed up and take some pictures while we were hanging out!
Irene used NARS tropical princess eye shadow duo from the Summer collection, the illuminator, and the new reformulated lipgloss in Priscilla. Tropical Princess, along with Priscilla, were definitely the two shining stars of the pieces I received. The eyeshadow duo is a lovely, bright, and slightly shimmery pop of color. The green shade looks like a bright lime green in the pan but when it applies its slightly darker and more of a true green color. My favorite of the two is the light lavender shade of purple. When applied this is a soft silvery lavender and is true to the other NARS products I’ve tried in terms of pigmentation and texture. It glides onto your brush like soft butter and goes on the skin smooth and evenly. Here’s a picture of my beautiful friend Irene:
I found the illuminator was flattering on all of us, it suited my pale skin, Irene’s medium olive tone, and Denise’s tanned skin. Irene simply dabbed it on her cheekbones and it immediately brightened her skin and gave her that coveted dewy glow.
I was most excited about this gloss ladies! The pink just screams
at you in the new repackaged tubes, and if I hadn’t tried it on myself, I might’ve passed this up thinking that it be too bold for me. I used this gloss a few days before our get together and here are my thoughts:
First, let me tell you, I’ve tried just about every dazzleglass, lipglass, cremesheen, and lusterglass from MAC. From my experience it’s slightly sticky and thick and seems to pull at the lipstick I apply under them. This was my first experience with a NARS lipgloss and I’m definitely a fan. I swiped the wand over my lips once and got a very pretty almost matte shade of pink on my lips. I could’ve stopped there and died happy, but I continued to build the color to see how much product it would take to get a true gloss. After about 2-3 coats this color builds into a very pigmented, shiny, and slightly darker pink on the lips and I was surprised at how well the color complimented me! It felt moist and comfortable and the real kicker was that even after eating, drinking, and chatting my head off with my girlfriends it was still on my lips! The glossiness was slightly gone and it faded into a soft pink, but it still looked good and wasn’t splotchy.I heard some say NARS lipglosses smell strange and taste bad, but my experience couldn’t have been further from the truth. I noticed no bad (or any) smell, and when I was eating I didn’t get any bad taste from the gloss either.
Denise tried the purple 413BLKR shadow duo and it looked great on her. She applied a primer under the shadows but the lighter shade truly needs an light undercoat, I like to use NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Milk, under it to make the color really pop. It was somewhat muted on her darker skin but did apply very easily. She used the light purple over the entire lid and the dark purple with little magenta glittery bits in her crease. She put a shimmery white shadow just under her eyebrows and lined her eyes with a dark purple eyeliner. I think this duo is really versatile and can be used in different combinations for daytime and for a more dramatic eye for a night out. Would I buy this for myself? Probably not. My money would decisively be splurged on the Tropical Princess duo. Denise also contoured her face using the NARS contour blush in Gienah. I think it gave nice definition in her cheekbones and matched her skin tone well.
Meet my beautiful friend Denise!
Last but not least, I also created a look using the Tropical Princess duo (because I
it so much!) that was a bit different than the one Irene did. I used the shimmery light purple shade all over my lid, a matte purple from my Too Faced Matte Eyeshadow palette in my crease, and lined my bottom lid with the bright green color. I decided to get a little crazy and mixed the BLKR illuminator in with my Too Faced BB creme and buffed it all over my face. It actually looked really nice and didn’t make my face too shiny, I will definitely use that combo again. Here’s my look:
Here are some arm swatches of each product:
The illuminator was a very nice shade and was a wonderful highlighter, but it’s going to be hard getting me to part with my M.A.C. MSF. With NARS releasing 7 new shades of their reformulated lipglosses, looks like my wallet is going to be shrinking soon. My friends and I had a great time on Saturday eating Korean BBQ and sitting out in the Texas heat soaking up some much needed sun. I’m looking forward to summertime lake outings and getting the chance to spend more time with these lovely ladies!
You can find larger images here: http://bit.ly/1jGsecB
These products were sent to me on behalf of Specktra for my consideration.Thanks to NARS and my fabulous friends Irene, Denise, and Nicole!!
NARS sent me a few items from both the Summer and BLKR 2014 collections to share with you guys and this time around I decided to enlist the help of a few of my friends. This weekend my friend Irene invited a few of us over to BBQ and to show us around her new home. I thought it would be fun to get a little glammed up and take some pictures while we were hanging out!

Irene used NARS tropical princess eye shadow duo from the Summer collection, the illuminator, and the new reformulated lipgloss in Priscilla. Tropical Princess, along with Priscilla, were definitely the two shining stars of the pieces I received. The eyeshadow duo is a lovely, bright, and slightly shimmery pop of color. The green shade looks like a bright lime green in the pan but when it applies its slightly darker and more of a true green color. My favorite of the two is the light lavender shade of purple. When applied this is a soft silvery lavender and is true to the other NARS products I’ve tried in terms of pigmentation and texture. It glides onto your brush like soft butter and goes on the skin smooth and evenly. Here’s a picture of my beautiful friend Irene:
I found the illuminator was flattering on all of us, it suited my pale skin, Irene’s medium olive tone, and Denise’s tanned skin. Irene simply dabbed it on her cheekbones and it immediately brightened her skin and gave her that coveted dewy glow.
I was most excited about this gloss ladies! The pink just screams

First, let me tell you, I’ve tried just about every dazzleglass, lipglass, cremesheen, and lusterglass from MAC. From my experience it’s slightly sticky and thick and seems to pull at the lipstick I apply under them. This was my first experience with a NARS lipgloss and I’m definitely a fan. I swiped the wand over my lips once and got a very pretty almost matte shade of pink on my lips. I could’ve stopped there and died happy, but I continued to build the color to see how much product it would take to get a true gloss. After about 2-3 coats this color builds into a very pigmented, shiny, and slightly darker pink on the lips and I was surprised at how well the color complimented me! It felt moist and comfortable and the real kicker was that even after eating, drinking, and chatting my head off with my girlfriends it was still on my lips! The glossiness was slightly gone and it faded into a soft pink, but it still looked good and wasn’t splotchy.I heard some say NARS lipglosses smell strange and taste bad, but my experience couldn’t have been further from the truth. I noticed no bad (or any) smell, and when I was eating I didn’t get any bad taste from the gloss either.
Denise tried the purple 413BLKR shadow duo and it looked great on her. She applied a primer under the shadows but the lighter shade truly needs an light undercoat, I like to use NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Milk, under it to make the color really pop. It was somewhat muted on her darker skin but did apply very easily. She used the light purple over the entire lid and the dark purple with little magenta glittery bits in her crease. She put a shimmery white shadow just under her eyebrows and lined her eyes with a dark purple eyeliner. I think this duo is really versatile and can be used in different combinations for daytime and for a more dramatic eye for a night out. Would I buy this for myself? Probably not. My money would decisively be splurged on the Tropical Princess duo. Denise also contoured her face using the NARS contour blush in Gienah. I think it gave nice definition in her cheekbones and matched her skin tone well.
Meet my beautiful friend Denise!
Last but not least, I also created a look using the Tropical Princess duo (because I

Here are some arm swatches of each product:
The illuminator was a very nice shade and was a wonderful highlighter, but it’s going to be hard getting me to part with my M.A.C. MSF. With NARS releasing 7 new shades of their reformulated lipglosses, looks like my wallet is going to be shrinking soon. My friends and I had a great time on Saturday eating Korean BBQ and sitting out in the Texas heat soaking up some much needed sun. I’m looking forward to summertime lake outings and getting the chance to spend more time with these lovely ladies!

You can find larger images here: http://bit.ly/1jGsecB
These products were sent to me on behalf of Specktra for my consideration.Thanks to NARS and my fabulous friends Irene, Denise, and Nicole!!