Uh…who is this Man Ray dude?
For their holiday collections, NARS usually pairs up with an artist and thematically incorporates the artist’s work into the release. This year, that artist is Man Ray.
No, we did not just teleport into an episode of Futurama. ?
Man Ray was an American visual artist known for his photography in the ’20s and ’30s, and he was a big time contributor to the Dada and Surrealist movements. You’ve probably seen his work on your day-to-day travels. My favorite of his pieces is this picture here. It’s called Glass Tears. The first time I can remember seeing it was in a magazine when I was in high school, and it haunts me to this day.
I wonder if Man Ray liked purple, because the eye makeup in this color collection has purple, purple, purple!
Exciting stuff, if you ask me.
I’m into purple on my lids and lash lines, especially purples with bronze and gold, and there’s lots of that happening here. If you’re a NARS Cordura fan or a NARS Mekong or MAC Sketch or Shale fan, you’ll probably be feeling the duos and liners.
Before we jump into the eye makeup, let me back up a little first. The Man Ray for NARS Holiday collection launches this Friday, October 6th at NARS Boutiques and the NARS website, and it’s set up the same way that NARS has been doing their holiday collections for the past few years, with a color collection, which is like your traditional makeup LE collection with eye, lip and cheek products, and then there’s also a “gifting” collection with kits and sets.
The color collection contains 11 pieces and includes glosses, eyeshadow duos, a highlighter and liners, and there’s LOTS of purple, bronze and gold on parade, to which I have to say “YAAAAS!” 🙂
There are two $36 eyeshadow duos, each with a pan of wonderfully wearable, joyful, GORGEOUS purple shadow. The wearable aspect is a bit of a departure for NARS Holiday eye shadows, as 2015’s Steven Klein and 2016’s Sarah Moon seemed more serious, heavy, and…challenging to me. Like, am I really gonna wear a single pan of frosty white shadow on a Tuesday afternoon? Probably not.
These two new duos may not be as edgy as the NARS shadows from recent holiday collections, but I’m fine with that. I’ll take easy-to-wear stuff any day of the week.
The first duo, Montparnasse, pairs a satiny, reddish bronzed purple with a frosty, cool yellow gold. The second one, Debauched, partners a rich, deep golden plum with a smoky blackened purple containing red micro glitter.
And the purple in Montparnasse is definitely easy to work with. It’s a sheer purple, which I don’t think is a bad thing at all in this case, and it has a satiny finish. The sheerness is helpful because, well, purples can be hard to blend, man! Because think of how much it contrasts with skin… That’s a BIG leap. It’s definitely more of a leap than tan or beige shadow.
You just have to do more work to get purple to look like it’s supposed to be there, and not like you just bumped into a doorknob.
If you’re into natural looks like I am a lot nowadays, because this one is on the sheerer side, you won’t have to buff the edges very much to create a nice dark-to-light gradient.
I like to do the purple on my lids first, then fade it up into my crease. And then I take the gold shade, which is very reflective and shiny, pat that on the center of my lid with a finger, and leave it be. Eventually, that gold melts into the purple, and that’s that. You hardly have to do any work! 🙂 That’s exactly what I did for the Montparnasse look here.
Next, I lined my lash and water lines with Santiago Velvet Eyeliner ($24), which is a purplish bronzed brown that looks like a hybrid of MAC Teddy and MAC Prunella.
It’s pigmented (yay!), but it doesn’t like to stick to my water lines (gah).
I have the same issue with second liner in the collection, purple Nagoya. It works fine on my lash lines, but it needs a touch-up every couple hours when I use it on my water lines.
I do love the color of Nagoya, though. It’s a bright ’80s-style violet (similar to this shade from Sephora I picked up a couple months ago), and it sure POPS with the Debauched Duo, which is the darker of the two eyeshadow duos.
The purple in Debauched is a blackened violet purple, and it’s more intense than the purple in Montparnasse, so I think it definitely benefits from a transition color (I used NARS Blondie for this look).
Debauched also has a deep blackened plum, and plum with red shimmer, which may have you wondering if it’s like NARS Mekong, but it isn’t. Mekong is redder, and they actually look completely different.
This one is super cool if you apply it wet, because it makes the sparkles really stand out. I did that here in the outer corner with a brush that I wet with a little MAC Fix+. If you give it a try, remember to let the shadow dry before you blend it, though, because if you don’t, your edges will end up all choppy.
I can definitely recommend both of the eyeshadow duos in this collection. As for the liners, I think they’re very pretty, too, and complementary, but you can find similar things from other brands that also work better on water lines.
I’m still testing the blushes, highlighter and glosses this week, so stay tuned.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
You had me at “If you’re a NARS Mekong fan”
As someone with hooded eyes, I wear that shade smudged along my lashline almost everyday!
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I absolutely love how you write and you have me very excited to purchase the Debauched duo.
Your love/obsession for NARS products really shows through. Thank you for expressing that so I know I’m not alone.
Hi Jocelyn,
Mekong is a NARS must. Do you have the Cordura duo? It’s one of my favorites from the line and I could wear it every day.
I don’t have it but I’ll pick it up because of your tip. Thank you!
For once an artist that I actually recognize without having to google him first! I am all about the purples at the moment too, so I will see when this collection launches here in Germany.
Hi LindaLibraLoca,
I know, right?! I had to do that with the last couple collections.
Purples always look lovely on you. 🙂 I’m such a dodo. I saw the highlighter with the lips all over the pan and thought “is lip powder a thing?”. Then I realized there were lips on EVERYTHING. And it’s not even Monday. HAHA!
Thanks, Kim! HAHA, ok, I may or may not have thought the same thing. It’s a little confusing having the lips on a cheek product, yeah? Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday.
Oh, thank goodness. It’s nice to have some company with the palm-to-forehead moments. HAHA! And I hear you on Friday. So, so glad it’s here. 🙂
The eyeshadows look amazing for fall!
Hi Chris,
They sure do!
This collection is awesome. I really like Debauched on you but am afraid it will just look like black shadow on my lids. Do you think the dark purple shade will transfer well to darker lids?
Hi Indya,
There is a chance that it could pull more like a straight up black shadow with shimmer on your skin because the black tones are very strong, but I think there’s enough of the micro glitter in there to make it pop more like a purple. Hope that makes sense! You could always layer it on top of a purple base to push more of the purple through.
Got it! Thanks!
You’re welcome. If you have any other Q’s please let me know. Happy to help!
Gorgeous looks! I bought the Debauched duo because purples are my jam, and I was NOT disappointed. So pigmented and blendable. I absolutely love both colours!
Hi Ash,
Yeah, that one is SO good. Do you have MAC Powersurge? It’s a bronzy eyeliner. It looks really great with Debauched when you wear it along the lower water and lash lines.
Hi Karen. The plum eyeshadow looks wonderful on you! Thanks for the great blog! 🙂
Hi Barbara,
Thanks, girlie! I love wearing purples and want everyone to love them, too. LOL! It’s such a flattering color. Do you have any fave purple/bronze shades? I’m all about NARS Cordura, I could seriously wear that duo every day.
Hi Karen. I love purple, but unfortunately I don’t love how I look in eyeshadow. ? So I get my purple fix by wearing colorful eye liners. Two of my faves are both by Sephora – Retractable Waterproof pencil in #20 Shimmer Electric Purple, and Contour Eye Pencil 12H Wear in #30 Eccentric Diva. They really make my green eyes pop and they work great on the waterline!
I can’t wait when it’ll be available at EU NARS website!!!
I’m so impressed by NARS’ limited edition collaborations with artists. Steven Klein in terms of packaing design was a BOMB. Sadly couldn’t afford anything at that time ?Sarah Moon packaging design in comparison was just oK. But in terms of products, the “Give in Take” palette as well as Quai de Brumes eyeshadow duo are used quite often.
But that gorgeous Man Ray highlighter is something I really want to get in my already oversized makeup stash. My “logical me” says I have enough golden highlighters, therefore I’m looking forward, Karen, to be convinced, that the uniqueness is not just the ?on it ?
Hi Lelde,
I was looking through my collection and the closest thing I have to it is MAC Oh Darling. Do you have that one? They both have the same level of shine and pigment intensity, but the NARS one is ever so slighter warmer and peachier. It’s smoother and finer, too. 🙂
Steven Klein was such a memorable collection. It’ll be forever etched in my brain as the one with the pic of a man’s junk on one of the kits, LOL!
Oohh… perfect, thank you, Karen! As I don’t have that MAC highliter in my stash, I’l definitely need this one.
I love these. Is it just me or does Montparnasse look like Thessalonique? I have the latter. I wonder if I need both? Want both of course 😛
the dark one scares me a bit, cause I’m not the best at smoky anything, but montparnasse is beautiful!! what kills me though, in your swatches, is how seeing them all lined up with one another makes me wish upon wishes that nars made quads!! wouldn’t this be a beautiful foursome?! ugh my poor wallet… this is just the eye part!!
p.s. you accidentally put $46 instead of $36 for the debauched duo… it gave me a minor heart attack, lol, like omg how could they raise the price so much this is such a betrayal! (i am not at all dramatic, tho!) ? 🙂
I’v had the lighter eye shadow duo in my sephora cart for a few days, and GAH Karen you’re killing me girl!!! I really shouldn’t spend over $40 CAD on a eye shadow duo. But it’s STUNNING!!