Neat and New to Me
Unlike my Unsung Heroes series, which features permanent collection products I’ve known and loved a long time, the Neat and New to Me series showcases permanent collection products that slipped under my radar for a while, but then I discovered them! — and now I think they’re neat and new to me.
OK, so, I was expecting to Google the word, “Isolde,” as in the NARS Isolde Eyeshadow Duo, and find out that it’s the name of an exotic island in a far-flung corner of the world, because that’s how NARS usually rolls when it comes to naming their colors, but nooo! Turns out that it’s the name of a character in a German opera by Richard Wagner called Tristan und Isolde.
Random! Makeup, you are my teacher, and I’m your willing and eager student. 🙂
Isolde… Aah! Can I just say, “Hello, autumnal makeup jam?!”
Part of the NARS permanent collection, Isolde has recently taken up residence in my Large NARS Pro-Palette. Why I waited so long to try it, I’ll never understand…because it’s so beautiful (especially if your skin has warm undertones)!
You get a shimmery, coppery peach on one side and a shimmery warm copper on the other, and neither side is frosty, which I like.
These colors force me to think of autumn leaves and cozy scarves. And pumpkin spice lattes. And matte lips and boots. In other words, fall.
NARS has literally dozens of beautiful duos, but I think Isolde deserves a shout-out, first, because it’s intensely pigmented (one or two layers should do you just fine), and second, because of the powders, which are so soft that they almost feel like creams. Using them, I hardly notice any fallout, and they barely fade at all after eight hours.
And then there’s the finish, which comes close to being a frost, but doesn’t quite get there, and that’s one of the things I love about NARS. They play with shine in such interesting ways that I never expect.
