NARS

If You Aren’t Ready To Say So Long to Rose Gold, There’s New Pastorale Nail Polish by NARS

July 10th, 2014 by Karen 42 Comments

NARS Pastorale Nail Polish Swatch — Wearing the new NARS Nail Polish in Pastorale ($20) on my paws

Um…rose gold?

Yes, rose gold. Still. In all its rosy golden glory.

OK, now, I realize that rose gold is sooo 2013, and depending on where you stand on the subject, it may or may not have peaked, makeup-wise, with last year’s Naked3 palette from Urban Decay or the Rose Gold Shimmering Skin Perfector from BECCA.

You know what, though?

I kind of don’t care. 🙂

I’m going to continue clinging to rose gold with my polished claws and paws because, dagnabbit, I love it, particularly when paired with warmer skin tones.

Today, to keep the Carlos Santana Tone Wedge Sandals I’m wearing company, I painted my nails with Pastorale, a new rose gold nail polish from NARS.

It’s from the recent relaunch of the brand’s nail polish line and arrives with the other shades July 15 at NARS boutiques and narscosmetics.com, and August 1 at Sephora stores and department store NARS counters.

NARS Pastorale Swatch — Rose gold radness

[Continue reading…]

Hawaii, By Way of NARS Shameless Red

July 9th, 2014 by Karen 18 Comments

NARS Shameless Red Swatch — Aloha, NARS Shameless Red!

Please give a warm aloha to NARS Shameless Red Nail Polish! — aka, the latest shade to join the ranks of hula dancing beauty products that masquerade as a tropical vacation in a bottle.

Whenever I wear this reddish pink, I feel like I have hibiscus petals affixed to my nails.

Part of the recently revamped 43-piece NARS Nail Polish line, Shameless Red ($20) arrives by catamaran (OK, not really) July 15 at NARS boutiques and narscosmetics.com (and August 1 at Sephora stores and department store NARS counters).

NARS Shameless Red — I’m unashamed about my love for this color… One could say I’m shamelessly in love with it, haha.

[Continue reading…]

Just a Friendly Call From You-Know-Who About the New NARS Mondore Satin Lip Pencil

July 7th, 2014 by Karen 15 Comments

**RING! RING!**

KAREN: Tabs the Cat Industries, LLC, Office of the President, Karen speaking. How may I help you?

RYGOS: Ryan Gosling Incorporated, Office of My Living Room, Ryan speaking.

KAREN: Ryan, you’re hella dumb!

RYGOS: Excuse me, what was that? Who says “hella”?

KAREN: Only the cool kids say hella… So you’re excluded, haha!

RYGOS: Oh, she has jokes.

KAREN: Yeah, yeah…

Dude, I’m kind of busy, so I can’t really chat right now. What’s up?

RYGOS: Oh, I’m sorry. You’re busy. Because you’re so important that you can’t make time for your old friend Ryan anymore.

KAREN: Ah, poor Ryan… It’s so hard to find somebody to talk to when you’re a famous actor.

RYGOS: Hey, now.

KAREN: Don’t worry. You’re still my number one favorite shirtless actor. I’m actually just trying to get out of here because I have dinner plans with El Hub tonight. It’s our eighth wedding anniversary.

RYGOS: Wow, eight already? Are you finally gonna give El Hub that medal?

KAREN: What medal?

RYGOS: You know, that medal for putting up with you. 🙂

KAREN: (…) What do you want, Ryan?

RYGOS: I need to get my sister a present.

KAREN: Go on. I like where this is headed.

RYGOS: She said she wanted a red lipstick from NARS, but of course I have no idea which one to get, so I thought I’d call my favorite crazy cat lady/friendly neighborhood beauty addict.

KAREN: Aw, flattery will get you everywhere.

RYGOS: Really? I’ve never heard that.

KAREN: OK, here’s what you do. Wait until July 15th, because that’s when the new NARS Night Caller fall collection comes out.

[Continue reading…]

Late-Night Callers and the New NARS Unlawful Blush

July 7th, 2014 by Karen 14 Comments

**RING! RING!**

KAREN: Hello?

MYSTERY CALLER: Hey, girl.

KAREN: Hey… (?)

MYSTERY CALLER: What are you doing?

KAREN: Um…well, I have a wicked bout of insomnia right now, but what else is new?

MYSTERY CALLER: Damn, that sucks.

KAREN: And despite the fact that it’s closer to dawn than dusk, I’m playing with some new fall makeup from NARS.

MYSTERY CALLER: Fun!

KAREN: I know! I actually just applied a new blush of theirs called Unlawful — wait, who is this, and why are you calling me in the middle of the night?

MYSTERY CALLER: Well, that’s for me to know and for you to find out.

KAREN: OK, that was creepy…

MYSTERY CALLER: Wait, don’t hang up on me. Trust me, you’re a fan.

KAREN: Alright… OK, well, this is totally weird, though, but what the heck. It’s the middle of the night, and I’ve obviously got insomnia, so I might as well just go with it.

MYSTERY CALLER: Yes! Now, about that blush… I want to hear all about it.

KAREN: Uh, huh… Have I mentioned how TOTALLY WEIRD this is?

MYSTERY CALLER: You have.

KAREN: Right… But I’m not one to pass up an opportunity to talk about makeup, even if it is with a mystery caller in the middle of the night.

So, Unlawful. It’s a real showstopper — a warm-toned opalescent bronzed amber pink packed with tiny flecks of silver glitter, and it’s very pigmented, too.

That NARS decided to add silver glitter to it seems kind of unusual, because as warm as it is, I would have expected NARS to go with gold instead.

But the silver works. There’s just a lot of it.

OK, a ton.

You can’t really tell in pics, but you get up close and it’s a total glitter-fest.

I mean, the flecks are almost microscopic. They’re really tiny, which keeps the shade from delving into tacky territory, but it’s great. With this, you really don’t even need a highlighter.

Ultimately, it depends on how you feel about glitter. It’s all really subtle in pics, but it’s like, “Hey, how YOU doin’?” in real life.

MYSTERY CALLER: A friend of mine told me that Unlawful is from the new fall Night Caller collection? Is that right?

KAREN: It is. I always look forward to the NARS fall — wait, can you hold on a second? My cat just walked into the room, and if I don’t pick him up and show him some attention he’ll throw a fit.

Come here, Tabs.

MYSTERY CALLER: Take your time…

KAREN: Anyway, the fall collection is dope! Ten pieces. Along with the blush, there are a couple of eyeshadow duos, two Satin Lip Pencils, a new multiple and, oh! — a new line of glittery eyeliners based on the NARS Night Series eyeshadows.

Do you know those?

MYSTERY CALLER: Actually, no. Frankly, I know more about acting than I know about eyeshadow.

NARS Unlawful Blush Swatch — Unlawful Blush

[Continue reading…]

For a Chic Twist on a Neutral Look, Try Pairing Dark Blue Eyeshadow With Dark Blue Nails, and Use the Shadow as a Liner

July 1st, 2014 by Karen 29 Comments

Blue liner and nails with NARS Giove and Chanel Orage — Here I’m doing a Vulcan mind meld on myself… Kidding. I’m wearing Dual-Intensity Eyeshadow in Giove as a liner on my lash lines and Chanel Le Vernis Nail Colour in Orage on my claws.

QUESTION: Why use a blue eyeshadow instead of a blue liner?

ANSWER: Why not?

Picture it: dark blue liner coupled with super deep, dark, almost black nails, only, instead of using a pencil, gel or liquid liner, you use a powder eyeshadow.

NARS Giove and Chanel Orage — Incidentally, that’s Dolce & Gabbana Classic Cream Lipstick in Petal on my lips.

Do you ever just get stuck in a rut and feel like you’re wearing nothing but brown and beige? Feel like trying something different but don’t want to go over the top?

I’m always looking for ways to keep things interesting for myself, especially when it comes to wearable makeup looks — ideally chic and wearable, but not totally snooze-worthy, if you catch my drift.

One day I decided to pair dark blue liner with dark blue claws, and the first thing I thought when I finished was, “Why haven’t I done this before?”

Seriously, though, why use a blue eyeshadow as a liner instead of an actual blue liner?

NARS Duo-Intensity Eyeshadow in Giove — Ciao, NARS Giove!

Using a dark blue eyeshadow as a liner, instead of a dark blue pencil, gel or liquid eyeliner, creates a more diffused edge, so the overall effect looks softer.

I’ve done it with lots of different liner styles, too, like spicy cat eye looks, and even soft washes of color, where the liner is smudged along my upper and lower lash lines.

Sometimes I’m just in the mood for a blurred edge (and the accompanying less attention to detail).

Just for fun: add dark blue nails

Chanel Le Vernis Nail Colour in Orage, $27

I like seeing the flash of dark blue on my fingers whenever I tuck my bangs behind my ears or push my (nerdy Gamma Ray computer glasses) up.

And it think it sort of reinforces the blue liner, too. You know, more blue.

I also like how the softer liner contrasts with the harder edge of the dark blue nails, so you also have that contrasty thing going.

I call this liner look the Tabby T-1000 (after the liquid metal Terminator from T2)

For this cat liner look, I applied metallic dark blue NARS Dual-Intensity Eyeshadow in Giove ($29) with an angled brush.

First, I applied it dry to create the shape of the cat eye and get that softer edge. Then I wet the brush head, dipped it back into the pan, and applied the shadow on my lash line close to the lashes, to sort of intensify the metallic finish and crete a subtle gradient.

You could definitely keep it simpler by picking one — just wet or just dry — but ya know. I’m just saying.

[Continue reading…]

Mint Madness With NARS and Essie! A Mint Mani and Accompanying Face of the Day

May 19th, 2014 by Karen 19 Comments

Today’s minty fresh face o’ the day was inspired by the mint mani I did last weekend with Essie Fashion Playground and In The Cab-ana (used as an “accent nail”).

Tabs the cat approves of this mint mani! P.S. That’s catnip (from the mint family) in the background.

The mint liner comes courtesy of NARS Barrow Street Larger Than Life Long-Wear Eyeliner, the black is NARS Black Valley Eye Paint, and my lower water lines are sporting MAC Fascinating Eye Kohl.

Because the liner look here’s pretty dramatic, I decided to leave my lids neutral, with just MAC Texture and Ground Brown in the crease and Mylar on my lids.

[Continue reading…]

If You Could Only Pick One NARS Lip Gloss To Wear on the Biggest Night of Your Life, Which One Would You Choose?

May 19th, 2014 by Karen 17 Comments

For your Monday viewing/window shopping pleasure, here’s a consolidated look at all 30 lip Lotharios in the recently revamped NARS Lip Gloss line ($26 each and available now).

The question of the day is, if you could only pick one from the entire line, which one would you choose?

I would probably go with…

Wow, it’s hard to decide!

Maybe Salamanca?

Yeah, or Giza.

Definitely Salamanca or Giza…or one of the other 28, LOL! 🙂

Loading ...

1. Angelika

2. Belize

NARS Belize Lip Swatch — A big kiss from Belize…

3. Chihuaha

Wearing NARS Chihuahua Lip Gloss on my lips

NARS Chihuahua Lip Gloss Swatch — Aye, Chihuahua!

[Continue reading…]

A NARS Tropical Princess Eyeshadow Face of the Day, Or, It’s So Hot Here Today That I Spontaneously Transformed Into a NARS Tropical Princess

April 30th, 2014 by Karen 21 Comments

I was originally going to wear basic neutrals and black liner on my lids today because it was deceptively chilly this morning, but that didn’t last long. It was 80 degrees by 9!

After shutting all the windows, drapes and blinds (much to Tabs’ chagrin, because it obstructs his view of the bird feeder outside), I felt like summery makeup was in order — something like the new NARS Tropical Princess Eyeshadow Duo from the Adult Swim summer 2014 collection.

[Continue reading…]

NARS

Seriously, though, why use a blue eyeshadow as a liner instead of an actual blue liner?

Just for fun: add dark blue nails

I call this liner look the Tabby T-1000 (after the liquid metal Terminator from T2)

If you could only pick one NARS Lip Gloss to wear on the biggest night of your life, which one would you choose?

1. Angelika

2. Belize

3. Chihuaha