Lo! What manner of marvelousness do I see before me? ‘Tis a smokey eye lover’s dream!
New from NARS, the new Eye-Opening Act spring collection is freakin’. Gorgeous.
One of my New Year’s resolutions was to push myself out of my smokey eye comfort zone, but dayum, girl! — this launch is not making that easy.
With a focus on eyes…
Did you get that? “…a focus on eyes”? Ha! You know what they say — a bad pun a day keeps the dentist away. 🙂
The eight-piece limited edition release is, for the time being, available now exclusively at Nordstrom (as if I needed another excuse to shop there!), but it also arrives at NARS boutiques and the NARS website March 15.
If the thought of waiting till two days before St. Patrick’s Day pains your makeup-loving heart and you want to jump on these products meow, here’s the gist: two powder eyeshadow palettes (one warm, one cool), a brand-spankin’ new line of creamy stick shadows with a velvety matte finish, and a new shade of Illuminating Multiple.
Yesterday I wore the $48 warm palette, cutely named Yeux Irresistible, and here’s a testament to how bomb NARS powder eyeshadows are: I was already wearing my foundation and concealer when I started the smokey cat eye portion of the look I’m wearing in these pics…
As you can tell, dark shades are in the house, like the warm brown in my crease, the shimmery sable/coppery red on my lid, and the dark black in the outer corner.
Forty-five minutes into the eye look, I realized something…
There was hardly any fallout. Like, almost none at all. And these are fairly intense colors — the kind that almost always leave at least a little fallout under my eyes — but I hardly had to do any cleanup at all, so two big paws up to NARS for that.
The two palettes in the release aren’t just gorgeous. They’re also easy to blend. Plus, they leave behind almost zero fallout, which adds up to a NARS dream come true if you frequently have a hard time figuring out which shades are warm and which shades are cool.
The collection also marks the launch of an exciting new line of matte cream shadow sticks. You can use the new Velvet Shadow Sticks ($28 each) in a variety of ways, including as a base on your lids, upon which you apply other shadows, or use them as straight-up eyeshadows, which is what I did in this look. I’m using Flibuste, the black shade, in a cat eye shape in the outer corners.
I like, I like! After you put these on, you have a few minutes to play with them, and blend, and sloosh them around before they set, and once that happens, they don’t budge for the rest of the day.
They currently come in five basic shades (black, brown, gray, blue and purple) but by “basic” I don’t mean boring. I mean basic as in highly wearable workhorse shades you can wear all time. If you like wearing smokey, smudgy eye looks as much as moi, you’ll love these.
Oh, I just remembered! — I also like these for lining my lash lines. What I do is load an angled brush by running it across the top of one of the sticks, then I use it to line my lash lines.
Very pretty for cat liner with a hazy, smoked-out edge.
Lastly, we have a new shade of Illuminating Multiple. Introducing St. Lucia ($39)…
Ya know, I have a complex relationship with shimmery NARS Multiples like St. Lucia. I love ’em for, like, real life, because they’re easy to apply, I can use my fingers to blend them, I can wear them on my eyes, lips and cheeks, and they have an effortless, dewy shimmer that isn’t too in yo’ face.
Buuut, in photos, I dunno. Sometimes I feel like they invite my pores to the party, when I really didn’t want them invited at all…
St. Lucia does that. Super pretty though, especially if want a soft pink knock-around color to wear while out and about, kicking @ss and taking names, that kind of thing. But for serving face in front of a camera, watch out for those pores, ma.
The eight-piece NARS Eye-Opening Act includes…
Velvet Shadow Stick in Flibuste, a matte black, $28
Velvet Shadow Stick in Dark Angel, a matte brown, $28.
Velvet Shadow Stick in Reykjavik, a matte gray, $28
Velvet Shadow Stick in Glenan, a matte dark blue, $28
Velvet Shadow Stick in Nunavut, a matte purple, $28
Illuminating Multiple in St. Lucia, a sheer shimmery rose, $39
Eyeshadow Palette in Yeux Irresistible, $28
- All About Eve, a flesh-toned neutral with shimmer
- Jezebel, a shimmery sable
- Thunderball, a midnight gray
- Colombo, a vintage gold shimmer
- Brousse, a sable
- Coconut Grove, a deep brown
Eyeshadow Palette in Inoubliable Coup D’Oeil, $48
- Dalliance, a dusty lilac stone
- Pyla, a smokey hunter green
- Sidi Bou Said, a blackened grape
- Pandora, a sheer white shimmer
- Luberon, an iridescent sand with rose golden sheen
- Pandora, a matte black
The release is limited edition and momentarily available now exclusively at Nordstrom stores and nordstrom.com, but on March 15 it also debuts at NARS boutiques and the NARS website.
Your friendly neighborhood NARS addict,
Karen
OOOO God, what a stunning, STUNNING look, Karen! I totally get why you’d make out with this palette if you could 🙂 Love the super sharp line you created!
Hi Sunny,
Thank you! Those sharp lines are courtesy of an angled brush and concealer. Try it sometime on your wings. It’ll make the edges extra crisp… Even the kittehs might be jealous!
Yep, dayummm indeed! In fact, I stopped reading to comment. I was drooling over their dual intense shadow palette that is soon to be released. But the price point of these palettes make them more wallet friendly. Totes in love with the look you created. Bonus that the formula is a breeze to work with + hella pigmented. Imma fan! Insert jazz hands here!
LOL! You make me laugh. I may/may not have done jazz hands when I finished this look. I swear it took forever and a day.
What makeup did you do today? Anything colorful or fun?
I picked up Reykjavick a couple weeks ago when I saw it at my Nordstrom and I love the look of St. Lucia so it has been on my mind ever since. But I can’t decide how similar it is to Becca Opal (liquid). Thoughts?
Seriuosly, this look inspires me to play in my stash & see what I have to replicate it. Today’s look was a repromote from yesterday. Lol. I picked up MAC Antiqued a few weeks ago as an impulse buy. I also rocked MAC Viva Glam Rihanna 2 paired with Nightmoth + Explicit Lipglass (sadly, MVGR2 Lipglass sold out before I could purchase it). Lemme tell you, EVERY outfit I’ve worn for the past week + has been created just for this lip combo. Epic! It’s vampy, sultry, edgy- everything I’ve been looking for. It’s quite possible I’m obsessed with it :-). Of course my CG bronzer made an appearance, as did my MAC Raisin blush & Hour Glass Ambient powder in Dim Light. I don’t know how but when I top Dim Light on top of my Ben Nye powder in Topaz (which I use to set my concealer) my under eye highlight wears ALL DAY LONG & that area looks even more polished. It’s like magic! I accidently discovered it last week while playing with my HG Ambient Lighting palette. I love accidental “discoveries” ☺️
I have words for that warm palette…. Yeux so irresistible! LOL I crack myself up.
The look you created is stunning. I love the reddish brown shade on the lid so much!!! I need this palette.
You look stunning! I love your smokey eye looks – it’s not a bad thing to be comfortable with something. You do A LOT with different colors and smokey eyes.
The palettes are gorgeous and seem like they’d be user-friendly to those fairly new to smokey eyes. I also love a good eyeshadow stick when I’m in a hurry in the mornings but want something on my eyes. The St. Lucia Multiple is calling to me because St. Lucia is where hubby and I went last year for our delayed honeymoon/much-needed island vacation. I highly recommend the island for anyone looking to go! The Multiple is gorgeous and seems very flattering. I got my mother NARS G-Spot for Christmas and she loves it so much that she’s been wearing it every day. She loves that it is on the darker side and matte, unlike several of NARS Multiples.
The Yeaux Irresistible palette is seriously gorgeous and you look so beautiful. But I am drawn even more to those eyeshadow sticks, that purple one is calling my name!!
SMOKIN HOT! 😀 I’m really loving the look of Yeux Irresistible and St. Lucia! I’m just digging that navy shade with the coppery color!
Dayum girl. That cat-eye’s sharp enough to cut a man’s throat!
I was thinking about buying St. Lucia but I am glad I waited to see more swatches! It is so beautiful but it looks like a rose gold shade and I already have my Becca highlighter in Rose Gold…among many other highlighters I own lol.
Still so pretty though!
Amazing look! Such gorgeous eyes.
Both palettes are really pretty. It’s nice that they just aren’t a bunch of dark browns and grays, like a lot of smoky palettes.
The shadow sticks, Multiple and Yeux Irresistible are so beautiful!!
I love that lip combo! I’d have never guessed it was the multiples that you’re wearing! It’s beautiful! If only for the “pore” show, this would have been the best Nars multiple I think , color wise.
I’m in love with the Yeux Irresistible palette since the moment I saw it online. What a pity it’s not available in Nars Europe 🙁 However, I’ll hope against hope and phone to my local counter.
Shadow sticks! YAY!! I am very excited about these. Yeah I know, I have stick and pencil eyeshadows from a gazillion brands, but you just have to know if the next formula is better, right?
The palette you used looks gorgeous, but the other palette looks a bit more shearer.
And not sure what you are using on your lips but it is gorgeous
The Velvet Shadow sticks sound promising. I have a thing for crayon eye shadows, can’t help myself! Currently loving the Stila Smudge Crayon. Have you tried it Karen?
I love your look soooooo much!! I got the Yeux Irresistable palette and Nunavit and Glenan pencils…I need to bust out the pencils but someone tell me why a neutral addict like myself bought such bright eyeshadow sticks LOLOL!
I’m really liking the look of the cool palette, I like me a palette of cool neutrals that’s not full of pink! I actually really like the warm palette, too, you did a gorgeous look with it, and it looks like only one shade is actually too warm for me. And I love the look of the gray and the blue shadow sticks. I have NARS Eye Paint in Transvaal, a gorgeous gray. I wonder how similar Reykjavik is to Transvaal.
Hahaha, feel the palette… worshop the palette… make sweet sweet love to the palette…! 😉 What a gorgeous look, Karen, you look amazing.
What an amazing look! Your outer edge is so crisp, I thought you used a strip of tape. Holy mad skills. And it’s very easy for me to understand why your smokey eyes are always amazing and mine need to be washed off before I go out in public. Aside from (my lack of) technique, I’ve never spent more than 5 minutes on applying/blending. I was like “OMG – 45 minutes?!”. I need to take more time, for sure. Thank you for noting that because I tend to think people can bang out a perfect look in minutes. It’s very helpful to know that’s not the case!!
That’s such an irresistible palette! Love the look you did with it. And those stick eyeshadows are so calling my name. That purple especially is very pretty.
JUST BEAUTIFUL !!!
Love the Velvet Shadow Stick in Glenan …
You make this look SO STUNNING!
Dayum you make these products look good Karen. >_< That eye look is gorgeous!
Those shadow sticks look especially awesome!
Love that lip with this look. I bought the eyeshadow palette in Yeux Irresistible. Even though my skin is cool toned, I wasn’t thrilled with the cool tone palette. I hesitated on the St. Lucia multiple and now it looks like it’s sold out. I sure am hoping it appears on the NARS website and I can grab one then.
I just love how you did your makeup for this look.
The eye shadow sticks looks pretty awesome.. I love creamy eye shadow crayons cureently loving the Sephora jumbo crayon 🙂
Eye shadows without any fallout .. NARS seems to have put the best in these palettes.. 🙂
You look stunning Karen.. Smokey eye makeup is just made for you.. 🙂