NARS Night Flight and Night Porter Eye Shadows

NARS has an absolutely stunning eye shadow range called Night Series, consisting of Night Breed, a glittery black, Night Fever, black with red glitter, Night Life, silver shimmer, Night Porter, dark green shimmer, Night Star, shimmer peach, and Night Flight, black with blue shimmer. Night Flight is not currently available on NARS' website, I hope it hasn't been discontinued. That was my first NARS eyeshadow, and last week I bought Night Porter last week so I figured I'd do a post on both!

Both of these shadows wear very differently when wet compared to when they are used dry - lots of people who post negative reviews of the dark Night Series shadows do so because they don't realise how much more pigmented and awesome they are when used with a damp brush (or finger). Additionally, they look totally different in the pan. When swatched wet, Porter becomes much more opaque and the green stands out more clearly against the black base. Flight is super opaque when wet, and the blue is a little more obvious but it stands out best with flash.

Top to bottom: Bonus! NARS Ondine, dry then wet (don't bother wetting this one, it goes patchy), Night Porter, dry then wet, Night Flight, dry then wet.

Used wet in conjunction with a primer they make good eyeliners. I use a little freebie Urban Decay liner brush and Urban Decay Primer Potion, which was the best primer on the market when I first bought it about 6 years ago, but the primer market has boomed in recent years and there are probably others worth trying. Temptalia uses NARS primer, so that's probably a good recommendation.

I'm not quite sure what market these shadows are aimed at as they seem to fill no particular role in an eyeshadow arsenal, but I enjoy using them on the rare occasion I attempt a bold smoky eye.

NARS Carthage, Manhunt, Niagara

There's something so incredibly sophisticated and alluring about NARS which means I can't stop buying bits from them here and there. Most people find the matte, black, dust-magnet packaging annoying but it's beautiful to me. A few months back I decided to branch into sheer lipsticks. I started with Manhunt - I bought it as a present for myself, but I don't remember why. I never need much of an excuse to treat myself! Then at the start of February I added Niagara to my collection.

From top to bottom: Manhunt 1 swipe, 4 swipes. Niagara 1 swipe, 4 swipes. Carthage, 1 swipe, 4 swipes.

Manhunt is described as a "sheer poppy red". Swatched above at maximum opacity. It looks much redder in the tube than it does on the lips, and, truth be told, I still haven't made up my mind about it. I bought it with the intention of using it when I'm doing a more bold eye look - that is, anything other than mascara on my eyes - to cover up the odd blue tinge my top lip gets when the temperature drops below about 5 degrees. This needs reapplying after a meal but lasts through a drink.

Niagara (swatched above at maximum opacity) is a Satin, not a Sheer, but if you're used to mattes and bold shades, they are one and the same. It's described perfectly as a "pink based coral". It can come up a little more orange on me in certain lights, and again, I haven't decided whether it suits me or not, but one thing's for sure - it looks much better now that I've bleached my hair than it did with my original mousy brown. I usually apply multiple layers and it lasts 4-5 hours.

Less than 24 hours after I bleached my hair, Into The Gloss published an article about bleached hair tips. I took to the comments section to announce my dye job and attached a photo, but noted that I wasn't sure whether my lipstick collection would still suit me. The lovely Lacey, who wrote the article, replied that she reckoned I'd suit a matte orange-red (hooray for Illamasqua Liable) or a glossy mid-pink (I'm looking at you, Bite Beauty Garnet - review to come). Spurred on by the recommendations, I purchased Carthage Pure Matte - as a bright, cool pink it doesn't fit either of her suggestions, but I'd wanted it for ages and never thought I could pull it off. With my new blonde, I thought it would give me a bit of an ironic Barbie vibe, because that's totally a thing. With MAC Prep + Prime Lip, Carthage lasts around 7 hours / through a couple of drinks / a frozen yoghurt - whichever your chosen unit of time happens to be. I just couldn't get Carthage to photo well on my lips, but my arm swatch was pretty spot on.

NARS lipsticks, lip pencils and lip glosses range from £17 to £18.50, though a price rise will come with the new gloss formula. I'm sort of paralysed by my indecisiveness - I've narrowed my next one down to Schiap, Heat Wave, Afghan Red, Rouge Basque, Shanghai Express, Timanfaya, Rikugien, Majella, Walkyrie or Bahama. So what I'm saying is, I haven't narrowed it down at all.

What are your favourite NARS lip offerings?

Wishlist

Now that we are fully entering fall autumn, most people make little, sometimes subconscious, changes to their beauty or skincare routines.

Here are some things I want to put on my face to celebrate the changing season:

NARS x Guy Bourdin Blush in Day Dream (available November 1st at Selfridges)

& Other Stories Eye Pencil, £6, and Creamy Pearl Eye Colour, £7, both in Challis Gold, www.stories.com

(budget version of NARS Iskandar Eye Paint or Stila's Comex Gold Magnificent Metals Shadow)

Becca Beach Tint in Fig, £20 from Space NK

Bite Beauty High Pigment Lip Pencil in Tart (pictured) and Corvina, from Selfridges (or Sephora, $24)

There are so many things I need-want from Sephora, mostly from Bite, Tarte and Fresh. My Sephora wishlist grows almost daily...

What new makeup are you lusting after for autumn?

NARS Velvet Matte Pencil in Dragon Girl

Because one more swatch of Dragon Girl on the Internet can't hurt, right?

My first ever lip product. I've lost count of the amount of people who've called this the perfect red (I don't agree, but I still think it's great.)

I used to find it kind of drying, but then I realised that it was okay to wear lip balm under lip colours. It wears off the inside of the lip a lot more quickly than the outer edge, to the extent that if I was wearing this, I would have to take it with me wherever I go, but other people report it being very long-wearing, so I guess it varies. I've not worn it in ages so I haven't tried it with MAC Prep + Prime.

Worn with Bobbi Brown Extreme Party Mascara and YSL Touche Eclat. I don't know if Touche Eclat makes a difference at all, I'm still playing around with it and seeing what I can do.

Brush Wishlist

L-R: NARS Yachiyo Brush, NARS Smudge Brush, Hourglass Retractable Kabuki Brush, Happy Jackson Smile Compact Mirror, Bobbi Brown Blush Brush, Anastasia Beverly Hills Angled Cut Brush, Stila #15 Double Ended Brush, Laura Mercier Fan Powder Brush

...Spot the odd one out. I know that mirrors aren't brushes, but it fit nicely into the gap and it's so cute.

NARS Yachiyo Brush: Which beauty fan doesn't want one of these? Literally every review I've heard has been positive, and I need a softer, more rounded powder brush.

NARS Smudge Brush: Perfect for doing a liner look with my NARS Night Flight eyeshadow, black packed with gorgeous navy shimmer particles - oddly that shade isn't on the NARS UK site any more, but there are 5 more Night Series shades.

Hourglass Kabuki Brush: How great are retractable brushes? I would use this to apply Guerlain Meteorites.

Bobbi Brown Blush Brush: Its won awards and my John Lewis blush brush isn't cutting it right now.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Angled Cut Brush: I don't actually own a brow brush yet. The link leads to Sephora, which as yet doesn't ship to the UK, but Anastasia is also available at Cult Beauty.

Stila #15: The more eyeshadow brushes the better, and a double-ended one is a win for me. I would use this for darker shadows and keep my current few brushes for lighter ones to minimise colour contamination.

Laura Mercier Fan Powder Brush: The brush that will solve the issues I'm having with the rather pigmented MAC Gleeful.

The rest of my red lip collection

L-R: Benefit Benetint (does that count?) Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Romantic, Giorgio Armani Lip Maestro in 400, Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Candy Apple, Illamasqua Liable, NARS Matte Lip Pencil in Dragon Girl, MAC Viva Glam I.

If I had to rate them, they would go like this:

1) YSL Glossy Stain #9

2) MAC Viva Glam I

3) Joint: Lip Maestro 400 + Illamasqua Liable

4) NARS Dragon Girl

5) Revlon Candy Apple

6) Revlon Romantic

7) Benetint

I'll be swatching and reviewing MAC Viva Glam I, Lip Maestro 400 and Liable soon! I'll swatch Dragon Girl if I can find my pencil sharpener.