NARS Fall 2013 - The Lippies (swatches)

NARS Autumn (Fall) 2013 campaign visual
The red... droooooool...

As most people who read this will know, I'm a little bit obsessed with red lippie :-)  I have been waiting for this particular collection from NARS to make an appearance since I saw visuals for Mysterious Red in various magazines in the last while.  Just look at that lip... droool!


So while Mysterious Red was always going to be a definite purchase, La Paz surprised me (in that it was the exact shade of my teeshirt at the time) and well, then I had to have that too :-)

L -> R: Mysterious Red, La Paz

Mysterious Red

Mysterious Red is described as a "crimson red".  It's one of NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencils (I have this in Dragon Girl and Damned also) and absolutely love these pencils - they're fantastically pigmented, super opaque, reasonably long lasting, easy to apply, handy to bring with you, usable as a liner and/or a lippie...

... and annoyingly, as I keep comparing it with Dragon Girl, I now can't stop calling it Mysterious Girl, and I've had that irritating song in my head all bloody day long...

NARS Mysterious Girl Swatch

This shade is an unusual one - it's definitely a slightly darkened crimson but there's the barest hint of a slight orangey-ness to it.  Barest hint.  Slight.  It's not an orange lippie :-)  But it's there and lifts the blue-pink undertone very subtly and turns it into a slightly warmer and slightly darker version of NARS Dragon Girl .  Annoying overly-sweet smell/taste notwithstanding, this is a great red to have.

Note: throw it into the freezer for an hour before you try to pare it to minimise waste.

As you can see from the comparison swatches, this is a matte love-child of MAC Russian Red and Rimmel By Kate #01, with a tiny bit of of a warm orange overtone as an afterthought to stop it being completely blue-based.

L -> R: Cosmetics à la Carte Make Up For Dolls Red, NARS Dragon Girl, NARS Mysterious Red, MAC Russian Red, Rimmel By Kate #01

Look here for more info.

La Paz

La Paz is described by NARS as "orchid" - it's a Pure Matte Lipstick, and again I have a couple of these (remember Mascate and Carthage, anyone).  Overall, they're a great formula, but as with a lot of matte lippies, they can dry-out on your lips a bit over the course of their wear (easy peasy: use a lip primer like MAC Prep + Prime Lip underneath it, this will sort out that particular issue).

This one is a gorgeous rich pink-based light-to-medium berry purple.

NARS La Paz swatch

This is also a bit of an oxymoron - it's technically a Pure Matte formulation, but it is shot through with silver glitter.  Glitter which seems chunky enough but doesn't feel gritty to wear, and gives the overall impression of a "shiny matte" (not a gloss, that's something else!)  Odd.  But I like it, and it works.  No annoying scent here, which is good.

So although I thought I had found it with La Paz, it seems I'm still on the search for a replacement for MAC Spitfire, a limited edition lipstick from the MAC Wonder Woman collection (why oh why oh why did I not get a backup at the time - I'm nearly out).  Some comparison swatches:

L -> R: MAC Deliciously Forbidden (LE), NARS La Paz, MAC Spitfire (LE), MAC Plumful, Illamasqua Welt

Look here for more info.

Both of these are from NARS Autumn collection (2013) and are permanent line.