NARS Eye Paints Review: Liner or Shadow, Your Choice

I don’t usually like to feature items before they’re released (these NARS Eye Paints won’t hit stores or on-line until Sept 1st), but I wanted to review them now since I know a lot of you will be shopping this weekend! You should definitely pick up an Eye Paint (or two, or three). NARS sent me three to review, but I’m planning on picking up a few more like Mesopotamia, Iskandar and probably Ubangi. Ok, maybe Solomon Islands too. Don’t tell my husband!

There are a lot of great colors being released for the Eye Paints, especially when you consider that this is a product meant to work as either a liner or a shadow. I love that the colors would work well for either!

• Black Valley: Matte Black
• Mesopotamia: Matte Black
• Transvaal: Matte Grey
• Solomon Islands: Bright Turquoise Blue
• Mosambique: Olive
• Snake Eyes: Black with green shimmer
• Tatar: Black with purple shimmer
• Ubangi: Black with blue shimmer
• Interstellar: Silver shimmer
• Iskandar: Gold shimmer

I’ve opted to show pics of Tatar and Snake Eyes after I dipped into the pots since it is a lot easier to see the shimmer. There’s a lot of shimmer there, so much that it seems to almost take over (it isn’t really big enough to call glitter, I’d still call it shimmer). It catches the light quite a bit and in some lights it can almost look like the black base isn’t there on my swatches, though on the lid it will depend a lot on if you applied as a liner or shadow. As a shadow you’ll see more of the shimmer.

Here I’ve applied Snake Eyes as an eye liner, and you can see that when applied as a liner you mostly see the black base, but there is definitely green shimmer in there that catches the light. It isn’t overwhelming, just a nice change. I’d still feel comfortable wearing this to my conservative job at the hospital!

The Eye Paints are gel-like in their consistency, but because they can also be used as a shadow they are a little bit creamier than similar gel eye liners from MAC and L’Oreal. They are very pigmented and a little bit of product can go a very long way! NARS says you can get up to 18 hours of wear from them, and because of that long wearing capability the product will “set” quickly, leaving you only a minute or two of blending time. I’ve been using a brush to apply (as shadow or as liner), but when blending the shadow a fingertip seems to work the best.

I do get a full day’s wear from the Eye Paints easily, whether worn as a liner or shadow. They aren’t waterproof, but they don’t really seem to budge at all throughout the day.

Stay tuned for a smoky eye look with these products!
PR sample