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Thursday, February 3, 2011

NARS Velvet Gloss Lip Pencils

NARS Velvet Gloss Lip Pencils ($24) are the talk of Twitter. The buzz over these glorious lip "sticks" has been intense, with beauty mavens lusting for them or sharing the shades they purchased. I participated, answering a tweet by Laurie at Product Girl, who purchased Frivolous, one of the six shades. I decided to start with Baroque and New Lover, knowing I could go back for more if I loved them. I love them!

These are glossy lip pencils with a smooth, buttery texture. They coat the lips with stunning, glossy color and moisturizing ingredients, including vitamin E, hyaluronic acid spheres, and phytosterol esthers. They don't contain the bad actors we all like to avoid, like phthalates, sulfates, parabens, petrochemicals, and synthetic fragrances. They are so much nicer - in my opinion - than the matte pencils that NARS introduced previously. I like a little shine.

Here is a photo of the two shades I purchased. It was taken in sunlight indoors. Baroque is shown at the top of my arm, with New Lover below. Don't use the swatches on the NARS site as your guide for purchasing a Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil. The swatches at Sephora are better. I purchased mine from Sephora.

I adore both of these shades. They are gorgeous colors, have a perfect amount of shine, and feel great on my lips. They are long-lasting too - something I learned as soon as I tried to wash them off my arm. I swatched to see them the moment they came and then went to the bathroom to clean up. Soap and water didn't remove them. I had to get out the long-wear makeup remover. That's great for those of us who eat off our lip colors in a jiffy.

NARS has a hit on its hands! Now I want all the shades. They are so handy for throwing in your handbag or keeping in your desk drawer at work. This morning, I saw at The Beauty Look Book that Sabrina had bought all of them. I can see why. These pencils are fantabulous. (I checked - that's now a word!)

You can purchase them at the NARS Web site, Sephora, and at your NARS counter soon. The gals at Neiman Marcus can't wait to receive them.

Photo at top courtesy of NARS

13 comments:

  1. Hi Charlestongirl,
    Those Velvet gloss lip pencils are just gorgeous, I don't think I'll be able to choose and will buy the whole lot of colors too: I can't wait to see them! I like them better than the lipsticks and glosses featured in your previous post!
    How are you? feeling better? is you knee less painful? I sincerely hope so!
    Hugs to you and stunning Charlie:-)

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  2. Hi Clarisse!

    You can see all the shades swatched at The Beauty Look Book. They are creating a small frenzy. :)

    I am better, thanks. Still a gimp - very slow! I have been able to cut down on the painkillers. None during the night now, so that's progress. I had been getting up every four hours to take pills!

    Charlie got offended awhile ago and left me alone. I was trying to do my exercises, and he wanted to sit on me. He still doesn't understand that I can't do knee bends with a cat on my lap. :)

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  3. These pencils look lovely! Charlestongirl, did you look at the little video clip on the Nars website? I am wondering which gloss pencil the model is wearing. Do you have any idea?

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  4. Hey there, Leigh!

    Too hard. You know I don't like having to make choices. Tarte, NARS, and Clinique all scored big with their new sticks. They are fantastic. If you have to choose, look for a color that appeals to you the most.

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  5. Hi Lucy,

    I did watch it. It appears to me that the model is wearing different shades in the various frames. Had to tell. One looks like Frivolous or New Lover. Another is darker - looks like Baroque to me. There may even be a third in the short clip. Just a guess.

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  6. You are right. I'm going to pick a couple of these up! I love Baroque already.

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  7. @Leigh Isn't it fun being a grown-up girl!?! I love that we can say, "I'll take that one AND that one AND..." and we don't have to feel guilty about it or apologize for being able to do so. When my older daughters harp at me for buying expensive makeup, I say "When I was your age, I bought drugstore makeup to save money. Now I'm 50 and I can buy whatever I damned-well please!"
    (You can already tell--I'm getting several--AND the Tarte!)lol...

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  8. Hi, I'm torn between this and clinique's chubby sticks, which at nearly $10 cheaper are more tempting right now. What do you think? Thanks!

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  9. Mama Val,

    I awakened this morning to read your comment. My immediate thought was, "Yes - you go girl!" If we have the luxury of buying whatever we please, we should. We are worth it! Thank you for the delight you gave me! I had a great chuckle.

    That said, in this economy, there are plenty of gals for whom a lipstick is still a luxury. That's painfully clear every time I read the paper, and it's one reason I give away so much makeup. I want to share the joy in a little way. I'm lucky I can indulge my beauty addiction. When I think about how lucky I have been (and the support my parents gave me in getting to this point), I feel very privileged.

    Back to fun...tell those daughters that they can buy the expensive stuff when they make their own money! I keep telling a friend that. She buys her daughter way too much stuff. She has completely spoiled her. The kid is going to have a rough entry into real life.

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  10. Jesselyn,

    Buy one of the Clinique ones. See if you like it. I love them, and if you like them, why not save the $10? It's a lunch or two at work (I started taking my lunch to work last year when lunch got so expensive in the cafeteria - would rather buy makeup than bad food)!

    If you find them too sheer, try one from tarte or NARS. You can't go wrong with any of them.

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  11. Oh, I know what you're saying and yes, there is a serious side to purchasing items that are NOT essentials.And my girls are fortunate to have a mom that works as a MUA, so they get LOTS of great stuff that Mom can't use (as do their friends--But a women's shelter would take unused items, right??). I just believe that at this point, we've earned the right to "not have to explain ourselves". Glad you enjoyed it!!

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  12. Hey, Val,

    Is there anything more heavenly than having a makeup artist for a mom? There are many girls who would love to move in with you!

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