NARS Andy Warhol Kiss Mini Larger Than Life Lip Gloss Coffret

The NARS Andy Warhol Kiss Mini Larger Than Life Lip Gloss Coffret $55) is sold out at Sephora. I am stunned. It's nice enough, particularly for NARS lovers, but not sell-out nice.

The Sephora-exclusive lip gloss coffret features five Larger Than Life Lip Gloss shades. Theoretically, NARS captured the infamous lips of Andy Warhol’s muses and the sparkle of the artist’s silver studio with the collection of five mini, high-shine glosses.

The set, contained inside the clever, decorous tin can, includes five 0.11-ounce Larger Than Life Lip Glosses (read that "small"). The shades are Silver Factory (aluminum glitter), Chelsea Girls (flesh-toned beige), Drella (ultra sheer hot pink), Blue Movie (pink sherbet), and Myths (rosy pink). Five little glosses, plus a can you can use for pencil storage (makeup pencils naturally) or makeup brush storage. It's a very nice can and a great reminder of Andy Warhol's appeal.

Created exclusively for Sephora, these "ultra-glamorous lip glosses are presented in a keepsake soup can. Andy Warhol crafted paintings of iconic people and elevated ordinary things, such as flowers, soup cans, and lips, in his work. Highlighting pop themes, he used bright, electric colors that pop." If only the lip glosses had been bright - or interesting.

Let me show you what I mean. I tried to apply the glosses heavily. I swatched two little squares on each level of my arm, and I applied the Silver Factory alone at the bottom. My photos were taken in full sun.  Why do the photos look boring? Because the colors are boring.

I tried really hard to show you saturated, colorful shades on my arm, but it was impossible. These glosses are not saturated. Two are so sheer they almost blend into each other at the top of my arm. I'm sure you can see the peach and rose tones in the center (one pale pink, the other pale peach/nude). Do you see anything other than a bit of dirt below? That's Silver Factory. It leaves a clear finish with tiny grey glitter embedded within. It's not even a silver gloss. It's more like what collects at the bottom of a dust bin. If you wear it alone, you will appear to have worn your clear lip gloss outside on a windy day, resulting with your lips picking up whatever was blowing around.

I'm very disappointed in this set. I think $55 was way too much money for five tiny glosses and a tin can. The tin can was the best part of the collection. What does that say?

I'm not sorry to report that when I checked at Sephora yesterday, I found the set sold out. I'm amazed, though. Either there were a lot of blind purchases, like mine, or NARS can sell anything.

Photo at top courtesy of Sephora; other photos by Best Things in Beauty