Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Rocaille Swatches: NARS New Lover Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil

Sephora always gets me with their cute selection of deluxe samples you can receive with your online order; recently, I just couldn't pass up their 'Classic It Kit' that came with a mini NARS Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil in New Lover ($24/ 0.09 oz for a full size). I'd never tried a lip product from NARS before so I was really curious to test it out!
Firstly, I really like how the mini size also came packaged in a cardboard box but I also wish the name of the shade were printed on the pencil itself, not just the packaging. The Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil is a fat crayon type of product but unlike Clinique Chubby Sticks or Revlon Balm Stains, it is non retractable and thinner - you do actually have to sharpen this one, which is going to be a pain.
New Lover is a sheer peachy pink with golden pearl; the particles are smaller than shimmer even which is a big plus for me - no grittiness on the lips! The finish is more satin than glossy and for me, the product spreads out much more easily with a lip balm as a base. The product claims to moisturize with Vitamin E, hyaluronic spheres and phytosterol esters but on me, it feels neither moisturizing nor drying. I have to do a good couple of passes for the shade to show up on my pigmented lips and even built-up, I would still qualify this as a nude shade. I believe New Lover is supposed to be a lip counterpart to their cult Orgasm powder blush.
Compared to some of my other peach lip products with a gold sheen, New Lover looks and swatches a lot more pink than all of the other shades. In the bullet, it looks quite a bit like Revlon Lip Butter in Peach Parfait but it swatches more pink and the gold pearl is much finer in NARS. Both NYX Round Lipstick in Indian Pink and MAC lipstick in Jest are more pigmented and a lot more warm-toned than NARS New Lover.

L-R: Nars New Lover, Revlon Peach Parfait, NYX Indian Pink, MAC Jest
Here you can see a close-up lip swatch (see how smooth and even it looks?) and a face shot; I find this shade to be a good companion to a more golden smokey eye. As expected for a sheer product, the wear time is not great - I would say probably 2-3 hours without any meals or drinks.

All in all, I'm glad I got to try this mini NARS Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil free as it's a great on-the-go product to keep in your purse but now I wouldn't go out of my way to purchase another one of these, unless I was completely in love with a shade. I really wish this was retractable too! Have you tried any of the NARS Velvet Gloss Lip Pencils? What are your thoughts?

12 comments:

  1. New Lover looks so natural and pretty on you! I'm always on the fence about trying the velvet gloss pencils (mostly because I wonder if I have the patience to sharpen them).

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  2. What a pretty shade -- it looks lovely on you! It's too bad you have to apply so much to get the colour, though. That's such a pet peeve of mine when it comes to lip products.

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  3. I got this as well in the 500 pt perk but never got to use it! :( It's lost! I have no idea where it is, I think I accidentally threw it away.

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  4. Oooh this is nice! It looks very natural and delicately pretty on your lips! I was considering this one but I passed in the end...now I'm kinda bummed I did :P

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  5. I love this shade and it looks gorgeous on you! I don't think I've ever seen you wear a lipcolor that you didn't look amazing in to be honest! However, I would never purchase one of these because of the horrible packaging :( They should really make it retractable like the lip pencils from Clinique, Tarte, and Revlon.

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    1. Hahah, thank you, dear - but believe me, they do exist, especially in the nude family! I know, the packaging is ridiculous, who wants to sharpen their lipstick these days?!

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  6. I got the Classic kit as well but haven't tried this yet! I'm glad you reviewed it because while it looks very pretty on you, it also looks really sheer and I don't think it'll show up on me. :(

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    1. I think it may still show up a little bit - it's almost like a tinted lip balm type of product so good for very lazy make-up days :)

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  7. That is so pretty! A like your lips but better effect...very spring like actually...refreshing in the sea of dark lip shades this season...

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  8. This looks great on you! I got this as a 100 point perk before that promo code came out and I haven't even used it yet! I have the pencil in Happy Days which is a pretty peachy shade, and I love Mexican Rose, which leaves a gorgeous stain! Sadly, I am so bad at using products in general (but lip products especially) that i've never had to sharpen any of them yet!

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