The NARS
Velvet Gloss Lip pencils are my ideal product. Pigmented, glossy and
long lasting. I have two of these pencils, one being Club Mix and other other being Baroque. Club Mix reminds me of an 80's George Michael sitting by a pool chowing down on
Bombay Mix.
Club Mix is described as a sheer grape colour and Baroque is described as bold raspberry sorbet. Grape coloured lip products works quite well for me but raspberry is something out of my comfort zone.
I know some NARS lipsticks have a funny smell to them but these pencils do not smell of anything. You know I'm on scents like a bloodhound but I failed to smell anything untoward emanating from these.
I line my lower lip, smack it with the top one and then just fill them in. You never end up using too much as once you've filled your lips in, you're done..and you know your lips are done. I feel that it's foolproof in that respect as you never end up putting too much on which is a trap I always fell into with gloss.
If you have dry lips, these will not emphasise the dryness. The colour fades to a stain after you've eaten which is good if you haven't got the pencil with you to touch it up. The longest it has ever lasted on me was from 7 a.m. until 3 p.m. (without eating) so that's pretty good going (the lasting power of the lipstick, NOT how long I managed to survive without food!)
On the lip business..
It's obvious that both swatches were taken in different light. I have however, edited the last photo so that you see the true colour..ain't I nice? Club Mix has found its way into my everyday makeup bag but I feel that Baroque makes my mouth look small. I pointed this out to someone who replied with "if only it could minimise the sound". Charming!
These are not twist up pencils. You can sharpen them with a standard fat sharpener. I'm not sure how they sharpen as the need hasn't come about yet.
Drawing comparison between these and the
Clinique Chubby Sticks (which I've swatched instore), I can say this: the NARS pencils pack a lot more pigment than the Chubby Sticks. The Chubby Sticks do have their own inbuilt sharpener but the colour is very feint. If you have pigmented lips, I'd give the Chubby Sticks a miss as it'd be hard to see the colour on your lips. Having said that, the Chubby Sticks aren't sold as being a gloss, it clearly states that they are balms, but even still, I'd have expected a bit more pigment.
Each NARS pencil retails at £17.50 and can be bought from the
NARS website. One note of caution, look for on the skin/lip swatches before you buy these as the swatches on the NARS site aren't brilliant. I thought Hopi would be a good my lips but better shade for me but
swatches by other bloggers showed this wasn't the case!
