These NARS Liners Made Me Embrace Some Sparkle

Summer is still in full swing — in fact, as the dog days approach ever nearer, I'm finding myself wanting to stock up on more breezy cotton blouses and floaty summer dresses, like the opposite of a fall squirrel — but according to our favorite brands, it's time to gear up for fall. While looking for those aforementioned weather-appropriate clothes this weekend, I found myself pulling structured jackets and distressed cardigans off the racks instead. We may still be in the throes of summer (especially here in LA), but merchandising reminds us that fall is just around the corner.

Which means goodbye neon lipstick, and hello sultry, autumnal hues and jewel tones — both of which the NARS Fall 2014 Color Collection has in spades. The whole collection (which launched July 15th) contains two Satin Lip Pencils, two eyeshadow duos, a gorgeous blush and four eyeliners. The liners (I'll be focusing on them for the day) make up the adequately-named Night Series, as each is a smoky black with a different shade of pearl added in. There's gold, cobalt, purple, and green — it's kind of like the Sailor Scouts if the Sailor Scouts were black eyeliners.

Let's start by taking a close-up look at the colors, before we move on to the texture, wear-time, etc:

Top: "Night Flight," which is described on the NARS website as "black with cobalt blue pearl." It's a rich black with a gorgeous navy blue lean.

Bottom: Similarly, "Night Clubbing," is described as "black with gold pearl." In certain lights, it looks like your standard black, with ever-so-tiny particles of glitter. But in other lights — such as this one — it has a antiqued bronze kick to it.

Now, onto the rest of the review!

Night Clubbing

NARS Eyeliner in Night Clubbing, $26, NARS Cosmetics

As shown above, the gold pearl is delicate and subtle (as opposed to in-your-face), which means that this is perfect for work, school, etc, etc. You can wear it as you would a normal black liner for classic-with-a-tiny-kick — because when is a touch of gold glitter here and there ever not welcome? Here it is, for a basic, every day look:

Buuuut if you want to amp it up for a more dramatic look, like so...

...it lives up to its name as the perfect, high-impact accompaniment for a night on the town (at least, I assume it is. I've never been night clubbing, even though I am a 23-year-old human). I got a full day's wear out of the stuff — a full day of outlet mall shopping, no less. And the fact that it stood up to a day walking miles worth of strip mall (all the way from J. Crew to Kate Spade) in the Camarillo sun makes me think it would make it through a night at the club as well. Bonus: The texture was lovely and tug-free, and the gold pearl is absolutely gorgeous, making "Night Clubbing" a multi-tasking, all-around win.

Night Flight

NARS Eyeliner in Night Flight, $26, NARS Cosmetics

"Night Flight" exists somewhere magical between rich navy blue and carbon black. The cobalt lean to it gives it a softer look — you know how when you don't want your eye makeup to look too harsh, you wear dark brown or slate gray instead of black? Well, now you can add "Night Flight" to that list. It ensures that a little undereye drama comes off subtly fashionable, rather than angry teenage goth.

It shared the same velvety texture as "Night Clubbing," and it wore nicely all day (it smudged a teensy bit on my lower lash line — but I blame that more on my summer allergy watery eyes). Again, the color was tame enough for daily wear, but the blue pearl gives it an almost editorial look. It reminds me of a (very) subtle version of Rodarte's "Starry Night" inspired eye makeup back in 2012. It's another multi-tasking, well-formulated liner that could do pretty much anything you want it to.

Even though, full disclosure, they were were given to me for review, I genuinely liked both pencils — the only drawback would be the luxurious price point (each retails for $25). If you twisted my arm, I would tell you that I'd give a slight preference to "Night Flight," as the color is a touch more unexpected and (on me, at least) a touch more flattering.

Images: NARS; Rosie Narasaki