Lipstick Week: NARS Satin Lip Pencils
I've been in love with lipsticks since my first swipe at five years old. I love how they can brighten up my face in a matter of seconds, and how there's a shade for whatever look and mood I have for the day. Lipsticks are never boring. There are always new colors and formulas rolling out from the labs, and believe me, they are getting better and better each year!
So, I've been saving up my lipstick reviews since last month, when I decided to do a Lipstick Week. I thought to start with an amazing lip product called the NARS Satin Lip Pencil (P1,550). If you could look past the price tag (and the fact that they don't twist up), these are total must-haves!
I love them because they're pigmented - opaque in one layer - and feels very thin on the lips. When they dry up (in two hours) they don't feel like a waxy, crackly layer. Instead they feel more like a light, flexible blanket of the color! Not many lipsticks that I've tried have that dry-down texture.
They're not drying but they're not particularly moisturizing either, so you have to let a lip balm sink onto your puckers first before you apply these. Take care to blot off most of the balm before coloring in; these NARS pencils are sooo buttery that without a dry base they would slide off before they set properly.
Lodhi is described as a vivid coral. It's an interesting shade, because it looks different on everyone! If you're dark (NC40 up), I noticed that this leans towards orange. If you're lighter, it looks more pink. On me it's a pinky-coral - perfect! I feel this suits most skintones as it adjusts due to the bluish base (undetectable but it shows at closeups).
Het Loo is a cognac. Dark, rich, and not a very common color to wear in Asia. We love the pinks, corals, plums, red here, but not so much deep browns. It's a seasonal color, but if you're very dark then this would be a nice nude lip.
Hyde Park is described as a cardinal red. To me it looks like a deep berry red. I didn't like it all that much at first, but the color grew on me! It's chic and I think, not all that trendy which Lodhi is. Trendy lip colors are nice to have, don't get me wrong, but you also want classic colors that would still be relevant decades from now - that would be Hyde Park.
It's worth mentioning too that this product has absolutely no smell and no taste! The lasting power is ace. The color is solid for about 4 hours if you just drink minimally and don't eat, and they leave a nice matte stain afterwards. In fact you might want to blot off the top satiny layer immediately upon application to get a matte finish! If that's what you're feeling for the day.
I wish that the pencils twist up instead of being literal pencils. I feel like I'm wasting precious (expensive!) product whenever I sharpen them. But oh well. Let's just wish that NARS would consider repackaging their lip pencils in the future. I do like that I get a more precise application due to the shape of the tip. For pigmented lipsticks like this, it's better to have all the control you can get short of using a brush.
You can buy a sharpener from NARS but I think it's quite expensive for, well, a sharpener. I found one from Too Cool For School for like P50. :P
Box
Overall, while the NARS Satin Lip Pencil is quite expensive and not very economical to use, I love the colors, texture, and lasting power. Lodhi is my favorite (a personal purchase) so I would recommend that to pretty much anyone. :P If you're into hot pinks, Yu is perfect!
Get it, "yu" is perfect? Whatever haha. What do you think, is this worth the splurge?
You can purchase NARS at Rustan's Beauty Source.
