It was love at first sight when I first clapped eyes on the promo pics of the Holiday 2013 NARS Guy Bourdin Lip Fling gift set. 2 sheer lipsticks, 2 lip pencils, and a red lacquered lip-shaped box? Yes, please!
The NARS sheer lipstick formula is one I enjoy. {Cruising review here and Love Devotion review here.} The inclusion of Vitamin E makes the formula apply like a creamy, comfortable balm and the sheer colors can be built up to medium opacity with a few extra swipes. Both Damage, described as a "sheer muted grape", and Roman Holiday, a sheer hot pink, (both are full size) wore well for about 2.5 hours. Side note: Roman Holiday is one of my personal all-time favorite lip colors!
NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Dolce Vita (mini), a dusty rose, was surprisingly comfortable for a matte lip product. It lasted about 4 hours on my lips through eating and drinking, but did fade away from the center first, giving me the lovely "O-ring" lip. My mom refers to this as "Mr. Bill lips". I only reapplied once during the day I tested this, and it was one of the more comfortable mattes I've tried. It did leave my lips feeling a bit dry at the end of the day, but not peeling or chapped. A quick scrub with a washcloth and a swipe of balm and my lips were no longer singin' the blues.
NARS Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil in Baroque (mini), described as a "raspberry sorbet", is a shiny berry perfect for fall makeup looks. It wore for about 3 hours on me through eating and drinking and faded evenly. This is a GREAT color for anyone who likes a less intense red lip. I wore this with a slick of black liquid liner and looked fully made up with minimal effort!
The lip-shaped box is ADORBS. I mean, who didn't smile when they saw it? All 4 lippies are housed in the box upon receipt, but you could use it for anything. The box is embossed with the NARS Guy Bourdin logo on the bottom. This reminds me of that episode of Modern Family where Jay asked Gloria for a saxophone and she bought him a lip-shaped telephone. When he asked what it was for, she said it was the "sexy phone" he'd asked for!
This kit is an impressive value. If purchased individually, the lipsticks are $26.00 USD each, and the pencils are $25.00 USD each for full sized. If the minis are half the size of the full sized pencils, they'd be worth about $12.50 each. So this kit is less than the price of buying the 2 lipsticks separately ($52.00 USD) and includes the 2 mini lip pencils and the red lip case!
I see these shades working extremely well across all skin tones and appealing to anyone who likes lip products on the sheer-buildable side of the spectrum. And who wouldn't love the case?! This is a great limited edition set, and one of my favorite holiday kits put out this year.
My Rating: A
Price: $49.00 USD
Availability: NARS
What's your favorite NARS lippie?
