NARS Hungry Heart

A lot of people post disappointed reviews of NARS Hungry Heart. I like it, but i knew what i was getting - i had seen it and tested it in sephora before i bought it. I suspect that people who ordered it sight unseen might have thought they were getting something a bit different.

So what is this Hungry Heart? It is a dual pan containing, on the left, an ivory powder with gold shimmer, and on the right, pale pale neutral-cool pink, called "Pink sand", with gold shimmer.

NARS makes some items denoted as "highlighting blush" -- in reality highlighters -- and i would say that "Hungry Heart" would fall into that category. NARS powder blushes as described both as being sheer and pigmented. This are not very pigmented - you can see the glitter in this photo - but i think the colors are even paler than they appear here.

I'm fairly pale and both of these blend into my skin tone without adding much color, although the pink has a bit more than the ivory. Both have golden shimmer and work well as highlighters, although i would suggest a light hand to avoid looking like a disco ball. I would recommend the ivory with warmer toned makeup, and the pink with cooler.

On some makeup blogs, i've seen people piling this stuff on, so they can see the "color" and then complaining how chalky or dusty it looks. Well, as some might say, "duh." This stuff is NOT meant to be slathered on thickly. The shimmer will look best if applied lightly, so it catches the light but isn't a thick coating. This usage may seem too subtle to some, but i have to say that i am often surprised to read product reviews for products i own, written by women with coloring similar to mine, who complain about how much of a blush, highlighter or bronzer they have to load on so they can see it -- when i have the opposite feeling, that i have a hard time applying it lightly enough so that i have only an appropriate hint of color.

I suspect that in part it's a matter of how much light there is and what the light source is where one puts on one's makeup. For day wear, I do my makeup in front of a window that gets northern, that is natural but indirect, light. For night, i put on my tried and true base (i.e., primer & foundation), then test the rest of my makeup under different light sources wherever i may be. That way i'm not just putting it on under unflattering fluorescent light and thinking that's how i look - I try to spot check under warmer or yellower light (similar to old incandescent light) as well.

Anyway, back to Hungry Heart. I think it's a lovely highlighter if you have realistic expectations: the powder is smooth and the shimmer is fine - no big chunks of glitter, as in some blushes, like Super Orgasm - so it isn't gritty; the colors are compatible on most skin tones - since i'm very fair, i can't speak for dark skin, but if it isn't applied so thick that the powder becomes obvious, it could work. I would recommend testing it before buying, if there's a sephora or department store you can get to.

For some realistic swatches and a list of suggested uses, see the Beauty Gala blog

Happy New Year

Well, between Halloween and New Year's I was busy and neglected this blog. So sorry.

There have been way too many MAC releases, and with so many sold-out limited edition products there's not too much reason to give an over-view of them all. But I have been hauling.

MAC for Gareth Pugh - Released on Nov 23

So many items looked so impressive... but so were the prices - and a bit too impressive for my wallet. Out of 17 Limited Edition products, I only bought two:

-- Vacant Lipglass - Sheer light lavender gray with violet pearlized pigments
-- Outrage Lipglass - Sheer berry with blue pearlized pigments

Yup, subtle (or maybe not so subtle) glitter glosses. Vacant is too sheer to be impressive on its own, but it definitely adds sparkle over a lipstick. Outrage is sheer, but has enough color to be noticible - and the blue glitter takes it out of the ordinary.

Then MAC released three Limited Edition collections on December 26!

1. MAC Metal-X Collection

     I wasn't all that excited and didn't get any, then I was sorry when the only one I liked, 

     Vintage Coin, sold out fast.
 

2. Tour de Fabulous

     This was going to be Glamglass back in July, but I heard they had problems with the formula 

Tinted LipGlass - yeah, they aren't GlamGlasses

-- Comfort & Joy - Mid-tone frosted dirty mauve

 I have several variations on this color, a sort of greyish lavender, since MAC seems to come out with them fairly often.

(I keep thinking I got one more from this collection, but it's not listed in my inventory)

Lip Pencil
-- Just Wonderful - "Dirty mauve" - actually gilded dark muted rose - mauve would be bluer

I use it as a liner with both darker and lighter related colors, being sure to blend it in well so there is no obvious ring around my lips. I even wear it on its own. It reminds me a bit of my true love, Aristo-Cat, from MAC's 2010 Fabulous Felines Collection.

3. MAC & Daphne Guinness Collection

Blush Ombre

These were re-promotes from MAC Spring Color Forecast 2010. There were 2 warm colors in that original, a peach & a beige, but this collection only released the cool colors.

-- Azalea Blossom - Light cool pink
-- Vintage Grape - Mid-tone violet pink

And guess what - there is NO glitter in either of these babies. But in each one the color gradates from pink on one side to violet on the other, Grape being darker than Azalea. And I am a sucker for multicolor products, and almost anything violet.

The glosses were all quite light - and I have enough light glosses to wear over lipsticks, so as nice as they were, I passed. And I have several other colors similar to the lipsticks in this release, so I passed on them, too. The pigments were lovely, of course, but, again, I have similar colors. And the nail polishes - MAC makes nice colors, but the formula just isn't very good, streaky and needing more coats than most brands and yet they are so expensive. Fortunately the colors are usually dupe-able - when they aren't and I'm in love, I buy one - and these looked dupe-able.

And then 2012 came in, and MAC just couldn't stop releasing Limited Edition Collections!

1. MAC for Iris Apfel

The promo photo of Iris is terrific:

but the collection is mostly bright reds, and pinks, and oranges, with blue and green eye shadow, colors I don't wear a lot, and I already have more reds than I can wear, because I rarely wear red...

2. Naturally Collection

This consisted mostly of "natural" "nude" colors.

The lip products were terrific, but I only need so many nude lipsticks and glosses in my collection, so I passed on them.

The Mineralize Blushes were good, too, a cool pink, a warm pink, and an apricot. But I don't wear blush often, and I think I have enough in my makeup kit, so I passed on them, too.

The Mineralize Eyeshadows suckered me in with their swirly colors, however. Of five, I bought three:

Cloudy Afternoon - Cream with gold, grey, and pink veining

Daylight - Peach with mid-tone blue lavender veining

Summer Haze - Palest gold with deeper gold veining

Sometimes MES are hard and chalky, but these babies are soft, bee-yu-tee-ful! ...and sparkly!

And my greatest love from the collection:

Mineralize Skinfinish

-- Blonde - Soft pink to rose degradé

-- Redhead - Gold to salmon pink degradé

These are repromoted from a previous collection — there was also a "Brunette", which was beige to bronze — I'm sorry it wasn't included. These MSFs are shimmery, perhaps even frosty, but blended well on the skin, they are not a glitter-fest, thank goodness. I'm not too old for glitter, but i don't want it all over my face. So BIG LOVE here! I've been happily wearing them as blushes, although a MUA at my local MAC thought they were highlighters.

And now February is coming. At least they're not all being released on the same day...

1. Shop Shop Shop, Cook Cook Cook - released on 9 Feb

There are 26 Limited Edition items!!! Whew! But there are a lot of bright and pale pinks and bright oranges again, so not for me.

LIPS: 5 Kissable Lipcolours (liquid glossy lipstick)

        5 or 6 lipsticks

        4 barely tinted Tendertone Lip Balms which are fruit scented and have some shimmer 

EYES: 3 Eyeshadow Quads and 3 off-black FluidLines.

CREME BLUSH: 3 - orange, neon pink, and plum pink.

NAILS: 3 polishes - green, neon lime, and orange.

I only ordered one item - Kissable Lipcolour in Flaunting It - opaque grey mauve pink with subtle white micro-shimmer. I dunno, maybe i'll go back for the lemon-lime balm, Tread Gently, if it doesn't sell out.

2. MAC for Vera - released on 16 Feb

This is NOT Vera Wang - she has her own cosmetics line.

This is NOT Vera Bradley of the very preppy and expensive printed cloth bags. 

This IS Vera Neumann, an artist & textile designer, who began selling her designs in the late 1940s. Her signature, Vera, and a little ladybug were always in one corner of her silk scarves. My mom had them back in the late 1950s & 60s and I even had one or two of my own in the late 1960s, in designs based on Vera's paintings in odd color combinations.

I only got three things, I'd LOVE to order more, but I'm trying to save money for a vacation.

- 5 Plushglasses, two pale, two bright - and one violet with sparkles, which I ordered.
- 6 Pearlglide Intense Eye Liners - these are terrific - lots of intense color, lots of shimmer, and they go on so smooth and creamy, yet stay so well. I ordered the purple, but i'd like 3 more...

- 3 Crushed Metallic Pigment Quads - one has bronze, gold, and copper; one has four yummy shades of pink; and one that has 2 purples & 2 teals - which I ordered, 'tho I was jones-ing for all three.

There are two Pearlmatte Face Powders, adorable blushes with blocks of matte and shimmer colors, Sunday Afternoon in 3 pinks and Flower Fantasy in peach and coral.

I didn't order either one, but I really want both...

And two Nail Lacquers, a lilac-pink and a creamy coral, which both seem dupe-able.

So what have you been hauling? Got glitter?