My NARS have landed

Remember a while ago my pretties I mentioned the NARS vintage polishes (and promptly gave in and bought two)? Well they arrived today! They've been a while coming because I had to have them posted to the Eccentric English Boyfriend's mother since NARS don't ship internationally, plus when they arrived she discovered that one of the bottles was broken. I have to say the service from NARS was excellent, they kept in contact by email during the whole process and once we'd provided a photograph of the damaged bottle a replacement was despatched immediately, along with a free lip gloss duo. Also, in all the correspondence they referred to me as "Lady Selina". I have no idea why, but I like it, and henceforth this is how you shall all refer to me.

So here they are, in all their prettiness:



Blue Lagoon on the left, Cha Cha Cha on the right, and a mini lip gloss duo in Sweet Dreams and Dolce Vita in front.

This is my first time trying any NARS products, and so far I'm impressed. The lip gloss is lovely - nice application, not at all sticky feeling (which I absolutely hate in a gloss), good colour payoff for a gloss and lasted well. Dolce Vita is the perfect neutral on me, while Sweet Dreams is an equally pretty neutral with a lovely iridescence perfect for adding a touch of shimmer on its own, or layering over lipstick.

The formula on both polishes was amongst the best I've ever used - thin (in a good way) it flowed beautifully over the nail virtually applying itself. The only thing I did find was that it the polish (which is quite fast drying) became tacky quite quickly during application if I took too long over a nail and then tried to correct any brushstrokes.

First up Cha Cha Cha:





NARS describe this as a semi-sheer tangerine with gold reflections. For those happy to wear sheer polishes two coats of this would be more than adequate, bottle colour took four coats and there was still some visible nail line but with such a pretty iridescent that's not going to bother me. What you see in the pictures is actually considerably more than four coats because after I applied it I fell asleep on the couch and ended up with cushion marks, so I did a couple more coats before I photographed it. I love the colour, it is exactly as NARS describes, and I would add that in some lights there is an almost coppery tinge to it - very very pretty. Some brushstrokes visible, not enough to annoy me though, but definitely a polish to apply with care in order to avoid them.

Next Blue Lagoon:




This one NARS describe as an iridescent powder blue, and again their description is spot on. Four coats to achieve bottle colour on this too, and if I look closely enough I can see some visible nail line but I'm fine with that. This colour makes me think of all sorts of things, in some lights it has an almost translucent quality that puts me in mind of clear Pacific Island waters (not that I've ever been there), while in others the iridescence reminds me of opals. Again some brushstrokes, less than with Cha Cha Cha and hardly noticeable to me.

So my first foray into NARS has me super impressed. I think I'll be trying out more of their products when we go to England next year.

Gorgeous vintage polishes from NARS, and free shipping for you lucky UK people

NARS have released five long-lost nail polishes as a limited edition, and they sure are pretty:


The colours are: Blue Lagoon (iridescent powder blue), Hunger (hot orange red), Zizi (clear with peach and gold glitter), Cha Cha Cha (semi-sheer tangerine with gold reflections), Tallulah (rich grape).

Plus from now until the end of Thursday 25th June, NARS UK are offering free shipping on orders of £25 or more on their UK site, but they only ship within the UK so I may just have to rope in the English-based relatives for this one! I'm particularly coveting Blue Lagoon, Cha Cha Cha and Tallulah - what about you?