NARS Velvet Lip Glide Set: Review & Swatches

Thursday, August 10, 2017

Recently, a friend and I decided to split this set of NARS Velvet Lip Glides. There were some cooler shades that she wanted and I was definitely drawn to the warm shades. That's a foundation for a great friendship, pro tip. I usually don't review things so quickly after purchase but 1) I feel like my mind is made up, I'm not going to budge also 2) it's exclusive to Ulta and there's a sale.

Last year NARS had a similar little coffret, but the shades in that set were darker and a bit more brown. These nudes and vivids were more my scene.

This is my first time trying the Velvet Lip Glide formula. Claims: "Opaque semi-matte finish ensures long-lasting color that stays supple, and never sticky."

Left to right: Rapture, Night Together, Burning Love, Californication, Immoral, Staying Alive

I think these are glossy looking enough that I would not have ever put 'matte' in the description, unless 'not' was in front of it. They do not set or dry beyond what you see here. Light vanilla scent, with a doefoot wand.

Rapture. Warm medium light pink.

Night Together. Rosy brown.

Burning Love. Not blue or bold enough to be called cherry red, not warm enough to be called strawberry, not intense enough to be called 'engine red'. It's regular red. Out of my three shades, this one is my favorite straight out of the tube.

I only swatched my three shades on my lips, didn't want to go through the trouble of grabbing disposable wands to swatch C.'s three cooler shades. Not crazy about the finish, I guess, didn't even want to see how the others looked because I'd never buy them. If I wanted something to be this shiny, I would prefer it to not feel as slippery or for it to transfer to my teeth so easily. There's other lipsticks out there that might not be in liquid format, but they hug my lips better and feel more like balm as opposed to oily. This is also pretty high maintenance, I find that it bleeds around the edges of my lips, I can't skip the lip liner if I want to keep the color in check.

I however, can use these Velvet Lip Glides as really light stains. The pigment doesn't bunch up in the creases of the lips, so they fade to a nice even tint. This is how Rapture blots down.

Other products on my face:

Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Powder
Innisfree No Sebum Blur Primer
Dolce & Gabbana The Foundation Perfect Luminous Liquid Foundation
Sephora Make No Mistake Concealer & Foundation
Innisfree No Sebum Mineral Powder
NYX Gel Liner & Smudger in Jet Black

I don't like to rule out an entire kind of lip finish based on just one product, but I think I won't be exploring this liquid velvet type product any further (like Burberry Liquid Lip Velvets, those look a bit more matte). The silicone slip of these shades is just incredibly off putting, I think what I'm learning is that I prefer the slightly waxier isododecane base to slipperier dimethicone. I'll stick to the NARS Lip Velvet Matte Pencils because I like how they feel on my lips and the finish is much more pleasing.

Definitely happy that I was able to try minis from a set before committing to a full sized product! Glancing over other reviews, it seems like many really like the feel of these Velvet Lip Glides, so my aversion to the formula might make me the odd duck. I would highly recommend you try it for yourself to see how you feel about this kind of formula.

We purchased this set from Ulta (I believe it's an exclusive) for $45. Heads up, Ulta has a 20% off total purchase, with code: 3O7KZ58FN0X through Saturday, 8/19/17.

Have you tried the NARS Velvet Lip Glide formula? What did you think of it?

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