NARS Kuala Lumpur Duo Eyeshadow Review & Swatches

1 of 4
NARS Kuala Lumpur Duo Eyeshadow (2018)
NARS Kuala Lumpur Duo Eyeshadow (2018)
NARS Kuala Lumpur Duo Eyeshadow (2018)
NARS Kuala Lumpur Duo Eyeshadow (2018)
NARS Kuala Lumpur Duo Eyeshadow (2018)
NARS Kuala Lumpur Duo Eyeshadow (2018)
NARS Kuala Lumpur Duo Eyeshadow (2018)
NARS Kuala Lumpur Duo Eyeshadow (2018)
NARS Kuala Lumpur Duo Eyeshadow (2018)
NARS Kuala Lumpur Duo Eyeshadow (2018)
NARS Kuala Lumpur Duo Eyeshadow (2018)
NARS Kuala Lumpur Duo Eyeshadow (2018)

Kuala Lumpur

NARS Kuala Lumpur Duo Eyeshadow (2018) ($35.00 for 0.08 oz.) includes a shimmery peach and a mid-tone, satiny plum. This particular duo could have been quite cohesive for a two-shade look, but the quality was lacking in both shades–just too dry and dusty to perform well on its own. It was somewhat better over eyeshadow primer but still not impressive even then.


1 of 2
NARS Kuala Lumpur I Eyeshadow (2018)
NARS Kuala Lumpur I Eyeshadow (2018)
NARS Kuala Lumpur I Eyeshadow (2018)
NARS Kuala Lumpur I Eyeshadow (2018)
NARS Kuala Lumpur I Eyeshadow (2018)
NARS Kuala Lumpur I Eyeshadow (2018)

Kuala Lumpur I

Kuala Lumpur I is a soft peach with warm undertones and a golden sheen. It had semi-sheer coverage, which did not build up that well as the texture was dusty and prone to sheering out. Applied over eyeshadow primer, the coverage improved to medium but was still hard to build up. It lasted for seven hours on me before fading noticeably.

FURTHER READING: Formula Overview for details on general performance and characteristics (like scent).

Formula Overview

$19.00/0.04 oz. - $475.00 Per Ounce

The formula is supposed to have "rich, high-impact color" that is "lightweight" and has "increased blendability." Like most larger ranges, there are winners and losers, and some of how they perform can be related to the type of finish. The mattes are soft, slightly dusty in the pans (or not at all) with medium to opaque, often buildable, color coverage. The satin and metallics tend to be smoother, more blendable, and more pigmented with less effort; NARS does the these lower shimmer finishes particularly well, which just looks "melted" on the skin as they lay down so smoothly and have a great shine.

Most shades applied better on my lid than swatched on my arm, which has been something seen across NARS' eyeshadows for years and didn't change with the recent update to their powder eyeshadow formula. On average, they lasted between seven and nine hours on me without primer. They did apply well over primer and stayed on well for 14 hours with minimal fading.

Worth noting: the updated formula and packaging resulted in a product decrease from 0.07 oz. per pan to 0.04 oz. The single eyeshadows received a more noticeable price drop (from $24 to $19) but the duo eyeshadows could be priced better (from $36 to $35).

Browse all of our NARS Eyeshadow (2018) swatches.

1 of 2
NARS Kuala Lumpur II Eyeshadow (2018)
NARS Kuala Lumpur II Eyeshadow (2018)
NARS Kuala Lumpur II Eyeshadow (2018)
NARS Kuala Lumpur II Eyeshadow (2018)
NARS Kuala Lumpur II Eyeshadow (2018)
NARS Kuala Lumpur II Eyeshadow (2018)

Kuala Lumpur II

Kuala Lumpur II is a medium plum with strong, warm undertones and a satin sheen. The texture was rather dry with a firmness in the pan that made it harder to pick up product and harder to get the coverage to even out, especially along the edges. It had semi-opaque pigmentation but appeared substantially lighter applied than it did in the pan. It wore well for seven hours before there was noticeable fading.

FURTHER READING: Formula Overview for details on general performance and characteristics (like scent).

Formula Overview

$19.00/0.04 oz. - $475.00 Per Ounce

The formula is supposed to have "rich, high-impact color" that is "lightweight" and has "increased blendability." Like most larger ranges, there are winners and losers, and some of how they perform can be related to the type of finish. The mattes are soft, slightly dusty in the pans (or not at all) with medium to opaque, often buildable, color coverage. The satin and metallics tend to be smoother, more blendable, and more pigmented with less effort; NARS does the these lower shimmer finishes particularly well, which just looks "melted" on the skin as they lay down so smoothly and have a great shine.

Most shades applied better on my lid than swatched on my arm, which has been something seen across NARS' eyeshadows for years and didn't change with the recent update to their powder eyeshadow formula. On average, they lasted between seven and nine hours on me without primer. They did apply well over primer and stayed on well for 14 hours with minimal fading.

Worth noting: the updated formula and packaging resulted in a product decrease from 0.07 oz. per pan to 0.04 oz. The single eyeshadows received a more noticeable price drop (from $24 to $19) but the duo eyeshadows could be priced better (from $36 to $35).

Browse all of our NARS Eyeshadow (2018) swatches.

12 Comments

Comments that do not adhere to our comment policy may be removed. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged but we expect community members to participate respectfully. Please keep discussion on-topic, and if you have general feedback, a product review request, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us!

Please help us streamline the comments' section and be more efficient: double-check the post above for more basic information like pricing, availability, and so on to make sure your question wasn't answered already. Comments alerting us to typos or small errors in the post are appreciated (!) but will typically be removed after errors are fixed (unless a response is needed).

We appreciate enthusiasm for new releases but ask readers to please hold questions regarding if/when a review will be posted as we can't commit to or guarantee product reviews. We don't want to set expectations and then disappoint readers as even products that are swatched don't always end up being reviewed due to time constraints and changes in priorities! Thank you for understanding!

Comments on this post are closed.
CK Avatar

Why am I not surprised. When they put this on the model in their video, I couldn’t even see it on camera. I was hoping that it would be creamier and have more visibility than its first incarnation.

Mariella Avatar

This duo never really did it for me – just not my sort of colours (especially for a duo) but as I recall, even the original of this wasn’t very good and having just checked the ratings on Makeupalley, that recollection seems to have been accurate. So it seems with these duos, that those that were good the first time around are still pretty good and the mediocre ones continue to hover in the mediocre area.

Audrey Avatar

I have the original one and I will say the pigmentation isn’t that strong, but I actually like that. The swatches don’t look any different on the new ones, from what I can tell.

What I’ve found makes THE most amazing look is to use MAC’s Rubenesque paint pot as a base and then the pinkish color as a lid color over the paint pot, followed by the purple as a light outer corner and crease color. It’s amazing! I get SO many compliments on it each time I wear this combo.

Something that I also really like is that it’s impossible to overdo.

Jenny A. Avatar

Tati posted a video that NARS reformulated shadows were a must-have and the “best eye shadows of the year.” She did get a huge PR package, so maybe if you don’t have to shell out $17 a piece for them, yeah.

Christine Avatar

Hi Jenny,

I received all of the NARS eyeshadows as press samples as well. This is one duo out of over a dozen, and two shades out of 96? ish shades total – there are lots of winners in the range but definitely some misses! It’s also important to note that reviewers may hold products to different standards/expectations (like I don’t test with primer).

We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!