NARS Cosmetics Lolita Collection for Fall 2009 - Review, Photos, Swatches
Indian Summer Duo Eyeshadow
NARS’ Fall 2009 Collection is a small launch of three eyeshadow duos, one eyeshadow single, one lipstick, and one nail polish. I was not alone in my excitement for this launch, but I’m afraid for me, the launch was incredibly disappointing. I was particularly excited for Indian Summer Eyeshadow Duo, but the promotional image and the actual product are are so drastically different, I wonder if there wasn’t some sort of mix-up. I even double and triple-checked the labels, because I really couldn’t believe the two were one and the same. The best part of the launch was Mekong single eyeshadow, followed by Tokaido Express nail polish. Nothing else was a winner for me, unfortunately.
You can purchase the Fall collection at NARSCosmetics.com!
Duo Eyeshadows ($32.00 each)
- Indian Summer is a duo of whitish-pink champagne with sparkling white-gold shimmer and yellowed brown with soft gold sheen. The champagne shdae has a bit of a frosty look, while the other color has more of a satin-y finish. The yellowed brown reminded me of MAC’s Soft Ochre eyeshadow, which was just one of those colors that did not work with my skin tone.
- Silk Road is a duo of peachy-pink with soft shimmer and a pinked-up brown with a frosty look. Of the three duos, this was theo ne I liked the most. The shadows were smooth, soft, and had decent pigmentation. They are both incredibly wearable, too. The pinked-up brown does have a bit of a glittery texture, but it didn’t give me too much trouble.
- Brumes is a duo of matte charcoal-gray and a satin-y dark blue-gray with green sheen. Both colors went on easily and had lots of color pay-off. The dark-nearly-navy-gray-blue has a bit of a green shimmer/sheen to it, which was nice.
Single Eyeshadow ($22.00)
- Mekong is a warmed-up deep, rich brown with golden shimmer and sheen. It almost looks like a burgundy-brown when swatched and in the light.
Lipstick ($24.00)
- Fast Ride looks like a dark, intimidating vampy red-wine, but it’s nothing like that on lips. It’s a sheer, glossy reddish-berry with minimal shimmer. On lips, it’s still sheer, and it does have a tendency to settle into lip lines, so I do recommend a base of some sort.
Nail Polish ($16.00)
- Tokaido Express is a dark, subdued plummy brown with golde and violet shimmer laced throughout the base color. It looks a lot more purple in the bottle than it does on actual nails, but when the light hits it, you’ll see more of a reddish-burgundy and the violet sparkles are more apparent.
See product photos and swatches…
Silk Road Duo Eyeshadow
Brumes Duo Eyeshadow
Indian Summer Duo Eyeshadow
Indian Summer Duo Eyeshadow
Silk Road Duo Eyeshadow
Silk Road Duo Eyeshadow
Brumes Duo Eyeshadow
Brumes Duo Eyeshadow
Mekong Eyeshadow
Fast Ride Lipstick
Tokaido Express Nail Polish
Tokaido Express Nail Polish
Indian Summer, Silk Road, Brumes
Indian Summer, Silk Road,
Silk Road, Brumes
Mekong, Fast Ride
Fast Ride Lipstick
Silk Road looks pretty, but not sure if I can be bothered to spend £23 on it, I’m pretty sure I have very similar colours already. The rest is pretty blah.
It’s pretty, but I do think it’s dupe-able/not terribly original.
Sunny Yellow on Indian summer my ass!
LOL!
awww… now i’m sad… i was really looking forward to fast ride lipstick! i really like the color on the lipstick but the swatch was a disappointment… i’m looking for that dark shade… do u know if mac diva lipstick is just as sheer?
Diva is much darker/opaque!
i wasn’t interested in indian summer anyway. but i am SO getting silk road and mekong!
Mekong is definitely a stand out shadow!
christine, did you notice that mekong blended out to a matte? i really like the color but i’m not sure if it’s supposed to do that considering that it’s so shimmery in the pan.
I am wondering the same thing?
Mekong catched my eye looking at the pan picture because it’s so shimmery/glittery, but on the swatch, it seems more like a matte with subtle sparkle, sort of like black tied e/s by Mac.
It’s not really glittery to me, more like a shimmer. It is kind of like Black Tied, because it is a matte base with shimmer interlaced, but it’s not chunky glitter like Tropic eyeshadow.
For me, it didn’t blend out too matte–it definitely left some shimmer behind. It’s no Tropic eyeshadow!
Meh, nothing catches my eye, except for the nail lacquer. No offense Christine, but Fast Ride looks purely awful on you. It just settles into too many lines and unless paired with another, more wearable lippie/gloss, it’s extremely unflattering.
It’s definitely something that needs to be worked with a gloss or a base (either lip liner or foundation or whatever).
I like India Summer and Silk Road, but I think I have enough colors to dupe Silk Road anyhow.
I’d have to lean towards saying you probably do have dupes for Silk Road!
Mekong looks amazing! If I could buy one thing from this collection that would be it.
I’d say that’s a good move!
Wow.. just wow. I’m really disappointed. This seems well below NARS’ usual quality. I wonder what happened?
Wow… Indian Summer seriously looks nothing like the promos. Silk Road is pretty, but I’m pretty sure I already have those colors already haha. Everything else seems like a skip. =/
Yeah, really not liking how drastic the two are!
Weren’t there supposed to be three more eyeshadow duos? Do you know what happened with those, Christine?
Later fall/early winter — I think September/October.
The Indian Summer is gorgeous. It’s much more of a mustard yellow than in the pic here. I fould the darker side of Silk Road to be gritty and the lighter side not well pigmented but I think the other 2 duos are winners.
I’m glad you found some things to like, MJ! I ended up returning all about Mekong :/
I love mekong…at least from the swatches…and the lipstick looks nothing like the one on Heather Marks.
Mekong is really pretty for sure 🙂
why does mekong look gray? or is it just me?
Looks brownish to me?
omg Silk Road, Indian Summer, and Takaido! 🙂
Gonna get ’em?
Mekong looks great – almost like a softer version of Black Ore Solar Bits. The nail polish looks beautiful too. Bravo on those photos, Christine! I WANT your product-photo camera!!! NARS should hire you for that lipstick shot. Brilliant!
Ohh, kind of. Much more brown to it, I think 🙂
LOL! I wish!!!
Mekong & Brumes look great! It sucks when products don’t live up to your expectations…
I know 🙁
Whatever happened to the e/s duos Taiga, Brousse, and Eurydice??? I liked some of them but they are not on the NARS site or in your review? Are they still available?
So far, I like: Tokaido nail polish, Brume e/s duo, Fast Ride lippie, and, after seeing yur swatch, I now want Mekong e/s as well! If available, I also like Eurydice e/s duo and Brousse e/s duo.
Those are for late fall/early winter — they’re not part of the fall collection itself.
Nah, Nars rarely does it for me. Not interested in this at all.. sorry you also found it a bit disappointing.
Christine, did you detect any “rose gold” sparkles in Mekong e/s? I read that in one description, and I was instantly hooked, but in your photos the shimmer looks plainly like yellow gold (actually like the shimmer in Galapagos e/s from last year)…maybe the photos just didn’t capture it?
Just slightly – it’s kind of like a peachy gold at times.
The nail polish looks amazing! thank you Christine 🙂
I think that with Nars e/s, many times swatches don’t do the colours/textures justice. It is once you put them on your eyes that they really come alive. Just my observation. I really wish it wasn’t so expensive, though.
Through my experience, I’ve found them to be similar to swatches, but I would say that they do have a very soft/fine texture which may not be apparent if you aren’t the swatcher!
I was so looking forward to this collection specifically brumes….but the navy is a strange green/blue that just doesnt do it for me. Thanks for the swatches and saving me 32 dollars hehe!
Aww, too bad! Happy to save you money, though 🙂
We should find out what Heather Marks is really wearing as her lip color in that photo. I’m wondering if she has a dark lip pencil all over and then added the fast ride on top. There’s no way this is that same color alone.
I’ll try to ask NARS what she’s wearing!
My fave is Indian Summer, much more wearable than in the promo pics, and Silk Road looks elegant. Not in love with the darker e/s colors.
It would have been SO wearable for me (LOL!) as pictured, actually 🙁
I tried Fast Ride with the cream blush, Montenegro at Nordstrom the other day. I liked the pigment the lipstick left on me – it’s just the right amount of berry. Personally I like the dark sheers when I wear a red or even dark berry wine I feel that I look borderline “hostess bar girl” in Thailand. So I was not disappointed with this one bit! I also liked the cream blush – also berry so it complimented Fast Ride.
If you want to highlight cheeks and lips with just a line of black eyeliner – I would go with this combo.
I also liked Mekong – luckily I won’t be breaking the bank (much) with my Fall NARS purchases!
I’m glad those worked out for you, Lexis! 🙂
Montenegro is very pretty for sure!
brumes is gorgeous, but unfortunately i have mac copperplate which looks exactly like the grey shade in duo. i hate having dupes so no brumes for me 🙁
Ohh, good call, Angie!
Christine,
Do you think “Fast Ride” could be duped?
Yes, likely so. It didn’t strike me as a terribly unique color. I’m not familiar enough with vampy colors, so I can’t think of one right off the top of my head.
I am after some neutrals & after seeing Silk Road, I am debating whether to get it, or my original choice – the Alhambra Duo. Any ideas on which I should choose?
Alhambra 🙂
i love the fastride and the nail polish but the eyeshadows dont really do it for me this season,thanx for the swatches
No prob, Lameka!
Is it me or does Fast Ride look alot like Clinique’s “Black Honey”…hmmm, still like Nars, even though it could be a dupe.
Similar, a little redder.
Girl, I am having a love-hate relationship with Mekong! It swatched beautifully at Nordy, but when I played around with it at home, all I seem to be picking up and packing on is the dark brown/black matte base. I layered MACs Tempting on top of it and that helped a bit to make it look more similar to your swatch. So fussy!
Feeling defeated, I packed it back up in the original packaging with the intention of returning it tomorrow, but somehow I end up falling in love with it again! What is it with that shadow!??! *sigh* Its back in my eyeshadow drawer again, LOL.
It’s pretty tough to work with, IMO! If you use it wet, it’s not so bad, but I don’t like the wet spot that it can leave behind 🙁 Try using a sponge applicator too!