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NARS Hollywoodland Soft Touch Shadow Pencil Review, Photos, Swatches

NARS Hollywoodland Soft Touch Shadow Pencil
NARS Hollywoodland Soft Touch Shadow Pencil

NARS Spring 2011: Hollywoodland

NARS Hollywoodland Soft Touch Shadow Pencil ($24.00 for 0.14 oz.) is described as a “pale gold” by NARS. The Soft Touch Shadow Pencils are supposed to be “smooth, creamy, and long-wearing.” They are touted as the “ideal base for layering with powder eyeshadow to increase color intensity.” It’s a multi-tasking pencil that can be used to “Shade the lid, line, or highlight the eye.”

Hollywoodland is a muted yellow-based gold–kind of a gilded champagne-gold to me. It delivers a nice layer of color without a lot of tugging. Smooth without being greasy, it glides on the lid. I tested it alone, and within ten minutes, it was crease-city (photo included, for your viewing horror), and following that disaster, I tested it with Hourglass’ Dune eyeshadow on top–much better results (six hours of crease-free wear). However, I later tried it with NARS Brazil eyeshadow on it, and it creased a bit at the four hour mark. It seems like it really needs quite a bit of powder to really set it. I also wore it as a liner and honestly, when I went to check it after an hour, I couldn’t find it.

my thoughts on the formula: More often than not, the Soft Touch Shadow Pencils are a bust for me–they crease alone but also when layered with powder–but with enough powder, Hollywoodland managed to get through six hours without creasing, unlike the last one I tried (Palladium).

NARS Hollywoodland Soft Touch Shadow Pencil
NARS Hollywoodland Soft Touch Shadow Pencil

NARS Hollywoodland Soft Touch Shadow Pencil
NARS Hollywoodland Soft Touch Shadow Pencil

NARS Hollywoodland Soft Touch Shadow Pencil
NARS Hollywoodland Soft Touch Shadow Pencil

NARS Hollywoodland Soft Touch Shadow Pencil
NARS Hollywoodland Soft Touch Shadow Pencil

NARS Hollywoodland Soft Touch Shadow Pencil
NARS Hollywoodland Soft Touch Shadow Pencil

34 Comments

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Katherine Avatar

It swatches really pretty. I see creasing already on your eyelid too. Sigh. I’ll pass thank you for swatching before I wasted my money on such a beautiful gold.

Gina Avatar

So far it looks like the Urban Decay shadow pencils are the best when used alone. Every other shadow pencils I’ve seen crease if it isn’t set.

strasse Avatar

This pencil and “goddess” are absolutely ideal for corner of the eye pops of color. As prone to creasing and migrating as they are on the lid and under the eye, they miraculously just open your eye and stay put all day if you apply just in the corner. Nars really needs to stop calling this an on the lid shadow product – because it isn’t.

Carrie Ann Avatar

Pretty color, but what’s the point of having it if it’s just going to smear all over your lid? What was NARS thinking with these Shadow Pencils? Weird.

anonymous Avatar

yes but that’s only until I talk you into trying the caudalie one
O:-)

lol maybe I’ll just drop them an email suggesting they send you some. then *I* will feel better when I see you wearing upper liner in a look 😉 (what, you thought this was about you? hee!)

anonymous Avatar

I know, you told me. it made my lids burn to hear lol. I keep thinking an eye cream would provide a buffer to protect the skin from contact with product/brush/etc. plus it makes swelling go down faster. once blood flows in under pressure it’s hard to relax the tiny veins enough to push the fluid back out. caudalie’s cream is the only thing I’ve ever seen have any impact on the thickness of my eyelids. I put it on the 1st time reluctantly, pressed on me by a caudalie salesperson, hoping it wouldn’t feel slimey. I looked away to get my makeup and when I turned back I jumped because of how different my lids looked. it was a cool moment. wish I had a pic of my face lol

anonymous Avatar

wow, I can see you’ve already switched maybe sort absolutely into freestylin mode! b*tchin’ LOL

if you do totally have a cam ready though. it doesn’t happen for everyone but I know I’ve read other ppl had the same sort of wtf moment. you wouldn’t want to miss a good photo op. 🙂

Mariella Avatar

I think I’ll go with UD’s Midnight Cowboy! You are right that this is a pretty colour but what’s the point if it creases? Thanks, Christine, for doing all this “vetting work” for the rest of us! You save us a lot of trouble and money!

Karina Avatar

I just bought it this morning. What a shame! It looked beautiful at 11:30 when my makeup was done but by the time I was waiting for my daughter at school @ 2:30 it had already creased. The Makeup Artist put the eyeshadow base and then layered some powder shadow and it still creased!!! I will be reading all the reviews before I venture to the store from now on! Thank you for all these amazing reviews!

Gorgeois Avatar

Sigh. Why not just use a primer?? The Soft Touch pencils are not a priming product, they’re eye color, which usually needs a primer. When used with primer, all of the NARS cream products stay on well. When used alone, they crease. I’d think you would know this already?

Christine Avatar

Please read the product description! 🙂 If you read the product description, NARS states they’re long-wearing and can be used as a base color! I review based on what products are supposed to do. Sure, you can use a primer, but NARS sells this product as a standalone product.

Ivana Avatar

Ah I just found this post after agonising over what to do with this product since it was a gift and the colour is so beautiful! I’ve found that if you just get a bit on your index finger and press it into that inner corner of your eye area, it makes the most perfect highlighter! Not the intended use, and probably not worth $24, but hey!

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