NARS Matcha Eyeshadow Review & Swatches
Matcha
NARS Matcha Eyeshadow (2018) ($19.00 for 0.04 oz.) is a bright pop of light-medium lime green with warm undertones and a matte finish. It had nearly opaque pigmentation in a single layer, while the texture was smooth, finely-milled, and blendable, though it was a little thinner than ideal. Without a primer, it sheered out a bit on bare skin and read more muted, whereas primer helped to ensure it stayed true-to-pan and pigmented. On its own, the eyeshadow stayed on well for seven and a half hours before fading noticeably.
FURTHER READING: Formula Overview for details on general performance and characteristics (like scent).
Top Dupes
- Terra Moons Ivy (P, $6.00) is lighter (95% similar).
- Sydney Grace Meadow (P, $5.25) is more shimmery, lighter (95% similar).
- Illamasqua Pivot (P, ) is darker (95% similar).
- Give Me Glow Limeade (P, $7.00) is lighter, cooler (90% similar).
- Wet 'n' Wild I'm Seeing Triples Browbone (DC, $2.29) is more shimmery, brighter, cooler (90% similar).
- Viseart Clover (Bright Editorial #3) (P, ) is darker (90% similar).
- Coloured Raine Mint Leaves (LE, $6.99) is darker, cooler (90% similar).
- Lethal Cosmetics Coven (P, $6.50) is cooler (90% similar).
- Sugarpill Acidberry (P, $13.00) is more shimmery, lighter, brighter (85% similar).
- Give Me Glow Dirty Martini (PiP, $7.00) is darker (85% similar).
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.
Ohhhh that’s a pretty shade!!!
It really does kind of look like matcha.
my favorite shade. i wear glasses, and for a long time my go-to eye was any yellow-based green smudged on my lids into the crease. love it.
This is a really bright green shade – I am not sure whether this colour will appeal to lots, but at least it’s good.
This is totally irrational but I want this mostly because of the name…granted that every color of this kind I have gotten had been a dud and this got an A so that’s a positive too.
I love the name and the colour!
I hardly ever wear such a rich, almost neon lime green such as this, and when I do, it is usually the 2 in UD Electric palette. But I actually really like this one a lot!
Thank you for reminding me there are two greens in the Electric palette. I was mesmerized by this for a second and you snapped me out of it ??
This will be added to my collection for sure.
I love the shade and the name 🙂
I absolutely love this shade! I can think of a bunch of different ways to do a pop of it.
What an adorable shade. I do have the Viseart Editorial Bright palette, and I primarily got it for these shades that this dupes, but I feel a little bit leery about using it because of the fact that they are designated as bluse shades which makes me nervous.
What a lovely shade! Colors like this are hard to pull off, especially in a matte, but NARS surprised me and pulled it off.
Really nice looking green with a fun name! I remember when I brought home matcha some years ago from a business trip to try to get “used to drinking” it and ended up wasting a couple of bags as I never never really did like it in the end. Now everyone is into it here.