NARS Portobello Duo Eyeshadow Review & Swatches
Portobello
NARS Portobello Duo Eyeshadow (2018) ($35.00 for 0.08 oz.) contains a very light, yellowish brown and a light, warmer brown, both with matte finishes. This is what I can see as a workhorse duo; one that, for the right skin tone, is an easy go-to pairing for transition choices or to give a lightly contoured effect on the eyes.
Portobello
PPermanent. $35.00.
Portobello I
Portobello I is a very light, yellowed brown with a matte finish. It had good pigmentation with a soft, smooth consistency that wasn’t too soft nor too firm in the pan, so it blended easily but didn’t have fallout nor did it sheer out too readily. It lasted well for eight hours on me before fading noticeably.
FURTHER READING: Formula Overview for details on general performance and characteristics (like scent).
Top Dupes
- Sephora Natural Beauty (328) (P, $8.00) is darker (95% similar).
- Chanel Road Movie #4 (PiP, ) is darker, cooler (90% similar).
- Natasha Denona Harlow (277CP) (PiP, ) is darker, cooler (90% similar).
- Sephora My Dear Nude (282) (P, $8.00) is darker, cooler (85% similar).
- Chanel Quintessence #7 (LE, ) is darker, cooler (85% similar).
- Wet 'n' Wild The Night's Quad #1 (LE, ) is darker, more muted, cooler (85% similar).
- NARS Blondie (P, $19.00) is darker (85% similar).
- Tarte Wall Art (LE, ) is darker, cooler (80% similar).
- Zoeva Never Ending (PiP, ) is more muted, cooler (80% 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.
Portobello I
PiPPermanent in Palette. $19.00.
Portobello II
Portobello II is a soft brown with warm undertones and a matte finish. The pigmentation was opaque in a single layer, while the eyeshadow felt smooth and soft without being dusty or powdery in the pan. It applied evenly, blended out with little effort, and stayed on well for eight hours.
FURTHER READING: Formula Overview for details on general performance and characteristics (like scent).
Top Dupes
- LORAC Oat (LE, $19.00) is lighter, more muted, cooler (95% similar).
- Buxom Gimme Gorgeous (P, $12.00) is darker (95% similar).
- Kat Von D Noble (LE, ) is lighter (95% similar).
- LORAC Warm Ginger (PiP, $19.00) is more muted (95% similar).
- Makeup Geek Hayride (DC, $6.00) is lighter (95% similar).
- Sephora Blonde (PiP, ) is darker (90% similar).
- Viseart Warm Mattes #3 (PiP, ) is darker (90% similar).
- Too Faced Strip Poker (PiP, $16.00) is darker (90% similar).
- Kevyn Aucoin Camel (LE, ) is darker (90% similar).
- Sephora Camel (LE, ) is darker (90% 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.
This is such an interesting duo concept. I wish NARS put a video up of makeup artist suggestions of how to use it.
When I see duos like this one I just think that I really don’t have an eye for color. These two are basically the same shade for me. 😆 I see the slight difference, but I just don’t see the point of having two colors so close. Maybe if you’re an make-up artist, but then I would see this make more sense to be in a 5-6 shade palette of light to dark (or medium) yellow browns, workhorses for various client complexions.
To my eye, these shades look fairly indistinguishable from each other and I wonder whether it would have been better to make the second shade a darker matte.
I just love your eye look with the blue shades.
I could see these being really nice, workhorse crease shades.
See, if I still purchased NARS I could easily use this day to day. Take the lighter shade as a wash over the lid, and deepen the outer corner with the darker shade. Less than 5 minutes to fabulous eyes. Heck, on real lazy days I would take a shade like MAC Wedge, pop it in the outer corner, add a flick of eyeliner, mascara, and call it done. The simplest looks can sometimes stand out the most.
It’s really too bad NARS isn’t cruelty free anymore or this would probably be my most used duo.
I see this as a basics workhorse duo. It would make a good contoured eye for light skinned people. One color is just more yellow-based. I could make use of the left side as a light colored but non-white lid primer and the right as all a transition shade.