NARS inspired make up look

The reason for my reading make up books is to get inspiration for techniques that I might use myself. For some reason, pictures of celebrities never work for me because a) I don’t find it all that interesting and b) I don’t find make up looks used at red carpet events show me anything I don’t know yet. So make up books it is. I own two books by Rae Morris, but my most recent purchase is Francois Nars’ Make Up Your Mind. The other week I had a chance to really browse through it and found plenty of looks that I thought I would like to recreate and all those looks had a few features in common, some of which I have started to use in my every day make up looks.

So what makes this look NARS inspired? What I noticed in the make up looks I liked best is how very few eyeshadows are used (3 at most) and lots of tight lining. Blush is kept simple, with emphasis on adding some color, but not shape to the face. Lips are neutral or colorful depending on the colors on the eyes. But mainly it’s all about the eyes, as I will explain below.

Products used:

Face: Missha BB cream in no. 13 Bright Beige, Collection Long Lasting Perfection concealer in no1 fair mixed with Benefit High Beam, MAC Mineralized Skinfinish Natural in Medium, Shisheido blush in RD 103.

Brows: MAC Omega eyeshadow, HEMA clear brow gel.

Eyes: Too Faced Shadow Insurance, MAC Paintpot in Painterly, MAC eyeshadows in woodwinked, dazzlelight, vanilla and naked lunch, Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Underground, Maybelline the Falsies Feather in black

Lips: Revlon Lipbutter in Candy Apple

Here’s what I did to create the look (and here Mr. NARS comes in):

1. I applied MAC paint pot in Painterly to even out my eyelid color.
2. I applied MAC Woodwinked all over my lid and in my crease. Yes, that’s only one color.
3. Next, I used Vanilla by MAC on my brown bone, but that’s because I prefer using a matte highlight on my browbone. You could skip this step and simply use a shimmery highlight and go with only two colors.
4. Dazzlelight went into my inner corner AND on my lower lashline with a pencil brush.
5. I took a bit of MAC Naked Lunch on a pencil brush and applied this drawing a line from my brownbone to my inner corner. (again you could used a shimmery highlight for this)
6. I tightlined my upper lash line with Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Underground and also applied it on part of my lower lashline.
7. I applied mascara

   

So what makes this NARS?

First of all, you could do this look with only two shadows: one all over the lid and a shimmery highlight on the browbone, lower lashline, inner corner and to connect the browbone to the inner corner. Using the same color on the lid and the crease still creates depth, but is much more subtle than going in with a darker color. Using a light color on the lower lashline as well as connecting the browbone and inner corner with a highlighting color was new to me. I think the first is a great alternative to white or nude colored kohl pencil on the waterline, the second opens the eye even more and adds another dimension.

On top of that there is no heavy black liner: Just some tightlining of the upper lash line and some smudged liner on the bottom lash line. To intensify the look, you could even tightline all around and include the waterline (another technique abundant in NARS’ book).

I think, overall, that these are techniques which create fresh make up looks that draws light to your face and remains subtle. I’ve been playing around with these techniques every day since and love it. Of course you can do the same thing with darker colors for a more dramatic look, but I think this is ideal for an every day make up. Especially because you can get away with using this technique and only 2 eyeshadows: quick, easy and simple.

Have you ever used any of these techniques?