[Review] and [Comparison] – NARS Contour Blush in #5180 vs MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in #Medium Dark

Hi beautifuls! I always considered contouring / shading to be advanced makeup skills that only pro-makeup artists can handle, but for the past year or so, this concept has boomed so much that any new makeup junkie like me can learn the tricks of making my face look slimmer without exercising *hooray!*

Today I’ll be reviewing the NARS Contour Blush in #5180 that I bought in Japan, and also doing a comparison with MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in #Medium Dark (gosh what a long product name). 

Brand: NARS
Product: Contour Blush
Shade: 5180 Olympia (ivory/rose)
Price: US$42 or 4200yen 
Type: Blush / Contouring
Origin: Made in USA
Website: NARS official website

THE PACKAGING

   

  

Classic black NARS packaging with velvet-matte finish very nice to the touch. 

  

Love the NARS font – so classy. Decent size mirror. Larger area for contour shade (rose) and lesser for the highlight shade (ivory). 

THE PRODUCT

From NARS:

A LUST FOR BLUSH

A duo of contouring blush shades to create natural-looking dimension for the face with a lightweight luminous finish. A deeper shade enhances definition while a lighter shade illuminates the high points of the face.

  

Closer look at the powders. They are TOTALLY MATTE. No shimmers at all, so double thumbs up for me! 

There are 3 shades from NARS for this product and this is the lightest and probably the only usable one for fair or Asian skin tone (I am NC/NW20). The other 2 shades are much darker suited for darker skin tones. 

Also love the fact it has both highlight and contour shade in one compact! Good for travel. Just gotta remember to pack a contouring brush along~

Now onto comparing with MAC!

  

Regarding MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural:

A luxurious domed face powder with minerals, slowly baked to provide a dimensional yet natural-matte finish. Provides perfect light coverage. Use to set and fix foundation or as a touch-up throughout the day. New mirrored compact.

I was introduced to this by a MAC salesgirl when I told her I am looking for a contouring product. This powder has a thousand shades and she picked #Medium Dark for me. It is really a natural light powder that can be a foundation, setting powder, etc and I never would have thot it could be used for shading. Thanks to the helpful MAC salesgirl!

THE SHADE AND TEXTURE

  

The contour shades are quite different. NARS has more of pink/red hues while MAC definitely lends more to a brown/beige shade. 

The contour shade in NARS is called Rose and I feel it is very apt. A rosy pinkish shade that can be a blush on its own. 

  

Swatches! Reconfirming the rosy hues of NARS and brown hues of MAC. 

On texture, NARS feels really smooth and silky while MAC powders are really fine though not as silky to the touch. 

Both are MATTE. No shimmer. 

  

Just nose shading only. It’s amazing how a small dab of powder makes your nose look taller/sharper. 

  

Nose shading comparison only. Can you see the shade difference? Sorry it’s really subtle. 

I think you can pick the colour that best matches your eyebrow colour or overall makeup look. 

Now onto cheek shading! I’m still super amateur in this so pardon the skills please!

No other blush product applied~

NARS definitely create a more rosy pink look while MAC is slightly darker. Both offer great contouring and definition!

I think you don’t need another different blush product for NARS whereas for MAC, perhaps a pastel lighter colored blush might be good to brighten the face. NARS also has the white highlight shade so it’s really convenient. 

MY VERDICT of NARS

Pros

• Super silky and smooth texture
• Easy to blend, hard to get unnatural blotches
• Fully MATTE
• Contains both highlight and contour shade in 1 compact
• Sleek flat portable packaging with mirror (but no brush)

Cons

• Packaging can get dirty easily with foundation stains from fingers on the matte surface
• Need to buy good contouring brush (no brush included)
• Rosy shade may not suit all skin tones (but it suits mine well!)
• On the expensive side?

Overall

It took me awhile to open this NARS product as I was using the MAC whenever I wanna do shading if at all. Still learning the technique. But I think the rosy hue of NARS probably suit me better than MAC, especially for natural neutral makeup daily. I also love that it has a matte white highlight shade! Don’t really like shimmers on face as I could end up looking like a shimmer ball. 

MAC probably suits a darker makeup look better but I’m definitely happy I have both! Can pick and choose to suit whatever look I have on the day 🙂

Btw for the brush, I use MAC angled contouring brush #168 or Hakuhodo angled highlight brush #B512 / #G512. Both work greattttt ~ 

[Review] MAC – Pearlglide Intense Eyeliner in #LordItUp #Undercurrent #DesignerPurple & #PetrolBlue

Once upon a time, I went crazy over MAC Pearlglide Intense Eyeliners and bought four in one go.  Considering the price, it’s quite crazy just for 4 ‘pencils’.  Thinking back, I surely wasn’t rational but then which girl is when looking at pretty things? 🙂

Brand:    MAC
Product:  PearlGlide Intense Eyeliner
Shade:    Lord It Up
          Undercurrent
          Designer Purple 
          Petrol Blue
Price:    USD 16
Type:     Eyeliner
Size:     1.2g
Origin:   Made in USA
Website:  MAC website

THE PACKAGING

Well, nothing special about eyeliner pencils packaging yea?  Just a pencil LOL XD I like that the shade colour is clear on the end of the pencil.  Easy to grab the colour you want when you put them together with 50 other eyeliners haha…

Freshly sharpened tip 🙂  Can you see how rich the colour is?

I recommend getting the MAC sharpener even though it is a tad more expensive than typical sharpeners.  I used other sharpeners and they cause the liner lead to break!  I ended up losing quite alot of product by having to re-sharpen. Ouch!!

THE PRODUCT

“An eye pencil that provides rich, luxurious colour with a touch of shimmer and sparkle. Soft, smooth, creamy formula glides on for a perfectly intense line, yet its soft texture allows you to blend. Long-wearing. Smudge-proof.”

Rich, luxurious colour — oh yes, very rich and creamy deep colours 🙂

Shimmer and sparkle –– yes again!  I can’t get enough of how fine and pretty the shimmers are!

Long-wearing and smudge-proof — well I like to smudge this abit to create smoky look but after it dries, yes it lasts a pretty long while 🙂  I can’t draw a thin line with this pencil so I prefer to smudge it for more blended look ~

I do notice fallouts when i use it and also maybe it’s very soft and creamy, a little product sometimes get caught in the eyelashes.. when that happens and I blink, I may get panda eyes by the product smearing my under-eye area 😦  It could be because of my eye shape though 😦  Do you guys get this problem, or is it just me?

THE SHADES

Petrol Blue – I love this blue.  It’s just perfect – not too dark not too light and the shimmer is the right amount and right shade too!  Perfect to create deep blue sexy eyes for that special night.

Lord It Up – Brown is most wearable and you can even use it for daily look.  Pretty high shimmer for a brown.  I find myself grabbing this colour most cuz’ of its wearability although the colour is kind of boring haha.

Undercurrent – My favourite!  I find the other 3 colours would have many cheaper good dupes (like Maybelline, Etude House) but this one is just too pretty I can’t find a dupe yet!  The green is so special and the shimmer is intense!  This really brightens up your eye look and have people’s attention on it right away!  Can’t stare enough at the colour whenever I have this on hehe.

Designer Purple – I’d say this is a typical purple shimmer eyeliner.  Among the four, shimmer concentration seem to be least for this one or just less noticeable to the eye.  But overall still a beautiful purple of course.

Let me try it on the eyes…..

Two colours on each eye. I think all are pretty… but Undercurrent! Love love love.

MY VERDICT

Pros

• Rich, intense colour and pigmentation
• Super creamy and soft formula.  Very easy to glide on eyes.
• Very beautiful shades and very fine shimmer.  (Thumbs up for Undercurrent!)

Cons

• Some fallouts (don’t know whether it is my lousy skills or the product..)
• Needs sharpening (yes I am a very lazy girl haha)
• Can’t draw a thin thin line.  Even with sharpening line cant get as thin as liquid liner style so I always smudge this out for more smoky blended look.
• Pricey.  Many cheaper dupes out there that more or less have a similar colour or result (except Undercurrent haha).

Overall

I am tempted to try the Black Line shade (Black with khaki green tone and shimmers) of this range, but other than that, I don’t think I will repurchase my current shades – except UnderCurrent!

I am quite happy with Etude House play 101 pencils and they come at fraction of the price and no need sharpening! Hahaha.  Have yet to try other dupes yet~

But I’m still thankful to have found this Pearlglide Eyeliners as they kind of started the eyeliner craze in me XD

Do you know of other great pearl shimmery eyeliners out there? 🙂