NARS Man Ray for NARS Photoglosses in Zambeze, Muse, Off Limits and Kiki

I love that the lips on these LE tubes of gloss from the new Man Ray for NARS Holiday 2017 collection look like regular ol’ lips. They’re even slightly asymmetrical, thank goodness! Because I gotta be honest, sometimes I need a break from the hyper-inflated Kylie-style lips everywhere.

The glosses are NARS Photogloss Lip Lacquers, a new limited edition formula, and — very importantly — they smell almost like vanilla cookies.

The thing about these glosses is that they’re SO pigmented. Like, you know how sometimes when you make tea and you put the tea bag in the hot water, but then you go do something else and forget about the tea, only to realize an hour later what you did, but you don’t want to waste it, so you drink it anyway even though it tastes crazy strong and intense?

That’s how these glosses look.

It’s as if NARS squeezed their intense Powermatte Lip Pigments into a thin, non-sticky lipgloss concentrate, and you only need a little bit.

I just swipe the wand along my lower lip once — literally one time from left to right — then press my lips together a few times, and just kind of feather out the edges. That’s the easiest way I’ve found it to apply them.

Anything more than a swipe, though, and things start to get complicated. Some spots on my lips will end up darker than others, and then I’ll have to take gloss all the way out to the edges and carefully follow the curves of my lips… Save yourself the trouble. Just dab a little on your lips, and blur out the edges.

It’s that way with all of the shades, but especially the sparkly fuchsia — which is so very ’80s, I love it! — and the dark creamy burgundy.

These aren’t super sticky, and I only get about two hours of wear time, but that’s pretty typical of a thin, non-sticky gloss. At least the pigmented formula means that you can stretch a tube out a long time.

I like these a lot and can wholeheartedly recommend them, as long as you don’t have serious flakes going on, because they’re sure to amplify any textured areas.

Look for ’em at NARS boutiques and online starting tomorrow, Friday, October 6th, along with the rest of the NARS Man Ray Holiday collection.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen