GIRL. In the ’90s, the lip liner situation wasn’t cute.
I wore lip liner just about every other day from approximately 1993 to 1999, and I spent between 10-60 minutes on each of those days tugging liner across my lips.
That works out to between 182.5 and 1,095 total hours of my life, because skipping liner was NOT AN OPTION. There was an unwritten rule among our crew that if you wore lipstick, you also had to do the liner. Don’t know why, but this was regarded as the truth.
Now, due to modern advancements in makeup technology (ooh!), we have ultra smooth liners now, like the NARS Precision Lip Liners, which can line and fill in lips with absolutely no tugging.
These are cool. They’re new to NARS and available now for $24 each in 26 shades.
All kinds of colors, from nudes to brights to some crazy shades, like this deep, dark black shade called Nasty Girl, which I would’ve LIVED for in 1994, because that’s when I was lining and filling in my lips with black eyeliner (!).
The thing about this pencil? It glides, slips and slides along the skin, so when you trace your lips with it, it doesn’t tug or skip.
There are other liners out there that move as easily as this. I like to call them “melty” lip liners. Urban Decay’s Glide-On pencils are similar, as are the MAC Pro-Longwear Lip Pencils, but I’ve noticed a tipping point when it comes to applying those. After a certain amount gets on my lips, they starts to look thick and heavy, especially when you layer something on top of them.
Even though these NARS pencils are also “melty,” they don’t look heavy or thick, no matter how much I use.
They’re long-lasting, comfy and aren’t drying either, although I wouldn’t exactly call them moisturizing, and they don’t have a funky or offensive flavor or scent.
I don’t know if they’re kiss-proof yet, so let me bust out one of my early-’90s pre-teen moves and make out with my knee for a sec…
Yup, they’re kiss proof! 🙂
A few of my fave NARS Precision Lip Liner shades
All 26 NARS Precision Lip Liner shades
- Camargue — Pink amber
- Halong Bay — Tan rose
- Vence — Neutral cinnamon
- Lerins — Chestnut rose
- Cap-D’Ail — Dusty mauve
- Saint-Rafael — Guava
- Juan-Les-Pins — Tangerine
- Holy Red — Vivid orange red
- Porquerolles — Geranium
- Mariachi — Brick red
- Mougins — Deep crimson
- Arles — Bright peachy pink
- Mento — Bright pink coral
- Grasse — Vivid pink
- Sainte-Maxime — Deep magenta
- Port Grimaud — Rich berry
- Gordes — Raspberry
- Rouge Marocain — Deep burgundy
- Ride It — Deep mulberry
- Marnie — Burgundy plum
- Le Lavandou — Lilac
- Cassis — Deep aubergine
- Star Rockin’ — Eggplant
- Hyeres — Taupe grey
- Spunk — Rich brown
- Nasty Girl — Midnight black
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Jane says
I am oon the fence with lip liner. It is one of those products that I could easily live without. However, when I do use it, I do feel my lip color lasts longer, not by much, but it does last longer than without liner. I do find that most liners are not moisturizing. The Nars shades look nice but either seem very brown or bold. I have a Nars Velvet liner in Patong Beach which I wear with Dolce Vita or Tolede lip color. It is a pink-rose shade and compliments my natural lip tone. I sometimes wear that with a lip gloss over it.
So I am off for Labor Day. I can’t believe summer vacation is almost over. One last hurrah! Zack got his schedule for the coming year and he is pretty excited with it. He has heard from some Seniors that he has a good selection of teachers. I can’t believe he is a high school junior. Not my baby!
Anyway, enjoy the holiday weekend.
Erin says
They look almost like matte lipsticks!
smeegal9 says
Hi Karen,
Nice post! What was this eyeshadow that you wore???
It matched nicely with every lipliner color!
Karen says
Thanks, Smeegal9! I’m wearing one of my go-to looks and the best thing about it is it’s SO EASY! It’s Tom Ford Burnished Copper on my lids with MAC Saddle in my crease. The liner is Tarte Sex Kitten Liquid Liner, but you can use any black liner you like. The key products are the TF and MAC. I wrote a post on the TF shadow a couple weeks ago, here it is, along with some eye closeups to give you a better idea of the finish/texture (which is gorgeous, by the way).
Tom Ford Burnished Copper Creme Colour for Eyes: 5 Reasons to Fall Hopelessly in Love
smeegal9 says
Thanks for the speedy response! I picked it up from Nordies today!
NARS owes you!
Denise says
Thank you so much for the reviews Karen, still needed in 2018. Big kiss from Brazil !!