Waaay back in 2013 when NARS introduced the Radiant Creamy Concealers, they were revolutionary, but there were only 10 of them. They had lots of pigment and a spectacular satin finish that covered everything — dark circles, blemishes, cat scratches on your cheeks (which, yes, I can attest to from personal experience). They covered EVERYTHING, and they shook up the makeup world.
Since then, so many other brands have come out with their own full-coverage, mousse-y concealer thangs (see: Urban Decay and Kevyn Aucoin).
Fast forward to 2016…
NARS added more shades; the makeup world rejoiced!
Time hop to today, and now there are six more shades, bringing the grand total up to 22. By comparison, MAC has 16 in their Pro Longwear Concealer range and 23 in their Studio Finish Concealer range, and Urban Decay has 14 in both their Naked Skin and All Nighter concealer fams.
Most of the newbies have yellow or golden undertones (extra ideal if you have lots of yellow in your skin tone).
I know a lot of people who love using Radiant Creamy Concealer to hide dark circles, and I wish I loved it for that too, but it settles into my fine lines after a few hours, so I primarily use (and love using them!) as an alternative to foundation.
For all-day natural-looking medium coverage, I like to mix a teeny, tiny amount of Ginger and Caramel (two of the old-school shades) with either MAC Strobe Cream or BECCA Backlight to thin them out a little. Then I pat that on my cheeks and around my nose with my fingers.
Introducing six new NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer colors!
- CAFÉ CON LECHE — Light with yellow undertones
- MARRON GLACÉ — Light yellow for light to medium complexion
- TIRAMISU — Medium with pink undertones
- SUCRE D’ORGE — Medium dark with yellow undertones
- WALNUT — Medium dark with golden undertones
- TRUFFLE — Medium dark with golden red undertones
And here are the existing shades
- CHANTILLY — True ivory for fairest complexions
- VANILLA — Tiny cast of pink for fair complexions
- CRÈME BRULEE — Fair with light pink undertones
- CANNELLE — Light with peachy undertones
- HONEY — Warm peach tone for light to medium complexions
- CUSTARD — Yellow tone for light to medium complexions
- MACADAMIA — Medium with peachy undertones
- GINGER — Golden undertone for medium complexions
- BISCUIT — Medium dark with a natural balance of pink and yellow undertones
- CARAMEL — Medium dark with yellow and golden undertones
- CHESTNUT — Medium dark with pink undertones
- AMANDE — Medium dark with golden olive undertones
- HAZELNUT — Medium dark with warm red undertones
- CAFÉ — Dark shade with warm red undertones
- CACAO — Dark shade with deep gold-brown undertones
- DARK COFFEE — Dark brown with an olive undertone
The six new shades are available at NARS boutiques and on the NARS website now, and they’re also coming to the Sephora website, Sephora stores and NARS counters starting January 5th. They’re $30 each.
Bomb-@ss banana bread
It’s not just that I’ve been on a baking kick, but these banana bread loaves basically *had* to happen. Because you know how it goes… I had a whole bunch of firm, slightly green bananas (I like ’em slightly green still). Then I blinked and BOOM! — they were overripe, mottled yellow, soft and brown.
So I did some late-night baking last night, which for me means 8:30, haha! I followed a recipe I found on Brown Eyed Baker.
I wanted to try the recipe because it’s called Grandma’s Banana Bread, and if it’s grandma’s go-to, it’s gotta be good, right?
And ya know, it is! It turned out pretty darned good! It’s moist, light and melt-in-your-mouth fluffy. Not as dense as banana bread is sometimes. And I didn’t even need a mixer or anything (I just used a whisk, three bowls and two loaf pans).
I did make one slight modification to the recipe, though… The recipe calls for a cup of chopped walnuts, but I only had regular walnuts, and only enough for a half cup, so I also used some glazed walnuts with bourbon barrel aged maple syrup that I got at TJ’s.
I thought they’d make the bread too sweet, but they didn’t. They just added a hint of subtle sweetness (I think I’m gonna use more glazed nuts in the future!).
By the way, one of the reasons I like this bread is that it isn’t super sweet. The recipe only calls for one cup of sugar divided between the two loaves, so it’s definitely not one of those sugar sweet banana breads that makes your teeth hurt.
I dunno… I used to have a very aggressive sweet tooth, and I still do sometimes, but it’s nothing like it used to be. Like, I had a slice of Costco cheesecake last week, and I almost (almost) couldn’t finish it because it was too sweet for me.
Now I like slightly sweet things, which I never, ever in a million years thought I’d say.
If you like banana bread, give it a try sometime. This one’s really good.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Chelsea says
December 28th, 2017 at 5:49 pmI love Radiant Creamy Concealer! I use Chantilly, but I have a tinted sunscreen that’s darker than my skin I wear sometimes, and for that I wear Vanilla. I’ll have to try your tip of mixing a few drops with strobe cream for a base!
Mmmm, this makes me want to make banana bread! Sounds so good!
Karen says
December 28th, 2017 at 8:16 pmHi Chelsea,
I like the hint of sheen that comes through when you add Strobe Cream in. You just need a tiny bit.
Please make this bread! It’s so yummy. I’m on a mission to find the best banana bread recipe, and this one is the front runner.
Mesiah says
December 28th, 2017 at 8:36 pmI had no idea they have new shades. I wear Vanilla, but that Cafe Con Leche is speaking to me. I mainly have yellow undertones, and the pink undertones of Vanilla tend to clash from time to time. I use it to lighten under my eyes, so no biggie, but I would love to try that new shade.
Great post!
Karen says
December 29th, 2017 at 7:18 amHi Mesiah,
How do you like this formula as an under eye concealer? Does it crease on you?
TGIF!
Linda Libra Loca says
December 28th, 2017 at 10:52 pmI never found a shade that matched my skin tone, and with the full coverage I really wanted a good match. Now Café con Leche looks like a good choice, I need to go back and swatch it.
And banana bread… I haven´t had on in Ages. My son loves bananas, they don´t stand a chance of getting soft at our house.
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Karen says
December 29th, 2017 at 7:19 amYou should try making this bread, it’s delish!
Jane says
December 29th, 2017 at 6:48 amYummy banana bread. I love any baked product with walnuts.
I am a fan of the radiant concealer. I use Honey to cover the darkness around my eye area. Yes it does crease a bit, but I have yet to find a concealer that doesn’t crease around my dry eye area. I will probably stick with this shade, but may also get a yellow toned shade to brighten as well.
I am also curious about the expanded shade range Nars has for the new long-wear foundation and was wondering if they plan to expand the shades of their other foundation formulas. The new Vienna shade seems a better match, but I don’t think the new foundation will work on my very dry skin.
Have a Happy New Year!
p.s. It is so bitterly cold out east!
Efrain says
December 29th, 2017 at 8:36 amHey girl I hope your cold is almost over, I realized I didn’t answer your questions about non-dairy milks the other day, I’ve tried soy, almond, rice and coconut; if money wasn’t a problem I’d stick with rice and coconut (I choose both because I prefer coconut milk but I hate how it tastes warm, so I’d use rice milk for warm beverages), I find almond milk tasteless so I don’t drink it alone and I don’t find that funky aftertaste with the soy milk brand we drink; however, I’m going to start a diet and the nutritionist said I nee to change to another brand, let’s see what happens.
Now about this concealer and the new NARS foundation, as you know we can wear almost the same foundations (unless it runs more neutral, in that case it looks too ashy on me), so I want to know if you think Sucre d’Orge would be a better match than for example mixing Ginger and Caramel. I know NARS is out of my budget but I still want to know (also I’m so puzzled while checking the shades of the new foundation).
That banana bread seems delicious, I need to try it soon.
Katie says
December 29th, 2017 at 10:24 amUrg, I just wish they’d make a shade that’s the same depth as Vanilla but with yellow, olive, or true neutral tones! I could use Chantilly to highlight but I don’t do that anymore, and Vanilla is the right depth but way too pink for me. I feel like they’ll definitely come out with one that’s good for me at some point though, since this isn’t the first shade expansion they’ve done (I think there was even another one this year, right?!). I’m just impatient!
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Karen says
December 29th, 2017 at 11:10 amHi Katie,
With all the shade expansions they’ve been doing lately, I wouldn’t be surprised if they add more in the future!
Neha Kaul says
December 29th, 2017 at 11:32 amHey Karen,
Had no clue these babies had launched! NARS Ginger is one of my Holy Grail products for the under eye area. Since you mentioned you wear the same shade albeit on other areas of your face, is there any shade amongst the new kids on the NARS block that suits you better than the original lot?
Oh and that banana bread so makes me want to jump into the screen and devour it..nom nom nom
Karen says
December 29th, 2017 at 12:57 pmHi Neha!
I like Sucre D’Orge, but it’s probably something I can only wear in July or August after my skin picks up some color. I found most of these medium tones to be a little dark at the moment (for reference I’m an NC42 in MAC).
Have you tried the new NARS foundation yet? I’m testing it right now!
Neha says
December 30th, 2017 at 1:01 pmI know it’s weird but I actually have avoid wearing foundation unless it’s a special occasion or something. I’ve a phobia the application will be patchy or not as flawless as I’d like it to be even with all the paraphernalia at my disposal as more often than not I tend to be in a rush. So I just reserve it for big events and such. That said, I like Laura Mercier’s Smooth Finish Flawless Fluid. I’ll give the NARS foundation a whirl the next time I’m in store though!
Tatiana says
December 30th, 2017 at 9:27 amStill my favorite concealers. I’ve tried multiple others but always end up tossing them and reaching for this one.
Sissi says
January 5th, 2018 at 6:08 amOne of my old time favorite concealers for sure!
That bread looks so delicious! I can smell it until here! ?
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Louise says
January 25th, 2018 at 1:03 pmHi,
I used to wear the creamy concealer in custard, however I found it to peachy for me. I currently wear Nars Fiji and NC25 in Mac. Do you think cafe con leche or Marron Glace would be better?
Karen says
January 25th, 2018 at 1:21 pmHi Louise,
What are you looking to do with the concealer? If you’re using it for under eye concealing, I’d go with Marron Glace as it as a slight peachy tone. If you want it for any other area of the face, Cafe Con Leche would probably be a better fit. Will it be possible to buy it at a store that has a good return policy? That way if it doesn’t work out you can exchange it.