Nars’ artist collaborations have historically been very well received.
This season’s capsule collection comes in the form of Strange Flowers, a collaborative effort between Nars and fashion designer Erdem Moralioglu. Occasionally in these collaborations the link between the products and the artist is only really clear in the packaging (particularly when the inspiration has been sourced from an artist who has passed away years prior and thus couldn’t actually contribute), but this is not the case here. Every element of every product, from the packaging to the colour ranges right down to the finishes on the skin, feels quintessentially Erdem.
The Erdem for Nars Strange Flowers collection lands in Australia tomorrow (Tuesday May 29) at Mecca Cosmetica stores nationally, so I’ve taken the liberty of trialling every product to help you decide what to add to cart before it all, inevitably, sells out.
The product that piqued my interest the most initially and has since proven to be my favourite item from the whole collection is the Poison Rose Lip Powder Palette. I’d never heard of a lip powder before let alone used one, but I’ve come to learn that these are actually not new at all. The palette contains a nude balm (it’s actually surprisingly pigmented, so much so that I’d happily wear it on its own), formulated to be worn beneath any of the four powders- Zira, a shimmering rose gold, Calypso, a matte rose, Damask, a matte fuchsia, and Ottoman, a matte scarlet. I expected the powders to be almost painfully drying on the lips and to settle into any lines and cracks, but I found the opposite to be true. You can’t even feel them on the lips and the finish is soft and diffused. They’re extremely pigmented and the colour can be layered for a true opaque finish (the palette comes with a brush to make this very easy), but you can also use them to create an easy ombré lip or pressed into the lips for more of a stain (which is my preference).
The rest of the collection’s lip offering consists of six lipsticks, of which I have tried three- Lakspur, an orchid purple, Voodoo Lily, a muted lavender, and Moon Orchid, a light pink. All three of these lipsticks offer sheer opacity with a subtle sheen with a texture that almost feels more like a balm than a traditional lipstick. They’re very nice, and I found Larkspur to last the longest on the lips (around four hours), however if you’re looking for opacity and serious colour payoff then you’re better off with the powders. These also work really nicely in place of the powder palette balm if you want t play with layered colours. Nothing to write home about, but they’re nice.
Both eye palettes, Fleur Fatale and Night Garden, performed equally well for me (Nars eyeshadows have always been a bit hit and miss with reviewers but I’ve actually never had any issues with the products I’ve tried) without creasing or migrating down onto my cheeks. Fleur Fatale is your more neutral palette where Night Garden is a little deeper and bolder. Both palettes only contain one matte shade in each, and while most of the remaining shades are described as having a satin finish, I found most of them to wear as shimmers on my skin. There’s some fun colours in here, particularly Reborn yellow in Night Garden and Holly Hock mulberry in Fleur Fatale. Both great palettes but certainly not anything the everyman would be using on a daily basis based purely on the colour range. Makeup artists will love both of these.
There are two blushes- Loves Me, a Strawberry Pink, and Loves Me Not, a soft pink. Both have subtle shimmering pigments through them, and while Loves Me Not is too fair to wear as a blush on my skin (it works well on me as a very subtle highlight when I’m freshly tanned, however), Loves Me is HEAVEN. It’s pigmented beyond belief so needs to be applied using a very light hand (which I like, pigmented = less product needed, more bang for your buck) and it’s more pigmented and contains less shimmer than Nars’ cult blush, Orgasm. Tick tick.
I found the White Phox Multi Use Highlighting Pencil to be another collection hero, although I’ve only tried it on the eyes. It looks pearl in the pencil but has an iridescent purple sheen to it as it hits the light. I found it to perform equally well as an inner corner highlight, brow highlight, eyeshadow and scribbled over the lid as a base for powder eyeshadows.
The collection also marks Nars’ first foray into blotting papers. For transparency’s sake, my skin is pretty “normal” (as in neither oily nor dry) so I’ve never really felt the need to keep blotting paper handy, so I’ve never tried any before and thus have nothing to compare these to. They worked really well on the T zone after a long day, sure, but what separates one brand of blotting paper from another? I do not know.
The Erdem for Nars Strange Flowers collection will be available in Australia in Mecca Cosmetica stores nationally and on mecca.com.au from May 29.
All products have been supplied by Mecca Brands however all opinions are, as always, my own.
