Nars Habanera Eye Shadow Duo

I have never been a big fan of Nars. After getting the Super Orgasm blush, I just thought the brand is overrated and the packaging is annoying if I want to have more than one items. (And $32 for two tiny eyeshadow pans?! )

But who knows, the eyeshadow just wowed me... Never say never, really.


Here you go, Nars Habanera Eye Shadow Duo, given by a good friend of mine who "had no idea where are all her internship money has gone until she saw her stash."


Nars Habanera Duo consists of a silvery sea foam green (Nars calls it "mint frost") and a plum with silver, red and blue small glitters ("shimmery charcoal plum"). The two colors are quite unique and the combo seemed a bit strange weird at first glance.



The green side is quite pigmented (Reads "As pigmented as Stila or maybe a little bit worse.") and I really like the texture, that's rich and creamy (you can use it as a eyeliner and it will not look any different from an actually creamy liquid liner) but not dusty like Stila shadow. If I were to put the color in turns of other shadow I have, it would be Stila Aquamarine Kajal Eyeliner, only a bit less blue, more silvery and metallic. When I use it with a light hand, it gives a nice splash of fresh soft icy green and baby blue, and when I dig on, there would be more of an intense color with a satin and metallic finish.

I absolutely love minty, the staying power is quite good that it remained fresh 3-4 hours after I applied them to my tear ducts without a primer (I tried Stila Aquamarine and it was gone within a hour)The unique combination of green, blue and silver doesn't look harsh on my boring black eyes and it brightens my eyes up without taking attention from them, I mean, when you put on make up, you want people to notice the feature that got enhanced, not the actual makeup, right?

Plummy was the color that got my attention when I first opened the compact. It's sparkling like the starry sky and the wine-plum-brown is simply gorgeous, on the pan at least.

This side is not as silky or rich as the left, it actually feel a bit gritty and grainy when I swatched it on my hand, the pigmentation isn't optimal, one swipe would just get me a very thin and transparent layers and it doesn't look that good with all the nice glitters floating on top of a sheer base...

But I thought there is got to be a way to reach plummy's full potential. As I was trying to figure out how to work this sheer shade...Thanks to Google, I found a picture of two gorgeous models on Nars official website.

The makeup artiste used plummy as an allover wash on the lid, "with color strong at lash line" her inspiration is young Catherine Deneuve...

I took the tips and grabbed my fluffy CVS smokey wide brush (to grab the color and to blend) and applied plummy from my lash line and blended it upward for a gradation and when I looked into the mirror, instead of Chinese version of Catherine Deuneuve, I saw...

Rihanna...

If I have ginger hair, blue eyes and a socket, I might look somewhat like the models...But since I am not...I looked like I've just been punched in the eye. (The shade looks so much like bruise on me and it wasn't even funny. ) Plummy actually gets a bit muddy when I blend it down and, well, looks even more like a bruise (and may I mention bruise doesn't look good with glitters?)

Like that naturally bloody Sally Hansen gloss, you don't see this kind of injury make up that often, so I think this shade simply marvelous (for Halloween).



One finger swipe with each color. The green is pretty much a no-brainer, it can be worn anywhere: allover lids, at the tear ducks, inner corners (aren't they the same thing?) Inner halves of the eyes as well as under eyes liner.


Later I found out that plummy looks really nice when layered on top of the green, since it just got turned into a slightly warm charcoal and I've heard people say it would be nice on top of a black liner as well. (I actually like to layer plummy with other lilac/silver eyeshadow to add that bit of depth.)



Eye of the day with Nars Habanera using the no-brainer method (I swear I did pack on the colors) , I used green around the eyes with Stila #4 brush and smudged on some of the plum on top on green with my finger at the upper outer corners. My heavy eyelid and camera ate away 50% of the color so it looks natural...But anyway, I love that this shadow actually compliments my own eyes and make them look bigger.

My lashes were too short for mascara (they were 1/3 of their normal length since I was bored and cut them with scissors...it happens every once in a while, I either mess with my brows, eyelashes or hair...) You can also see (below the eye) the Physicians' Formula Powder is caking like it's nobody's business...

Overall, Nars Habanera is downright beautiful (although it has nothing to do with the "Habanera" I am most familiar with...Hint hint, Bizet's Carmen...) I love how the combo of fresh plus sultry shades that draw attention to the eyes instead of the makeup itself...$32 is steep, but I am using every single dust particle of it so hopefully it will last me for a while, until my eyes are too wrinkly to wear shimmery eyeshadow...