NARS Happy Days Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil Swatches and Review

     Since this summer season, I've crept away from my previous look of creamy full coverage lipsticks to sheerer and healthier finishes. I like to see some of my natural lip and I've come to love lip products that give a beautiful flush of color across the lips with a beautiful natural balmed or glossed texture. I still tend to shy away from actual gloss as I find it too overpowering and "fake". NARS Velvet Gloss Lip Pencils caught my eye because the line carries a hot pink (Mexican Rose) which I got, and will be reviewed later. I also went ahead and got Happy Days, and without further jib-jabbering, here are some swatches:

top to bottom: one swipe, three swipes, a bunch of swipes

bare lips

 



     NARS Happy Days Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil is a glossy orange coral with small golden shimmers. It swatches more coral on my hand than on my lips and it looks very healthy. In terms of the look of the product, I don't have too many complaints though it isn't the most special thing in the world. I do have to say that I find if I apply a light layer of MAC Myth with a heavy layer of this product I get my perfect warm baby pink lip (killing two birds with one stone since I don't have a use for Myth and I get the perfect color). However, I don't know if this product is worth keeping for such purposes as there are quite a few negatives to this product. The gloss is quite comfortable and it isn't very sticky. It feels like a heavy balm. I cannot feel any of the shimmers.
     First of all, in terms of wear, the product isn't bad as it last about how long a regular gloss would 3-4 hours without eating and drinking. However, it wears away unevenly and the center of my lips looks paler than the sides creating the "only lip liner look," a look I am not very keen on.
     Second, the application is not perfect. If you have any dry patches, the product will gather around those areas creating a patchy lip. Not attractive and it's not something I expect from a non-cream lip gloss product.

     Third, probably my biggest criticism of this item is that you don't get enough product for how much you pay and you use a large amount each time you use it. In the picture you can see I've already your the product quite a bit, but really, I've only used it 4 times max! Also, you barely get any product for the hefty 24$ price tag! (2.8g/0.09oz.) compared to the 4.8g/0.17oz od a regular MAC lip gloss which is 10$ less...Not cool NARS.
     All in all, I'm going to have to think about this item. I also have Mexican Rose, but I love the color (and other things to be addressed in its own review) that I will most likely keep it. Now on that beautiful warm pink lip that I can create with this item...I will try the combination for a couple more days and also try to create the same look with other products. And if in the end I decide to return this product, I will tell you all in the review of Mexican Rose!

Thanks for reading! Please leave me a comment. Byebye. C: