Not My Kind of Red: NARS Velvet Lip Glide in Le Palace

How 'bout I distract you from this dark and dreadful time we seem to be going through with some make-up? I was really excited to score this deluxe mini of the NARS Velvet Lip Glide ($26 for 0.2 oz/ ~6 ml) with a Sephora order late last year. I've heard really good things about this new formula, including adjectives such as 'unique', 'weightless' and 'long-lasting', and I'm all about innovation when it comes to beauty products. Also, how beautiful is this simple yet elegant packaging?

However, having acquainted myself with my Lip Glide over several days of wear, I'm a little confused. First of all, shouldn't the shade be called Le Palais? (Uhm, seems like Le Palace is a famous hotel/ night club in Paris, so probably the brand didn't just mean any palace. Okay then). But joking aside, I feel very conflicted over this lip product. Is it a gloss? Is it a liquid lipstick? Is it a stain?

The texture of this product is quite slippery and feels silicone-y on the lips - a little bit like a 'dry oil' or one of those dimethicone-heavy face primers, if you will. The brand promises a 'semi-matte' finish', but to be honest, I see quite a bit of shine on my lips, especially right after application, but then it dries down to more of a satin as the time goes on. It seems that you can vary the finish depending on the amount of product you choose to put on: one fine layer is a satin, a thicker coat or two layers look quite glossy. The overall formulation quite reminds me of Fyrinnae Lip Lusters, which are not a new product by any means - I reviewed two shades of those (Shangri-La and Visual Kei, here) back in 2012. There's a pleasant sweet vanilla scent to the NARS Lip Glide but luckily no taste.

I would agree that the Velvet Lip Glide feels quite weightless on my lips, which you'd expect from something with a rather thin formula. Unfortunately, as the day goes on, it feels neither comfortable nor hydrating. If anything, my lips feel a lot drier than with just about any standard bullet lipstick, and having looked at the ingredients' list, I'm not surprised - kaolin clay is the second ingredient. You know, clay as in stuff you put on your face to help with oily T-zone and to tighten pores. Am I the only one confused by that?

To top it all off, I don't find my Velvet Lip Glide to be any more long-lasting than just about any cream finish lipstick in my collection. Sure, once it wears off (which it does very quickly on cups and tissues and so on), there is a bit of a stain left behind, but that's also true for my other lip products in red and deeper shades. But overall, my biggest gripe with this formula is the fact that it feathers and bleeds outside my lip lines, even when I use the smallest amount of the product.

L-R: NARS Velvet Lip Glide in Le Palace, NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Cruella, ILIA Beauty Lipstick in Lucy's Party

The shade Le Palace is described as a 'deep cherry red'. I can't say I agree with that description - to me, cherry red suggests a cool-toned red a la Revlon's 'Cherries in the Snow', while Le Palace is decidedly warm and even pulls a little orange on my fair skin with cool undertones. I'd describe it more as a 'paprika red'. It's not really a very deep red either; don't expect a vampy look out of this Lip Glide. While Le Palace doesn't do anything for me, I think it'd be a flattering hue on skin with yellow or olive undertones.

L-R: NARS Le Palace (one dip of the wand into the tube), NARS Cruella, ILIA Lucy's Party

There you go; can't say I'm too smitten with this new release from NARS, and Le Palace has now been placed in my give-away make-up pile. Have you tried the Velvet Lip Glides? What did you think?

PS. Thank you for all the caring, wonderful comments on my last personal update post and an even bigger thank you for those who shared their stories with me - I feel very grateful to have such amazing readers as you. To those of you who seemed very worried and urged me to see a doctor: like I said, I do already feel much better but should it get worse again, I will of course talk to my health practitioner. Also, look who was trying to help me take photos for this post - you're welcome ;)