NARS South Pacific eyeshadow duo review + swatches

          The 1949 Broadway musical South Pacific and its subsequent 1958 movie adaptation tell the quintessential story of love in paradise inextricably intertwined with the darkness of prejudice and war. South Pacific, the movie, was shot on location primarily at beautiful Hanalei Bay on the Hawaiian island of Kawa'i. The storyline follows two romances against the backdrop of the Pacific Theater of World War II: Nellie, an American nurse from Arkansas falls in love with Emile, an expatriate French plantation owner, and Joe Cable, a U.S. lieutenant falls in love with Liat, a Polynesian woman. Both Joe and Nellie, however, struggle with their prejudices; Nellie is uncomfortable with Emile's mixed race children, and Joe feels that he cannot marry outside of his race. Both the stage musical and the book it was based upon (Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener) are Pulitzer Prize winners.

         Like Nellie who fell for Emile's chivalrous charms, I've fallen for the beautiful blues in the NARS South Pacific eyeshadow duo. The South Pacific LP cover shown here is from my brother's vinyl collection. You can see how the colors in NARS South Pacific draw from the colors of the island horizon. These beautiful blues may reflect a more personal inspiration of Francois Nars; after all, he purchased the French Polynesian Island Motu Tané as a personal retreat, after the sale of NARS to Shiseido in 2000.

           NARS South Pacific eyeshadow duo contains light shimmery turquoise blue and pale shimmery heather blue - colors clearly drawn from the tropical ocean and sky. I've made comparison swatches to a few blues in my collection. MAKE UP FOR EVER Aqua Cream in #25 is a bright sky blue; notice that the 'left' side color of South Pacific has more green tones in comparison. Urban Decay Deep End (reviewed here) is darker and has more teal green tones than South Pacific. MAC Parisian Skies  (reviewed here) is significantly darker than the heather blue in South Pacific. MAC Moon's Reflection is probably the most similar color I've seen; I believe it's a bit darker.

             The delicate renditions of water and sky in NARS South Pacific eyeshadow duo are truly delightful, especially in context of their natural and musical inspirations. I like to think of this duo as a small slice of the South Pacific, which is a nice warm thought in the midst of winter. Thanks for reading! Have you tried NARS South Pacific? What are your favorite NARS duos? What are your favorite light blue eyeshadow colors?

Love, Dovey.

P.S. See NARS South Pacific in a Monet inspired makeup palette (shown here).

Foundation swatches - NARS, Chanel, and MUFE

         I decided to post a set of liquid foundation comparison swatches and brief reviews using the foundations and samples I currently have in my collection. I hope that this will be helpful for someone looking for comparison swatches for NARS, Chanel, or Make Up Forever foundations. Keep in mind that the finish of each is different, so even if the swatch may appear similar, the wear may different. I've used fairly thick layers of each and given each time to become mostly dry.

NARS Sheer Glow foundation
Notes: The finish is medium-full and absorbs oil pretty well. The NARS range foundations all have a yellow base.. The finish is glowy and looks good in photographs. There is no sunscreen. See my past review here.
04 Deauville -peach undertones
05 Fiji - orange-yellow undertones
06 Ceylan - yellow undertones

Chanel Perfection Lumiere foundation
Notes: The coverage is medium-full and the finish is more matte. See my review here. Note that the colors don't match up well with the corresponding shades in Vitalumiere Aqua.
B10 - clean yellow undertones
B20 - orange undertones
 
Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua foundation
Notes: This has slightly more coverage than a tinted moisturizer. I don't like to wear this when my skin is blemished since it doesn't hide much. It's very comfortable and lightweight. See my past review here.
B10 - peach undertones
B20 - beige undertones

Make Up Forever HD foundation
Notes: This is full coverage. It can accentuate dry skin. It does look good in photographs, as promised. The trick is finding the right shade. Flesh (118) is quite beige. The next shade down 117 Marble was a significantly lighter clean yellow when I swatched it in-store.
118 Flesh  - beige undertones

Thanks for reading!

Love, Dovey.

New Year's Inspired by Piet Mondrian

         Happy New Year! I hope that 2012 will bring everyone a new start and many good things. To kick off the new year on Cute and Mundane, I decided to write an 'Inspired by' art post. This post will be featuring a painting by Piet Mondrian, a dutch painter. Mondrian's abstract compositions are characterized by vertical and horizonatal lines and the use of primary colors. I love the modern, airy, and harmonious quality of this painting. It's a perfect representation of how I picture a new year to be.

         To reflect the simplicity of the painting, I thought it would be fitting to use only minimal products. I've chosen Bobbi Brown gel eyeliner in black ink. It's the blackest black. I used a MAC 211 eyeliner brush for precise application. NARS Red Lizard lipstick is a full powered red lipstick. It's a great red for one striking red accent, as you see in the painting above.

        When drawing on my red lip, I did my best to make a precise application that followed the shape of my natural lip. I did not want a geisha-like lip since this look has modern inspiration. I have full lips, so I colored in a size a hair smaller than my natural lip line for a sleeker look.

         Below are swatches of NARS Red Lizard and Bobbi Brown Black Ink. You can see that they are both very primary and basic colors. The Mondrian painting has a beautiful grey in it. I decided not to incorporate it as an eyeshadow since the blended effect of an eyeshadow lacks the stark geometric and linear quality found in the composition. Instead, I would pair this look with a clean-lined pale heather grey sweater (and black skinnies).

        Thanks for reading! I hope you are enjoying a wonderful start to your new year. Where do you find your inspiration? What is your favorite red?

Love, Dovey.

August Favorites

        August was a bare bones type makeup month for me. I didn't find much color inspiration and reached for the same things over and over again. As you can see in the photo above, I'm starting to make a dent in my NARS Grand Palais palette. The silver taupe has become the base color for most eye looks I do lately.

        My focus this month has been on eyeliner and mascara. I love the lasting power of my NARS Larger Than Life eyeliners. I also rediscovered an appreciation for my Bobbi Brown Gel liners. My experience with mascara has been lukewarm. I opened three tubes this month because I was disappointed with the results from the first two samples (Laura Mercier and Smashbox). I've been reasonably satisfied with an Estee Lauder primer and mascara sample so far. The poor mascara performance this month surprised me because many of my past mascaras have been great. This inspired me to search out and try new mascaras in the future.

My August Favorites:
1. NARS Sheer Glow Foundation in Ceylan
2. NARS Coconut Grove eyeshadow single
3. NARS Grand Palais eyeshadow duo
4. Bobbi Brown Expresso Ink Gel eyeliner - draws a perfect line.
5. NARS Larger Than Life eyeliner in Madison Ave.
6. NARS Larger Than Life eyeliner in Via Veneto
7. NARS Smudgeproof eyeshadow base - my new favorite eyeshadow base
8. Bobbi Brown Lip Color in Blondie Pink - a natural light nude pink.


August Favorites on my blogroll this month:
The Former Girl at Bar -Lexi and I are both on the hunt for the perfect mascara this month!
Steal My Heart Lovee has some serious MAC Semiprecious MSF eye candy.
Ebrushka's Makeup Bag has a beautiful selection, including her go-to MAC palette.
Raspberry Rouge has pretty peachy coral Chanels.
Beauty Vigilante 's first favorite post ever!
Kelly's Makeup Bag has the pretty MAC Dashing Lassies palette.

       Thanks for reading my August Favorites post! I'm going to enjoy the rest of my Labor Day weekend by taking a nap and getting back to work. Hope everyone had a great weekend =)

Love, Dovey.

I met Francois NARS!

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