I had the privilege to be invited to NARS x Sarah Moon Holiday 2016 collection preview at DECK, Prinsep Street. It’s my first time at a Nars media event and I was bowled over by how the team transformed the container inspired space into an artistic dreamy setup with monotone hues. Dreamy and monotone seemed quite contradicting so here’s the proof!
Note: This post contains a mix of images from NARS media release (NARS) and my own photos (OWN). Please seek permission from respective owners before re-using the images.



The NARS x Sarah Moon Holiday 2016 collection contains a great variety of limited edition colors, collectibles as well as holiday gift sets. I managed to take a few photos myself and did some swatches at the event. There were some which I could not capture the true colors of the product thus I have also included images from the media release for a better
representation.
Being a frequent traveler with separation anxiety from my makeup, I always love a good neutral tone eye and face palette to calm my insecurities and pack light (if possible). While I didn’t get to take a good picture of my swatches, you can expect the same great consistency
from NARS duo-Intensity line. These shades were selected with the aim to enhance a woman’s natural features; thus you’ll find more dusty pastels and smoky neutrals instead of pop colors. Sarah Moon is a great fan of burgundy (YAY) and smoky eyes, which also explains the dark misty shades found in the palettes and eye shadows.




From the collaboration we also have 2 Cheek & Lip Palettes, one I find more suited for ladies with cooler skin tone and the other for warmer skin tone or simply for someone looking for a darker and bolder shade of blush.



The highlights of this collection must be the mini lip coffrets with colours too beautiful to miss. Above we have the new Velvet Lip Glide (launched in Oct 2016), a pack of 6 minis in a nice array of shades from tangy orange to red, purple and nude. These Velvet Lip Glides are highly raved and it’s not hard to see why. The pigmentation is great with smooth application supported by a flat doe-foot applicator. Comfort meets confidence as the colours stay supple without drying, thanks to an innovative concentration of precious oils that also creates a smooth-glide effect.

If I hadn’t spent all my savings on my wedding photo-shoot and honeymoon, I would get this incredibly stunning acrylic Metropolis housing 8 Nars Audacious Minis for Christmas. With tones that look like they were composed out of a musical piece and encased in a softly frosted acrylic, this would be the center piece of any dressing table.


The inspiration for the packaging began when François Nars asked Sarah Moon to bring an object that could inspire the packaging design. She brought a very simple transparent square box and infused it with softness and femininity. I envy these 2 incredible brains to turn a simple transparent box into something so desirable…
More from the collection




In my opinion, this collection capsules an entirely different packaging look, away from the often modern, bold flashy impressions and embracing a lovely feminine vibe. The pictures on the product casing reminds me of photographs of memories from the 1920s that can be found in our grandmother’s memory box. In the words of François Nars:
This collection is extremely beautiful and so incredibly different than what we did before.
I agree.
To be honest I took a particularly long time completing this blog entry, distracted by my fascination of the way Sarah Moon views beauty and colors. She works in a very specific world. There were several names she mentioned in her interview for NARS – friends, models and a writer. She can’t photograph a model she can’t connect with and her favorite person to shoot is Sasha Robertson which lead on to her mentioning Virgina Woolf, a celebrated female writer in the 1920s and 30s who was institutionalized afew times. Sarah Moon found her to be with ‘a very unusual beauty’ which was ‘very, very beautiful’. Obviously, I spent alot more time reading Sarah Moon and Virgina Woolf’s biography than writing this post. >.<
Thank you NARS for the kind invitation to the preview!

the first picture shown, wow. it already looks gorgeous ? i’ve seen many influencers / bloggers recommend NARs, personally, whats the best product to get from NARs? like nail polish, eye shadow palettes, lipsticks etc?
Hello there! I know this is somewhat off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this site?
I’m getting sick and tired of WordPress because I’ve had
problems with hackers and I’m looking at alternatives for another platform.
I would be great if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.