NARS Larger than life lipglosses - Bimini, Candy says and Gold digger

Outrageously lustrous color meets high-impact shine. Dramatic, stay-in-place shades glide on smoothly and evenly for lips that are more luminous and voluminous than ever before.

Product highlights:
- High-shine, high-impact finish gives a dramatic effect.
- Long-lasting, stay-in-place wear.
- Infused with ingredients to nourish and fight free radicals.
- Natural lip enhancers pump up volume.
- Shorter-bristle brush delivers the most precise application possible.

I have been debating for a while do I really want to try and do I need more glosses... oh well... NARS Gold digger has been on my wishlist since it came out, Candy says was part of Andy Warhol collection and I skipped it then but now I see it's part of their permanent range. But the first one I got is actually Bimini - it was released with Spring 2014 collection and will stay permanent.

NARS Larger than life glosses are one of the nicest product I have tried from NARS. They are ten times better than their old gloss range. There is no nasty smell and texture is creamy but lightweight and not sticky. Three shades that I picked are on a sheer side -  I do not wear opaque glosses. With that said I can't judge on the colors in Larger than life line that are more opaque but seen from swatches there are some that give more color and coverage.

Two of the shades I have have visible shimmer. I love shimmer in glosses. More the better. Don't judge me :)

Gold digger has almost clear base with beige golden and copper shimmer. This is my kind of color. Almost completely sheer but gives lips enough shine and some light color. Such a nice color for summer combined with some bronzer.

Candy says is strawberry pink with some silver shimmer but not really visible chunky one. It blends in so nicely to give out silver shine. It is more opaque than other two. Texture is creamy, does not settle in lines on the lips and stays on longer than other two. I am so happy it became part of the permanent range. It is really one of the nicest pink glosses I've ever tried.

Bimini is described as sheer pink guava. It is peachy orange with a very fine shimmer. This color is really stunning, pictures don't do justice. You really need to see this is in person and try it to see how pretty it is. Such a wearable color. It was part of the Spring 2014 collection and became permanent (yay).

NARS made Larger than life glosses with tiny brush that does give very precise application but on another hand you have to dip the wand couple of times to actually get the color across the whole lips. What strikes me is that size of the brush is not consistent at all. You will notice that the one on the Bimini or Candy says is much bigger compared to one on Gold digger (this one is ridiculously tiny). I am not sure how I feel about the brush. I like it better than the doe foot applicator. If all of them are sized as the ones on Bimini I would be OK with that.

L-R : Bimini, Gold digger, Candy says 

Larger than life lipglosses are great addition to NARS line and I am happy I bough them. I am also excited about the new revamped line of NARS original glosses. So far I have only tried Orgasm shade and loved it . I have an eye on couple of more shades.

These glosses retail for 26$ 

Lancome Liplover in Rose Ballet and Rose d'eau

This year, Lancôme gives women a whole new way to show lips some amour. For the first time, get three luxurious, lip perfecting benefits in one—the hydration of a balm, the vivid shine of a gloss, and the intense color of a lipstick—with Lancôme’s newest addition, Lip Lover. This revolutionary formula drenches lips in eight hours of moisture, smoothes fine lines, and adds an eye-catching dose of shimmering color in 18 saturated shades.

First, a balmy base delivers eight hours of lip softening moisture. Then, a smoothing layer of dewy shine reduces the look of lines and leaves lips looking smooth and flawless. Finally, saturated pigments infuse lips with intense, high-impact color for lips that will leave your lips saying je t’aime.

I was so happy I got a chance to try out new Lancome's formula. I am big fan of their Color fever glosses and I was excited to see what's all the hype about the Lip lover. It is justified! Lip lover is all that they claim :

• very moisturizing almost balm like and keeps lips hydrated. And this comes from someone who has the driest lips ever
• glossy shine without much glitter (or none) . It gives that "wet" look to lips. I think they can be worn alone or the lighter shades would look great over lipsticks
• intense color - I can't really speak of this one since two shades I got are very light (and sheer) but I did Google for more swatches and there are some colors who are very opaque and bright almost like liquid lipstick

It shares the same concept with Gloss in love - click to open. I am having hard time getting used to this I am used to old fashioned lip gloss packaging.

Formula is lightweight, not sticky and has pretty decent staying power. Doesn't set in the lines either. 

Packaging is cute, very small and purse / cosmetic bag friendly. 

The biggest surprise is that these are exactly the same when it comes to texture, feeling on the lips and smell with L'oreal glam shines. If you are in Europe and have a chance to compare these two would love to hear your thoughts on this. 

Rose Ballet is medium pink with golden shimmer. Shimmer is more noticeable in the tube but when applied on lips it is barely there. This color is beautiful on it's own. It gives just a  hint of color and provides very high shine. If I was buying these and looking at the whole line probably this would be my first choice. 

Rose D'eau is very light baby pink that actually when applied looks more transparent, almost clear with hint of pink and subtle silver shimmer. It as well has glossy finish and feels moisturizing on lips. This color would work well over pink lipsticks or if you like wearing glosses without a color but with high shine this would be great for you. I am not big on lip colors that are bright, and this is great alternative for me to wear instead of clear lip balm.

Lip Lovers are great addition to Lancome's line. I like them much better than Gloss in love. They will more moisturizing on the lips and that's one of my biggest things when I buy glosses. I like sheerness and hydrating properties. I plan on getting more colors and first one on my radar is Corail Cabriole. 

Lancome Lip lover retails for 23$.

My picks from MAC Magnetic Nude collection - Fairly Precious and Oh My Darling

There was a big hype since info was leaked about Magnetic Nude collection. MAC fans were excited about new and repromoted extra dimension items - skinfinishes, blushes and eyeshadows. When it comes eyeshadows I was never interested in them especially when they went up on a price and made product almost twice smaller. When blushes were previously released I skipped them all - everyone complained how they are not pigmented, that texture is awful etc... money saved. Superb skinfinish is probably one of those MAC items that everyone is crazy about. It was released twice already as limited edition and it was sold out super fast. It never really got my attention. Finally with this collection I decided to go to counter on the day of release and try it. Meh... Nothing special really. I do not think it would do anything for me so I skipped. But I ordered Fairly precious online since I could not resist the description - peach with dimensional pearly sheen. Sign me up for anything peachy! 

Officially it's described as "liquid-powder highlighter with prismatic reflections  that sculpts, highlights and models the face...". OK it's not really that dramatic :) 

Texture is so hard to describe. I am not a big fan. It feels to hard, not creamy enough and I have a feel that I need to scratch with brush over it to get anything to show up. I am HUGE fan of regular Mineralize skinfinishes who are supposedly shimmery whereas Extra dimension are metallic. That's the main difference. I feel that EDSF do accentuate pores and are not for everyone. 

Color is really pretty peach and it looks more peachy and warmer when applied on skin. In the pan it looks cooler and more beige toned. I do not mind this since I like anything warmer on my cheeks. It can be applied over the blush or on it's own but I do not think it gives enough color to be worn as a blush only unless you are ghostly pale (that's pretty much where I am right now).

Is it must have? Not really. Could I skip ? For sure. It's just ok I am not really crazy about it and there are so much better highlighters out there. And it's very dupable. 

After seeing a post on thebeautylookbook about her purchase from this collection I had to order lipgloss too even though initially I wasn't interested in the color (I have only seen temptalia's swatches that were nothing special really). Oh My darling looked so beautiful in Sabrina's photos I could not resist. Overall I really like MAC ligplasses and have plenty of them (keep planning on reviewing and swatching them for a while).

Oh My darling is a pale yellow pink with multi-colored shimmer, you can see in the photos below green and gold particles. It's pretty sheer but can be worn on it's own or over another pink lipstick. It's a nice color for spring. Not unique but I am to lazy to try to dig out dupe which I probably have. I love MAC glosses for different reasos - huge selection of colors, some are sheer some opaque, creamy or with a shimmer. Texture is really thick and sticky - I know that not everyone likes it. And it has light vanilla scent. 

Fairly precious actually reminded me that I already own one EDSF and that's Definitely Defined - review of this one has been sitting in my drafts for months. They are similar but DD is not so peachy, it has more silvery beige tone to it. Enough difference to justify having both (not really LOL ). 

Left : Definitely Defined, Right : Fairly Precious

Left : Definitely Defined, Right : Fairly Precious