NARS | All Day Luminous Powder Foundation

Launching next month, NARS introduces their All Day Luminous Powder Foundation SPF 25/+++, with a new ultra fine texture that offers buildable coverage, shine control, as well as the added protection of an SPF. The 13 shades include: (NOTE: 2 more shades are shown on the NARS website)

Siberia – light 1 with neutral balance of pink & yellow undertones
Mont Blanc – light 2 with pink undertones
Deauville – light 4 with a neutral balance of pink & yellow undertones
Fiji – light 5 with yellow undertones
Punjab – medium 1 with golden, peachy undertones
Vaullaris – medium 1.5 with pink undertones
Sante Fe – medium 2 with pink undertones
Stomboli – medium 3 with olive undertones
Barcelona – medium 4 with golden, peachy undertones
Syracuse – medium-dark 1 with brown undertones
Tahoe – medium-dark 2 with caramel undertones
Cadiz – medium-dark 3 with caramel & red undertones
Macao – medium-dark 4 with yellow undertones

Created with NARS’ exclusive Light Reflective Complex™ to ‘optimize light reflection and enhance skin’s translucency‘ while Luminosity Enhancing Technology – a blend of 17 amino acids, Vitamin C derivative and and Marine Fennel – promotes ‘cell renewal and helps reduce the look of hyper pigmentation and wrinkles’, this product allows you to adjust the intensity of the powder itself, while still maintaining a velvety smooth radiance to the skin.

NARS | All Day Luminous Powder Foundation

Barcelona – All Day Luminous Powder Foundation (CAN $55.00) | A powder foundation with an SPF25 that can be applied either dry or damp, and that is free of oil, alcohol, fragrance and talc. The square compact case comes in NARS’ signature black rubberized finish that bears a compartment below the powder to hold the accompanying flat sponge. The sponge is unique as well, with one side slightly rougher to pick up and apply the product, while the other side has a silky feel to help buff it all in & provide a seamless finish. NARS also sells a separate powder foundation sponge that can be used with this product (which I do not have, but I’m very interested in trying out). A word of caution: I suggest opening the compact slowly, as the powder section has a tendency to pop up (most likely in order to make accessing the little sponge underneath easier), but can be annoying if you’re using this product one-handed.

The shade I was sent to test, Barcelona, is a hint darker than what I would have chosen but as my skin still has a bit of Summer colour, it actually works well for now – but I’ll definitely be looking into a lighter hue for the coming cooler months. There’s a slight pink undertone to this shade that ordinarily would clash with my complexion, but in this formulation is serves to add a nice overall brightness to my face.

*Sabrina of The Beauty Look Book and Karen of Makeup And Beauty Blog have swatches of other shades you can check out.

The texture of this powder is extremely fine – gossamer light – and wears very comfortably, without ever feeling heavy or leaving behind any settling into fine lines. Playing around with the coverage, I tried wearing Barcelona several ways and each yielded a different result & level of coverage (which confirms the buildable part). I actually like using the small accompanying sponge to apply this dry, then buffing it into the skin with the velvet side of the sponge – this gives the most natural-looking finish, while still helping to cover up slight imperfections and just generally evening out the skin tone. A damp sponge (I used a Beauty Blender) amped up the coverage factor, but I found it a bit too heavy-looking on my skin. Another option is to use a large powder brush to apply a light sweep of Barcelona over liquid foundation and then lightly buffing that in for a totally flawless finish. Even though this is a foundation, the texture is so incredibly light and weightless, that it can definitely serve to act as a finishing/setting powder if desired.

As my preferred method with Barcelona is using it dry, I found that you need to start your application with a light hand and then step back; you might think that you haven’t applied enough and be tempted to go back in with a second pass – but don’t – as this powder takes a few seconds to ‘develop’. After buffing it in, if you feel that some areas can use a touch more, then that’s always an option (rule of thumb: you can always add more, but it’s not so easy to take any away). After several minutes of wearing, the powder seems to fuse with my skin’s heat and natural oils and even though it’s a dry finish, there’s still a touch of radiance – not much, but enough to keep the complexion for appearing flat and/or lifeless. I will say that if you have oily/combination skin, then this foundation does an amazing job of keeping you shine-free for hours (easily 8 hours+), but the very nature of the formula might work against anyone with a drier skin type, and unless you moisturize well beforehand, it will catch as well as emphasize any dry patches/areas. Overall staying power is excellent, lasting easily past the 10 hour mark with no oxidizing (when a foundation changes colour after merging with one’s natural oils) or significant fading.

NARS | Barcelona – All Day Luminous Powder Foundation

Foundation comes in so many forms and shades, that finding ‘the one’ can be an endless hunt, especially since brands are continuously coming up with newer and more innovative products. What I like about the NARS All Day Luminous Powder Foundation, is that A) it’s portable (great for on-the-go touch ups), B) the texture is so light that you forget you’re actually wearing foundation, C) even sensitive skin types can wear this with ease, and finally D) the radiant finish may be unlike other powder foundations that can come off as a little 1-dimensional, but it still manages to include their mattifying properties just the same (an interesting contradiction, actually). The shade selection seems a bit limiting, but until I see all the available hues for myself, I can’t really judge – I will say that the main colour groups appear to be fairly well represented.

Available October 1 at select NARS retailers (Canada), including Sephora, Hudson’s Bay, Holt Renfrew, Murale and www.narscosmetics.com