NARS Summer 2012: Ramatuelle Trio Eyeshadow (featured look, swatches & review)

Sometimes I gravitate towards a product because of the colours. Sometimes it’s because of its limited edition status which stirs up that “not wanting to miss out” feeling (yes, I can be shallow that way – sorry!), and at other times, it could simply be because of a name. In the case of NARS’ summer 2012 ‘Ramatuelle Trio Eyeshadow’, it happens to be because of all 3 reasons! It certainly doesn’t hurt that this is a triad of hues that remind me of island sunsets …

*Note: this is the last item of my ‘Wedding Anniversary Bounty’ series – see the bottom of the post for links to the previous entries

the colours of Ramatuelle’s scenery – the inspiration behind this NARS trio

Ramatuelle – perched by the beautiful Mediterranean Sea

I have to say how much I love that François Nars, with his love of travel to so many exotic places, managed to pay such beautiful homage to his south of France roots, with this deceptively simple compact of colours; what seems at first glance to be just a trio of summery delicate-looking eyeshadows, takes on so much more relevance when you understand the inspiration behind the idea, in this case, the city of Ramatuelle, located by the Mediterranean Sea in the south of France.

‘Ramatuelle Trio Eyeshadow’ is a lovely set of three complimentary eye shades, with a gentle ethereal air about them, that can be worn as is, or applied with a dampened brush for a deeper intensity. The silvery grey and the pale peach hues have a shimmering quality to them, which does not translate as frost when applied, by any means – instead, they give off a gorgeous glow-y effect. The deepened apricot hue has more of a matte finish, but I still detected the barest hint of a sheen, giving this colour a nice depth. All 3 shades applied effortlessly and smoothly, with no fallout whatsoever, lasting easily 7 hours without primer before fading or creasing slightly, and at least 10 hours with primer – crease & fade-proof; as a matter of fact, I happened to fall asleep (watching tv) after having created a look with this trio without removing my makeup (gross, I know), and in the morning, I was shocked to see the colours looking basically … fresh! The following swatches are over tinted moisturizer primed skin (NARS’ Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer in ‘St. Moritz’).

the dove grey shade (left)

the softly shimmering peach shade (center)

the warm coral-apricot shade (right)

in sunlight

indoors

with flash

To create this look:

NARS Pore Refining Primer all over the face
NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base on lids
NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer in ‘St. Moritz’ (face)
NARS Laguna bronzer
Bobbi Brown ‘Black Ink’ gel liner on upper lashline
Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill Excess Mascara
NARS ‘Ramatuelle’ Trio Eyeshadow:

silvery hue all over lid to the crease, applied dampened on inner corner and along inner third of lower lashline
pale peach hue to highlight browbone
apricot hue on outer third on eyelid, blended into crease, along outer 2 thirds of lower lashline

Final thoughts: The finely milled powders that NARS Cosmetics has become known for, are definitely present in this eyeshadow trio. I really like how this collection of relatively neutral colours, is amped up a few notches with a shimmery finish on two of the shades, while the third hue (in a toned-down version of the colour of the year – Tangerine Tango) is an unexpectedly fresh new touch. Absolutely perfect to enhance lightly tanned skin, this ‘Ramatuelle’ trio so completely represents “summer” to me, although I can definitely see these beautiful tones incorporated into many looks over the upcoming seasons as well. Available now as part of the NARS Summer 2012 collection, this is limited – don’t say you weren’t warned!