| Nars Audrey is a really strange shade with some almost disturbing elements lurking in its chromatic DNA. Here was me thinking bright red was the worst thing ever to try and capture accurately- wrong. The warm-lit tube shots such as the one directly below look pretty on the page, but they're extremely misleading, the virgin surface being too smooth and reflective to convey the nature of this murky, complex composition.  |  The closest shot to reality amongst this lot is perhaps this one here ^ against the dark teak grain of my desk, and even that leaves out some dirty fleshy tones and makes it look a bit MAC Rebel-esque, which it isn't. I even binned the traditional against-the-terracotta-pot shot I use in most of my reviews because it was completely misleading. |
| Audrey is a retiring neutral-ish semi-purple, nowhere near as bright and clean as it can look in a lot of online reviews. In cool light, the blue end prevails and you see some muddied lavender, but with the sun on it you're getting a bit more low down, bruisy rose pink with a small hit of silty brown. I mentioned some disturbing elements and wasn't just being dramatic; Audrey isn't really conventionally 'pretty'. It is singular and intriguing, which is more desirable in my opinion. To be brutally honest, the first thing that comes into my mind when I see it on my mouth is minced flesh. Pale liver. Or charcuterie. A good bacon, perhaps. Have a look at the swatches to see what I mean. Did I gross you out? |  |
Well, perception is a very personal thing and while someone else might not make that particular connection, I stand by my choice of descriptors. Personally I'd like to see more challenges to lipstick convention and congratulate Nars on having the guts to issue something this subtly weird. I don't think you're going to find a dupe any time soon. Guerlain Rouge G Gigolo is the closest thing in my own collection though it's miles brighter and cleaner; if you mixed that with something like MAC Del Rio or Retro or some other earthy neutral you might come close to Audrey. Contrast the tube shot below left with the swatch underneath and ponder why there seems to be confusion about this shade online. To summarise: muted, muddied, carnal, slightly sinister. A lot of reviewers just seem to get 'oooh pretty happy purple'. Maybe it is on a preppy blonde. That's some eye of the beholder contextual shit.
 | This is my second Nars Audacious purchase and it's even more incredibly, silkily, almost unaccountably smooth than Deborah, which I also love. Audrey looks and feels as though it's made of a single miraculous ingredient instead of something cobbled together from a bunch of random fats and dyes and minerals; it delivers one-stroke realness. |
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 | It settles down to a low sheen satin finish and is perfectly comfortable and non-drying, which is unusual for anything remotely purple. Audrey won't be great on everyone. I've recently gone back to black hair from a shifting range of reds and janky red-browns and can get away with her now. But if you suffer heavy undereye shadows, yellow-sallowness, ashiness or any redness that defeats concealer, I'd leave Audrey where you find her. More Lipstick Review |
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