the Blackthorn Orphans
  • B L O G
  • The Blackthorn Orphans: read it onsite
  • The Blackthorn Orphans TRANSLATIONS PAGE
  • Lovely R BLOG
  • PHOTOESSAYS
  • SELECTED RAVINGS: essays & opinion
  • RUBYHUE Lipstick Review
  • blackthorn ROSE REVIEW
  • KITCHEN BITCH: Recipes etc.
  • verse
  • Hostile Witness FILM REVIEW
  • ALOES & SUCCULENTS
  • Blackthorn Perfume Review
  • B I O
  • C O N T A C T

RubyHue Lipstick Review: Nars Iberico & Provocative Red Velvet Matte Pencils

28/4/2016

 
Picture
Provocative Red looks nice enough in the tube, doesn't it?  But it's neither provocative (unless you count my wanting to slap it upside the head) nor red, and that is annoying, especially when I've noticed a few too many versions of this shade creeping into my collection. Muddy pedestrian pinks are everywhere; MAC has about fifty thousand fucking iterations, as I'm sure you already know.  They can be a total facial drag, the equivalent of an ashy rag on the kisser, snuffing out any positive interplay between your native tonalities. While the formula ranks with the nicest of the Velvet Mattes, Provocative Red is a dull, bruised, 8-days-in-the-vase rose that murders the green in my eyes and makes my skin and lips look strangely dingy.  Unlike MAC Retro, which may be in a similar vein but is more complex, caramelised, far more flattering and far less sort of... roadkill flat.  Gumpy is my personal onomatopoeic summation of PR. It's a gumpy bitch.

I can see it suiting an overtly cool-toned brunette regardless of the depth of their complexion, but neutral to warmies should probably avoid. Which shouldn't be too hard since it was a limited release. Problem solved.
Picture
Strangely, this clean and rather brilliant tonality doesn't turn stupidly, scarily loud or Ronald McDonald-nasty on the lip, and even cancels out the annoying peekaboo shit my dark mouth likes to pull under lesser oranges.  ​
Picture
Picture
Picture
One of these things is not like the other.  They're both Nars Velvet Matte Pencils, but Iberico is a vibrant burst of vivid visual virtuosity and Provocative Red (LE) is... not.  I was disappointed with the latter when I picked it up a while back; it has since found a narrow niche in my lipstick rotation, but I'll probably end up giving it to someone else.
Picture
Picture
Iberico is another LE shade and that, friends, is a tragedy. I've been getting further into oranges lately and thought I'd hit the ultimate citrusy jackpot with MAC So Chaud, a really delicious clean matte orange.  Iberico makes it look almost reserved in the swatches.
Picture
If you have trouble with this colour for that reason, So Chaud and Iberico are here for you.  The latter is the brighter of the two, but only slightly when in situ, the effect is largely the same and the former is more widely available. Though perhaps similar chromatically to the horrid MAC Morange (I haven't compared them directly) Iberico suffers none of that shade's unpleasant tangy, greasy sourness, perhaps by virtue of its whisper-soft, almost vaseline-filtered matte finish. It possesses the delightful toasted beeswax scent that is typical of this Nars matte pencil range.

Texturally, Iberico is miraculously smooth, totally clump-free and very buildable, which is an unexpected bonus- orange often turns funky if you try to fuck around with it on the lip. This guy is perfectly amenable to a smudgy finger treatment in which case it exhibits a sort of endearing ghostly watercolour quality; not something I thought I'd ever write about a true balls-out orange.  It is still floating around online here and there so grab it if  you can find it.
Picture
Picture
L2R (All MAC unless stated)
Russian Red, Nars Provocative Red, Mehr, Nars Iberico, So Chaud, True Red (LE), Nars Kelly
Across top, L2R: Retro, Lady Danger.  
natural outdoor light, autumn afternoon.
Picture
Picture

*   More RubyHue Lipstick Review   *   Hostile Witness Film Review   *



Comments are closed.

    RSS Feed

    Picture

    Independent Creativity
    Hi-Fi Introversion

    ORIGINAL CONTENT
    HONEST REVIEWS
    VELVETEEN VERBIAGE
    VISUAL LUXURY
    MORBID IDLING
    THE NATURAL WORLD
     
    ​photography  
    film
    flora  fauna  culinary
    ethnography  objet
    ​

    modest living
    ​vintage shit

    A U T H O R
    Picture
    K ✂︎ l l y
    congenital delinquent
    Human Durian
    celebrating
    glorious deviation in the land of
     the long white cloud

    -  New Zealand  -


    - T h e   B o o k -

    Picture
    T H E  
    B L A C K T H O R N
    O R P H A N S


    What is freedom, when it is
    all that remains to you?
    In exile two brothers pursue an anarchist's trajectory,  from an old world into the new, from East to West, subject always to the pleasures & horrors of an enduring flesh, to the ironies of karma & impunity. Love bears thorns, the lost return & the dead are haunted by the living. 
    ​

    E P I C   D A R K   F I C T I O N
    *   R E A D   *
    T H E
    B L A C K T H O R N 
    O R P H A N S
     O N S I T E  

    H e r e



    Picture

    Selected
    ​Ravings

    opinion essays observation private regret public 
    exaltation semicoherent speculation 

    Picture

    Photoessay​

    epic undertakings
    documented

    ​
    Picture

    Hostile Witness FilmReview

    Cruel but fair

    Picture

    RubyHue 
    ​
    Lipstick Review

    Lipstick: love it
    ​

    Picture

    Our Photography​

    we've seen worse
    ​

    Picture

    Port Chalmers​

    Dunedin, New Zealand
    ​

    Picture

    Blackthorn ​
    ​Rose Review

    Garden Hoe Wisdom
    Picture

    Verse​

    Loss, love, truth, beauty everything, everything
    ​
    Picture

    The  Lovely R's Blog​

    Likes photography  Knows a bit about it

    Picture

    We Liked This​

    Amazing things from other people
    ​

    Picture

    Cacti, Aloes
    ​&
     
    Flora​

    Our garden & general vegetal splendours
    ​

    Picture

    KitchenBitch

    Home cooking
    & raw ingredients
    ​
    Picture

    Ethnographic​

    Strange wonderful things from elsewhere
    ​

    Picture

    Jewellery
    ​

    Picture

    Tiny Little 
    Dinosaurs
    - a book for children -


    All images & text property of the authors 
    ​
    unless stated

    © us
    & original sources
    All Rights Reserved



    Picture

    Privacy Policy
    ​This is a noncommercial site.
    No ads. No shady data jacks. 
    No interest in your bizniz.

    ​We don't personally view, utilise or sell your data, apart from occasionally checking totally anonymous + super basic site view stats. We don't even know how to monetise that stuff, so don't worry.  Everyone's privacy is important to us.

    Our platform is probably harvesting your data, though, via their cookies. Look at their privacy page so you can see what they're up to.

    Please use Adblock or something similar.
    ​
    Google et al superimpose ads that we never see a penny from so fuck them.

    Picture

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    September 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013


    Picture

    Categories

    All
    A Thing Of Beauty
    Blackthorn Orphans
    Blackthorn Rose Review
    Cacti & Aloes
    Ethnographica
    Flora
    Hostile Witness Film Reviews
    Jewellery
    Kitchen Bitch
    Make Up Review
    Maximum Respect
    Perfume Reviews
    Photo Du Jour
    Photo Essay
    Places & Things: A Blackthorn Review
    Port Chalmers
    Remembering Dreams
    Roses
    Selected Ravings
    Softcore Rendition
    Sweetmeat
    Textiles
    The Lovely R
    Verse
    We Liked This

    Picture
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.