NARS Spring 2012: Gaiety, Lhasa and Paramaribo applied and ... Jury Duty!

Hi everyone! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post these swatches but I was summoned for jury duty, had a busy week at work, and my laptop literally fell apart at the hinges. Better late than never, right? 

Here are a few photos of where I spent some time earlier this week--on the second floor of the historic Miami-Dade County Courthouse. I was reminded that, while we haven't had the military draft since 1973, jury duty service is the one remaining civic service that all U.S. citizens must fulfill, or run the risk of anything from no consequences, to being hit with hefty fines, to being held in contempt of court, or even jail time! 

Built in 1925, the Miami-Dade Courthouse has 28 floors and at the time was the tallest building in Miami and in Florida! Hard to believe, right? Less than halfway through construction it was discovered that the structure was sinking into Miami's spongy ground so cement supports were installed, which are there to this day, taking up much of the space in the basement file room. Until 1961, the top nine floors served as prison cells as they were considered "escape-proof" due to the height, although in 1934 a prisoner managed to break free from the 21st floor and descended to freedom with a fire hose! 

Things in Miami have certainly changed a lot since those early days--perhaps not for the better, but that's a whole other story!...  

Note large American flag and giant painting of our founding forefathers prominently displayed, provoking feelings of pride and patriotism in prospective jurors who may be slightly grumpy, half asleep, under-caffeinated, or otherwise reluctant to be there after waking before sunrise and navigating the hostile streets of downtown Miami, locating an empty parking space and making it to the courthouse before 8:00am... it's your civic duty!

Miami-Dade County Courthouse - source: Wikipedia Commons

I hope you haven't dozed off after that short history lesson. You may even be thinking: "What the heck does all this have to do with makeup?" And the answer would be...well...nothing! Except I did wear makeup to the courthouse that day!

Now, for the real subject of today's post: swatches of my picks from the NARS Spring 2012 collection! 

in sunlight

in sunlight

  

in indoor low light

in flash lighting

Lhasa eye shadow single

Lhasa is not your typical silvery-brown taupe, but it can still be considered part of the taupe family. It's a murky, grayish-silvery-lavender-taupe that reminds me of the color of the sky right before a thunderstorm. I wore it today with violet liner, which caused it to pull more purple-toned in the photos below. But if purple is not your thing, fear not, as Lhasa is quite an adaptable shade and will appear to be more of a neutral taupe if paired with a black or brown liner. I have to say I'm not lovin' this color with my skin tone -- I'm kind of naturally pallid with dark shadows around my eyes, and shades like this tend to emphasize those qualities. Nevertheless, it's a lovely shadow and the texture and pigmentation is great. No complaints!

The lighting is a little weird in these photos, as I had to take photos indoors due to rain clouds!

Not nearly as angry in real life as I look here ;-)

Paramaribo eye shadow duo

Miss Kitty snuck into this shot. Her eyes are a great match for Paramaribo!

I am in love with this duo! I am partial to golds, and I think these two will become new favorites. These shades complement each other so well and the texture and pigmentation of both are outstanding. On the left is a green-tinged golden sunflower shade and on the right is a slightly darker antique golden-brown. In the simple look below I used the lighter shade on my lid, with the darker shade in the crease, and used a black liquid liner and went over it with a brown pencil to soften the line.

Gaiety blush

   

      

Gaiety is a gorgeous blue-based bubblegum pink. At first glance it reminds me a bit of NARS Angelika or Desire, but I don't have those handy to compare. I also thought it might be like a more vibrant version of MAC's Well Dressed. Gaiety is the type of shade that I think would work equally well on warm and cool skin tones. Normally I am drawn to warm shades like peach and coral, but cooler pinks like this are really excellent at brightening the complexion. Time permitting, I'd like to do some comparisons, but I'm sure there are plenty available on the web by now! In the photos below I applied Gaiety  fairly heavily so you could actually see the color. In real life I would go a little bit lighter for a more natural look. 

Lipstick is Laura Mercier's Coral and the Paramaribo duo is on eyes. (I probably wouldn't choose to wear this blush with this eye look, but just did so for swatching purposes.)

Close up view of Gaiety

In case you missed it, visit my earlier post to see more photos and swatches of the nail shade Diamond Life. 

What are your thoughts on these? Do you have any favorite items from the NARS Spring collection? 

~ Thanks for visiting ~