Lipstick Diaries #3: NARS Audacious in Anna

NARS Audacious lipstick in Anna has been in my collection for almost a year. I actually bought it on Depop from someone who didn't like the colour. Unlike the US, people can't return make-up here in the UK (not possible in Malaysia too) so selling it online is the only possible way to not throw away unwanted make-up (or donate it, of course). One woman's wrong colour.. can be my type of colour. I would describe Anna as a cool-toned deep rose, leaning toward purple. NARS officially calls it a dusty mauve (i.e. what rose-purple is?) while Temptalia calls it a neutral pink.

In direct sunlight (left), the colour appears slightly blue-toned pink on me, although in real life, dusty mauve is a more apt description. With lighter application, my natural warmth dominates the cool tone, expectedly.

Sometimes, I forget how pigmented the NARS Audacious lipsticks are and while I have my early morning lamentations"ugh do I have to work today!!!" I unconsciously apply like 7 million layers of the lipstick. (and by 7 mil I actually mean two layers.) I wouldn't say this is a problem per se, it's just that the pigment is SO THERE it gives me a more "heavy" look and actually feels heavy too. I mean, look at that cup-transfer, people!

Side note, it is SO HARD to get the right colour to show. I truly understand why people go to extreme lengths with lighting, camera equipments and editing product shots now.

The Audacious lipsticks are creamy and dries to a matte finish. They are more creamy than the Maybelline creamy mattes (my review of Magnetic Magenta here) and less likely to be patchy during application and re-application. With Anna, I prefer a good dab-and-go rather than full-swipe to avoid the "heavy" look and lipstick feel. It doesn't stain and comes off when I drink/eat, but it wears away so gracefully, worthy of the high price tag it has. I'm not going to fangirl about the magnetic clasp here because at this point, it is given that we all LOVE that satisfying magnetic clasp!

The green coordination-composition of these two pictures were totally unplanned! Anyways, we have here Anna pictured in front of my window on the left and at a more shaded part of my room on the right. Both dusty mauve and neutral pink is appropriate to describe Anna's colour.

Here is Anna in comparison to my other deep pinks. From left to right, NARS Audacious in Anna, KIKO Smart Shade in 913, Topshop in Devotion and Revlon Matte Balm in Sultry. Because my lips are quite pigmented, they aren't necessarily "deep" as in "dark", rather they make my lips look more defined and bold. I hesitate to call them my MLBB  colours since I obviously look like I wear lipstick with them, but they make me look put together in the most natural way.

I am rating Anna a 3.5/5. While I like the lipstick and the colour is okay, I actually rarely wear Anna. It is rather odd-looking on me, perhaps because of its underlying tone. However, as I look at the pictures I took for this blog, it is definitely better than an okay and I hope to wear it more often.