Beauty report: Nars Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation

Do all the claims stack up?

Name: Nars Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation 
Price: $71
What it does: Provides 16 hours of lightweight and fade-resistant wear for an all-day radiant and smooth complexion
Ingredients: Nars’ Skin Optimizing Complex — a blend of raspberry, apple, and watermelon extracts. It’s also free from parabens, alcohol and oil
Available from: mecca.com.au

How it feels/smells/looks

This is probably the first mega-hyped foundation of 2018 and I was keen to get my hands on it after hearing some really positive reviews from some reliable beauty gurus. This foundation is interesting. It’s Nars’ first 16-hour foundation that claims to be a lightweight, breathable, fade-resistant formula and features medium-to-full, buildable coverage. It’s also said to be a transfer-resistant, sweat-resistant formula that stays colour-true and fresh all day – that’s A LOT of claims. So, what did it actually do? It’s definitely a medium to full coverage – you don’t need a lot of this product to make it go a long way. It doesn’t sit heavily on the skin and I would recommend a good buffing brush in order to get the best finish, a beauty sponge simply doesn’t seem to give this product the best result. I don’t think the result is overly radiant which isn’t surprising, giving the long-wear properties of this foundation. I would say the finish is more on the satin side but does give a bit of radiance on the high points of the face. Which leads me to my next point. The long-wear claim is true, this lasts longer than your average foundation but if you are oily, I would avoid this one or by the end of a long day, you could end up being quite greasy! But for those normal and dry-skin gals, this is a great foundation option for a day where you need that fuller coverage, long-wearing option.

Why I like it

I think this is a great foundation for events or a day where you need that long-wear component. It’s quite impressive how this product does last longer, without breaking up or getting too cakey. Other products blend seamlessly on top of the foundation and it doesn’t cling to my dry patches compared to the cult classic Nars Sheer Glow (which has personally never worked for my dehydrated skin). I think the finish is really pretty, as most long-wear foundations tend to be matte, whilst this one leaves a nice satin glow on the skin. The shade range is also fantastic, props to Nars once again for covering a broad spectrum of skin tones!

Areas for improvement

You definitely need a moisturising primer under this one – if you have dry skin, there’s still a strong chance this will cling to any dry patches on the skin if you don’t prep the skin first. I think for most, this will be an occasions foundation, not your new everyday go-to. Nonetheless, I am really impressed with the wear-time and the flawless finish this gives the skin.

4/5