Waaay back in 2013 when NARS introduced the Radiant Creamy Concealers, they were revolutionary, but there were only 10 of them. They had lots of pigment and a spectacular satin finish that covered everything — dark circles, blemishes, cat scratches on your cheeks (which, yes, I can attest to from personal experience). They covered EVERYTHING, and they shook up the makeup world.
Since then, so many other brands have come out with their own full-coverage, mousse-y concealer thangs (see: Urban Decay and Kevyn Aucoin).
Fast forward to 2016…
NARS added more shades; the makeup world rejoiced!
Time hop to today, and now there are six more shades, bringing the grand total up to 22. By comparison, MAC has 16 in their Pro Longwear Concealer range and 23 in their Studio Finish Concealer range, and Urban Decay has 14 in both their Naked Skin and All Nighter concealer fams.
Most of the newbies have yellow or golden undertones (extra ideal if you have lots of yellow in your skin tone).
I know a lot of people who love using Radiant Creamy Concealer to hide dark circles, and I wish I loved it for that too, but it settles into my fine lines after a few hours, so I primarily use (and love using them!) as an alternative to foundation.
For all-day natural-looking medium coverage, I like to mix a teeny, tiny amount of Ginger and Caramel (two of the old-school shades) with either MAC Strobe Cream or BECCA Backlight to thin them out a little. Then I pat that on my cheeks and around my nose with my fingers.
Introducing six new NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer colors!
- CAFÉ CON LECHE — Light with yellow undertones
- MARRON GLACÉ — Light yellow for light to medium complexion
- TIRAMISU — Medium with pink undertones
- SUCRE D’ORGE — Medium dark with yellow undertones
- WALNUT — Medium dark with golden undertones
- TRUFFLE — Medium dark with golden red undertones
And here are the existing shades
- CHANTILLY — True ivory for fairest complexions
- VANILLA — Tiny cast of pink for fair complexions
- CRÈME BRULEE — Fair with light pink undertones
- CANNELLE — Light with peachy undertones
- HONEY — Warm peach tone for light to medium complexions
- CUSTARD — Yellow tone for light to medium complexions
- MACADAMIA — Medium with peachy undertones
- GINGER — Golden undertone for medium complexions
- BISCUIT — Medium dark with a natural balance of pink and yellow undertones
- CARAMEL — Medium dark with yellow and golden undertones
- CHESTNUT — Medium dark with pink undertones
- AMANDE — Medium dark with golden olive undertones
- HAZELNUT — Medium dark with warm red undertones
- CAFÉ — Dark shade with warm red undertones
- CACAO — Dark shade with deep gold-brown undertones
- DARK COFFEE — Dark brown with an olive undertone
The six new shades are available at NARS boutiques and on the NARS website now, and they’re also coming to the Sephora website, Sephora stores and NARS counters starting January 5th. They’re $30 each.
Bomb-@ss banana bread
It’s not just that I’ve been on a baking kick, but these banana bread loaves basically *had* to happen. Because you know how it goes… I had a whole bunch of firm, slightly green bananas (I like ’em slightly green still). Then I blinked and BOOM! — they were overripe, mottled yellow, soft and brown.
So I did some late-night baking last night, which for me means 8:30, haha! I followed a recipe I found on Brown Eyed Baker.
I wanted to try the recipe because it’s called Grandma’s Banana Bread, and if it’s grandma’s go-to, it’s gotta be good, right?
And ya know, it is! It turned out pretty darned good! It’s moist, light and melt-in-your-mouth fluffy. Not as dense as banana bread is sometimes. And I didn’t even need a mixer or anything (I just used a whisk, three bowls and two loaf pans).
I did make one slight modification to the recipe, though… The recipe calls for a cup of chopped walnuts, but I only had regular walnuts, and only enough for a half cup, so I also used some glazed walnuts with bourbon barrel aged maple syrup that I got at TJ’s.
I thought they’d make the bread too sweet, but they didn’t. They just added a hint of subtle sweetness (I think I’m gonna use more glazed nuts in the future!).
By the way, one of the reasons I like this bread is that it isn’t super sweet. The recipe only calls for one cup of sugar divided between the two loaves, so it’s definitely not one of those sugar sweet banana breads that makes your teeth hurt.
I dunno… I used to have a very aggressive sweet tooth, and I still do sometimes, but it’s nothing like it used to be. Like, I had a slice of Costco cheesecake last week, and I almost (almost) couldn’t finish it because it was too sweet for me.
Now I like slightly sweet things, which I never, ever in a million years thought I’d say.
If you like banana bread, give it a try sometime. This one’s really good.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
