I have a thing for tinted moisturizes, in particular ones that let me easily dial up or down my level of coverage.

Because really, who wants a totally inflexible tinted moisturizer? That would be like having to eat the same bland gruel for breakfast every single day, bluh. I guess that’s why I like NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer SPF30/PA+++ ($42).

All nine oil-free shades in the line, which launched a few months back, contain copious amounts of pigment, and that spells flexibility.

Mixing equal parts of St. Moritz (a medium with neutral yellow undertones) and Cuba (a medium with a balance of neutral pink and yellow undertones) has been working pretty well for me since I got back from Kauai with a bit of a tan, but I think St. Moritz by itself is a pretty close match for my natural skin tone.

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Wearing NARS Calabria Soft Touch Shadow Pencil softly smudged along the lower lash line

The day I married El Hub was a pretty great day, but the day I try a new NARS Soft Touch Shadow Pencil ($24) and can say, “Wow! NARS finally made one of these that lasts all day without fading or creasing!” will rank pretty high up there, too.

These multitasking morsels are creamy makeup triple threats! — rock star chic shadows, primers and eyeliners rolled into one — and NARS likes releasing them in gorgeously luscious shades with a glossy, shiny finish.

Thing is, all of the ones I’ve tried before haven’t lasted long on my lids. They’ll look great for about 20 minutes but then start to crease and fade. It’s a bummer, because I love the colors so much that I keep anticipating every new one in the hopes that one of them, one of these days, will last longer.

Will it be Calabria, the new shimmery plum shade released with the Summer 2012 collection? Will it be THE ONE to finally last all day long on my lids? Ah, the places we’d go together… Trader Joe’s, the movies, Petco — you know, all of the glam spots up here in Novato, LOL!

Let’s find out.

Never Say Never Velvet Matte Lip Pencil ($24), Calabria Soft Touch Shadow Pencil ($24) and Buenos Aires Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil ($24)

Additional makeup worn in this look: CK One Color Cream + Powder Blush Duo in Happiness and NARS Laguna Bronzer on my cheeks, Becca Anniversary Palette in Dusty Rose on my lips and MAC Zoom Fast Black Lash on my lashes

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If sheer, sparkly shadows aren’t your thing, the new NARS Marie-Galante Eyeshadow Duo probably won’t be your cup of green tea, or if there’s a bumper sticker on your car that reads, “Addicted to pigment,” you may not find a lot to like here.

But if you have a thing for nuanced shades, feast your eyes on this…

Wait — did she/I just say “nuanced”? Because it looks pretty pigmented in these pans.

Yup, you’re right. It does, but there’s a little more to it than that. The Marie-Galante Eyeshadow Duo is one of my favorite things from the NARS Summer 2012 collection.

On one side, a sheer violet brimming with bits of purple glitter; on the other, a rich, royal blue bursting with blue and purple glitter. The blue shade, the darker of the two, contains a smidgen more pigment than its purple partner, and it flashes on me from blue to purple in the light.

Neat!

The small flecks of glitter in both of these colors spread across my lids like stars on a clear night. Imagine purple and blue versions of NARS Night Star (one of my go-to shades), and you basically get Marie-Galante.

Last week I tried turning up the volume of these colors by layering them on top of the Calabria Soft Touch Shadow Pencil, but then I tried Marie-Galante all by herself.

Love!

The sheer shadows tint my lids, while the glitter, which goes on evenly and smooth, makes ‘em glow, almost like they’re wet. And when the light catches my eyes just right, the darker blue shade looks purple!

I like patting a layer of the lighter purple all over my lids and applying the darker blue along my upper lash line. Then, for some extra definition after blending both colors together, I line my upper water line with a black eye pencil and my lower water line with a nude liner.

Business lunch, anyone? I like both of these colors because they clearly have some personality, but they’re still reserved enough for work. Let me just do a quick curl with my Shu Uemura lash curler and apply a layer of MAC Zoom Fast Black Lash, and I’ll meet you at the restaurant.

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NARS Never Say Never Velvet Matte Lip Pencil

Man, I’m so tired… (How tired am I?) I’m so tired that I could go to bed right now. In my work clothes. Without removing my makeup.

I actually tried to take a nap this afternoon — which I almost never do because it throws off my sleep schedule — but the phone rang right as I was dozing off.

Rinnng! Rinnng!

“Wha!? Hello? This is Karen.”

“Did I wake you?”

“Oh, hi Mom. No, I was just napping…”

My mom’s superpower is her ability to call right as I’m about to fall asleep (“Did I wake you?”), or at the exact moment I’m contemplating doing something potentially unwise (“What are you doing?”).

After the call, I considered just blowing off the rest of the afternoon, grabbing some fro-yo, and passing out on the couch, but then I wouldn’t have been able to share the revelations I had about the NARS Summer 2012 collection at the dentist earlier today.

Yes, girl, I thought about makeup at the dentist’s office. It was the only thing I could do to keep from losing my sh*z!

Never Say Never Velvet Matte Lip Pencil ($24), Calabria Soft Touch Shadow Pencil ($24) and Buenos Aires Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil ($24)

A little back story…

When I was a kid, I had a really mean dentist who seemed to derive great joy from making me cry (I’m pretty sure he was a masochist). To this day, I bawl like a baby during cleanings.

But my current dentist, who looks like Steve Martin, he’s an angel. He’s so nice and patient, and he’s great about walking me through the process, which I really like. He even reminds me to relax my shoulders and unclench my fists while I’m sitting in the chair.

But yeah, he looks like Steve Martin, and whenever he’s hovering over me with that little silver hook, I start playing tunes from Little Shop of Horrors in my head…

Moscow Pure Matte Lipstick, $25

Luckily, today’s cleaning went great (no cavities, yay!), but the anxiety of wondering things like, “What if an earthquake strikes while he’s scraping at my molars and he crochets my gums with that hook?” left me physically and mentally drained.

Vendanges Lipstick, $24

Between swishing, spitting and trying not to cry, my mind wandered to the new NARS 2012 collection. I thought about François and how the team at NARS must have had lips on their minds when they created it, since four of the nine pieces in the release are lip products.

Vendanges Lipstick, Moscow Pure Matte Lipstick, Never Say Never Velvet Matte Lip Pencil and Buenos Aires Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil

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“Give me Liberté, or give me…!” Forget that, just give me Liberté.

Its name means “freedom” in French — freedom from cheeks that look blah! Freedom from having to apply layer upon layer of blush! Freedom from that mile-long to-do list! And freedom to embrace lazy days spent lounging in the sun by the pool!

Freedom!!

Yup, NARS Liberté Blush definitely feels like a vacation blush to me, and I sure do like the way it looks with a tan.

I can see it now… The tropics. A beautiful beach. We get up early to catch a few waves before the crowds. A week frolicking in the surf like that, and our cheeks are bronzed and tan.

Liberté would love something like that.

NARS describes the color as a burnished apricot, which leads me to wonder, “How do you burnish an apricot?” But I digress…

LOL! I think it looks more like a matte reddish orange on me — a lighter, slightly peachier matte version of NARS Taos Blush, and it’s the solitary blush in the new nine-piece Summer 2012 collection from NARS.

It’s classic NARS all the way, with a super pigmented, easy-to-blend formula that lasts all day, and wow! I can’t believe it looks so intense in these pics of the pan and the swatch, because as long as I use a light touch when I apply it with something like a fan brush, I think it looks very natural on my cheeks. It reminds me of the way my cheeks look right after a run (when my heart’s still beating a mile a minute).

Something tells me it would look amazing on darker skin tones — heck, on lighter skin tones, too, especially ones that wear warmer colors well. I think it looks pretty fierce on Ginta Lapina, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty featured in the campaign imagery.

From the left: Calabria Soft Touch Shadow Pencil, Ramatuelle Trio Eyeshadow, Marie-Galante Duo Eyeshadow and Liberté Blush

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