Nars Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation in Stromboli Review

Hey everyone, hope you're all well! After a fairly long and awkward hiatus I'm back with a foundation review. I'll be reviewing the newly released and highly anticipated Nars Foundation, the Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation (abbreviated as NRL for this review obvs). If you read my last post you'll know I was super excited for this foundation and couldn't wait to get my hands on it, to the point that I didn't even bother get a sample, I just bought it, which is so not me! Even though it was set to release on the 15th of January this year in the UK, I surprisingly came across it in the Nars Boutique store in Covent Garden a month ago and snatched it up right away. I've been testing this out for a month now and I think I'm ready to share my thoughts, I must forewarn you that they're unfortunately not all very positive ones...

What Nars say:

There’s longwear. And then there’s strongwear.

Introducing NARS’ first 16-hour foundation that stays turned on by the power of radiance. Untraceable. Unstoppable. Unlike anything else. Longwear is finally lightweight—and radiant. High coverage is now super natural. Its breathable, fade-resistant formula is infused with Raspberry, Apple, and Watermelon extracts to help smooth and improve the look of your skin instantly, and over time for full-powered radiance. It wears longer, stays stronger, and looks better with each hour. Specialized skin-matching technology ensures your truest match yet. Your future looks radiant with Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation.

IDEAL FOR:
Medium-to-full, buildable coverage

SKIN TYPE:
Normal, combination, and oily skin types

FINISH:
Natural, radiant finish

FORMULA FACTS:

TRANSFER-RESISTANT

SWEAT-RESISTANT

FADE-RESISTANT

NON-DRYING

PARABEN FREE

ALCOHOL FREE

OIL FREE

FRAGRANCE FREE

DERMATOLOGIST TESTED

NON-COMEDOGENIC

TECHNOLOGY:

Skin Optimizing Complex, a blend of Raspberry, Apple, and Watermelon extracts, helps support skin elastic fibers to smooth and improve skin’s texture over time for optimal radiance.

Packaging

The NRL comes in your standard Nars style packaging, sleek, simple and black. The foundation is housed in a clear glass bottle and looks like a longer and slimmer version of the ADLW foundation (review). It comes with a pump attached and the pump dispenses a small amount of product which ensures you don't waste product, if you're familiar with the ADLW it dispenses the same amount that that pump does. Another great thing is that the pump is also controllable so if you want to dispense a teeny dot (like I usually do) then you can!

Shade & Oxidisation

Nars have added newer shades to their NRL range and now carry a total of 33 shades. After carrying out extensive research and scouring the net for swatches (see swatch compilation post here), from looking at all the swatches, it appeared that Stromboli remained the yellow/olive-est shade from them all. So I bought Stromboli without any hesitation as I wear Stromboli in their other foundations too. After wearing this for the past 4 weeks I can easily note that there is a difference between this Stromboli and the others.

This Stromboli is actually similar to Sheer Glow's Stromboli (review) and lighter and less yellow/olive than ADLW's Stromboli, it perfectly matches the centre of my face (which is paler than the rest of my face) but is a little uncomfortably light for my hyper pigmented mouth and chin area and the upper half of my forehead which are the typical areas of pigmentation that some WOC can have. Also I've been terrible with my skincare and haven't used sunscreen alongside my acids or retinoids for the last few months (I know I know, I need to be lashed) so my pigmentation is really awful at the moment (cry for me please ;( ). Also I've been using the Nars ADLW continuously for several several months now and have become accustomed to its rich yellow olive tones, it's pretty much identical to and enhances my skins yellowness and depth so looks the best on me.

Even though NRL matches the centre of my face nicely, I can't seem to agree with the ashiness around my mouth even after colour correcting, though I do use my Radiant Creamy Concealer (review) in Caramel to deepen around my mouth and bronzer around my forehead. I have worn this plenty of times and can get away with the shade (using with the Caramel concealer) and repetitively ask friends and family if my base is looking fine and they reassure me that I'm not looking awful, ashy or grey. After looking at the shades I would say Valencia would probably match my darker areas better but I still feel like I'd just need a darker yellow olive shade whereas Valencia just looks more warm peach neutral. As much as I'd like Stromboli to be a little more golden/olive it's actually the formula that I'm not agreeing with and not just the shade.

Swatches below taken outside/natural lighting.

With regards to Oxidisation I haven't noticed any major oxidising but I have a feeling it does deepen especially if you're using an oil or a very emollient moisturiser underneath.

Formula

The NRL is a liquidy formula, it's runnier than the Sheer Glow but thicker than the ADLW. It's a very lightweight formula and does blend on to the skin decently well. I always test new foundations first with my favourite foundation brush (slanted, flat top kabuki), it did blend in nicely but not as smooth or seamless as other foundations I've used in the past, it needed a teeny bit more effort. The second time I used a damp sponge and found that not only did it blend in better but also looked better on the skin than the brush, but again didn't blend as effortlessly as other foundations I've tried. The sponge obviously absorbed a little extra product so I had to use more, but with a brush it didn't sit on the skin as nicely and looked a little more cakey than the sponge application. 

I have combination dehydrated skin and feel like this formula just didn't sit well with my skin for some reason. I'm really not sure what to make of it. From my personal experiences with this foundation and my understanding of it's formula (you know I like to dissect formulas), I would say it will work best for those with combination oily skin or for those with a Normal/oily skin type or those with dry but smooth flake free skin, I feel like if you have oily skin it breaks up the foundation and makes it patchy. I've watched a fair amount of reviews and I've noticed that those with very oily skin get really oily with this foundation and have given it a pass, these oily skinned reviewers then go on to say that this foundation will work for those with dry skin but I feel like this foundation will drag and get cakey on those with dry skin and I don't think it'll look very natural but more on the finish later. It's really confusing as I've heard mixed reactions from all skin types, so so confused, but ultimately it's not the best formula for me.

An important point I need to make with regards to the formula is that I have a fairly strong feeling that this foundation is breaking me out, I'm pretty sure it's this foundation because I've been testing it for a month now and my skin is really congested and spotty now, it wouldn't surprise me to be honest because the Sheer Glow breaks me out too. Now that I've got the review written up I'm going to take a break from using it and monitor any changes with my skin.

Finish

Nars say that the NRL is a natural matte finish and I will agree, it's a demi matte finish where it isn't flat but does allow a subtle light/radiance to reflect off the skin's high points. It definitely falls under the natural finish category. I find skin prep can really alter the finish and also the amount of foundation you use. If there isn't enough emollience on my skin I find I get a very matte finish and it can look quite cakey, flat and unnatural on me. But if I've moisturised really well it's fairly radiant. With this foundation I've realised I need to be well moisturised hence why I reckon this foundation isn't great for those with dry dehydrated skin, not only that I also need to make sure that the moisturiser has been applied well in advance and has had the chance to absorb into my skin properly or else I find the foundation slides around a lot and just doesn't mesh with the skin. Also when I've tried to go for a minimal look and use a little bit of product it's more matte but when I've used an ample amount and opted for full coverage, it's more of a satin matte. If you have dry or dehydrated skin I highly advise you to moisturise well before using this foundation.

I was hoping this foundation would be similar to the Giorgio Armani Power Fabric Foundation (review) but it isn't, it's not as beautiful and natural on the skin as the Power Fabric, the Power Fabric was really lightweight on the skin and had a lovely smoothing effect whilst still looking like skin. The NRL isn't as smoothing on the skin, it's more like second skin where it mimics the skins natural texture, I also find it isn't super pore filling either. I also have noticed that when I look really closely in the mirror I can see actual product on my skin, minuscule cakey pigments or powders that are just sitting atop of my skin which does get progressively worse throughout the day, I'll explain this in more depth in the Longevity section of my review because I feel like the finish is definitely linked to the longevity too.

I own all three of the Nars Foundations and I know the formulas pretty well, an interesting point I'd like to make is that I've noticed that all 3 formulas are not the greatest for those with textured or dry skin, I personally think Nars foundations sit much better on those with smoother and oily skin, this one included. I should add that my skin isn't at its best right now (especially now because of this foundation probably) I have quite a bit of texture and bumps and am quite dehydrated too. Another thing I need to mention is that I've noticed this foundation seems to highlight my pores, more than the ADLW, not only does it highlight them but it sort of sits in them too, at the same time I find it's not too bad with my laugh lines. As you can tell I'm not really impressed by the finish unfortunately.

Feel
One thing that I can't fault with the NRL is that it is a really lightweight formula, almost as lightweight as the ADLW but where the ADLW is very pigmented and watery thin you don't need a lot of product for coverage whereas with the NRL you do have to use a little more product. It's a very comfortable formula on the skin and it barely feels like you have any product on. This does set slightly on the skin so any tackiness you may feel does disappear but after a few hours of wear this does get quite radiant and oily so you may feel a tackiness at that point. Otherwise I do think that both the formula and texture is very lightweight.

Coverage and Build-ability
Nars say that the NRL is a medium to build-able full coverage foundation and I will agree, I would say from the first layer it provides a proper medium coverage, any redness is covered and my skin tone looks really even but my PIH marks are still visible, another layer or two just over those marks and they are completely concealed, I also have used this under my eyes over the top of some orange corrector and it's concealed my dark circles really well. I use 1 1/2 pumps for light to medium coverage and 4 pumps for full coverage and use concealer around my mouth too to deepen it up more.

The NRL builds layers really well and doesn't get cakey when building layers but because it is a matte finish and not the smoothest in blending I suggest you work one area at a time as it does sort of set and you do need to blend it in more to manoeuvre it around the face. Also personally on myself I find that my skin needs to be well prepped if I want to build layers as the finish can get slightly cakey and obvious on me with more product.

Longevity
Apart from the finish of the NRL, the biggest factor that I think that lets this foundation down -ironically enough- is the longevity. I've watched and read a lot of reviews and that is the one thing majority of the people mention when it comes to flaws in the formula. This foundation does not wear well on my skin at all, Nars say that this looks better on the skin as the day goes on but for me it looks worse and worse. This is where I said it was linked to the finish, because whether I set it or not the foundation just doesn't look very attractive on me at all after a few hours. Also it starts off a little tacky but then sets, but once my oils start to come out it feels tacky again and then I find it transfers really easily.

On myself I find this foundation looks the best when it's first applied and as the day goes on I notice that not only do I get quite oily, but it looks even more cakey than it probably started off with, it also sits in and highlights my pores even more and the foundation has literally separated, faded and disappeared in areas. I've tried this on top of a silicon primer to see if it'd help but it just became a hot cakey mess. On myself a hydrating primer works best underneath this foundation but to be honest it's just not worth it because it just doesn't look brilliant at all after several hours and I have other foundations that don't behave like this so I really don't need to deal with the drama.

Overall Thoughts
I'll be honest I did have quite high expectations for this foundation since it is Nars after all, I test a lot of foundations out and have seriously noticed how advanced beauty companies have become with their formulas so I didn't expect any less from Nars. I don't mean to say that the NRL isn't a good foundation, it definitely has its good points but it's honestly fallen a little short of my expectations and I've just not had the best or ideal experiences with it. I do know that there are a lot of people that do really like it and at my first ever application (which was at night time mind you) I also did think this was the foundation formula I was waiting for from Nars. I am on the fence with the NRL and will put it away for some time until my skin has gotten better and perhaps when I'm not as dehydrated I will give it another shot. I'm actually working on a comparison post between the three infamous liquid foundations that Nars do which I didn't mention too much on here because this review is already long and detailed enough. I'm also working on the Fenty foundation which I really really like, as well as a couple of other foundations, they'll hopefully be a bit more positive than this one and it'll hopefully get me back into the swing of things as I did feel a bit all over the place with this review! As always I hope you found this helpful.

Thank you for taking out the time to read and for all your support.

Quick Round-up

Positives
- Really lightweight
- Good coverage
- Natural matte finish
- Ideal for those with smooth skin

Negatives
- Not long lasting
- Fades and disappears off skin
- Not great for dry/dehydrated skin or super oily skin
- Can get cakey and highlight texture
- Shade Stromboli isn't as olive/yellow as previous Stromboli's
- Is most likely breaking me out