Nars Duo Eyeshadow Lost Coast and Tropical Princess for Summer 2014 Adult Swim Collection, Swatch, Review & FOTD

Nars Summer Collection Adult Swim was launched almost a month ago in US and just a week after that in Europe. I loved the texture of the latest two duos China Seas and Kauai (reviewed here) so the new ones were on my radar. There is no Nars Counter in Germany (at least in my city) and local online shops don't carry the brand, so each time I am undecided. I have read the reviews of Cafe Makeup, which is my favorite source, especially for Nars reviews. Also Linda from Silverkis has a great review of Lost Coast. I was browsing Lookfantastic.com at 3am night and suddenly it told me I was getting a good deal with late night shopping discount. This pushed me to the edge and I pulled the trigger.

Nars Duo Eyeshadow Lost Coast and Tropical Princess

Originally I was eyeing Nars Single in Malacca from this collection, which I am sure I will get eventually but at the time it is only available through European Nars Online Store Nars.eu. I really don't like shopping there all that much and there is a reason for it. Firstly I need to spend 50 EUR for free shipping and this makes me buy things I don't feel like. Secondly when I ordered last time, I happened to read the "return conditions" on the receipt. It was written that I can only return items which I haven't used, I am ok with it since it is common in Europe but then it was written that if I would like to return anything, I should also return all the samples delivered with the order!!! *shakes head in disbelief* Now I find this to be unreasonably cheap. I like Nars and I am sure the company is unaware of the policies of EU Online shop because I can't imagine they stand behind this. Anyway, so much for this topic, I decided to get nothing from Nars EU again. Lucky enough there are a couple of shops from UK who carry the brand and have free shipping on all orders. Also I go to Sephora each time I drive to France and check those out in person.

Now let me go back to the subject, first duo I would like to show you is Lost Coast. It has a pale lilac and a light taupe. Such an unusual but pretty combination.

Nars Duo Eyeshadow Lost Coast

Tropical Princess is even more unique when it comes to shade combination. It has a metallic/frosty white with a metallic/frosty yellow green. I have seen this particular duo as a challenge and had to try to make it work since frosty whites look awful on me. 

Nars Duo Eyeshadow Tropical Princess

Below you can see two set of swatches, indoor with studio lighting and outdoor with full midday sun.  You can see that Lost Coast has the satin shades while Tropical Princess is for the metallic lovers. Also lilac in Lost Coast is really pale, it gives more of a brightening effect than color.

Swatch with studio light: Nars Duo Eyeshadow Lost Coast and Tropical Princess

Swatch under sun light: Nars Duo Eyeshadow Lost Coast and Tropical Princess

Below you can see Lost Coast in action. I applied the lilac shade to the inner corner and on the crease to blend. I added the taupe shade all over the lid and nuanced it a little with lilac on mid-lid. The resulting eye look is very subtle but brightening. It is more of a no makeup makeup duo.

In-action: Nars Duo Eyeshadow Lost Coast

Below I am wearing Nars Duo in Lost Coast on the eyes, YSL Kiss & Cheek #03 on lips and Diorskin Nude Shimmer in Pink on cheeks (I will review both of these soon). It almost looks as if I was wearing nothing on my eyes, this is expected though since my complexion has lilac undertones (not a joke!)

Nars Duo Eyeshadow Lost Coast

Tropical Princess. I didn't know what to expect. White? Lime Green? No thanks. But once again Nars is genius and this works. Below I applied the green shade to the inner and outer lid, padded the white on the mid lid and blended for softer transient. This look needed some liner though, since it is a little light on the eyes, which makes me look puffy. I used some brown liner for that.

In-action: Nars Duo Eyeshadow Tropical Princess

For the following FOTD I am wearing Diorskin Nude Shimmer in Amber on the cheeks as blush. MAC Aphrodite's Shell as bronzer, MAC Pet Me Please on lips, all from Alluring Aquatics Collection (reviewed here and here). This look turned out to be softer than I expected, I wore it during the day at work and it was not too much. However It may look more dramatic on deeper skin tones.

FOTD: Nars Duo Eyeshadow Tropical Princess

Here is the FOTD with Tropical Princess which I enjoyed wearing today. Some readers asked me to write the tops I am wearing, so this one is from Desigual. On the nails I have MAC Neptune which I went back to get (I reviewed the other two nail polishes from Alluring Aquatics here) and enjoying very much at the moment.  

FOTD with Tropical Princess, MAC Neptune on nails, MAC Pet Me Please on lips.

Final thoughts: Two interesting shade combinations from Nars and I thought both worked wonderfully. Given the size of my taupe stash, honestly I might have passed Lost Coats though, still happy that I got it. Tropical Princess looks scary but once applied, it gives rather a soft look on my complexion.

What do you think about these unusual combinations? Do you find that alright that the shop asks for the samples back once you return things?