NARS Matcha Eyeshadow Review & Swatches

- January 30, 2019

Matcha

NARS Matcha Eyeshadow (2018) ($19.00 for 0.04 oz.) is a bright pop of light-medium lime green with warm undertones and a matte finish. It had nearly opaque pigmentation in a single layer, while the texture was smooth, finely-milled, and blendable, though it was a little thinner than ideal. Without a primer, it sheered out a bit on bare skin and read more muted, whereas primer helped to ensure it stayed true-to-pan and pigmented. On its own, the eyeshadow stayed on well for seven and a half hours before fading noticeably.

Top Dupes
Formula Overview

Top Dupes

View Swatches View All Dupes

Illamasqua Pivot (P, ) is darker (95% similar).
Make Up For Ever #91 (DC, $20.00) is darker (90% similar).
Wet 'n' Wild I'm Seeing Triples Browbone (DC, $2.29) is more shimmery, brighter, cooler (90% similar).
Viseart Bright Editorial #3 (P, ) is darker (90% similar).
Sugarpill Acidberry (P, $13.00) is more shimmery, lighter, brighter (85% similar).
Make Up For Ever S336 Lime (DC, $21.00) is more shimmery, lighter, cooler (85% similar).
Melt Cosmetics Xenon (PiP, ) is more shimmery, lighter, warmer (80% similar).
Viseart Bright Editorial #2 (P, ) is lighter, warmer (80% similar).
Sydney Grace Sea Breeze (P, $5.00) is lighter (80% similar).
More dupes -- click to see the full list!

Formula Overview

$19.00/0.04 oz. - $475.00 Per Ounce

The formula is supposed to have "rich, high-impact color" that is "lightweight" and has "increased blendability." Like most larger ranges, there are winners and losers, and some of how they perform can be related to the type of finish. The mattes are soft, slightly dusty in the pans (or not at all) with medium to opaque, often buildable, color coverage. The satin and metallics tend to be smoother, more blendable, and more pigmented with less effort; NARS does the these lower shimmer finishes particularly well, which just looks "melted" on the skin as they lay down so smoothly and have a great shine.

Most shades applied better on my lid than swatched on my arm, which has been something seen across NARS' eyeshadows for years and didn't change with the recent update to their powder eyeshadow formula. On average, they lasted between seven and nine hours on me without primer. They did apply well over primer and stayed on well for 14 hours with minimal fading.

Worth noting: the updated formula and packaging resulted in a product decrease from 0.07 oz. per pan to 0.04 oz. The single eyeshadows received a more noticeable price drop (from $24 to $19) but the duo eyeshadows could be priced better (from $36 to $35).

Browse all of our NARS Eyeshadow (2018) swatches.