NARS Audacious Lipstick in Raquel, Anita, and Anna

Since launching last September, NARS' Audacious lipsticks have gotten so much hype that you'd have to be living under a beauty-banned rock to not have heard of them by now. There are a total of 40 permanent shades in this range, though some shades are exclusive to certain retailers. I believe Sephora carries about 20 - 24 shades in all stores, but 30 shades are available on their website. There are 10 shades that are exclusive to Barneys in the US, and Holt Renfrew carries these exclusives in Canada. All shades, however, are available through the NARS website. Audacious is described as a "modern lipstick so shamelessly seductive in touch and texture, the sensation is audacious." It is touted to be "long-lasting," and have "one-stroke, full-coverage creamy wear" and "luxurious texture and enriched with ingredients to smooth and nourish lips." They are scent- and taste-free. Each lipstick comes in a square black metal tubes with magnetized closures, contains a total of 4.2 grams of product, and retails for $32 USD or $37 CAD.

Raquel, Anita, and Anna
Raquel, Anita, and Anna

Raquel is a light-medium peachy-pink beige in a satin finish. This is a permanent shade, and is available at all NARS retailers. It has a soft and creamy texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It is lighter and warmer than NARS Barbara, lighter and more peach than NARS Anita, less peach than MAC Kinda Sexy, more peach than MAC Honeylove, lighter and less brown than YSL #5 Beige Etrusque Rouge Pur Couture, and more peach than Urban Decay Naked2.

Anita is a medium warm muted peachy pink in a satin finish. This is a permanent shade, and is available at all NARS retailers. It has a soft and creamy texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It is darker and more pink than NARS Barbara, more peach than NARS Vanessa, slightly darker and more peach than MAC Faux, darker than Kinda Sexy, warmer than Urban Decay Rush, and more peach than Urban Decay Liar.

Anna is a medium cool-toned muted mauve-pink in a satin finish. This is a permanent shade, and is available at all NARS retailers. It has a soft and creamy texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It is cooler than NARS Vanessa, slightly darker and cooler than NARS Anita, lighter and less brown than MAC Twig, darker than MAC Brave, lighter and more brown than Urban Decay Rapture, and darker and more pink than Urban Decay Rush.

There are definitely some similarities in the shades within the NARS Audacious range: Anna is the cooler version of Vanessa, Anita is the pinker version of Barbara, and Raquel is the lighter version of Barbara. If you don't want to splurge on so many shades, you can definitely mix them (for example, Anna layered with Barbara would give you a dupe for Anita). Obviously, at $37 a pop, not everyone's gonna go as crazy as I am with hoarding these. I'm just one of those people who like to be extra, and I guess as a make-up artist, I can also appreciate the more subtle nuances between shades. Raquel is a great nude for light to medium-dark skintones, though will probably be a little too concealer-like for darker complexions. Anita is a great MLBB shade for almost all skintones, and a nice warm nude for dark skintones. Anna, which is gaining notoriety as a dupe for the "Kylie Jenner lip" and is therefore constantly sold out in stores, is probably one of the most universally flattering shades in the range, suiting fair to deep dark complexions. I personally don't mind spending more on shades that are more "everyday" or more widely flattering like these ones, versus bolder shades that I will wear far less often. Especially if they're in this formula, I just want more, more, more. Like in Pokémon, I gotta catch 'em all.

As someone who now owns 12 shades of this formula, I can safely say that Audacious is definitely one of my Top 3 favourite lipstick formulas of all time. It performs exactly the way NARS says it does: intense pigmentation and full colour pay-off in one stroke, smooth and even application, emollient texture that dries down to a satin finish. I like that these have a demi-matte finish because they stay smooth and lightly creamy but aren't shiny or slippery. They're not really hydrating nor are they touted to be, but they're never drying and lips stay comfortable during the entire duration of wear (which is about six hours). I would say Audacious is a slightly creamier version of MAC's Mattene, which was limited edition, or a more matte version of Urban Decay's Revolution. They're actually quite similar to YSL's Rouge Pur Couture lipsticks, but with a whole lot more colour selection. And to whoever decided to change the packaging of these to metallic cases instead of those dreaded "soft-touch" tubes: thank you!