NARS Eye Paint in Soloman Islands: Swatch and Review

I Purchased This Affiliate Link

Recently, Sephora has a special deal where rewards members could get 15% off their purchases. I stash gift cards for these purposes and had a $25 giftcard I decided to splurge with and got myself this NARS Eye Paint in Solomon Islands. I didn't intend to get it when I went in but I'd been eyeing the color for ages because it reminds me of a long discontinued MAC Fluidline in Blue Peep so I had to have it. I'm not even sure when I'll wear this out but it was too beautiful to resist.



Where to Purchase: Sephora.com (affiliate link), Sephora stores, narscosmetics.com
Price: $25 for .08 oz of product. 
Do they test on animals?: The company does not.
Packaging: The Eye Paint comes in a glass pot with a plastic lid.



Swatch: 

Described as a turquoise blue, it's bright enough to wear on its own as a pop of color. The photo was taken in natural daylight with no flash. Keep in mind that due to the matte finish, the eyeliner actually dries a shade or two darker than what's in the pot. It's still a beautiful bright blue though!

Formula: 

The eyeliner is described as having "multi-use application, 18-hour wear, highly-saturated, with a weightless gel texture that dries smoothly and quickly" 

It's incredibly pigmented and can be worn as an eyeshadow, eyeshadow base, and eyeliner. Solomon Islands dries down to a flat matte finish. I do think that Solomon Islands specifically is a firmer gel liner, it's not as squishy/soft as other brands but it's still very creamy. 

Due to the firmer texture, I don't have to be as cautious when applying it like I am with other squishy/softer gel liners (which have a tendency to transfer onto my eyelid if I'm not careful) because it sets faster. I would work a little quickly to blend the color out if you were planning on using it as an eyeshadow or eyeshadow base. It is smudgeproof about 30 seconds after application, it does dry smoothly and quickly. 

On the waterline, I got about four hours of good wear (it started disintegrating after that).

Wear time as as eyeliner was good if I wore a primer first. Without eyeshadow primer, the eyeliner started transferring onto my eyelid after three hours. With eyeshadow primer, the eyeliner stayed on strong for more than eight hours. My oily hooded eyeshape usually does a number on eyeliner with or without eye primer so I'm glad that it at least wears well with primer.

In Conclusion:

Compared to other gel eyeliners, it is expensive but the formula and range of colors (the olive green Mozambique and gray Transvaal) make it interesting enough that it's worth picking one up or at least swatching in store!

Disclaimer: I purchased the NARS Eye Paint myself. All opinions are my own. The link marked as an affiliate link gives me a commission based off your use of the link if you decided to make a purchase! The commission helps to support the costs of running the blog.