‘Tis the season for red lips! I have to say I love red lipstick but still don’t have the right amount of confidence to wear it as often as I would like.  But during the holiday season, I feel like all rules are off and I can wear red lips whenever I would like.

I was looking for a new red lip color for this holiday season and I heard some amazing things about these Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencils.  When I saw that they had a true red that was also named dragon girl, I didn’t even hesitate! Whenever I see a red lip product with the name Dragon, I get images of the infamous Chanel Dragon lip color that I discovered a long time after it was off the market.   So I thought maybe Nars Dragon Girl would satiate my need for something red dragon in my life.

The product is your typical lip pencil.  It does need to be sharpened so if you don’t have a jumbo sharpener, try to see if you can find one at your local drugstore.  The product itself is soft, but not so soft that you go through it really quickly.  I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve worn this and have yet to sharpen it.

The color is a great blue toned red, but much brighter on my lips than other reds that I have.  If you have Mac Ruby Woo, think of that and then turn up the saturation dial in the photoshop program in your mind.  Its similar in tone, but a little brighter and perfect for the holidays.

What I like: I love how pigmented and creamy these are.  This is just two swipes across my lips! Just 2 and you get the super rich red color.  If you wear this over a lip liner, its even more intense.  I also love how long these last! No joke, I have gotten 6-8 full hours of wear out of these pencils before, with just the typical wear on the inside rim of my lips.  They do survive eating and drinking and don’t transfer off on my cups.  I wore this out tonight, and there was no transfer onto my wine glass.

What I don’t like: While I don’t really mind this, some people may not like the drying effect.  I have other matte lip colors that are much more drying, but this does have a little bit of a drying feel.

Overall, I LOVE this! This is such a great red and perfect for the holidays.  I really love the formula of these lip products and how long lasting they are.  I don’t mind the drying feeling, so these are a total home run for me.  I want every color.  I’m just going to have to sell one of my ovaries to afford them all.

Grade: A

Price: $25.00