NARS Man Ray Makeup Collection For Holiday 1917- A Quick Overview

Man Ray, 1932

As you probably know by now, NARS released a Man Ray-themed collection for holiday 2017. NARs usually goes big and impressive on holiday collections, especially when Francois Nars chooses a personal favorite as the inspiration (remember the Andy Warhol collection?). I was extremely excited about this one because while surrealism is not necessarily my thing Man Ray's fashion photography and portraits have been part of my mental landscape for many years.

The PR box I received found me doing a not so flattering jaw-meet-floor because everything in it was so beautiful and right, doing justice to both artist and customer. It was definitely the cure for my cynicism towards makeup collections (and brands) of late; the artwork was good for the soul. While I was sent most items from the Man Ray collection it was not everything, so I promptly hopped online to get a couple more that I knew I wanted. Like many other American NARS fans I was deeply disappointed to learn that one of the jewels of the collection, the Love Game eye shadow palette was exclusive to Space NK UK and the countries they serve. US Space NK was not included. I was examining the hoops necessary to jump in order to get it anyway, but eventually decided that it was a bit much, considering the number of palettes I have in general and NARS eye shadows in particular. I still sulked.

Why, Francois, why?

My original intention was to drop the swatches and reviews gradually,  but it's too much and we're getting closer to the holidays. So I'll do it in large consecutive batches, mostly by function. What you need to know is that in NARS usually splits big collections to Gifting collection (sets and other jaw-droppers) and Color collection (smaller and usually cheaper items). It doesn't really matter (try asking a store employee that wasn't trained by NARS and you'll see what I mean), so I did not make the distinction. One of the great things about NARS limited items is that they make enough of them. They don't completely sell out for quite a while. However, a few items are supposedly exclusive to certain retail doors. It only partially true, as looking in the press material and online has proven to me. I bought one of the NARS stores/online exclusives from Sephora weeks after it was labeled unavailable on narscosmetics.com. My advice: look online for whatever it is you want, and if you don't see it call your local stores directly (that includes but not limited to Sephora, Ulta, Nordstrom, and other department stores, as well as the brand's regional standalone locations).

So let's start unpacking the collection.

Bonus: recommended reading for art and fashion photography enthusiasts. 

I've used two books for research and as background  in my photographs:
Man Ray, Lee Miller- Partners in Surrealism by Phillip Prodger, Lynda Roscoe Harigan, Antony Penrose,  2011, Merrell
Man Ray in Paris by Eric Garcia, 2011, Getty Museum