Two nudes: MAC Creme d'Nude and NARS Belle de Jour lipstick review

          Today I have a bread-and-butter type review of two nude lipsticks: MAC Creme d'Nude lipstick and NARS Belle de Jour lipstick. (I've been eating muffins lately, so I have bread on the mind). Last month I must have had a craving for nude lipsticks. I bought NARS Belle de Jour during a Sephora sale and chose MAC Creme d'Nude as a prize from a giveaway on Kelly's Makeup Bag. Both colors are well loved by beauty enthusiasts. Creme d'Nude is a MAC bestseller, while Belle de Jour has some celebrity-associated fame.

          I figured this was a good time to highlight the packaging differences between MAC and NARS. I love the modern minimalism of both. Aside from that, have you ever noticed that they are polar opposites? MAC is rounded, shiny, smooth, and has a small logo. NARS is square, matte, rubberized, and has the NARS logo blown up to be as large as possible.

          When I lined up both tubes side by side, I was quite concerned that I'd gotten two colors that were almost the same. Both appeared to be peachy / orange nudes. Fortunately, you can see from my swatches below that this was not the case. As you can see from the bullets below, MAC Creme d'Nude has more sheen in the tube. NARS Belle de Jour is a tad darker and is leans more orange than peach.

          In terms of formula: MAC Creme d'Nude is a slightly thicker and tackier in texture and is vanilla scented while NARS Belle d'Jour is mostly unscented, feels less creamy, and feels more weightless when worn. I think this is consistent with my previous experiences with these lipstick brands (keeping in mind each brand has a few different formulas).

 

          Here are comparison swatches of NARS Belle de Jour with MAC Creme d'Nude. Both have a  sheer finish. This certainly makes them more wearable than they appear in the tube. This is consistent with their formulations, as Belle de Jour is a sheer finish NARS lipstick and Creme d'Nude is a MAC Cremesheen finish. Both colors are light nudes. NARS Belle de Jour is darker and appears more orange. MAC Creme d'Nude is more peach toned. I've compared them to Bobbi Brown Beige lipstick, which was my previous go-to nude. I was surprised to see how dark Bobbi Brown Beige was compared to the others. This had me worried since Beige is already a nude color on me. I imagined that Belle de Jour and Creme d'Nude might be way too light. However, when I compared Bobbi Brown Beige with NARS Belle de Jour, I found they were of comparable lightness when worn on the lips, though the undertones are different. The reason is that Beige is more opaque, while Belle de Jour allows my lip color to contribute. I was initially scared of how orange NARS Belle de Jour looked when swatched; however, when worn it looks quite natural. MAC Creme d'Nude is significantly lighter than the other two when worn. Because it's peach, I think it has white tones mixed in, which make it more difficult to wear. I find that choosing amongst MAC "nude-out" type colors can be tricky. The colors can be more extreme (which is a part of the brand character).

           Overall I'm pleased with my new nude lip acquisitions. I find that the colors do not overlap, despite the similarities in tube and both being of sheer formulas. NARS Belle de jour will be an easy natural light nude for me that can be worn on a more everyday basis. MAC Creme d'Nude is a pale nude that will be a little more situational.

          Thanks for reading! Have you tried these colors? What are your favorite nude lip colors?

Love, Dovey.