Tuesday, June 23, 2009

I <3 NARS

Though I technically do not own any high-end makeup, I am in absolute love with NARS. Therefore, when I heard that he was coming to Chicago's own Barneys, I penned in a visit on that gorgeous sunny Saturday.

The event was a book signing, and being my usual forgetful self I did not have a copy of his book in my hand...nor did I bring a camera when I walked up to the Oak Street area. Stupid, right? I know. I was pretty mad at myself. I also didn't wait in line and meet him, which I totally regret now. I was wandering up on the north end of Michigan Ave., which is a beautiful, albeit expensive area, and found my way to Barneys, where I walked downstairs to the beauty area. Now, the beauty area is a little enclosed space, nothing like the Nordstrom and Macy's beauty sprawlings that I'm accustomed to, where you can wander around and gaze at cosmetics, with a couple of "Can I help you"s and not be seen. At this place, however, various NARS employees were all eyeing me, ready to see if they could do a makeover, and most of the people in line had a book for Francois Nars to sign. So, I wandered around for a bit, got a glimpse of Monsieur Nars himself, stared at the line, and then felt so self-conscious at all of the salesgirls staring at me and asking with their eyes whether I wanted to get my makeup done that I snuck one last glance at Mr. Nars and then promptly left. I was firm with myself about not getting my makeup done because I feel so bad about not buying a product after someone demos it on me solo that I know I would feel terrible about not buying much of anything after a NARS expert did my whole face. But still, it was a lovely walk through the Oak Street area, and my first brush with a genius of makeup was quite a nice one.

Speaking of NARS...I own a NARS eyeshadow! My first one. And yes, I'm treating it like a piece of precious jewelry.

It's a NARS single eyeshadow in Kiki, a smoky matte grey. It's not a particularly intense or unique shade, but I was browsing C. O. Bigelow with one of my friends and was directed to their 75% off counter. By the way...I don't know if the sales are over, but if they aren't -- head over to your nearest C. O. Bigelow immediately! I'm not one to fall for fake good prices, but these were amazing.


Anyway, the reason I'm bringing up this eyeshadow now is that I popped it in my purse with the hopes that I could have Sir NARS sign it instead of a book. But, as you read earlier, I chickened out and now totally wish I had stayed in line and had him sign my eyeshadow. As humiliating as that might have been, it would have been nice to meet him face-to-face.

Ah, well. Maybe next time?

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