Nars Afterglow Lip Balm carries the peachy glow of the 1999 Orgasm blush onto the mouth. This edit follows the family from the balms to the oils, glosses and lipsticks that borrow the name.
How Nars Afterglow Lip Balm Grew Out of a 1999 Blush
Nars Afterglow Lip Balm starts with a blush and a name. In 1999, François Nars released a shimmery pinky-peach blush and called it Orgasm, and he has said the name came to him before the color did. His logic was simple: when you blush, it is a feeling, so why not give those feelings to blushes, some of them a little naughty. The brand was already five years old, born in 1994 with twelve lipsticks. In May 2018 the shade finally moved to the mouth as Orgasm Afterglow Lip Balm, a sheer, peachy-pink shimmery tinted lip balm in a mirrored rose gold tube. NewBeauty reported that it sold out within 24 hours of launch. The line has grown well past that first shade since, and the balms now come with hyaluronic acid and a promise of 24 hours of hydration from the brand. This edit is my Afterglow shelf: four balms first, then oils, glosses and two lipsticks that borrow the name.
Four Afterglow balms
Oils that catch the light
The second grid gets glossier. The three Afterglow oils are Orgasm, Twirl and Faraway, described by the brand as gel-oil glosses with vitamins E and A, omega 3 and 6, and pomegranate extract. Orgasm is the peachy pink with golden shimmer, the direct descendant of that 1999 blush. Twirl is a rose pink and Faraway is an apricot tea, which I find the easiest of the three on bare lips. The mini duo pairs Afterglow Liquid Blush in Dolce Vita, a dusty rose, with Afterglow Lip Shine in Aragon, a red chestnut, so cheek and mouth can match. If you want a sheer lip oil that will not fight your lipstick, a swipe over the top is the simplest move in this whole edit. Here is my small tip. Dab a fingertip of the blush on the cheeks first, then use the lip shine, and the face reads as if it caught one light instead of two.
Where balm turns into color
Grid three is where the line goes from balm to color. The two Lip Shine glosses repeat the Orgasm shade and add Turkish Delight, a pink sherbet with the same sheer, mirror-like shine. The two Sensual Shine lipsticks, First Move in a ballerina pink and Dolce Vita 888 in a dusty rose, carry shea butter and mango butter, which the brand says form a barrier for eight-hour hydration. I like that Dolce Vita shows up in a balm, a blush and a lipstick, because you can build one color across a whole day. What I would skip is wearing the gloss on a windy day with your hair down. A mirror shine catches every loose strand, and the afternoon becomes a lesson in peeling hair off your mouth. Save the glosses for still evenings and keep the lipsticks for the commute.
The one for the coat pocket
Nars built a whole family out of one blush and a good name, which is a very François Nars way to work. My pick for the coat pocket is still a balm, because it asks nothing of you and gives back a little color. Fast Lane is the mauve nude I would start with, and Triple X is there when you want shine and no shade at all. Everything else in the edit is a way to dial the glow up or down. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together NARS Orgasm Blush and How the Huda Lip Stain Grew Out of a Lash Line and a Loan.
