Editorial standards
How We Research and Update Guides
Readers should know how a guide was put together before they trust it. This page explains where our product information comes from, how we compare products, and what we do when a formula or shade range changes.
What this covers
The rules below apply to every guide on this site, including the concealers, the Orgasm shade page, and the complexion shade finder. They describe how NARS cosmetics information is gathered, compared, corrected, and dated.
Guides that can change
Complexion guides, concealer comparisons, and anything citing a specific shade count are reviewed most often because formulas and shade ranges move.
Guides that stay put
Explanations of a finish, a coverage level, or how a product is positioned rarely shift, so they are re-read less often and edited only when the wording itself has aged.
A guide is only useful if you can see how it was built and when it was last checked.
That is the whole point of this page: no hidden sourcing, no borrowed praise, no quiet edits.
Where our facts come from
Every factual detail in a guide traces back to something published, not to a memory of a product.
We work from published product descriptions on brand and retailer pages, and we cross-check them against each other. Shade counts, finish language, and formula positioning come from those descriptions rather than from our own testing.
When two sources disagree, we say so or leave the detail out rather than picking the more flattering version. A shade count that cannot be confirmed from a published description does not go into a guide as a number, and a finish described in two incompatible ways gets a sentence explaining the disagreement instead of a confident single claim.
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Product descriptions
Shade names, shade counts, finish wording, and how a formula is positioned all come from the description published by the brand or the retailer listing.
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Cross-checking
A claim is only written into a guide once it appears in more than one description, or once we can show the single source it rests on.
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Gaps we name
Where a detail is missing or contradictory, the guide says so. Leaving a reader to assume we checked something we did not is worse than an admitted gap.
What we verify and what we do not
Shade counts and formula positioning are verifiable. How a product performs on your specific skin is not, and we do not pretend otherwise.
We can check
- How many shades a range lists in its published description
- Whether a formula is described as radiant, matte, or something between
- Which category a product belongs to and what it is intended for
- Whether two products are genuinely comparable or not
We cannot check
- How a shade will look on your undertone and depth
- How long a finish holds on your skin type and in your climate
- How a product behaves over your skincare and primer
- Whether you personally prefer a radiant or a matte result
We describe what a finish is designed to do and who it tends to suit, then leave the final judgment to the reader. That is the honest limit of writing about makeup without standing next to you.
How we compare products
We compare within a category, never across categories. A concealer is measured against another concealer, and a lip balm is never ranked against a foundation.
Coverage
How much the product is positioned to conceal, and whether it is built for spot work or for the whole complexion.
Finish
Whether the result is described as radiant, natural, or matte, and how that wording changes how the product is used.
Shade range
How wide the published range is, which undertones it leans toward, and whether your depth is likely to be represented.
Intended use
Where the product fits in a routine and what it is meant to sit over, which is often what decides an either-or question.
We do not rank a lip balm against a foundation, and we do not declare a single winner across an entire brand. Two products can both be good and still answer different questions, and flattening that into a ranking would lose the detail that made the comparison worth reading.
The comparison page format exists because readers ask specific either-or questions. When you are choosing between two concealers, the useful answer names the difference in finish, coverage, and shade range, then tells you which kind of skin or routine each one suits better.
Put it to use
If your question is already an either-or, the comparison page will save you time. If you are still working out which undertone you are, start with the shade guide.
Compare the two concealersWhy we do not publish testimonials
We do not publish customer reviews, ratings, or before-and-after images. We cannot verify them to a standard that would make them worth reading, and unverified praise is not information.
If you want to know how a product behaves, the useful signals are the formula description and the finish, not a stranger's five stars. A review written in another climate, on another skin type, over another routine tells you more about that reviewer than about the product you are considering.
How we handle updates
Formulas and shade ranges change, so a guide that was accurate two years ago can quietly mislead. Reviewing on a schedule is how we catch that before a reader does.
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We review the pages most likely to shift first
Complexion guides, concealer comparisons, and anything citing a specific shade count get looked at more often than a page explaining what a finish is.
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We check the sources again
Shade counts and finish wording are compared against the current published descriptions. If the description changed, the guide changes with it.
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We revise the text rather than appending a note
A correction buried under a stack of dated updates is still wrong at the top of the page. The body of the guide gets rewritten so what you read first is what currently holds.
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We date the guide to its last substantive edit
The date on a guide reflects its last substantive edit, not the day it was first published and not a cosmetic refresh of the page.
Corrections from readers
If a page states something that no longer holds, tell us through the contact page. We check the claim against the source before editing.
Several of our current guides exist because a reader pointed out that two similar products were being described as if they were interchangeable. A specific note, with the page and the sentence you doubt, is the fastest thing to act on.
Send a correctionTopic selection
We write about products readers ask about, which is why the topic list leans toward concealers, cheek color, and shade selection. We do not write about a product because it is new or trending.
If a page does not answer a question you actually have, that is a signal we picked the wrong topic — and a good reason to write in.
Commercial relationships
We have none. No affiliate links, no paid placements, and no sponsored sections. Products appear because they are part of the NARS lineup and readers ask about them.
If that ever changes, it will be disclosed on the page where it applies rather than in a footer note.
Language and claims
We avoid absolute language. Makeup performance depends on skin type, climate, application, and what you layer underneath, so a claim that something always works or lasts a fixed number of hours would be misleading.
Where we describe a finish or a coverage level, we are describing what the product is positioned to do. That distinction matters more than it sounds: a radiant finish is a described result, not a promise about how it will look on your skin at the end of a long day.
How to read a guide here
Start with the section that matches your question rather than reading top to bottom. If you are deciding between two concealers, the comparison page is faster than the shade guide. If you do not know your undertone yet, the shade guide comes first.
Each page ends with the next logical step, so you can follow the sequence that fits the decision you are actually making instead of working through every guide in order.
Questions readers ask
Three things come up most often about how this journal is put together.
Do you test products yourselves?
We work from published product descriptions for factual details and describe what a finish or coverage level is designed to do. We do not claim personal testing results.
Why are there no customer reviews on this site?
We cannot verify them, and unverified praise is not useful information. Formula descriptions and finish details are more reliable signals when you are trying to work out how a product behaves.
How do I report an error?
Use the contact page. We check the claim against the source before editing the guide, and we will say so if the original wording still holds.
Read the guide you actually need
NARS beauty products are described here the way the sources describe them, with the limits of that information stated plainly. If a page still leaves you with a question, send it over — that is how the next guide gets picked.
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