NARS

NARS is an American cosmetics company founded in 1994 by the French makeup artist and photographer François Nars [4]. The line began with twelve lipsticks sold at Barneys New York, and grew into a colour-led makeup house known above all for its blushes and complexion products. Since 2000 the company has been a subsidiary of the Tokyo-based group Shiseido [4], though the NARS name and product range remain commercially active, with current collections sold worldwide.

The brand carries the imprint of its founder. François Nars trained at the Carita makeup school in Paris before moving to New York in 1984, and built NARS around what the company calls an "unexpected, no-rules philosophy of beauty" centred on bold self-expression and artistry.

François Nars worked as a makeup artist before starting his own line, a decision the brand and editorial accounts attribute to his dissatisfaction with what the market then offered. He launched NARS in 1994 with a collection of twelve lipsticks sold at Barneys New York [4], pairing a makeup-artist sensibility with an emphasis on colour. The founder is French and trained in Paris, while the company itself was founded and first sold its products in New York; both facts sit side by side rather than in conflict.

Beyond cosmetics, Nars is also a photographer, and the company describes him as a creative figure whose approach shapes the brand's product development, naming and campaigns. In 2016 he received France's Ordre National de la Légion d'Honneur, recognising his career as a makeup artist and image-maker [3].

NARS was sold to Shiseido, the Tokyo-based beauty group, in 2000 and has operated as a Shiseido subsidiary since [4]. Within that group it sits alongside brands including Clé de Peau Beauté, Drunk Elephant, Narciso Rodriguez and Serge Lutens. The acquisition changed the ownership but not the brand identity, which continues to trade under the NARS name.

NARS positions itself as a prestige makeup brand built on artistry and self-expression. The company sums up its outlook in a line attributed to the founder — "Don't hold back. Be bold." — and frames its products, shade names and campaigns as deliberately unexpected. The provocative naming is part of that stance: of the Orgasm blush, Nars has said he "first created the name, then the shade," wanting "something shocking." The range centres on makeup across face, eye, lip and cheek categories, with a smaller skincare and body line.

The brand's defining product is the Orgasm blush, a peachy-pink, gold-flecked shade launched in 1999 that, by editorial accounts, is what put NARS on the makeup map [6]. It has become the company's signature item: The Zoe Report describes it as a cult favourite and the number-one-selling blush in the United States, reporting that one is sold every minute in the US according to brand sales data [5]. The shade has since anchored a wider Orgasm collection spanning liquid blush, lip and powder products.

Other well-known products include the Radiant Creamy Concealer — which the company markets with the line "1 concealer sold every 5 seconds" [2] — the Laguna bronzer, and the Light Reflecting foundation. NARS also cites clinical testing behind some performance claims, such as a stated 16-hour wear for its Luminizing Blush.

The Orgasm blush has drawn sustained editorial recognition. According to The Zoe Report, it won 16 consecutive Allure Reader's Choice Awards from 2002 to 2017 and five consecutive Allure Best of Beauty Awards from 2004 to 2008, and was named Most Universally Flattering Blush at the 2017 Glamour Beauty Awards [5].

In 2017, NARS announced that it would permit the animal testing required to sell in the Chinese market. The decision drew critical responses and calls for a boycott [4].

NARS remains an active brand and an acquired company: it has operated as a subsidiary of Shiseido since 2000 [4]. Its official site continues to list current collections — among them Light Reflecting, Orgasm, Summer Sculpt, Soft Matte and Afterglow — and the brand maintains a global retail presence.