I have a love-hate relationship with this foundation. For reference: I have mostly normal skin, with occasional dry patches.
PROS:
- Wide range of colors: This line was the only line in all of Sephora which had a decent match for me. I was matched by a SA to Light 2, Mont Blanc.
- Long lasting: I don't notice much fading after 6+ hours
- Comfortable, breathable wear. I often forget I'm wearing liquid foundation when I use this.
- Decent coverage: It's sheer, like the name implies, but it covers up my redness.
- Beautiful packaging
CONS:
- Somewhat hard to blend - need to do a good deal of rubbing and blending in with my fingers
- Easy to overdo: Too much. and this foundation will look very cakey, as it is matte.
- Highlights dryness: Again, because it's matte, this will cling on to every dry flake of skin you have and hold on for dear life. I have to be careful when using it on my nose for this reason.
- Expensive
- The glass bottle is gorgeous, but comes without a pump.
Overall, it has its good side and its bad side. I just began my foray into the world of liquid foundation, and I'm eager to try other brands. I'll use this until it's gone and then try something else, but in a pinch, I'd come back to this.

The coverage is sheer, just as the name suggests. Unfortunately, it wasn't very effective as a matte foundation. My skin started to get oily after a few hours. Overall, I think the foundation is too expensive given the fact that it doesn't mattify the skin at all.

Oh my god this foundation is the WORST I have ever used and I have used loads from Chanel, MAC, ELDW, Clarins, Laura Mercier, Clinique, YSL etc etc you get the drift.

My skin is combination, oily t-zone normal elsewhere. I like a foundation to stay on through out the day like my ELDW. I have Nars Sheer Glow which I really like however it only stays fresh looking for about 5 hours on me before it goes shiny (not glowy!). I thought I would give the Sheer Matte a try as I was quite impressed with the glow and the finish it gave me. BIG mistake! This foundation is horrible. It is that thick it does not come out of the bottle (which has no pump) and spreading it WTF it will just not spread? I have tried with a primer, without a primer, with my fingers (as they recomend), a brush, a sponge and for some reason it will not spread. I am a Beauty Therapist so applying foundations is second nature to me but this one??? The finish it leaves it patchy, blotchy and just horrible. I took it off my face after 30 mins as it looked that bad. Dont waste your money like I did.

Nars you seriously need to discontinue this foundation!

I like how the color of this foundation (NARS Sheer Matte- Cadiz) matches my skin tone (Im a MAC NC-42 for ref). It is easy to over-apply this foundation and look caked up as a result. I found that the trick would be to start with a small amount and let the foundation sit or a couple of minutes (before applying rest of the make-up) as it tends to build up. I would agree that it is a little hard to blend in and tends to leave patches. I felt the need to be very careful while applying this and tried to do most of my make-up in natural light.
I use my fingers to blend it in and felt that the foundation acts very stubborn when it comes to spreading with a brush. The fact that it comes in a bottle w/o a pump is also annoying.
The finish is very matte and works well with my slightly oily skin. To tone down the matte a little bit, I use just a tad of the Laura Mercier Illuminating powder on my cheeks and the bridge of my nose. It instantly highlights my cheekbones without making them shiny.
All in all, it is a good foundation if used properly. In that sense, it is tricky and needs some practice to work with.
I don't know if its the humid weather or the foundation, but I think my skin broke up a little bit after using this. I might be wrong and it could just be the crazy hormones/weather

I never ever thought a foundation could make me look so good until I met Nars Sheer Matte. Previous foundations I've tried (for reference) include MUFE HD, various MAC foundations, and Stila Oil-Free. But one day I decided to try Nars since I had heard so many good things about Sheer Glow. since I'm pretty oily, I definitely don't need more "glow" throughout the day, so I picked up Sheer Matte and haven't looked back since. Somehow it does it all - looks great in pictures, in person and covers enough but not too much to look unnatural. In fact, I was at a MAC counter and asked to try Prolongwear foundation and the girl there told me to stick to what I was wearing since it looked so good. bahaha. Application: I almost always apply foundation with my fingers and I've found that it works well. I use shade Stromboli and set it with my MAC mineralize skinfinish natural in Medium Dark. I am around NC 35 but Barcelona was too dark - rule of thumb is to choose the lighter foundation and set it with a darker powder or use a bronzer.

REFERENCE: NC 35
shade bought: Barcelona

I couldn't believe that i use to be in love with this product. FIRST, let me state that this foundation should be used on people with oily to extremely oily skin. After i almost finished the bottle, i realized that the finish was WAY TOO DRYING. The only thing i love about NARS is their color selection. Otherwise, their expensive foundations aren't worth the money

I've been wearing this foundation for a year. I honestly can't find anything better. I have tested other foundations, and I find myself never as satisfied with how other foundations looked compared to NARS Sheer Matte. NARS Sheer Matte color selection is pretty good and various. I can't attribute my skin breaking out from this foundation. If anything, it has made my skin healthier. I love how my skin never looks oily at the end of the day, but rather dewy like how other reviewers have mentioned.

two complaints: It's expensive & no pump

I have read that some people think this foundation is hard to blend. I would agree, but if you have oily skin and if the foundation keeps your skin from looking less oily for the good part of the day. And if you use a good powder on top, and the foundation is doing it's job, i couldn't ask for more. The end product looks flawless! I buy this foundation because my skin is oily and I don't want it to slip and slide at the end of the day. It does its job. It would be great if it blended more easily, but that's not my primary concern. Keeping oiliness at bay is.

I'd buy again and again until something else is truly better. continued >>

I had bought the Nars Sheer Glow prior to buying this, but due to my ily skin I had to return that one. I decided on getting this one because Nars boasted that it mattifies and controls oils. After i got home i was eager to try this foundation. I had high hopes, but sadly this foundation failed me.
I was in need of a sheer-er/lighter foundation for the summer time, and this foundation has "sheer" in the title. But in reality, this foundation is quite thick! Thicker than my usual foundation, Lancome Teint Idole. Also the texture of this foundation was awful! and Did not spread evenly on my skin, it was blotchy and attached onto certain parts and completely spread over other parts leaving them bare. Hate Hate Hate this foundation, it is one of the worst department store foundations i have tried. I will be returning this foundation immediately.

This was not what I had hoped for. I tried it as a sample and it was a disappointment. The only pro is that the color match was good (NW20 with neutral undertones and I used Ceylon). Otherwise it was hard to blend, clung to dry spots that I didn't know my oily skin had, made my pores SO obvious and had to staying power. Will not buy full-size,

I'll give a bit of background on my skin type and foundation requirements before launching in to this review. I am fair and tend to find most foundations lean too pink or too orange/yellow for my tastes, leading me to assume I am more neutral toned that I thought. I have somewhat combination skin, my cheeks are usually normal, very occasionally dry, but I suffer from a VERY oily t-zone. I used to suffer from acne and have some residual pigmentation issues around my jaw as a result. My perfect foundation would be medium coverage, extremely long lasting, matte without looking mask-like, and, of course, have a perfect colour match.

I feel like I've found a lot of those qualities in NARS Sheer Matte foundation. The first thing I was impressed by was the range of colours available if you're quite pale. I was matched in store by a sales assistant who tried out the following on my jawline: Light 2 (Mont Blanc), Light 3 (Gobi) and Light 4 (Deauville). Gobi and Deauville were a bit too yellow on me, but Mont Blanc looked pretty much perfect. Although it is described as having more pink undertones, the SA felt that it is a bit more beige and fleshy than that, and I'd agree with her. Getting a good colour match is half the battle for me. For reference, the other shades in different brands I use are NC15 in MAC (although I hardly wear MAC foundations as their colours rarely work for me, sadly), 115 in MUFE HD, and Ecru in Estee Lauder Double Wear.

I've been wearing this foundation for the past few days and so far I am very impressed. I will say that I read a lot of the reviews on here before purchasing and that really helped me with application. Brushes don't do this foundation any favours. As many previous reviewers have mentioned, this looks best when applied with your fingers. I dot it on in the centre of my face and gently blend outwards. If your fingers are warm, this definitely helps. It gives just the right amount of coverage and is mildly buildable, but I prefer to use concealer rather than extra foundation. It lasts at least 8 hours on me without requiring any touch ups. I wore MUFE HD regularly and LOVED how it looked, but eventually decided to switch because I was having to use blotting paper and/or powder to touch up too frequently. I then tried Estee Lauder Double Wear, which lasted amazingly and needed no touch ups, but had to find something else when I saw just how bad it looked under flash photography! Sheer Matte seems to be the perfect halfway house for me, it has staying power and when it does start to wear a bit, I look dewy rather than oily, and due to the lack of SPF and the lighter coverage it still photographs well. I do not know if it has improved my skin as it claims to do, it's still early days, but I've had no contraindications which is always good news.

I always use a foundation primer with my foundations, plus I always set with a translucent powder to minimise shine. Thought to add that in as these factors no doubt also affect the wear of this foundation.

The downside is the packaging. It looks very stylish, I love the frosted glass and the rubberised cap. However, the neck of the bottle is very narrow, so getting the product out is a little laborious, and the cap is already showing signs of looking a little grubby despite me trying desperately to keep it clean! A pump applicator (as they're shown with on the demo stands in store) would help matters hugely. It seems like slightly false advertising to me to demonstrate a product with a pump, but sell it without. Still, it won't stop me from repurchasing.