Top left to right: Europa, Himalia, Ursa Major (exlusive), Subra. Bottom left to right: Andromeda, Lysithea, Giove, Sycorax
At the beginning of the year I distinctly remember telling myself that I didn’t need any more eye shadow. At the moment I have a couple of palettes that I use very regularly so I wasn’t too sure whether I could fit one more in. All of my palettes I would argue are very much based around the nude spectrum with perhaps one that is slightly more rustic in tone, therefore when I saw the new NARS Dual Intensity Eye Shadow Palette I found myself considering what made it different, what could justify the purchase?
NARS for a start is perhaps my favourite make up brand on a whole although there’s becoming tough competition from the likes of Charlotte Tilbury and Urban Decay. Before this palette was released I had been able to try some of the individual eye shadows in store at Christmas, where I found that they were incredibly pigmented and easy to blend. After this initial experience I really wanted to pick one up however the price of them made me extremely reluctant. One full size Dual Intensity Eye Shadow (0.05oz) will set you back £21 so they are pretty expensive. Despite this factor they have since remained in my mind because I had been so impressed with them.
Once I had discovered that a palette was being released with a selection of the shadows in I knew to hold off as palettes such as this tend to work out at much better value for money; this one is no different. Firstly there are eight eye shadows within this palette, each one being 0.03oz so they are slightly smaller than the full size options. Obviously there is a slight difference in size here but you’re still purchasing eight eye shadows for £45 which I think is good value for money, although I do appreciate that this is still an expensive purchase.
Packaging wise its presentation is really nice, the top part is one large mirror which is something I think is quite unusual however following a typical NARS trend it really does pick up those pesky finger prints.
Seven of the shades are from the permanent line with Ursa Major currently being elusive to the palette. I actually wasn’t aware of this factor when I picked it up so it turned out to be a nice little surprise. Pigmentation wise these are just as good as their individual counterparts, they again blend easily and are lovely to work with. A large selling point of these eye shadows in general is that you can use them wet to help create a much more intense look and finish. Now personally I struggle using eye shadow when it is wet as I just can’t seem to get them to blend very well. My story is no different where this palette is concerned as sadly I just cannot get to grips with it, even when using the designated brush that comes with the palette. Knowing I’m not very good at using wet eye shadow I can’t say that this was a factor which made me buy it however if unlike me you’re a dab hand with the eye shadow brush then it’s a nice factor to consider.
The shade range in this appeals to me a lot and whilst again I do believe that this is a relatively neutral palette I do like the fact that there is colour present here. Giove for instance is a beautiful navy blue which actually when on does come out darker than it looks in the pan, it can add a really nice twist to a neutral eye. In terms of longevity I’m finding that these are pretty impressive, I’ve worn a few of the shades over both days since I picked it up, where come the evening time I have had very minimal creasing.
Overall it’s a beautiful palette, expensive yet good value for money. Do I need it? Of course not, it is after all an eye shadow palette but if like me you really like your make up, particularly eye make up at that then it’s one worth having a look at if you get the chance. I picked mine up at Selfridges this Sunday just gone which happened to be the day it launched in store. One thing I would add is to bear in mind that this palette is a limited edition therefore it might not be available for too long.
Before I round up I’d like to quickly address the fact that I have decided not to include swatches of this palette. I’ll be really honest in that I struggle a lot to get a decent swatch photographs, I find it highly stressful and pretty annoying too whereby I spend so much time re-swatching products that it turns out to be really wasteful. My blog is somewhere in which I like to share photographs to the best of my ability, they’re not perfect but everyone that goes up these days is a picture I’m generally on a whole happy with. Sadly swatch photographs and me just do not get along.
