NARS x Guy Bourdin: One Night Stand Cheek Palette

Swatches & Review

Two years ago, NARS came out with their first Cheek Palette that contains six cheek colors in them. They have always been the first to sell out so when I heard they were making one this year, I knew I had to get it. Unlike the two released in the past, the One Night Stand Cheek Palette has three exclusive limited edition shades. The Guy Bourdin One Night Stand palette is exclusively sold at Sephora for the Holiday season.

The box that this palette comes in.

The palette taken in natural daylight.

The palette taken indoor with light.

The six shades in this palette are:
Devotee, Laguna, Mistinguette, Deep Throat, Orgasm, and Goulue.

Devotee: Frosty highlighter with a slight pink sheen. Devotee is very pigmented and a little goes a long way. This is a nice highlighter to pair with matte shades.

Laguna: Bronzer with golden shimmer. In previous palette sets, Laguna applied patchy for me, however, this barely even showed up on me at all! This was stiff and a bit hard to apply. I used many layers before it actually showed up a bit. In my swatch, it does not look like anything is there, but it is.

Mistinguette is described as a bright pink, but on me, it is more like a pale light pink. This is the only matte shade in the palette and this was quite powdery and chalky for me when swatched. When applied with a blush brush, it is not as powdery, but it definitely emphasized the dry patches on my cheeks.

Deep Throat: Sheer peach with slight golden shimmer. If you compare this to Orgasm, you can definitely see that Deep Throat is more peachy, while Orgasm is more pink. I feel that the individual blush of Deep Throat is more pigmented and smooth compared to what is offered in this palette. However, it is still a nice subtle blush for a natural look.

Orgasm: Peachy-pink with golden shimmer. The shimmer in Orgasm is more noticeable than in Deep Throat. This also was not as pigmented and smooth when compared to the individual blush and the other Orgasms I own from other palettes, but the shade is buildable.

Goulue: Medium pink with subtle golden shimmer. This was the most pigmented shade in the whole palette. This was buttery smooth and a light-hand is definitely needed with this if you do not want to overdo it. This is my favorite shade in the palette.

Overall, I feel like this palette is a good value if you do not already have the shades that are permanent in here (Laguna, Deep Throat & Orgasm. NARS definitely needs to stop putting those shades in everything). Although they did not perform as well as they do individually, Deep Throat and Orgasm are build-able to achieve the color that is in the individual ones. Laguna just did not work for me at all, and Mistinguette is a bit too light for my liking, but I did really like Devotee, and Goulue, which are exclusive to this palette. Each blush contains 0.14 oz of product, while each blush sold individually contains 0.16 oz of product, so it is almost full-sized, and buying it for those two almost justifies the price (if you do not mind another Deep Throat, Orgasm or Laguna).

The One Night Stand palette retails for $65 and is exclusive to Sephora (Online & In-Stores although it is listed as "online only" on their website, it is not).

What do you think about this cheek palette? Would you buy it for the exclusive shades?

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NARS Voulez Vous Eye & Cheek Palette

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NARS Voulez Vous Eye & Cheek Palette

Preview:

Last year, NARS came out with a second version of their cheek palette for Nordstrom's Anniversary sale. I was hoping for something similar to that again, but unfortunately, it will be an eye & cheek palette, which is what their palettes have been like these past few months. Here is a preview of the Voulez Vous Palette:

Image found from Nordstrom.com

I don't know how to feel about this, but I DO like that they do not include their bronzer OR Orgasm blush in this. Instead, it will have Dolce Vita & Deep Throat, along with four new exclusive eyeshadow shades for this palette. This will retail for $59, and the each of the blush sizes are 0.15 oz, which isn't too bad of a deal considering one full-size blush has 0.16oz of product & retails for $29, so it's like buying two blushes and getting the eyeshadows with it.

What do you think about this palette? I'm on the fence about it, but since I don't have Deep Throat & Dolce Vita, I might end up picking this up.


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NARS Pierre Hardy Blush: Rotonde

Swatches & Review

Rotonde is one of the two blushes released for NARS x Pierre Hardy Summer 2013 collection. When I first saw the blushes online, I thought that they looked amazing, but the price tag on these made it hard for me to order them immediately. When they were released at Sephora, I swatched them at the store and I knew I had to have them. NARS Rotonde is described as "tiger lily."


The front of the packaging says Pierre Hardy on it.


This blush was incredibly hard to capture on capture, no matter what lighting I used indoor or outdoor. It is definitely brighter in person. It is a bright orange with golden over-spray to create a pattern on it. It was too pretty to touch so I waited a week before messing it up :P


On the left, it is swatched without the over-spray and on the right, it is swatched with the over-spray. It is a bit hard to see, but you can kind of see some shimmer with the over-spray. Without the over-spray, it is a matte vibrant orange.


Left is without the over-spray and right is with the over-spray.

Although it is $41 the one thing that made me have to have this was it was incredibly pigmented. This blush is very very smooth, pigmented, and easy to blend. When I swatched these, only one swipe was used and it stained my finger. I have tried these on my cheeks and on the cheeks, it looks a bit like a bronze-ish orange, which does not look bad at all. It is important to use a light-hand with these because it can easily be overdone & just a dab with a brush onto the pan is enough. After using it twice, the golden over-spray on the parts I have been using is pretty much gone. It lasted about seven hours on me before it started fading, which was really good for a blush.

For $41, you get 0.45 oz of product, which is not bad considering one NARS blush is $29 for 0.16 oz of product, so this is about three times the amount of a regular NARS blush.

What do you think about NARS x Pierre Hardy collection for Summer?

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NARS Express Yourself Eyes Palette

Swatches & Review

NARS Express Yourself Eyes palette is part of NARS Makeup Your Mind: Express Yourself kit, which I have recently won from Sephora's Holiday twitter giveaway.

This palette is packaged with a rubberized feeling on the outside.

The Express Yourself Eyes palette contains six eyeshadows.

Left to Right:
Abyssinia: Creamy pearl. This was a bit dry and chalky.
Silk Road II: Warm peach with gold glitter. This was gritty and has major fall-out because of the chunky glitter.
Strada: Lavendar with gold glitter. This was pigmented & even though it has gold glitter in it, it does not really show up. There was a little fall-out, but not as much as Silk Road.

Galapagos: Brown with gold glitter. This was pigmented, but there is a lot of fall-out from the glitter.
Fuji: Forest green. This was very smooth and pigmented.
Brumes II: Smokey slate blue with subtle shimmer. This was very smooth and pigmented.

All of these were swatched over NARS Smudge proof base. A majority of this palette is very glittery/shimmery.
Out of the six colors, I think the only two I liked is Fuji and Brumes. I'm not too big on glittery shades, especially with the fall-out, so if it was up to me, I probably would not have personally purchased this for myself. This is my first time trying NARS eyeshadows, and personally, I prefer Urban Decay, Too Faced & Inglot over this. The colors from this set is not that unique for me to justify spending $85 on this set. The top row's pigmentation was okay, while the bottom row had better pigmentation. I think with NARS, I will just stick with their blushes since I love the blushes I have from them.

What do you think about this eyeshadow palette? Have you tried NARS eyeshadows? What do you think about NARS items?

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NARS Larger Than Life Volumizing Mascara

Swatches & Review

I recently won Sephora's twitter holiday giveaway and as the prize, I received NARS Makeup Your Mind: Express Yourself kit. The kit includes full-sized NARS Larger Than Life Volumizing mascara.

Like all other NARS products, the tube has a rubberized feeling to it.

The brush for this mascara has a honeycomb style.

For the swatches on my eyelashes, I have shown one with no mascara, then one coat, then two coats.
Be prepared to see a lot of eyes O_O

The picture on the left is with my lashes uncurled and no mascara. The one in the middle shows my lashes curled with one coat of NARS Larger than Life mascara. The one on the right shows it with two coats.
As you can see, the NARS Larger than Life mascara enhances my lashes a lot! With two coats, you can definitely see the lashes a lot better.

From my previous reviews of mascara, I mentioned that it was quite hard to keep my eyelashes curled because they normally go back to being stick-straight after a while. NARS Larger than Life mascara is not very wet, so it dries very quickly, which actually keeps my eyelashes curled! I have been looking for a mascara to keep my eyelashes curled and I think this is it since I have been loving it so far. This mascara also does not clump when applying, so my eyelashes won't stick together into one single piece. The downsides to this is that it is hard to wash off, even with makeup remover. I always use Bobbi Brown's makeup remover and it wipes everything off easily, besides this mascara so if you do not need to use more than one coat, I suggest only using one coat for an easier time removing it. The other downside is the price. It retails for $25, which is pretty steep considering mascara's dry out real quickly. Out of all the mascara's I have right now, I would definitely choose this over the others until I can find a cheaper alternative.

What do you think about NARS Larger Than Life mascara? Have you tried it? What mascara would you recommend for me to keep my eyelashes curled?

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Sephora Favorites

Every once in a while, Sephora releases "Sephora Favorites". Sometimes, the items catches my eyes, but sometimes it's just "meh" to me. I just spotted some newer items on their website so I decided to share!

This is the In The Glow set. I remember they had another In The Glow set earlier this year & it was more of skincare items? It seems that this time, it's more of bronzer and blushes.
According to Sephora, this set contains:
- 0.13 oz Benefit High Beam
- 0.08 oz Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzing Powder
- 0.17 oz Tarte Natural Cheek Stain in Flush
- 0.07 oz Stila Convertible Color in Peony
- 0.11 oz Tarte Amazonian Clay 12 Hour Blush in Splendor
- 0.106 oz Lorac Perfectly Lit Oil-Free Luminizing Powder in Spotlight
- 0.02 oz bareMinerals All Over Face Color in Pure Radiance
- 0.14 oz Laura Mercier Shimmer Bloc in Golden Mosaic
- 0.08 oz Nars Bronzing Powder in Laguna
This retails for $45.
From this set, I am interested in the Tarte blush in Splendor. It seems that the shade is exclusive to this set since I can not find any information on it. I like how this includes Too Faced's Chocolate Soleil bronzer because that is one of my favorite bronzers.

The next set is Draw The Line:

Draw the Line basically contains eyeliners in them. From the images, it seems like this set includes a full-sized Urban Decay 24/7 Liquid Liner, which retails for $19 itself. This whole set retails for $28
This contains:
- 0.12 oz Smashbox Jet Set Waterproof Eye Liner in Midnight Black
- 0.025 oz MAKE UP FOR EVER Aqua Eyes Waterproof Eyeliner in Mat Black 0L
- 0.007 oz Buxom Insider Eyeliner in Black Jasper
- 0.007 oz Kat Von D Tattoo Liner in Trooper
- 0.058 oz Urban Decay 24/7 Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in Perversion
- 0.011 oz Sephora Collection Waterproof Retractable Eyeliner in 09 Glitter Black

The last set that caught my eye was the Super Stars Beauty Essentials.

This set is more expensive than the other two I listed. This set retails for $75, but it includes a full-sized NARS Orgasm blush, a full-sized Stila liquid liner, a full-sized Benefit they're real! mascara, AND a full-sized Buxom lipgloss. Those full-sized items included pretty much is the whole set itself with some extras included.
This set contains:
- 0.035 oz Make Up For Ever HD Microfinish Powder
- 0.063 oz Sephora Collection Microsmooth Baked Eyeshadow Trio in Sunset
- 0.16 oz Nars Blush in Orgasm
- 0.33 oz Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer
- 0.50 oz Kate Somerville ExfoliKate Intensive Exfoliating Treatment
- 0.50 oz Josie Maran 100% Pure Argan Oil
- 0.3 oz Benefit They're Real! Mascara
- 0.15 oz Buxom Big & Healthy Lip Polish in Dolly
- 0.016 oz Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner
- 0.20 oz Chloé Rollerball

Overall, I feel like these are a good value. I am definitely eying the In the Glow set because I am a sucker for cheek items, but the liner set seems amazing too! I think these sets are good if you want to try new things because they are a generous size for you to try it out to see if you like it. These will also make great gifts as well since you can just open it and split up the items. What do you think about these?

All images and description from this post were found on Sephora.com

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NARS Joie De Vivre vs Danmari

Since I have both the cheek palettes released by NARS with the same design and everything, I decided to do a comparison of them. Both the palettes contain one bronzer, one highlighter, and four blushes.
In the Danmari, the colors included are: Hungry Heart Duo II, Casino, Orgasm, Super Orgasm, Desire, & Sin.
In Joie de Vivre, the colors included are: Albatross, Laguna, Gaiety, Orgasm, Luster, & Angelika.
From the packaging, Danmari has the bulkier packaging, where the lid of the box comes off, while Joie de Vivre is a slimmer box with openings on the side for the palette to slide out.

Click image to enlarge
Left to Right: Sin, Desire, Super Orgasm, Orgasm, Casino, & Hungry Heart (it's there, but barely visible)
Left to right: Angelika, Luster, Orgasm, Gaiety, Laguna
In the comparison picture of the palettes, it seems like Angelika and Desire are similar, but not the same. However, they are very similar when swatched. The main difference between Desire & Angelika is that Desire is matte, and Angelika is glittery. Other than that, the colors for both to palettes are quite similar with the exception of Sin & Luster. Sin is a berry-colored blush in the Danmari, and Luster is a peachy-colored blush in Joie de Vivre. I think because Sin is more appropriate for Winter, and Luster is more appropriate for Summer. When I compare the bronzers, I definitely like Laguna better. Although Laguna was kind of patchy, Casino lacked pigmentation from the Danmari palette. From both to palettes, I also noticed that Orgasm felt different in both of the palettes. To me, Orgasm was a lot less smooth in the Danmari than it was in Joie de Vivre. It took a few swipes more for Orgasm from the Danmari to show up for me than it did from Joie de Vivre.

Overall, I feel like both palettes are nice, but if I were to choose, I would choose Joie de Vivre because I feel like it has a better combination than the Danmari because the Danmari included both Orgasm & Super Orgasm, which I felt was totally not needed at all.

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NARS Joie De Vivre Cheek Palette

Swatches & Review
Since this palette is out for cardholders right now, my boyfriend actually purchased this for me before the actual public release date, which is on July 20th. This palette is exclusive to Nordstrom for their anniversary sale & it consists of 6 colors. It has one highlighter: Albatross, one bronzer: Laguna, and four blushes: Gaiety, Orgasm, Luster, and Angelika.

Top: Albatross, Gaiety, Luster
Bottom: Laguna, Orgasm, Angelika

Left to right: Angelika, Luster, Orgasm, Gaiety, Laguna

In daylight.

They all contain 0.12oz of product which is a good size for each pan of them. After swatching, I realized I forgot to swatch Albatross as well.. oops =x. Anyway, I really like the shades in this palette. Although I thought Gaiety and Angelika would be very similar, you can see that Angelika is a lot darker pink than Gaiety is. Although Angelika is supposed to be glittery, it was not too glittery when swatched. One of the blush I had a problem with is Gaiety, which is a matte pink and it came out pretty chalky. Orgasm is a peach with a gold sheen to it. Luster seems peachy on me. Luster was actually one of the shades I was afraid that would not work for me because I heard a lot of people saying how it turned out too orange for them, but Luster is actually my favorite shade from the palette and it is one of the smoothest color from the palette. The bronzer, Laguna was the second color in the palette that was hard for me to work with because it came out patchy.

Overall, I like the colors in this palette more than the Danmari cheek palette last holiday from Sephora, mainly because the Danmari has both Orgasm and Super Orgasm. Although some colors gave me a problem (Gaiety & Laguna), the color is buildable and workable with a bit of effort into it. Luster was the easiest to apply, and Angelika was my second favorite. I also wish that Orgasm was not in this palette because Orgasm is in every single palette or item NARS comes out with. If you are just starting with NARS, this is definitely a good palette to start with because it gives you a variety of colors. What do you think about this palette? Will you buy it/have you already purchased it?

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NARS Joie De Vivre Cheek Palette

I have reviewed it here. :)

Remember the Danmari Cheek palette from NARS that was sold exclusively at Sephora last Holiday season? Well this time, there is a palette that looks exactly like that with different colors (well.. Orgasm is in there, yet again) for Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale! This palette is called Joie de Vivre, which means Joy of Life (in French & correct me if I'm wrong, I only took French in High School =x). The colors included in the palette will be Laguna, Orgasm, Luster, Angelika, Gaiety, and Albatross. I wish they included something else instead of Orgasm, although that is one of their "best selling" shades, and I feel like Gaiety and Angelika are very similar to each other. However, I might end up just buying it anyway if I get the chance to & if it doesn't sell out by the time the Anniversary sale starts for the public since there is a pre-sale for Nordstrom cardholders. Here is how the palette looks like:

Exactly like the Danmari, right? Just different colors and no Super Orgasm! Each shade contains 0.12 oz of product, whereas one full NARS blush contains 0.16 oz of product, so it is almost full-sized.
What do you think about this palette? Would you be getting it?

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