Nars American Dream palette

Nars is a brand that has interested me for a long time. After much lingering at the local Space NK counter, I've made a small number of purchases, mainly single eyeshadows and a couple of blushers, all very nice indeed. Once a few such inroads into a brand have been made, it can be difficult to know where to go next. And at £17 for an eyeshadow, its not cheap....

But then I saw this on Asos.com.



 



Six Nars eyeshadows, and perfectly lovely, neutral ones at that, for £39.50. A very tempting option, especially with the free shipping that you get with Asos premier.

 

The packaging is the usual love it or hate it packaging (sleek yet dirt-attracting rubbery). The shades, one from each of the Bellissima, Alhambra and Silk Road and Tzarine duos, together with Galapagos and Bali, offer a really useful range of neutral, edging towards dramatic, colours.

 



 

Comparisons have been made to Urban Decay's infamous Naked palette especially, and the other countless 'nude' palettes marketed by practically every other cosmetic company. The payoff of the shadows isn't quite as uniformly good as the Naked palette; things range here from a disappointingly grainy rose gold shade to the excellent buttery matte brown Bali.

 

 

 

I find the shades just a bit more interesting than the Urban Decay ones. The above swatches indicate (in addition to the need to wear rubber gloves while doing the washing up) the intensity of (most of) the shades, making this palette an ideal one for travel or a capsule makeup collection.