NARS NARSissist Dual Intensity Eyeshadow Palette

Some people love high end make up and some people love budget beauty personally though I'm somewhere in the middle.Nowadays I don't believe that you have to spend a fortune to get a good quality product but sometimes it's nice to treat yourself and buy something a little bit more expensive.

If you're not a regular high end purchaser, Christmas and birthdays may give you the perfect opportunity to splash out and either treat yourself, or let somebody treat you to a designer beauty product or two. Way back in May I celebrated a 30 something (cough) birthday, and I was lucky enough to receive a little bit of money, most of which I spent on beauty and make up. One of the things that I bought from SpaceNK was this gorgeous limited edition NARS palette.

The NARS NARSissist Dual Intensity Eyeshadow Palette is packaged in a beautiful, but hard to photograph, chunky, silver, mirrored palette.

It contains a full sized mirror, and 8 x 1g eye shadows in the Dual Intensity formulation. This is one of NARS newest formulations and the multi dimensional effect shadows can be used wet or dry. The shadows can either be used dry to create a sheer wash of colour or they can be built up or used wet to create, a solid block colour, which is crease free and can supposedly last for up to 8 hours.

One of the key difference between high hand and more budget palettes is usually the applicators that they contain. More often than not cheaper palettes contain sponge end applicators I don't know about you but personally I don't know why they bother including them, they're  okay if you're desperate but I tend to put them in my craft stash or just throw them away. This NARS palette though is just quality personified  and includes an all be it scaled down, but excellent quality travel sized fluffy eye shadow brush, which can be used both wet and dry. This brush is a valuable inclusion and one I will actually use.

The palette contains a variety of shades ranging from shimmering neutrals, that are ideal for a paired down everyday look, to rich dark, smokey shades that are perfect for the party season. Although this palette can be used both wet and dry, I've just swatched it dry to give you an idea of the depth and multi dimensional qualities of the shadows

On the top row from left to right - Europa which is a beautiful, pale, iridescent pink peach, Himalia which us a shimmering topaz colour, Ursa Major which is a yummy glazed chocolate colour and Subra, which is a black orchid, almost burgundy, rouge noir shade.

and on the bottom row from left to right - Andromeda - a pale, alabaster shade, Lysithea, which is probably my favourite colour and is described as a silvery, shark grey, Giove which is a deep navy blue, and Sycorax which is a midnight black shade.

Good pigmentation and embossed eye shadows are words that don't often go hand in hand, but as you can see from these pictures, these shadows are extremely pigmented, and buildable, and they have a smooth almost creamy texture. If they look like this dry then you can imagine how amazing they look when they're wet.

This palette retails at around £45 and whilst it isn't cheap I think it's definitely worth the money - it's not only aesthetically pleasing but everything about from the shadows to the brush just screams quality. Unfortunately it was a limited edition so it's not that easy to get a hold of now but I have managed to track a few down on Sephora if you're in the US, and on ASOS and Harvey Nichols if you're in the UK.

If you can't manage to get your hands on this palette or if you only like certain shades, all of the colours apart from Ursa Major are available individually,in a 14g full size, for £21. The beautiful black orchid, burgundy shade Subra is also available along with 3 other Dual Intensity shades in the new NARS Steven Klein Dual Intensity Eyeshadow Palette Dead Of Summer for around £35.

Are you a NARS fan ? I'd love to hear your thoughts and your recommendations x