Monsieur NARS, you're just too tempting...! part I

i really love the make up line of famous make up artist Francois Nars. many high quality gems and not too mainstream (at least here in germany).

in this post i want to show + review + swatch my NARS eyeshadows.
NARS shadows are really good quality, they are finely milled and apply evenly. the pigmentation is most of the times very high, but they still maintain a nice silky texture.
i like nars eyeshadows because they will have that special twist that would make them unique, like cool toned shadows have gold glitter, mauve colours with blue sparkles, brown shades with pink shimmer and so on.
there are some black sheep, too, as in every family ;) but if  you do a little bit of research before rushing out buying, you can easily avoid them. i have heard that many shades from the nightlife-series are quite hard to handle, as they have more fall-out and don't show their nice shimmers like in the pan.

• the single eyeshadows contain 3.5g each and cost 24€/16£/23$

• duo eyeshadows contain 4g each (2g per shade) and cost 34€/23£/32$.

• the 6-shade-artist's palettes do contain 9g of shadow, each 1.5g (cream shadows in these palettes are 0.8g), and cost 45€/37£/55$.

the containers next to each other to compare their size:

 
but now to my little treasures...

Strada eyeshadow, a cool toned lavender/purple with a greyish hue. lots of gold sparkles make this shade really special. if you apply on a base/primer, the gold glimmer will be more visible.

there is a similar shade by Guerlain, "L'instant fleuri" , but it is more pink toned/warmer.  "Goddess" by Wet n'Wild is told to be another dupe, but i haven't ever seen myself.

Cairo eyeshadow is a sand shade with a satin finish and tiny silver sparkles. some would define this as a light taupe.
it is swatched below together with the Modern Love palette.

Rajasthan duo was released in the fall collection and was limited edition, i think.
it contains a golden taupe (which is sooo beautiful and stunning!!! <3) and a green/teal tinged charcoal. both are shimmery.

Tzarine eyeshadow duo also came out with the fall collection, but stays in the permanent line.
it has a light champagne that glistens silver and a dark gray with a silvery sheen and many gold sparkles.

Strada - Rajasthan duo - Tzarine duo:

Modern Love palette. my first palette. with warm and cool tones, these palettes always contain shades of duos or monos, mostly from their permanent range.

1st row:
Alhambra  -  a light rosey beige with frost finish
Jezebel - a maroon with pink and gold shimmer
India Song - a cool toned dark brown with pink and gold shimmer

2nd row:
Tokyo - a satiny white
Habanera - amazing colour, a dark taupey purple with LOTS of white, teal and pink sparkles, that are still visible on your lids!
Pandora - a matte black with pink and teal microshimmers here and there.

next to the palette-swatches is one from Cairo mono eyeshadow.

Pleasures of Paris/Douceurs de Paris - palette. i love it. it contains of mattes and shimmers, light and dark shades, warm and cool tones. perfect.

1st row:
Nepal - a light tan
Violetta - a matte dusty light  purple which tends gray
Demon Lover - a matte dark charcoalish purple. this can get blotchy, so best apply over a base shadow, not directly on a cream shadow or primer.

here it is swatched:

2nd row:
Fez - a warm golden brown
Abyssinia - light beige with multicolor microshimmer
Cordura - this is the dark shade of the Cordura duo. it's a dark dark matte brown base with tons of gold and pink sparkles.

Essential Eye palette: my newest palette. unlike the others, this has a cream shadow in it.

1st row:
Unconditional Love - the cream shadow, a light rosey champagne. it's creamy and didn't dry out in the past months.
i heard NARS cream shadows tend to crease, so i never wear this as a base shade as my lids are quite oily. i like to use it in the inner corner. i think you could even use it as a cheek highlight like the cream colour bases by mac.
Night Star - a matte light cream base

with tons of white and gold sparkle.
Galapagos - a matte dark warm brown base with many many yellowish-gold, pink and turquoise sparkles

2nd row:
Nepal - as described above
Ondine - a plummy brown/taupe with gold and pink shimmer
Thunderball - a very dark forest green/teal matte.

The newest addition to my NARS-eyeshadow collection: Melusine duo, which was released with the winter collection. i think it is permanent now.

here it is swatched: i only bought it because of the lighter shade, isn't it admirable?

the light shade is a medium silver, but not your average one. this has a lavender tone to it and a very subtle pink iridescent. in some angles it even looks like a silver taupe.

the other shadow is a matte dark plummy purple. this can get blotchy, too. i'm not a huge fan of NARS' mattes.








there are still some shades that i want to purchase, such as ashes to ashes,  the charade duo and marienbad duo. what are your NARS-shadow-favourites?