The Beauty and Basketball Wife

HI FRIENDS! I AM BACK!!

I know I haven't been posting as much as lately. I was back home in the States and I didn't spend one minute blogging (minus the small update I did in my last post). At first, I felt a little guilty about it and thought that I should have put some effort into my blog, but I realized that the break was good and I am happy I spent every minute that I could with my family and friends. But I am back in France now and am ready to go with several blog ideas as well as getting more YouTube videos up! Stay tuned :)

I wanted to do a post on the NARS Virtual Domination Cheek Palette. I got this for Christmas and I have pretty much known since my first couple of uses that I wanted to do a blog post on it. The reason why I knew I wanted to blog about it: There was SO much buzz about it before the holidays when it was released and everyone was raving about it.... but honestly, I am not as impressed. (SORRY if you love this palette!)

Do I think that this is an absolutely terrible palette? No. I still use it but I am just not as excited for it as I thought I would be after hearing everyone rave about it.

I thought that since this palette is Limited Edition, that NARS was just going to offer for the holidays. But it is still available so I thought that I would give you my thoughts on it in case any of you are considering purchasing it.

Virtual Domination Cheek Palette by NARS

This palette retails for $65 and you are getting one highlighter, one bronzer and three blushes. The blushes you are getting are: Deep Throat, Sex Fantasy and Final Cut. Each blush is .15oz which is slightly smaller than a normal, full size NARS blush of .16oz. The highlighter: Miss Liberty. Again it is .15oz vs. the normal size of .16oz. And the bronzer is the ever-so-famous Laguna. In this palette, you are actually getting .35oz of Laguna vs the normal .28oz. So the value of this palette is amazing and that is the main reason I purchased it. (One blush/highlighter retails for $30 and Laguna retails for $39) But I wish I would have actually played around with the palette and swatched it before purchasing it from the Sephora website.

Virtual Domination Cheek Palette by NARS

Highlighter: Miss Liberty - My first issue with the palette is the highlighter. Miss Liberty is just straight up glitter and sparkle. It doesn't even really give off a pretty sheen underneath the sparkle as a pretty base - it basically just looks like you took some glitter and smeared it on your face. I could tell immediately by looking at it in the palette that it was way too sparkly for me. But I decided I would give it a try anyways. And this is how I really know it was bad: My husband made a comment about how glittery it was. He knows NOTHING about makeup and he even noticed how bad it was. That was the first and last time I will wear Miss Liberty.

Blushes: Deep Throat, Sex Fantasy, Final Cut - The blushes for me are just so-so. I could take them or leave them. I don't think they are ugly or anything but I am a blush fanatic and these blushes just do not wow me. These blushes are something that I force myself to wear from time to time rather than being something I am excited about wearing. I think they are pretty but nothing overly gorgeous (I take my blushes very seriously, girls!). Deep Throat is probably the one I like best out of the blushes. It is a pretty corally-pink blush. It reminds me a lot of Orgasm by NARS as it is similar in color and has a shimmer to it as well. Sex Fantasy is a cool toned pinky-lavender. It is matte and I do feel like I have to kind of build up the pigmentation. Final Cut is a peachy-orange and is matte. I like peachy-corally blushes but this might be too much on the orange side for me and have to use a little bit of a lighter hand when applying.

Bronzer: Laguna - The bronzer is what saves this palette for me. This is a very popular bronzer from NARS and I had never tried it before purchasing this palette and I was not let down. I think it is a gorgeous bronzer. It does have a slight shimmer/sheen and I typically prefer matte bronzers, but I actually really don't mind the sheen in Laguna. It doesn't give an overwhelming shimmer off whatsoever when applied. It just gives you the perfect sun-kissed glow. I am happy that Laguna has the most product in this palette as it will definitely be the one that I will use the most.

Swatches in Natural Light

Swatches with camera flash
(You can see the sparkle better in Miss Liberty in this picture)

I think the quality of this palette definitely meets the high quality of any typical NARS product. And I really do love NARS products in general! I think I just would have rather invested my money in buying a bronzer and a blush separately. I think I would have gotten more use out of buying Laguna and then finding a blush that I was absolutely in love with. I know it would be less product than what I am getting in the palette, but at least then I know I would be constantly using the separate bronzer and blush instead of letting the palette sit there without days/weeks of use like I have been.

I know that a lot of girls really love this palette so if you are considering getting it, you might love it as well! I just wanted to give my honest opinion on it in case you are like me and would rather invest your money in a couple of products that you know you will get more use out of.

Hope this helps!

XOXO Kayla

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Thursday, February 26, 2015

Virtual Domination Cheek Palette by NARS