NARSissist L’amour Toujours Eyeshadow Palette Swatches and First Impressions

Today I learned a valuable life lesson from the new $59 NARSissist L’amour Toujours Eyeshadow Palette ($59), and it was this: ’tis better to drink the blueberry smoothie — the one you made for yourself as a healthy snack — after you’ve taken pictures of yourself wearing a new eyeshadow palette, as opposed to before.

(Lest you end up with pics of yourself with a blue tongue and teeth!)

Just as an FYI, you know, in case you ever find yourself in that particular situation. 🙂

So, I took L’amour Toujours, a new NARS palette for spring, for a test drive around the block today (well…more like around my condo after I got back from seeing a nutritionist who assured me that I can have “a very small amount” of sweets here and there! Life is grand!).

The quick and dirty deets…

• Limited edition
• Available now at NARS boutiques and NARS website and coming Feb. 1 to NARS counters
• 12 powder shadows, none of which, I believe, have been previously released (but I’ll have to double check that). Four are mattes, and eight are shimmers.
• The mattes, and the names are numerical, which is a little tricky, include “I” (which is a sheer cream bisque), “IV” (a semi-sheer black truffle), “VII” (a cool-toned medium brown) and “X” (a regal blue).
• Of the shimmers, there’s “II” (a shimmery pink sand), “III” (a neutral medium brown), “V” (a shimmery golden beige), “VI” (a shimmery copper), “VII” (a shimmery pistol gray), “IX” (a shimmery grayish blue), “XI” (a shimmery taupe) and “XII” (a shimmery blackened licorice).

And some quick first impressions…

• When I popped the matte cool-toned medium brown (VII) in my crease, the shimmery pink sand (II) on my lids, the matte regal blue (X) in the outer corner, the matte black (IV) on my upper lash lines and the shimmery pistol gray (VIII) on my lower lash lines, I found that the shadows blend together beautifully. I do see a little fallout with the black shade, though…
• Um…Roman numerals for eyeshadow names? That’s very confusing for some reason!
• So far I like the combination and variety of warm and cool-toned colors. I also like how smooth they feel on my skin. They don’t feel heavy or look powdery either. I also lake how deep and rich most of the shades are, especially VII, VIII and X.
• So far, however, I am not crazy about the sheer matte light beige or black, which are sheerer than I’d like, and I have to build them up to see them in swatches. I also feel like I’ve seen a group of colors just like these from NARS before…
• Jury’s still out on whether I can recommend this palette with the gusto of a marching band and a ticker-tape parade, but it’s nice enough, I guess, and I can definitely see myself doing a number of neutral looks with it.

  I think I’ll have to use it a few more times to get a better sense of its value and gauge its flexibility.

Now, swatches!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen