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It’s a Beautiful Life, With or Without a Lip Brush: The New NARS Lip and Cheek Palette

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nars beautiful life palette review swatches

The universe is filled with things I do not understand, things like Justin Bieber fever, Crocs, and why NARS chose not to include a lip brush in the Beautiful Life Lip and Cheek Palette ($55).

At first blush, it looks like a traveler’s makeup dream come true — compact, cute, with a convenient zippered case. The included mirror works well for on-the-go touchups, and by leaving out powder products (it comes with four lipsticks and two cream blushes), NARS eliminated annoying product cross pollination (when your powders spill all over your cream products). So smart!

They thought of everything — almost. I know NARS doesn’t usually include brushes with their palettes, but I wish they would have found room in this one for a lip brush. Beautiful Life is just so obviously designed for travel; a brush would have been a great addition. Of course, I’m a stickler when it comes to packaging.

That aside, what’s a palette without pretty colors, right? These go great together. NARS included a versatile mix of business and party shades here, and the blushes even double as highlighters, too.

I’m a little bummed about one of the products in the palette — Honolulu Honey lipstick. Honolulu is one of my favorite cities, but this Honey looks kinda cakey on my lips. It seems to do a bit better, though, when I use very little and apply it with my fingers. I may also just mix it with other lip colors to help it along.

nars beautiful life palette

nars beautiful life palette review swatches funny face
Funny Face

nars beautiful life palette review swatches roman holiday
Roman Holiday

nars beautiful life palette review swatches sexual healing
Sexual Healing

nars beautiful life palette review swatches honolulu honey
Honolulu Honey

nars beautiful life lip and cheek palette swatches
From left: Honolulu Honey Lipstick (a flesh-toned beige satin), Roman Holiday Lipstick (a sheer pastel pink), Funny Face Lipstick (a semi-matte fuchsia), Copacabana Multiple (a shimmery pearl) and Orgasm Multiple (a shimmery peachy pink). NOTE: The pic doesn’t include a swatch of Sexual Healing Lipstick.

Two-second summary? If you like zippered cases, smooth cream products, pretty colors and NARS, Beautiful Life might be a good place to go. Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: B+

Edward, why you cheatin’ on Bella?

When I got back home from that photography class yesterday, all I wanted to do was rest, so I parked my bum on the couch and rented Remember Me on iTunes. It stars the melanin-challenged R. Patz, aka Vampire Edward Cullen, as a chronically rebellious romantic. Have you seen it?

Kinda depressing, but I thought R. Patz did a good job, even though I struggled to see him as someone other than Edward. I think the movie pushes him harder than the Twilight movies do (I don’t know if that’s saying a lot). It’s a heavy story, but at least it ends on a hopeful note.

Strangely, every time he kisses his love interest in the movie, I picture Bella going off, LOL!

Since we’re on the topic of blood suckers, did you catch True Blood last night? What did you think? Whoa! Lots of nekkidness, am I right?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. oooh I love that they made cream blushes instead of powder ones, it annoys me so much when the two mix. blech. messy! anyways, I’m so in love with the lip colors they have in this palette, especially Roman Holiday and Funny Face. shame about the nonexistent lip brush though

    Reply

  6. Roman Holiday looks so pretty on your skin!

    True Blood is my favorite show! I have my boyfriend and his bff obsessed lol. Alcide is soooooo very attractive! I kinda liked Talbot’s DRAMA attitude about everything, sad that he’s vamp pudding now :-(. Ah, I can’t wait for the next episode!
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  7. I think Robert Pattinson can play a good Cedric Diggory but fails hard as Edward Pattinson. I’m Team Jacob 😉
    But I do think R.Pattz did quite well in Remember Me. I actually cried but I’m kind of a sap so that’s not saying much. I actually liked Remember Me quite a bit until the end. Seriously, it bummed me out big time!

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  9. Roman Holiday looks so pretty on you!

    Did you know RPattz is going to be in the movie adaptation of Water for Elephants? I’m kind of excited but dreading it at the same time (not much of an RPattz fan). I’m really excited that Reese Witherspoon is going to be Marlena though! 😀
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    • I didn’t know that. Let’s hope he cuts his hair and toughens up a bit. I can kinda see Toby or Jake doing it too.

      Anywho, Reese is perfect for Marlena!

      Reply

  10. Bleh, you’re totally right about Honolulu Honey — it looks pretty cakey on your lips 🙁 But hey, the other shades all look lovely! Roman Holiday in particular gets a huge hip-hip-hooray! from over here.

    Oh, and one last thing: mmm, Alexander Skarsgard. Now, why couldn’t True Blood have 99% less Bill, and 99% more Eric? Then again, our TVs (or, rather, our laptops and computers) might short out if that were to happen…

    *sigh*
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    • I was emailing my BFF on this same matter yesterday. She was so annoyed when Bill came back into the picture at the end of the episode and started doing the nasty with Sookie. She and I are both actually Team Alcide, although, I’m okay with looking at Eric, heh heh!

      Reply

  12. roman holiday looks sooo good on you!! and dont worry, you’re not the only one that sees edward with bella.. i cant seem to see them playing any other role! haha but then again, i am 100% team jacob!! (or at least movie-wise i am :D… book wise, i’d probably go with edward haha)
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  13. Oh I caught True Blood….wow that show is so….raunchy is the only word I can think of haha. I don’t even like watching it unless I’m all by myself because some of the scenes are so embarrassing to watch LOL. Still gotta love Eric though, is he your fav too?

    Reply

    • Yes, it’s quite naughty! I could never watch it with my parents, that’s for sure!

      I was team Bill for a long time, but then when they showed Eric in that black tank top (after he cut off his hair) I was like, HELLO! Now I’m all about Alcide. 🙂

      Reply

      • Amen to Alcide! This season seems to be pushing the erotic aspect a little further. I find that the sexuality actually works within the context. And even though the scenes are VERY visual I think they work well with the energy of the story lines. My husband and I always start giggling like teenagers when any nudity starts in… now back to makeup.

        I would love it if Nars did something heavy and dark with their color line. I love their bright cheery corals and pinks and sparkly beiges but I’m dying for that ultimate purple or burgundy hue to pop up in their selection (at least as far as lips go). I love their formulation but, a bit more dramatic color variance would really draw me in.

        Reply

  14. i team Spike :p i know that Buffy isnt so stylish as Twilight , but James Marsters as vampire was so badass and funny ^^ sometimes youre scared for real ,and sometimes you wanna take him home like he was a puppy and love him to pieces .
    For some reason i didnt like any of Twilight movies . ” i love you Bella, i dont love you Bella, vampires live forever, i cant live without you, Bella, so im gonna suicide ” . as my Boss says , if your boyfriend says that he cant live without you , dump him . Who needs a man who cant live without a woman ? 🙂 And wait ,arent vampires supposed to be hard to kill ? Phe , no, you only need few warewolfs or 3 other vampires to kill one , khe khe :p
    But i like Robert Pattinson , I hope he will get rid of that twilight stamp and get some serious character to play .

    Thank you for review . i though the colors are darker so they wouldnt suite me, but now i see and love this palette . Brush would be so perfect . Are there any scent in those lipsticks ?

    Reply

    • LOL! I was never a fan of Spike — I always liked Riley for Buffy (before he went cray-cray) and Cory for Angel. Have you kept up with the comics?

      As for the lipsticks, they don’t have a taste or scent!

      Reply

      • Thank you , I hope nordstorm will have this palette . it looks like only place that sells Nars godies (besides strawberry ) to Latvia . I really like the colors . i got 3 nyx lip palettes but i really use 4 colors from them all . But i can imagine wearing those all , even red one .

        if honest, i never heard of Buffy comics untill now. And im interested now So thank you 🙂

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAnuhQ55O1E i hope you dont mind the link, i just wanted to show why i love Spike so much 🙂 those 9 seconds beats all 3 Twilight movies for me . I admit, i got crush for bad boys :p

        Reply

  16. Funny Face looks awesome on you! Maybe Nars is trying to bring out our inner finger-painters? 🙂 The case is super-cute though. This is the 3rd zipper we’ve seen lately (starting with Denim, I think) and I’m liking them!

    I loved True Blood last night. Lots of action and drama (and Eric, of course)! 🙂

    Reply

  19. Got Funny Face in lipstick form and I heart it so much.

    Nothing else from the palette is interesting enough for me to purchase and I love me some Nars but my wallet don’t. I

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  20. Funny Face and Roman Holiday are two of my favourite NARS lippies. I don’t have too many NARS lip products because they are a bit out of my budget. .ohhh you reminded me that I wanted to rent and watch Remember Me, I am in the mood for some melancholy. I saw True Blood on the interweb last night and it was good. Lots of blood and lots of sex…LOVE IT. I agree that Alcide is HAWT HAWT HAWT. There is something about him wearing plaid and his beard that I am so attracted to.
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  24. I was wondering – how was the taste/smell of these NARS palette lipsticks? I just got a different NARS palette in the mail the other day and I couldn’t tell if maybe my palette spoiled in transit or something. Mine tasted plastic-y with a hint of vaseline. Was this your experience, too?

    Reply

  25. OMG! Those lipsticks are beautiful. I wonder if the formula issues with Honolulu Honey might be the result of it being in pan form. I’ve definitely found that lipsticks in palettes will somehow get weirder in formula when the stick version is fine. wonder if it has something to do with the manufacturing of palettes versus permanent products.
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  26. Gorgeous palette but I don’t like lippies in palettes. I rarely use a lip brush.

    I wondered if that movie was good. I should watch it since I am a bit of a spaz sometimes when it comes to R Pattz. And True Blood was very naughty on Sunday and I loved it.
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  27. I’m loving the Sexual Healing shade! The packaging reminds me so much of Bobbi Brown’s Denim and Rose Face Palette though. Hmm…

    Reply

  29. Hey just wondering if you know the size or grams for each product in this palette. On the true blood note i was so angry at sookie for getting it on with bill at the end, thats not suppose to happen!

    Reply

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