It's hard not to spend a tonne of money at Christmas: not only do we have to buy gifts for our loved ones but they also tempt us with holiday collections and amazing value sets. I always love NARS gifting sets and this lip pencil coffret is one of the best sets this Christmas.

I'll be showing it to you in detail with lip swatches too so you can make the right decision!

I love the NARS lip pencils, they are easy to use, versatile, offer different finishes and an amazing range of colours. There are so many shades I'd love to try and this NARS Digital World Lip Pencil Coffret (32 pounds, 39 euros) has given me the chance to try a lovely selection of beauty colours and two different textures at a good price. This is for sale in Space NK and Sephora and I really think it's a great set.

First let me take a second to comment on the amazing packaging... it really looks like you're giving a luxury gift. The black wrapping paper is complimentary by Space NK and it's so incredibly stylish,  suggest you order the gift wrapping if you're thinking of giving this to someone. The five pencils are housed in an acrylic box decorated with a crystal-like cobweb design and this is set inside a cardboard box. It's large and hefty and feels very luxe, and I love that I can reuse the box!

And now onto the contents which do not disappoint! Included in this set are two Velvet Matte Lip pencils (Cruella and Iberico) and three Sating Lip Pencils (Descanso, Torres del Paine and Yu). Each pencil is about 70% of their full-sized counterparts and for a little less than 2 full sized products you get 5 deluxe minis: that's a great deal!

NARS has done a great job selecting the shades because you get all you could wish for: some my-lips-but-better shades, a bright pink, a reddish orange and a red. If they had changed one of the nudes for a dark colour they would have the complete selection but I get that most people will prefer two nudes.

Now let's have a look at the colours in detail:

Descanso Satin Lip Pencil:

It's a creamy pinky nude which is a very flattering colour and will work with most looks but I can imagine it with a smokey eye look, it's a very sophisticated colour. It was limited edition from the Spring collection.

It's very comfortable on the lips, feeling creamy and hydrating but unfortunately it tends to sink into my lip lines which is a shame. I always have dry lips so lipsticks may look worse on me than you but I wanted to point this out.

Torres Del Paine Satin Lip Pencil: 

I was quite surprised with this shade because on my lips it's quite a bright peach. I love corals and peach as they work well on my skin tone and I don't have any lipsticks like this one! It was a also limited edition shade and I remember wanting to pick up one of these two shades, now I have them both!

Unfortunately this colour has the same problem as the one before, it's comfortable and creamy but can highlight dry lips and lip lines. Nevertheless I'm sure I'll be wearing both a lot.

Yu Satin Lip Pencil:

This is a shade which completely blew me away. I had read it was similar to MAC's Candy Yum Yum and that shade looks too Barbie on me so I thought this one would be too as it's also a blue-toned hot pink. Amazingly my skin pulls out a lot of the blue so it's a much more wearable bright fuchsia on me. I'm very pleased!

This shade is much more opaque than the previous two and is still creamy and comfortable to wear. I'm beginning to think this formula is better in the brighter shades. It's easy to draw in your lip shape as it's a pencil and once you're wearing it you will get an incredibly long-lasting colour. It looks matte after the shine wears off but the colour just stays even through eating! Very impressed!

Iberico Velvet Matte Lip Pencil: 

This is a limited edition colour for this set and I'm so glad I have it in my collection. It's a fiery orange red with a matte finish. This is what I wanted MAC Danger to be. It's easy to apply and the texture is comfortable although noticeably drier on the lips than the Satin Lip Pencils.

It's another amazingly long-wearing shade but I usually expect that from matte lipsticks.

Cruella Velvet Matte Lip Pencil:

This is one of the most well-known NARS shades which everyone goes on about. It was also included in last year's holiday set and I'm really happy to add it to my collection. It's a dark burgundy red but very wearable and it will suit most skin tones. I thought it would look vampier on me as I've got quite pigmented lips but it isn't which I'm happy about.

It's also a matte finish with dry but comfortable texture and it will last you all day. You will really need makeup remover to take off both matte shades.

I'm incredibly pleased with this set and I'm really excited to have all these shades in my collection. I think it's very well priced and you get a great set of colours so if you are interested in this set you really should snatch it before it sells out.

It's a great set to give to someone who wants to start more colourful shades and if you're a collector you'll appreciate getting two previously released limited shades and a shade which is limited to this set.

I'm really in love with this set and I'm extremely happy I bought it, will you or have you bought this NARS set? Which is your favourite shade?