It's time for me to review an eyeshadow palette I've been looking forward to since last year. I had even planned to purchase this palette in spite of the low buy I'm on, I just HAD to pick this up. The question is: am I pleased or not?

First off: buying this palette was quite crazy. I ordered this palette from narscosmetics.eu as soon as it was up for sale and it took over a month to reach me. NARS customer service wasn't quite overloaded, I couldn't cancel my order so I had to wait patiently for my order. 

I'm quite late reviewing this product, nevertheless I thought I'd give my full honest review.

Value for money

When the Dual Intensity eyeshadows came out I was immediately interested but I never pulled the trigger and when I saw this palette I was so happy because I could get the chance to have several of the colours at a much more reasonable price.

The palette costs £45 and it comes with eight 1 g. individual eyeshadows, whereas the full sized eyeshadows are 1.5 g. for £21 so this palette has an incredible value. It's available for sale (if it hasn't sold out already) in Selfridges, Space NK, Look Fantastic, John Lewis and on the infamous NARS website. 

Packaging

The packaging is actually a change from their regular black rubberised finished. In this case it's hard plastic and the lid has a large mirror which does pick up fingerprints but it's a nice change. I do worry it could crack when travelling but it's super glitzy.

Inside we have the eight eyeshadows with their interesting geometrical print and the lighter shades are placed on the left and the darker on the right. There is another mirror inside which is useful and there is a small space for the included brush. 

The brush

I appreciate that they have included a half-sized brush rather than a sponge applicator but I feel that this brush which was supposedly designed to be used with this wet/dry formula doesn't do an incredible job. 

It's good for travelling but I wouldn't have run out to buy it and NARS brushes are quite pricey anyhow. 

The shadows

The palette has a great mixture of light and dark shades and a good variation of colours. Most of the shades are from the regular lineup but Ursa Major is limited edition which is always exciting. Now onto the different shades:

- Europa is supposed to be a pink which slight shimmer, it's quite close to my skin tone so it doesn't show up as much as it could.

- Himalia is a bronze with a golden frosty finish. It's an interesting shade and even though it's frosty it doesn't accentuate lines.

- Ursa Major is a dark satin brown which is good for the crease when using the lighter shades of this palette. 

- Subra looks like a burgundy purple in the pan and was one of the shades I was most interested in. Unfortunately it looks more like a blackened brown on my eyelids which is a shame. 

- Andromeda is a very pale pink which looks almost white. It's quite shimmery so I think it's best for adding some shimmer to the centre of the eyelid or on the inner corner. 

I'm very pleased I was able to pick this palette up because I really wanted to try the NARS Dual Intensity formula and this is very well priced and I got to try a lot of the shades. 

Nevertheless I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed with some of the shades which have turned out to be very blackened and not like the colour you see on the pan. The formula of the eyeshadows is very good and they blend nicely but somehow I haven't been wowed as I thought I would. 

As you can see in my eye looks the darker colors are all blackened. I have found that layering the lighter colours over the dark ones is the best idea to make the different shades pop and get more interesting looks. Even so I thought I wouldn't have to work so hard to get the bright colours I expected. 

If you're looking for an eyeshadow palette for dark smokey looks I'm sure you will enjoy this palette a lot. I'm certainly happy to have received it at last as I don't feel I need any Dual Intensity eyeshadows anymore!

Have you had the chance to try this eyeshadow palette?