NARS NARSissist Cheek Studio Palette Review & Swatches

The new NARS NARSissist Cheek Studio Palette ($65) is an Sephora and Sephora.com exclusive cheek, bronze, and highlight palette that includes four exclusive blush shades as well as NARS’ popular Laguna Bronzing Powder and Paloma Contour Blush.

This is a multitasking demon that addresses both highlighting, contouring, and blush all in one. It’s a very tempting offering for makeup lovers that love blush, makeup lovers embracing the contouring and highlighting trend, or those of us that just love NARS Blush. I feel like I fall into the first and last part of that prior statement. I love blush and I love NARS Blush so I fit right in here.

But I must digress and say that the NARSissist Cheek Studio Palette is better in theory than actual formula. I remember purchasing the NARS Foreplay Palette because, again, I love NARS Blush and I’m also a very big fan of NARS Orgasm. But I was terribly disappointed with that palette and I feel like the NARS NARSissist Cheek Studio Palette follows along that very same path.

The NARS NARSissist Cheek Studio Palette comes housed is a very slick mirrored compact. I like that NARS is moving away from the rubberized palettes as we all know how messy and grimy these become over time. However, as slick and chic as the mirror compact is, it also gets rather dirty quickly and is a magnet for fingerprints.

When heading into a purchase of the NARS NARSissist Cheek Studio Palette one thing you should ask yourself is will you make use of the bronzers and highlighters in this palette. The palette is dominated by blush shades but it also contains a good deal of highlighting and contouring shades too which you may or may not make use of. I know I’m one of those people that will likely hit pan on all the blushes but the bronzers and highlighter will likely remain untouched.

The palette contains:

• 0.12 oz Contour Blush in Paloma I (pink beige), Paloma II (deep rose)
• 0.29 oz Laguna Bronzing Powder (diffused brown powder with golden shimmer)
• 0.12 oz I Blush in Icy Lilac
• 0.12 oz II Blush in Sausalito Sunset
• 0.12 oz III Blush in Shimmering Rose Peach
• 0.12 oz Goulue (Fleshy Pink)

NARS NARSissist Cheek Studio Palette (Contour Blush, Laguna Bronzing Powder)

NARS NARSissist Cheek Studio Palette Swatches (I Blush, II Blush, III Blush, Goulue)

Recently, NARS Goulue Blush became available as a Sephora Rouge Exclusive shade and I liked it very much. What surprises me about this is the fact that it isn’t as good in this palette. I found a lot of the shades to have a drier, denser formula. My cheeks are a bit drier at the moment but I don’t have an issue applying blush. These shades though presented an issue as they applied a bit patchy even with a hydrating primer. They do swatch poorly as you can see from my photos but they apply a bit more pigmented on skin. However, the pigment is not near what I am used to and know from NARS Blush. I just felt the palette was a poor representation of the NARS’ blush formula.

If you’re liked NARS Blush palettes in the past I think you’ll be fine with the NARSissist Cheek Studio Palette because if nothing at all their blush palettes tend, for me, to follow the same path with each release. However, if you’ve been disappointed with them in the past there is nothing at all new and better about the Cheek Studio Palette sadly. Personally I’d rather spend my money on individual shades of NARS Blush as their palettes do nothing for me! It is a personal thing though as I find that some makeup lovers really enjoy and like these cheek palettes! I’m just one that doesn’t.

The NARSissist Cheek Studio Palette is available now exclusively at Sephora and Sephora.com.
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