Narsissist at play: Colorful Neutrals!

Being the color-wench that I am, my friends were shocked that I had reserved the Narsissist palette prior to the launch.  After all, isn’t it a neutral palette?  Worse, after declaring vehemently that Linda.Doesn’t.Do.Palettes, I had to swallow my own foot when Narsissist came home with me.  I simply couldn’t resist.

NARS has masterfully arranged the shades in a cascading manner, from pale shimmery champagne on the top left down to a bold matte black black.  Pure artistry.

And contrary to what everybody and her mama are saying,

Narsissist. ISN’T. Neutral.

Sure, everything has a decidedly smoky flavor to it, but there is certainly color in the mix – pinks, blues, purples!

I understand how the swatches are deceivingly neutral… because of the smokiness.  But there’s a difference between “bluish grey” and “smoky blue”.  I broke up the shades and swatched them by color family to give you a better idea:

Here are the standard beige-brown neutrals:

• Madrague #1 is a matte pale beige that is exactly my skin color and does not show up at all.  This I will probably use for cleaning up the eye area and setting of cream primers & concealors.
• Madrague #2 is a matte light-medium caramel brown
• Fez is a medium warm coppery brown with a frosted finish.  As the light hits it, tinges of gold shines through. One of my favorite browns if ever there was one!
• Bali is a cool-toned light-medium ashy brown
• Coconut Grove is a deep satin brown that sheers out at the edges to reveal gold underneath
• Mekong is a deep dark espresso brown with golden shimmers.  It is a really beautiful color that can be used wet as liner, or sheered out to allow more of the gold shimmers to shine through.

And as promised, here are the pinks and purples:

Personally, I think this part of the Narsissist palette can give Naked 3 a run for its money!

• All About Eve #1 is a shimmery pale champagne with a slight pink tinge.  It has really nice color pay-off, and is the sort of shade that works well as a highlighter for any color combination or skin tone.
• Nepal is a soft peachy rose color with a frosted sheen.  Very pretty!
• Ashes to Ashes is a shimmery medium brown shot through with lavender.  It swatches much more brown on me despite looking more purple-y in the pan.
• Lhasa is one of my favorites, it is a medium lavender grey with a frosted finish
• Brousse #2 is a medium-dark smoky purple with a satin finish, another personal fave (purple!!)

Finally, the cool guys – blue and blacks, I threw in a cool ivory in there too

• Bellisima #1 is a cool shimmery ivory.  It is quite light and sheers out when applied so it doesn’t show up well when swatched.  Regardless, it makes for a nice highlighter shade.
• Bad Behaviour is a dark steel blue with a frosted finish.  I really love this color!
• Dogon #2 is a blackened navy that swatches out more grey / black on my arm than it looks in the pan
• Pandora #2 is a deep matte black.  I had the most noticeable problem with this shade as it doesn’t seem to apply well, going on patchy.

Fyi, the numbers #1/2 refer to the left/right shade in regular NARS duos.

And here are a couple of EOTDs featuring those colors:

I don’t own very many NARS eyeshadow prior to this, which makes it easy for me to justify purchasing the Narsissist palette.  At SGD115 for 15gm of product, it’s really not a bad deal at all.  Plus, it’s eye candy!  The way the palette is designed, there is a good balanced mix of light and dark shades, and a nice sprinkling of some medium-intensity color so it is really very wearable.  Obviously, this is nothing quite as bold as China Seas (reviewed here), but the Narsissist is a true classy lady indeed!

xoxo