BLAME IT ON NARS! [Cheek Palette Review]

Hello everyone! Today’s review is of the new Blame it on NARS Cheek Palette
(£45) which is a Selfridges exclusive in the UK. I don’t know how long
it’ll be around, so I wanted to review it as soon as I had gathered my complete
thoughts on it. It was quite an impulsive purchase I have to say, I was umming
and ahhing about it, but in the end I was clearly sold!

Firstly let us admire the packaging, I love this new rectangular box design
from NARS, though a little bulky, it is sturdy and less prone to foundation
finger prints like regular NARS stuff. The beautiful paint design behind the
text is certainly a sight for sore eyes. It’s what drew me to this right away,
the strokes of coloured paint merging together with splatters here and there, a
perfect artistic mess. For some reason it reminds me of the very essence of
makeup, how you can be so creative, so free to express yourself through this art
and how there really are no rules. A little deep for a makeup box? Maybe, but
that’s how I feel when I look at it. I love it so much so that I almost
bought the other two palettes (sets of three lip pencils) because they are
just as beautiful…then I remembered my bank account was already mad at me and
well that calmed me down pretty quick ._.

So anyways, on to the palette, we have four powders and a mini ITA brush,
with a large mirror on the inside. Although it’s pretty bulky, I still find that
it’s good for a weekend away because the large mirror means I can comfortably do
my whole face makeup looking at this. The powder sizes are pretty generous, with
the Casino bronzer having the most – 4.5g and the other three containing 4g of
powder. A standard single NARS blusher contains 4.8g of powder and costs £23 each, so you really are getting a lot for your money – especially as the
casino powder is just 0.3g less than a full size!

had to take another photo to show you accurate colours of the blush pans!

The palette contains a Highlight shade – Satellite of love
which is a permanent in their line, Casino Bronzer which is one
of the main reasons why I picked this up, because more often than not they add
laguna in their cheeks palettes and I already have a couple! The two blushes are
Day dream a matte peachy shade and New
Attitude a previously limited edition, blue-toned pink. I will run
through more in-depth descriptions of each shade a little later, now on to the
mini Ita brush. I’ve been looking everywhere for a post which compared the full sized Ita, which costs £43
(far more than I would EVER be willing to pay for a brush) and the mini Ita. The
best comparison I’ve found is here from which, as you can see there is a slight
difference in length, the full sized one is a teeny bit longer and also less
thick. I don’t think these make a huge difference in the effect the brush has overall,
so the mini Ita brush has satisfied my craving for owning the full sized one,
without dropping a lot of cash on ONE brush! It’s shed around 2 hairs but aside
from that I have had no issues with it.

The powders:
Satellite of Love: This is the biggest
disappointment for me in the whole palette and I wish they had included
Albatross instead. It’s a warm toned highlight which deposits more glitter than
actual… well highlight. I thought it was one of those shades which just swatch
badly, but on the skin it looks just as meh. I don’t really know who this would
look good on, perhaps much deeper skintones however it’ll take a lot of building
up and with that will come a lot more glitter on the cheekbones. If you do
pick this cheek palette don’t say I didn’t warn you D:

Casino Bronzer: I LOVE this bronzer, in
fact I think NARS do some of the best bronzers on the whole market. I recently
picked up the NARS Tahiti
Laguna Bronzer and it’s gorgeous, gives a sunkissed look all over
but it can also be used to contour with some building up. Casino is a good few
shades deeper without being red or orange toned, like the other NARS bronzers
making it look very natural. It blends effortlessly and though it is darker, I
find it much quicker to get defined features, without any sort of muddiness
whatsoever! It swatches a lot more orange than it appears on the skin,

Daydream: I love this shade, it’s
probably my second favourite powder from the quad and it’ll look wonderful on
all skintones. It was a shade included in the beautiful Guy Bourdin Holiday
palette, which I didn’t pick up at the time so I’m pleased to have it in my
collection. A matte peach with no shimmer or sparkle, meaning you can apply
almost as much highlight as you like without it clashing with a
shimmery blush and having the whole thing look like a disco ball on your cheeks!
Peachy blushers are a dream on warm skintones and this one is no different!

New Attitude: This is a blue toned pink,
which has a matte but not flat kinda finish like daydream. I was worried it
wouldn’t work well on my warm toned skin, but as always you shouldn’t judge a
blush by what is in the pan! Although it’s very different from my normal
favourites – deep throat and Torrid, it still looks lovely on the skin and the
advantage of having it in a palette means you can mix it up if needs be. It’s
beautifully pigmented, not powdery and blends like a dream as with the other two
(we aren’t counting the highlighter glitter fest here). Overall
a blush with the beautiful NARS quality I have come to love!

I think you should consider picking this palette up if you’ve not tried many
NARS blushes, or the casino bronzer and also if you want to try the Ita brush.
There really isn’t a huge amount of difference between the mini and full sized,
both allow you to create a contour line and blend out the powder with ease,
though don’t expect the bristles to be super soft. The firmness means you can
create structure and I must say it’s perfect for adding a tiny bit of definition
to the sides of the nose too, once you start you can’t stop trust me
xD. It’s my first ever cheek palette from NARS and value wise I am pretty
chuffed to have this in my collection!

Overall
Rating:
8.5

Pros:
Good value for money, the powder sizes are very close to single powder
sizes and the quality is just as good. It’s one of the first palettes they have
made which doesn’t include Laguna, so I finally got to try casino without
splashing out a large amount on the full size and the bronzer itself exceeded my
expectations! The ITA brush is awesome, I never really considered purchasing the
full size because of that hefty price tag attached to it, but this mini Ita is
practically identical and does a great job, especially on the go. The blush
shades are beautiful and versatile too, with the matte-but-not-flat finishes,
ample pigmentation and at least 7-8 hour lasting time on the skin I couldn’t ask
for more.

Cons:
That dreadful highlight shade – glitter for days! It’s kind of what I would
expect from a cheap brand for a couple of quid. Not my cuppa tea at all.

Repurchase?
Well it’s L/E so I won’t be able to! But if this disappeared and I
still could then yes I would repurchase it. Despite the disappointing highlight
shade, I really think the other three + Ita make up for
it.