Nars Andy Warhol Palette

As I was spending four weeks away over the Christmas period, my parents gave me an early Christmas gift to go away with. I'd asked for this a few weeks before and the day before I left they gave it to me. I was really pleased to receive this, especially as it's not the cheapest palette.  

I do love the NARS brand, as well as Andy Warhol, so when I heard they were coming out with an Andy Warhol collection I knew I would end up buying something from it. There were lots of variations of palette's, three different self portrait palettes and three different flower palette's. I chose this one as I loved the design and the colours I'm more likely to use, it's perfect for a smokey eye and being quite compact is great for travel and putting in your makeup bag. I have so much eyeshadow already in lots of different colours and I'm not that adventurous with it so I knew if I'd gone for the colourful ones it would never get used. Black is something I usually use, even as eyeliner.

The packaging is great on this, I'm a fan of the matte black NARS packaging already (even though it gets so dirty!) Instead of the normal black box, this comes in a silver one with Andy Warhol written across it. The same design is seen on the actual palette. On the mirror inside there is a quote "Art is what you can get away with", this was such a nice detail but also manages not to take up much of the mirror so isn't so distracting. The quotes are different on every palette. 

The portrait on this is unfortunately an overspray so it will eventually rub off. I've bee trying to keep it there for as long as I can, it's just too nice of a picture :) As for the eyeshadows themselves, I've only used them a few times but they are really easy to apply and work with. The two grey/silver shadows are very shimmery as you can see in the above photo but the black has more of a matte finish. It's not fully matte though and does have some small glitter pieces, nothing too noticeable. 

The NARS Andy Warhol collection has much much more on offer than just these palettes. I've been looking at the edie gift set for a while now but I'm trying to hold back from buying it! It is limited edition though, so if you do find anything you like I would get it now. The collection is still available from www.narscosmetics.co.uk  www.selfirdges.com  and  www.sephora.com

Have you tried anything from the Andy Warhol Collection yet? What is your favourite NARS product?

Long time since I blogged...

It's been a very long time since I blogged and if I'm honest I've been avoiding it like I had been a lot of things. Things got really busy for me, I had hospital appointments, moved house and then had a lot of uni deadlines. So much happened in such a small amount of time that I just didn't have spare time to blog. Hopefully that can change soon and I can keep it regular again. I'm back in California again, I arrived Saturday and will be staying over Christmas and new year. I really wanted to spend Christmas with the bf this year so I bit the bullet and decided I would, even though I'm really going to miss my family and pets (Christmas is awesome with them). I've already received a few early Christmas presents one of them being the ciate mini mani month, where you get a mini nail polish every day leading up to Christmas. I was going to do a blog post/countdown with them but as it's already the 10th December and I've seen others doing the same, I think I might just do one whole blog post at the end of the month. The other gift I received which I was really excited about was the Andy Warhol NARS palette. I'll do a separate post in a few weeks time once I've had time to play with it. I didn't bring my dlsr out here with me, so I'll be using my iphone to take pics (it's better quality than my digital camera!)

I've been up to quite a few things since my last post, I managed to get tickets to the paralympics which was absolutely amazing being in that stadium and hearing everyone singing God Save The Queen. I was so glad I got to be a part of it, the Olympic stadium was so nice just to walk around. 

I also went to see Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie at the o2 arena, probably not most peoples taste in music but I love 'em! The show was amazing. My sister is now living in Canary Wharf so I was able to stay there the night.

Last night, we stopped off at one of the Christmas tree places out here, we picked out a really nice tree. Just have to decorate it now, I love real trees they smell really nice and fresh and gets me into the Christmas spirit. We're planning on going to Disneyland for a couple of days just before Christmas, I'm such a geek when it comes to Disneyland! I'm hoping we'll be able to get one of the special Disneyland Candy Canes they give out each year.

Do you have anything special planned for Christmas?

My first NARS product!

I couldn't wait to get my hands on this duo, I bought it from Sephora when I was out in the states. It's one of those things I'd wanted for a long while but the price always put me off buying it in favour of products that were new or limited edition. I was originally planning on buying the Orgasm and Laguna separately but they are just so expensive I went with the duo. I know that this is a little more expensive than an individual but it's also cheaper than buying them both separately even though you get less of each in this. I didn't want to spend out all that money and realize I didn't like either of them if you know what I mean. If I end up liking one more than the other then I would definitely repurchase the big one. 

I'm guessing most of you will own either of these already being so famous in the beauty world. I had to try it for myself after hearing so much hype!

The one thing I do love about NARS is their packaging. The matte finish looks so sleek and I've noticed a few other brands following this trend. The only problem is that it gets dirty so fast. I knew it would happen though even after wiping it over and trying my hardest to not get anything on it. Eventually I gave up lol It's what's inside that counts after all! Right?

I already have so many shades that are similar to Orgasm but it's my favourite type of pink and I do love shimmery blushes. This one is quite subtle though when I use it lightly and I think it looks best this way. It's not overly shimmery either, just enough for a glow. I'm not too fond of chunky glitter pieces. 

I love Laguna as a bronzer because it's not too light and not too dark. With Benefit's Hoola bronzer I find that it's too dark for my skin tone and doesn't blend well with it. I also like to use this lightly as a contour shade with Orgasm on the apple's of my cheeks. I like that this bronzer isn't completely matte either, it has very fine shimmery particles and blends with skin nicely.

I'm glad I finally purchased this and I do love it but it hasn't blown me away like it seems to have everyone else.

What do you think? Do you own either of these or are you thinking of purchasing them?

NARS products are available from www.houseoffraser.com www.narscosmetics.co.uk and from Sephora in the US.

This duo retails for £29 or £21 each