Fancy!
This review is going to be a little quicker than usual because hey hey it’s my birthday and I’ve got dinner plans to jet off to! But if you were wondering what a fancy belly dancer buys herself for her birthday, the answer is that she buys herself a fancy eye shadow palette. Seriously, I resisted the NARSissist Dual Intensity palette for a while because it’s not cheap, but then Sephora had that sale, and I had a birthday coming up, and I had just picked up some new freelance work, so I splurged. Was it worth it?
Look at the pretty!
Well, I haven’t had much chance to try it out yet, partially because I was so hesitant to mess up the pretty design pressed into the pans. But yesterday I took it out and gave it a whirl! These are really beautiful shimmery metallic colors, but they’re somehow understated and elegant. It’s a very mature palette, good for your classiest gigs. So of course I wore it to go out to dinner in a t-shirt to Pita Jungle, because it was a normal Thursday night.
I love that the palette is split evenly down the middle between dark shades and light/bright shades. You can combine a few colors to create a look, or use just one color as a special pop with some more standard eye shadows. It leans towards neutral without being boring. Honestly, I think this palette is really ideal for a belly dancer, especially if you do a lot of night club gigs or really upscale parties, because it’s so elegant. I wouldn’t necessarily break these colors out for a fun outdoor gig, except that I might use the lighter ones as an inner corner highlight, because when applied damp they create a really shiny effect that makes my eyes look all big and pretty.
Way too glam for my bathroom.
I created a look using Subra (the plummy shade), Europa (the brighter pink) and Andromeda (the pale pink). These are not the colors I usually lean towards, but I need to start using them more because they look really good with my green eyes!
A few notes about the packaging and stuff: It comes in a nice sturdy-feeling matte black plastic case with a mirrored front and a mirror inside. There’s no color labels on the inside, they’re printed on the back instead. It comes with a brush that can be used to apply the shadows wet or dry. I’m not sure yet how much I like the brush in terms of the size and shape, but it seems to be decent quality and it has lots of bristles to pick up plenty of color. I think I’ll need to do some experimenting to see what type of brush I feel works best with this formula, and I have a feeling it might depend on whether I want a dry or wet application and wear I’m applying it. For instance, I found that my Makeup Geek tiny pencil brush was perfect for a damp application on the inner corners of my eye, because it picked up a good amount of product but gave me very fine control. I could probably use the same brush for applying these colors like a liner.
So should you invest in this palette? If you’re serious about makeup, or you’re a pro or semi-pro dancer who does a lot of elegant gigs (or has a Gothic sense of style), you might want to invest in it. If you just want to try out the formula, you may be better off picking up just a single pan of the dual-intensity formula in the color you think you’re most likely to wear a lot (keeping in mind that the lovely chocolate brown Ursa Major is currently exclusive to the palette). If you do decide to get it, I definitely suggest waiting for a sale, or a double-points weekend, since it is such a big-ticket item. That said, Sephora’s website does say it’s “Limited Edition”, so if you’re really in love with it, maybe you shouldn’t wait. Only you can decide!