Swatches from Left to Right and Top to Bottom: ‘Tell All’, ‘Now or Never’, ‘Give it Away’, ‘Make you Mine’, ‘Come Hither’, ‘New Fling’

Luminous. Multidimensional. Believable. It is safe to say that I have completely fallen in love with the new limited edition NARS Exposed Cheek Palette, which retails for $59 at Sephora and contains one heavenly highlighter and five beautiful blushes, all featuring a new groundbreaking formula.

Inspired by watercolors, this palette features the most sophisticated, aesthetic packaging. It contains a high quality mirror, which I appreciate. My only complaint is that the palette itself is often difficult to open.

The six cheek colors feature NARS’ unique Color Clarity Complex formula, which the brand describes as a lightweight powder enveloped within a colorless base. It is intended to allow the truest form of the colors to shine through, meaning that the sheer shades easily build up to a blendable wash of color. Its consistency is somewhere between a cream and a powder. Unlike nearly every powder blush I have tried, this has absolutely no kickback, or the tiny specks of product that dust everywhere when you dip your brush into the pan.

Because these blushes are not overwhelmingly pigmented, they work best with a stiff synthetic hair brush rather than a fluffy natural hair one. I enjoy using my Real Techniques Blush Brush to deposit the perfect amount onto the apples of my cheeks, blending it upwards and outwards towards my temples. Like several of the brand’s cheek products, each of these shades can actually be worn either dry or wet depending on the desired look. For a glowy, watercolor effect, lightly spritz your brush with water or a dewy face mist. I prefer to apply these dry like usual but then mist just my cheeks with rosewater for a sparkle-free radiance.

I think NARS has done an excellent job of catering to a wide range of skin tones, as each shade would perform well on both very pale and very deep skin. ‘Tell All’ is a shimmering and pearlescent medium gold highlighter with warm undertones. ‘Now or Never’ is a medium peachy terracotta with warm undertones. ‘Give it Away’ is a deep plummy nude with neutral undertones that can also be used as contour or bronzer underneath the cheekbones and along the temples. ‘Make You Mine’ is a vibrant medium coral with warm undertones. ‘Come Hither’ is medium watermelon pink with cool undertones. ‘New Fling’ is a deep fuchsia with neutral undertones.

My most favorite aspect of this palette is the stunning, naturally glowy finish. I would describe all of the five blushes as having a satin finish, which means they lack shimmer but are more smooth and light reflective than mattes, making them the ideal choice if you love looking ‘lit from within’ like I do. However, I have found that ‘Now or Never’ and ‘Make you Mine’ are slightly less lustrous than the others.

I believe that all of the shades in this palette are luxurious and high quality and even though this product was expensive, I am happy with my decision and would definitely recommenf this to anyone who loves natural and luminous cheek colors. Thank you so much for reading and if you have any questions about this product, please let me know.

XOXO,
Makena

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