NARS And God Created the Woman Eye Palette {Review}

While I own an obscene number of neutral eyeshadows, including several amazing palettes, I always find it hard to resist the urge to buy more as they're pretty much all I wear.  After purchasing the Lorac Pro Palette a couple of months ago (I got an amazing deal on it at ULTA), I had been good about not purchasing any more eyeshadows.  Then I saw several folks on YouTube mentioning this NARS And God Created the Woman Eye Palette, which happens to be limited edition, and I found it impossible to avoid temptation.

Not only did the palette include several NARS shadows that I had my eye on, it also includes a sample size NARS Pro-Prime Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base and a travel size #3 Eyeshadow Brush.

Palette breakdown:

• (6) 0.03 oz. eyeshadows: Alhambra, Bellisima, Kalahari, Galapagos, Coconut Grove, and Night Clubbing
• 0.09 oz. Pro-Prime Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base
• #3 Eyeshadow Brush

Totaling $105.00 in value for a retail price of $59.00.  While this palette certainly isn't cheap, it's a good value compared to the price of other NARS products.

The Pro-Prime Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base has been raved about by ladies with oily eyelids (who often claim it outperforms Urban Decay, Too Faced, and other popular brands of eyeshadow primers).  This is a product that, despite owning several eye primers, I had been on the verge of purchasing for a while.  I have the oiliest of oily eyelids and skin and I'm always hunting for products that will help me get the most mileage out of my makeup each day.  I'm really happy that this product was included with the palette along with the #3 Eyeshadow Brush.  After using this primer for a little over a week now, I'm happy to report that it does, indeed, live up to the hype.  At least for me it dramatically outperforms the numerous other eye primers I've tried over the years.  I'm tempted to giveaway all my other eye primers and just buy this one full size once the sample from the set has ran out.  It would be hard to go back to using anything else after seeing how much better this products works for me.

As for the #3 Eyeshadow Brush, I find it incredibly soft.  It's fluffy yet flat, so it works well for both packing on color and blending shadow into the crease.  In a pinch you could get away with using only this brush for traveling, etc.  However, if you're a girl with small eyelids, this brush may be a little large for use on the lid and might work best as just a crease brush.  Most days I'll use this brush and a smaller smudge brush to run a little color along my lower lash line.

As for the shadows themselves, the palette includes two mattes and four shimmer shades.  What drew me to the palette the most was that the overall selection of shades have a lot of coolness to them without being overly gray.  Most of my neutral palettes have primarily warm toned neutrals that can sometimes read a little off on my skin, but this selection seemed like it would better flatter my pinkish fair skin tone.

{Swatches left to right: Alhambra, Bellisima, Kalahari, Galapagos, Coconut Grove, Night Clubbing.}

As you'll see from the swatches above, without a primer, these shadows aren't the most opaquely pigmented.  However, they are soft and apply fairly smooth without much fallout.  These are pigmented enough that they apply easily and, an upside to them not being overly opaque, they blend out effortlessly.

I've been wearing this palette almost every day since I bought it.  Most days, for a natural but bright-eyed look, I'll wear Alhambra in my inner corner and first 1/3 of my eye and Kalahari on the outer 2/3 and along my lower lash line.  For extra definition, I'll blend Bellisima into the crease and use a little bit of Galapagos or Coconut Grove as a soft liner along my outer lash line.  I've been really happy with the palette.  I find the shades included make it great for a natural daytime look but can easily create a gorgeous smokey evening look as well.  A versatile, compact palette: NARS And God Created the Woman is a great buy, a $105.00 value for $59.00.  Get it online at Sephora.com or in select Sephora stores.