NARS Joie De Vivre All About Cheek Palette; Nordstrom Exclusive Part 3 of 3

Every July, Nordstrom has their anniversary sale which includes some beauty exclusives.  This time around I purchased a few exclusives and will be posting about each one separately.  For my third installment, I wanted to bring you some information on the NARS Joie De Vivre Cheek Palette (Retail $65.00; Product Value $107; www.nordstrom.com).

This mirrored, limited edition compact contains 6 cheek products (3.5 g/0.12 oz each).  Individual compacts of NARS cheek products are slightly larger with blush and highlighter compacts containing 0.16 oz of product (Retail $28), Bronzer compacts containing 0.28 oz of product (Retail $34).  The shades included in the palette from left to right, top row then bottom are:


1. Albatross - Highlighter; Light golden sheen
2. Gaiety - Blush; Bright candy pink
3. Luster - Blush (on me it's more of highlighter) - Sheer golden apricot
4. Laguna - Bronzer; Brown with golden shimmer
5. Orgasm - Blush; Peachy pink with shimmer
6. Angelika - Blush; Cotton candy pink


This palette is similar to last year's Danmari All About Cheek Palette which contained Hungry Heart, Orgasm, Desire, Casino, Super Orgasm and Sin.  NARS's best-selling blush, Orgasm, is the only common shade to both of these limited edition palettes.


Here are close-ups of each shade:

Top to Bottom: Albatross, Laguna

Top to Bottom: Gaiety, Orgasm

Top to Bottom: Luster, Angelika

Here is a description of the palette as described on the Nordstrom website: 


A palette of the six most-craved cheek shades from NARS features bestsellers like Laguna Bronzer, the universally flattering highlighting shade Albatross and four signature blushes like the iconic NARS Orgasm.

Shades include: Laguna Bronzer, Orgasm Blush, Luster Blush, Angelika Blush, Gaiety Blush, Albatross Highlighting Blush.


Here are swatches:

Top Row (L -R): Albatross, Gaiety; Second Row: Laguna, Orgasm,  Third Row: Luster; Bottom Row: Angelika

Overall rating: Booyah! as with most NARS cheek products.  As of the time of this posting, this palette is sold out online.

MAC Illustrated's Smoky Eye Black Kit by Julie Verhoeven; Nordstrom Beauty Exclusive Part 2 of 3

Every July, Nordstrom has their anniversary sale which includes some beauty exclusives.  This time around I purchased a few exclusives and will be posting about each one separately.  For my second installment, I wanted to bring you some information on MAC Illustrated's Smoky Eye Black Kit by Julie Verhoeven (Retail $49.50; Product Value $100; www.nordstrom.com).

The set includes 3 full-sized eyeshadow pans from MAC's permanent collection (Naked Lunch [frost], Wedge [matte] and Carbon [matte], 1.5 g/0.05 oz each, Regular Retail: $11.50 each), 2 special edition brushes (212 Flat Definer Brush - full size $22.50 and 275 Medium Angled Shading Brush - full size $24.50, 1 full-sized Technakohl Eyeliner (Graphblack, 0.35 g/0.012 oz, Retail $15.00) and 1 Mini Zoom Lash Mascara (Rich Black, 4 g/0.14 oz, Regular Retail $15.00 for an 8g tube) in a mirrored canvas box illustrated by London-based artist Julie Verhoeven which includes a step-by-step tutorial on how to achieve the perfect smoky eye.  The set is also available in Plum.

Eyeshadows (L - R): Naked Lunch, Wedge, Carbon

Technakohl Liner in Graphblack

Mini Zoom Lash in Rich Black

212 Flat Definer Brush

275 Medium Angled Shading Brush

Here are swatches of the eyeshadows and eyeliner:

Eyeshadow Swatches (T-B): Naked Lunch, Wedge, Carbon; Technakohl Liner in Graphblack

The MAC Illustrated collection also includes 4 Triple Feature Lip Bags ($39.50, in Red, Pink, Nude and Peach) which each contain a Cremesheen Lipstick, a Dazzleglass Creme and a Cremestick Liner all in a cute bag featuring a Julie Verhoeven illustration. There are also 2 brush kits in this collection ($49.50 each), the "Face Canvas" set with 4 special edition brushes (187 Duo Fibre Brush, 130 Short Duo Fibre Brush, 282 Duo Fibre Tapered Brush, and 286 Duo Fibre Blending Brush) and the "All Over" Set with 5 special edition brushes (129 Powder and Blush Brush, 227 Large Fluff Brush, 224 Tapered Blending Brush, 219 Pencil Brush and 266 Small Angle Brush). Each set includes an "illustrated" brush roll.


Overall rating: Booyah! for the neat, travel friendly packaging, not to mention the expert tutorial instructions broken down into 4 easy steps.


The set is limited edition and a Nordstrom Exclusive available through August 5.