I got my paws on the new NARS limited edition Virtual Domination palette last week. I’m a massive fan of NARS blushes and bronzers, and especially so their limited edition face palettes as they are great value for money in comparison to the individual shades, and last forever. I’ve got both the Guy Bordin and Danmari palettes from previous years and I’ve used them countless times, so was excited to see the new edition for 2014.
The Virtual Domination palette comes in a stunning white case with a patterned overlay. It feels really sturdy and has a large mirror, with 5 shades inside…
Three blushes, one highlighter and a bronzer. Previous palettes have had 6 shades in total, but I quite like that they’ve decided to make the bronzer double-sized, and miss out a blush shade. It also means that you actually get more bronzer in this palette than a full size Laguna! This makes it quite a good deal for £45 when you consider a full size bronzer will set you back £27 and full size blushes £22.50 (The ones in the palette are almost full size, with each shade having only 0.01oz less product than the individuals)
They’ve included two of my favourite products from NARS: the Laguna bronzer and Deep Throat blusher, both of which were in the Guy Bordin palette last year, so I was quite surprised to see them included again. The other blush shades are both limited edition, the first being Sex Fantasy (a matte, pale lavender pink) which is surprisingly flattering on me. I didn’t think it would be in the pan, and I definitely wouldn’t have picked something like this as an individual shade so I’m glad it’s been included and has lead to a little discovery for me! The other limited edition shade is Final Cut (a matte peachy-coral) Both of these matte shades are quite powdery, blend well and have lovely pigmentation (not too much, not too little!) The highlighter included is Miss Liberty, another permanent shade. This is the only shade I’m not a huge fan of. It’s a very pale peach tone, which I do like, but the level of glitter is OTT for me. It’s fine for evening time but not every day.
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| Clockwise from top right: Laguna, Final Cut, Sex Fantasy, Miss Liberty, Deep Throat |
Overall, I’m really happy with this and it’s found a firm place in my everyday makeup bag. The one criticism I have is the weight of the palette (although the packaging is stunning, it is much heavier than the previous rubber-matte finished ones I have) so it’s not quite as travel friendly.
The Virtual Domination palette is available now, exclusive to SpaceNK in the UK (£45, HERE), and Sephora in the USA ($65, HERE).
