This is the NARS e/s duo in Taiga that I have been so excited about and you would be well aware of it if you follow me on Twitter. The lighter colour is like a yellow-based cream colour with small glitters, and the darker colour (which gave me the googly eyes whilst searching swatches) is like a pewter khaki brownish colour with very small gold glitters. Now I'd gotten the impression that NARS e/s duos are very much hit or miss, so I wasn't extremely surprised when they weren't the most pigmented:
However, when I applied them with my brush they were a lot easier to work with and a bit more pigmented than the swatches above. They blend like a dream, and while they are relatively sheer, the consistency is very smooth and it's very much buildable. I would've liked the darker colour to be khaki-er, but the colour itself is very very pretty, and the lighter one is great as a highlighter as well as an all over lid colour.
That being said, I'm really glad I didn't pay £23.50 for this because I think I would've regretted it.
Firstly, I've realised that duos may not be the best form of palettes for the purpose of on-the-go touch-ups that I'd wanted by buying this, because they aren't no-brainers like quads (lightest colour on browbone, next darkest colour on lid etc., etc.,) The problem with duos is that if you try and make the lighter colour a highlighter and the lid colour, your look becomes quite flat. I didn't think ahead about this, but that's the lesson learnt! This is something I have to experiment more with, which is actually an exciting challenge in itself that I'm quite looking forward to :) It'd be great if I could learn to make this work! :)
Secondly, I prefer pigmented eyeshadows. Sheer ones have their benefits of looking more natural, they often times also have less fall out and it makes correcting mistakes a lot easier. But I personally prefer pigmented eyeshadows.
The third reason, which is more of a personal reason, is that the two colours appear a lot cooler against my skintone. I wished they'd transfer directly on to my skin as they are in the pan.. but sadly not :(
I will give it credit for its staying power, as I wore it on an incredibly active 6 hour day working with children and it managed to stay in place for a good 5 hours of it.
I'm not disappointed, but I would've been if I'd paid the full price. There are a few other duos with beautiful usable colours, but they would be things that I'd treat myself to if any other discounts like the Groupon one came along. I'm sure other colours have different formulas, and that some are more pigmented than Taiga - in which case I'd rather check in-store before splurging £23.50!
So yes, overall quite happy with my purchase, my new experience and the challenge of creating a good look with just this duo. But, I wouldn't have been quite so enthusiastic if I'd paid the full price. I'd suggest trying on the NARS duos before buying them if you're paying the £23.50 :)
Do you have any NARS e/s duos? What are your feelings about them, or duos in general?
<3yu