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(*affiliate links) Hey Beauties! HAPPY 2021! Hope all of you are having a great start of the year despite we’re still in this together!
I’ve been taking a break from the end of 2020 but so glad to write my first post in 2021! Today I’m going to review the Nars St Germain des Prés Eyeshadow palette, which is part of Nars Claudette collection!
Nars has released 6-pan eyeshadow palettes before but the quality of them can be hit or miss. So I’m tempted to try this out as the color story spoke to me… and the packaging is so pretty!
Table of Contents
About the Nars St Germain des Prés Eyeshadow palette
This Nars St Germain des Pres Eyeshadow palette* is a limited edition eyeshadow palette from the Claudette Collection. This collection is inspired by Francois Nars’ mother, Claudette.
This 6-pan palette retails for $49 USD and is available from Nars*, Sephora* and Bloomingdale’s* at this moment. Each pan contains 0.07 oz or 2 g of products.
The top row of the palette are satin and shimmer shades, and the bottom are the mattes. From Nars’ website, the shadows are described as ‘pure pigments suspended in an innovative liquid binding system create rich, high-impact color in just one stroke’. I think they were mainly talking about the 3 shades on the top row, since I don’t feel that way for the mattes in this palette.
Ingredients and formulation of the Nars St Germain des Prés Eyeshadow palette
Same as their other palettes, the shades in this Nars St Germain des Prés Eyeshadow palette are made of talc as the first few ingredients. For the mattes (bottom row) and the satin shade (middle shade in the upper row), talc is the first ingredient, while for the other two shimmer shades, talc is the 4th and dimethicone is the first ingredient. Beware if you are sensitive to these ingredients.
Besides, all 5 shades (except Envie from the upper left corner) are labeled as ‘may contain’ carmine. I don’t really know why it is ‘may contain’, but if you are looking for a vegan palette, you may want to look elsewhere.
For the shadows, let me talk about the mattes first. In many of the online promo pictures of this Nars St Germain des Prés Eyeshadow palette, I found the mattes to be very reddish or orangy tone. I was very hesitant to pick this up because I’ve been buying quite a lot of red tone palettes/shadows recently, and thought this would be another one! Luckily in person, they are not as red or orange as they appear online! However, the mattes are all pretty deep in color. I wish the one in the middle of the bottom row (Nostalgie) was lighter.
About the formulation, I am a little disappointed on the quality of the mattes. Compare with their other relatively recent release, the Extreme Effects Eyeshadow palette* (reviewed here), the mattes here are much more patchy and dry. I missed the mattes in the Extreme Effects eyeshadow palette a lot when I was dealing with the ones in this palette. Mattes here are not necessarily hard to blend on the lid, but they feel less quality than that other palette.
However, the shimmers in this palette are the stars of the show. All the 3 satin/shimmers on the top row are very creamy and smooth. They may be a little thick, but they have one swipe pigmentation. You can see my swatch video in the YouTube link below, they are very pigmented and picked up a tons if you apply with your fingers.
Swatches for the Nars St Germain des Prés Eyeshadow palette
The satin/shimmers on the top row perform very well on the swatches. If you mostly apply your shimmers with fingers, these are the jackpots. Very smooth and they just glide on the skin. But one thing about them: try not to push too deep or hard into the pan when picking up the product, as they are somewhat squishy and soft. A light swirl can do the job nicely. If you prefer to use a brush to apply these shades, a natural hair brush allows a better application.
The mattes are indeed not as impressive to me. Especially they just came out with a nicer matte formula in the Extreme Effects Eyeshadow palette. I wish they are slightly more even and opaque. I recommend to check out the swatches for the Nars Effect Effects Eyeshadow palette here. I think I really like that palette! You could still get that palette* at the sale price from Nars website now.
2 eye looks for the Nars St Germain des Prés Eyeshadow palette
I found myself always drawn to eye looks that are golden or yellowish in tone with brown as shading. This is exactly that type of look! I will honestly admit that in my eyeshadow collection, this eye look is not unique and I can easily recreate this with almost any palette I own. But that being said, I still love this look!
Although the mattes are not as impressive from the swatches, they still perform well with an eye brush. One thing I like about them is that they do not look super deep on my lid. I don’t usually wear smokey looks. They are buildable if you want them to be deeper.
This second look is cooler than the first one. It sort of reminded me of the look created using the Viseart Petits Fours Lilas palette (reviewed here), but a softer version. That was also one of my favorite palettes and looks in 2020.
The color story in this Nars St Germain des Prés Eyeshadow palette interests me a lot. I think the looks created are rather elegant. I like it better than I thought I would be!
Final Thoughts
Overall, I like this Nars St Germain des Prés Eyeshadow palette. It is a hit for me. Although this is a relatively expensive eyeshadow palette for 6 shades, given the quality (the satin/shimmers are great), packaging and looks you can create with this palette, I think it is still within a reasonable range. I do recommend to try this palette out if you are on the fence!
I will rate this Nars St Germain des Prés Eyeshadow palette as:
- Texture: 8/10
- Color payoff: 8/10
- Longevity on eye lid: 9/10
- Quality consistency among shades: 5/10
- Color scheme uniqueness: 7.5/10
- Affordability: 7.5/10
