NARS Douceurs de Paris Artist Palette

While catching up on some old posts on beauty blogs I follow, I came across a review for NARS' Douceurs de Paris (Pleasures of Paris) palette. I had a great experience with NARS Bridal Palette from a while back, and this palette had colors that I love so I thought I would give it a try. Although the fact that it previously sold out due to its popularity and was somewhat recently revived was another deciding factor.


The packaging for Douceurs de Paris is the same as any other NARS eyeshadow/blush packaging. There is a mirror included, but no applicators or brushes.


The texture of the eyeshadows are extremely silky and smooth, with the exception of the bottom right shade, which seems a little rougher and drier. The pigmentation level of all shades is excellent, as expected of NARS products. I will have to update later on the staying power since I have not yet used these on my eyes. Though from my previous experience, NARS eyeshadows tend to fade on me after 6-7 hours even with UDPP.


The shades in Douceurs de Paris are (from L to R) Nepal (peach), Violetta (violet), Demon Lover (purple), Fez (bronzey brown), Abyssinia (ivory), and Cordura (black brown with gold specks). Nepal, Fez, Abyssinia, and Cordura are shimmery, while Violetta and Demon Lover are matte. My favorite shade in this palette is Nepal, which is a bit sad since I already have the same shade in the NARS Bridal Palette. Hopefully I will grow to like the other shades better once I've had a chance to actually use the palette though.

All pictures in this post were taken under natural light.

In short: This palette delivers what I expect from NARS, silky eyeshadows with great pigmentation level. I can't say that I was blown away after seeing and touching it in person though.

Comparison Swatches - Pinks, Reds, Peaches & Corals

I've put off swatching the pinks, reds, lavenders, and purples for so long since I was planning on acquiring the Dior Petal Shine quint before swatching these colors. Now that I've had the quint in my possession for a while now, I've finally gotten to swatching the pinks and reds =P

Without further ado, here are the highlighter/base shades of pinks:


As you can see, I was having a very hard time getting some of these shades to show up as pink rather than white/silver in the picture. NARS' Edie appears more muted and beige than pink when swatched, and the Shu Uemura shade here is probably the only warm pink. All the other shades are various shades of very light to light cool pink. Please refer to individual swatches of the products if that helps you see the color better.

Here are the warm pink/red, peach, or coral shading colors:


I was surprised that the Dior shade here looks so pink since it looked more peachy in the pan and when swatched with other colors in the same quint. On the other hand, Shiseido's Bare Pink is a kind of peachy warm pink that looked more pink when swatched in my original review of the Shiseido Hydro-Powders. It probably looks more orange-toned here because it's being shown with similar colors in the same family. Also, I swear that the Shu shade looks a lot more red on me than it does here in the swatch. I guess just like Bare Pink, it is probably because this Shu shade is being swatched with similar colors that it looks so orange here. I would describe it as a bright copper-ish coral. Finally, I was surprised that the L'Oreal HiP color was so red since the intensity was not as noticeable before when swatched with other HiP duos.

Here is my measly collection of cool pink shading colors plus the lining colors:


NARS' Onidine is really a plummy color halfway between red and purple, though it looks oddly brown here. I decided to include it with the pinks instead of the purples in the next post since the other shades in the palette are also here. The two black colors both have either pink or reddish shimmer, which is why I included them here as well.

For reference, all of the pictures were taken under natural light. All of the Lavshuca swatches are from an Eye Color Select quad, and the MJ Majolook swatch is from a Trick On Majolook. The Shu Uemura swatches are from the LE Holiday 2008 Secret Luscious Rose palette, and the shades are numbered from the left (i.e., the first shade from the left is Color 1, and so on). The Shiseido swatch is of one of the Hydro-Powder Eyeshadows, and it is also the ONLY cream eyeshadow in the swatches. The L'Oreal HiP swatches are of an Metallic Shadow Duo, and I've named the lighter color as 1 and the darker color as 2. Finally. the Dior swatches are from a 5-Couleur Iridescent quint, and the NARS swatches are all of eyeshadows in the NARS Bridal Palette.

NARS Bridal Palette

As much as I love my Lavshuca and newly acquired Shu palettes, the NARS Bridal Palette will always have an extra special place in my heart. It is an amazingly versatile palette that will take you from day to night and has almost everything essential a makeup beginner needs.


The NARS Bridal Palette includes 4 eyeshadows, a blush, a highlighter, and 4 lip colors. Just with the products in this palette, you can create at least 3-4 different looks for a variety of occassions. Other than needing to buy some applicators/brushes, this palette is really all a makeup beginner needs to get started. I was even able to put together a great makeup look that suited me without having to try on the first go. All of the other palettes I have worked with required at least some effort and a few tries to get the intensity of the colors, blending, and/or placement of the eyeshadows to look good on me. NARS Bridal seems to be able to effortlessly make any makeup beginner look good.


The eyeshadows in this palette include Edie, Nepal, Onidine, and Night Fever. Edie is a soft shimmery ivory that works great as a highlighter for the eyes. I don't know if I was a too gentle in swatching Edie or if the color just perfectly blends in with my natural skincolor, but you can only discern the soft gold shimmer in the swatch of Edie. Nepal is a shimmery pinkish beige that is beautiful as a base color all over the lids. Onidine is a medium-toned shimmery wine with a hint of taupe/brown and is probably the most complex color of the lot. In the pan, it looks more like a violet-toned taupe. Using Onidine as a crease color really brings definition to my eyes without making me look overly makeupy. The last color, Night Fever, is a black with burgundy shimmer. It doesn't look quite as black on my lids or in the pan as it does in the swatch, perhaps because I rubbed the color too much when I was swatching it. I always use this color as a liner color, unless I want to do smoky eyes ^^

The combination of these four shadows allows you to do a light, neutral day look, or a dramatic smoky eye look for the evening. I love how the colors are fairly neutral, yet there is still a pink/wine undertone to the three darker colors that gives an extra zing to the look.


The NARS Bridal Palette includes a NARS blush in Orgasm and a NARS highlighter in Albatross. Anyone who has spent any time on any makeup board will most likely have heard of NARS Orgasm as the infamous blush that makes everyone look good. Though there are some makeup junkies that argue the color is not pigmented enough and too sparkly, I personally absolutely adore Orgasm (no pun intended). Wanting to try this blush was also the reason why I bought this palette in the first place. Orgasm gives me a very natural flush that instantly makes me look more awake and alive. I am not bothered by the shimmer/sparkles since I think they are very fine and helps impart this gorgeous glow on my skin.

Albatross is a shimmery ivory highlighter that probably works great for contouring. Since I don't usually contour, I can't really tell if Albatross works better than anything else. When I use Albatross, I just brush it onto my T-zone and around my eyes for some extra glow on areas where I wouldn't want to apply Orgasm.


The lipcolors of the NARS Bridal Palette are the section of the palette that I use the least. The 4 lip products included are the NARS Lip Lacquer in Baby Doll and the NARS Sheer Lipstick in Mitzi, Sexual Healing, and Roman Holiday. I've found that the sheer lipsticks are a little hard, though rather pigmented compared to what I usually use. On the other hand, the lip lacquer is very sheer and soft, and more like what I would use normally. I don't really recall much about the lipcolors since I usually use some other lip product with the rest of the NARS Bridal Palette.


All photos in this entry were taken in natural light.

In short: Every girl needs a NARS Bridal Palette! (...even if you're not going to be a bride) The eyeshadows, blush, and highlighter are all stunning. I don't recall as much about the lipcolors but I think they were fine (i.e., nothing really special, but nothing I particularly hate, either). This is my go-to and fall-back palette when I'm feeling uninspired and/or need something amazing for a big formal event.