NARS Virtual Domination Cheek Palette Review and Swatches

NARS has released a cheek palette every holiday season for the past few years and, though I have always wanted to pick them up, not even I have been able to justify the purchase when it contained at least one, it not two, NARS powders I already owned. I can't remember where I first saw this year's palette offering from NARS, the Virtual Domination Cheek Palette (Instagram, perhaps..), but I fell in love with it, especially when I did more research and found out what the palette contained.

I picked up the NARS Virtual Domination Cheek Palette as soon as it launched on Sephora's site as I was so scared about it selling out. I've had it for almost two weeks now and I wanted to get this review up as soon as possible so you can still pick it up!

As you can see from the photos above, the NARS Virtual Domination Cheek Palette contains a highlighting blush, three blushes and a bronzer. Two of the blushes in this palette are limited edition shades that I kicked myself for not getting when their collection was available earlier this year. The palette is also great value, with the bronze being larger in weight than a full sized NARS bronzer and the powder blushes being only a 0.01oz smaller. If you're weighing up the benefits of this bay boy, it's definitely great value!

NARS Miss Liberty Highlighting Blush | NARS Deep Throat Blush | NARS Sex Fantasy Blush | NARS Final Cut Blush | NARS Laguna Bronzer

Miss Liberty, the highlight shade in the palette, is a soft shimmering peach shade with a lot of shimmer and sparkle to it. It is definitely a more dramatic highlighter and leaves a bit of sparkle on the cheekbones so apply with caution. Dirty name aside, Deep Throat is a sheer peach/coral shade with gold shimmer. I already own this palette in a single form and never found myself reaching for it. Now that it's in a palette, however, I've found that I've used it more, strangely enough. Sex Fantasy is one of two limited edition shades featured in the palette and I am so excited to have it. It is a matte pale lavender/cool pink that has the perfect level of pigmentation. Sex Fantasy brightens the face like all other cool pink blush shades in my collection and I absolutely love it for that! Final Cut is the second limited edition shade and it's another matte this time a peach/coral. It's the perfect accompaniment to a shimmery gold eye when you don't want any more shimmer of the face. Finally, Laguna is such a cult favourite. It's a medium brown bronzer with gold shimmer and it's absolutely beautiful. I already own Laguna separately too but have majorly hit pan so I'll be cracking into this one soon enough.

I seriously love the NARS Virtual Domination Cheek Palette. All of the colours are beautiful and have a fantastic formula. As I mentioned, I think Miss Liberty is a little too dramatic for everyday use but I'll give another try in the evenings! Deep Throat and Laguna have amazing beautiful and smooth formulas. This is the first time I've tried a matte NARS blush and, I must say, I am super impressed. Both shades are well pigmented, apply evenly and can be blended and sheered out as required!

The packaging of the NARS Virtual Domination Cheek Palette must be commented on because it's just so great. It has a great sized mirror and there's no wasted space in the palette, something that really irks me. All of the space in the actual palette is taken up with product - just how we like it! I really like the fact that the top isn't that awful matte black plastic too as it gets so dirty!

Overall, I really love my NARS Virtual Domination Cheek Palette and I think it's definitely worth the investment. It retails for $86.00 here in Australia (I picked it up for $65.00USD) and can be bought from Mecca Cosmetica/Maxima - depending on where you live and which in your area stocks NARS. With an individual NARS blush retailing for $39.00AUD and their bronzer selling for $49.00AUD, I seriously think it is great value and a fantastic way to test a few of the powder products available from NARS at once.