NARS 413 BLKR Eyeshadow Duo - Review, Swatches, Pictures

When the NARS Fashion's Night Out ad copy was sent to me I knew right away that I needed to have the eyeshadow duo in my life.  Described as an Amethyst and a Black with Red Pearl I knew that my life would have no meaning in this entire universe if I didn't own such a thing of delicate beauty.

I was very fortunate to get the eyeshadow duo sent to me from NARS and I must say I did do a little dance when I opened up the package.  Granted I do a little dance when I open up any mail addressed to me that isn't a bill, so consider the source.

When I looked at the 413 BLKR Eyeshadow Duo palette I was instantly mesmerized by the sweet dusty purple mauve of the left side of the duo and the enchanting and seductive black with reddish purple-y pearl side on the right.  It was like oil and water. A delicate almost innocent looking light purple and a rough and tough gritty from years of hard livin' on the streets black.  (Life was so hard on the streets that the g had to be left out of the word "living".)

Then it hit me.  I know exactly which Happy Days character would be the embodiment of this eyeshadow duo.  .....You mean to tell me you don't assign a character from a mid 1970's-mid 1980's TV sitcom to each and every one of your makeup items?  WTF is wrong with you?

Well The IDEAL embodiment of this eyeshadow duo is none other than Pinky Tuscadero! 

Pinky Tuscadero, played by actress Roz Kelly, was the girlfriend of Fonzie from Happy Days.  Pinky was a traveling demolition derby driver who wore an all baby pink jumpsuit with a pink scarf at her neck.  She also did stunts on her pink motorcycle wearing white hot pants, a pin shirt tied at the waist and white leather go go boots.  She was KLASSY!  She was hard and soft at the same time.  Sweet and salty. She was the only woman who was woman enough to love and leave Fonzie's magical grip on the female species.  She was a strong woman character that was never really developed. (read= The actress and the producers didn't see eye to eye so they dropped her from the show and created a new character called "Leather Tuscadero" who was the unfortunate looking, younger sister of Pinky.) But I always liked Pinky better than Leather.

Anyway. The eyeshadow duo.

The pigmentation on the Amethyst side is super. It's a great dusty purple that looks incredible on the eye.  It almost has a purple-y taupeness to it, but it's not really taupe at all. I just wish it was.  You know how I am about taupe.  The black side...well. That's not so great.

Sure it swatches well, the red/purple glitter shows up real nice, but applying it with a brush and all the red glitter disappears and you are left with a kinda charcoal grey that can look patchy if you don't apply it correctly.  It's a disappointment.  I tried applying the black shadow with a damp brush and that looked better but when I had to blend, all the red glitter disappeared.  I'm not sure if this is a case of User Error (me) or Product Default (the shadow). I eventually used it wet as a liner and that looked awesome...but that's really not every one's cuppa tea.

Do you NEED this?  No. Unless you are skilled at applying the black shadows with the colored pearl particles from NARS and making those colored particles really stand out on the eye, I would skip this.  As a shadow alone the back is just OK. There are better black shadows out there, there are also worse ones too, so it wouldn't be a crime to own this.  The Amethyst is STUNNING and owning this on its own would be almost worth it.  Now that I own this is my life complete?  No. I'm still searching for that perfect eyeshadow that will bring meaning to the universe.  You can purchase the 413 BLKR eyeshadow duo on the NARS website. It retails for$34 USD.

NARS 413 BLKR Eyeshadow Duo. Left side all over lid, Right side applied wet as a liner

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