Nars Dual Intensity Blush: Swatches of Craving, Jubilation, Adoration, Frenzy, Fervor and Panic

Here they are! As you know, genius Francois Nars has a line of wonderful, complex, pressed powder blushes. Those are the gold standard for so many shades. Still, never shy of looking at the world through fresh eyes, the Nars Dual Intensive Blushes ($45 each) use a unique formula for those of us that love to shake things up a bit. Who doesn’t? These are currently available from Nars online, Barneys New York, Bloomingdales, Neiman Marcus, Sephora, and Nordstrom.

These blush duos can be worn wet or dry. Generally, dry application gives the highest pigment level. A dampened brush gives a pretty watercolor effect that melts into the skin with a really pretty stain. Like the Dual Intensity eyeshadows, these duo-blushes have a magical texture and formula that gives a beautiful glow and dimension.

Another:

Under different light:

Particularly for application of these when used dry, the brush really matters. Nars introduces a new brush with this brush line–the NARS #23 Wet/Dry Blush Brush ($42) (available at Nars online). And yes, it’s awesome for these blushes.

The head is very dense, but has some give and pliability. As it turns out, this blush is awesome for buffing powders into the skin. I’ve used it numerous time to buff in Nars Soft Velvet Loose Powders (reviewed here) with extremely good results. My pores are vanished using this technique with those two products.

The packaging is square, with the typical dark modern black NARS look, and a mirror inside the lid. I’ve done well with these blushes and the NARS Contour Brush #21 (available at Nars online here). Note that, like the Nars Wet/Dry brush #23, the head is on the denser side. However, the #21 is not as stiff/dense as the #23–the contour blush is softer. The shape is perfect for these vertical pans, and the brush is dense enough to pick up plenty of pigment. The fan shape is nice for blending.

The NARS Contour brush #21 is narrow when turned sideways.

As the setup of these shadows suggests, these layer beautifully with each other. Here are some images of the same shades that I did as an experiment, where I swatched the left shades over the right-hand shades. These are truly transformative shades as well as ones that be worn alone, or in some cases as highlighter shades that couple well with the blush colors.

NARS Adoration is one of my favorites. This combines a lovely cool pink highlighter with a deep pink rose blush.

I’m in love with this flattering combination. Although I have warm skin, I find that these two cooler tones are universal.

NARS Jubilation is a soft metallic peach (right) and soft metallic gold (left).

Depending on your skintone, Jubilation will be a highlighter or blush. The deep shade is not very deep, and so it will turn in a soft nude peach on some skintones, and in deeper skintones this will become a duo-toned highlighter. Merely turning the pan in the light shows how the powder interacts with the light.

Jubilation with heavy swatches (next to Craving, so that you can see how light the shades in Jubilation are):

Jubilation swatches, again next to Craving:

NARS Frenzy combines a beautiful metallic gold (left) and a warm terra-cotta (right). Beautiful, natural color that will look amazing on those with a touch of red in their coloring (redheads take note!), warm skin-tones and anyone who loves a gold-toned highlight.

Swatches:

Because of the beautiful gold, Frenzy looks amazing with the gold (left) swatched over the warmer ambers-orange shade (right) (see the above swatches for the layered effect).

NARS Panic is a pigment rich hot fuchsia (left) and deep cherry red (left). I could live an entire summer out of this one duo–how gorgeous are these two shades?

NARS Craving is a study in nudes. There is a light nude (left) and deeper amber-nude on the right. Some are going to love using this blush duo to use the left on the upper cheek, and the deeper in the cheek hollow.

Swatches of NARS Craving:

NARS Fervor has a pink-peach on the left, and a shimmery burgundy-wine-brown on the right. The right shade is usually beautiful and complex.

Whenever I open Fervor, my eye goes directly to that beautiful deep metallic shade on the right. There a cool tone underneath the deep shade that is so unusual and pretty.

Swatches (on my skintone, the left half swatches much pinker than it looks in the pan):

Here’s another that shows the metallic quality of the right shade:

One more:

Depending on your skintone, I’m sure that at least one of these can become a favorite. There is an aesthetic to these that is so unusual, and another reason why I love the NARS line for its vision and innovation. These are currently available from Nars online, Barneys New York, Bloomingdales, Neiman Marcus, Sephora, and Nordstrom.

These blushes were sent to Cafe Makeup without charge for consideration for review. This post includes affiliate links (for more information, see About Cafe Makeup)

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