The Steven Klein collection for NARS was released as part of the Christmas Holiday collection in 2015. The collection was pretty large this year and there was a lot to choose from; there were three lipsticks, three lipglosses, three single eyeshadows, three nail polishes and two dual blusher sets. If that was not enough, there were a ton of gift sets, which is where the Despair Cheek Palette sits.
As you can probably see from the pictures, the Despair Cheek Palette is a four-part blush palette, which really dips into four different ends of the colour spectrum. The palette comes in the standard matte black packaging but the front is finished with Steven Klein imagery. Inside the palette you get four blushers, a miniature Ita Kabuki Brush and a mirror that fills the entire lid of the palette - so it's a pretty perfect travel companion.
The first shade inside the palette is 'Nico' which is a very light shade finished with shimmer. Therefore it makes for a very subtle highlighter, it blends well and it disappears into the skin. To the left of Nico we have 'Savage' which is a red-coral shade which is completely matte, this particular share is very pigmented and I found it hard to blend when I had too much on my brush. On the bottom left of the palette we have 'Esoteric' which is an orange shade finished with gold shimmer. I have to admit that Esoteric is not a shade I would buy normally, so it's good to step outside of my comfort zone. Last but not least we have 'Ferocious' which is probably my favourite of the four, I can never resist a plum coloured blusher! It has a really nice sheen to it, it's soft and it's blendable, which I love!
I have a bit of a side-story to share with you all, as my relationship with NARS blushers is a bit of a strange one. I've only ever bought them in America and when I get them home, I'm always a bit shocked by their lack of pigment. I've spoken to a few different people about this, who say the formulas are the same and are really heavily pigmented - but the ones I seem to get are a bit disappointing. However, the Despair Cheek Palette is everything I would have dreamed of, it's really pigmented and it's a dream to use. So I'm not sure whether the formula is different or if them coming on the plane ruins the formula, it's all a bit of a mystery.
All-in-all I think this is a great palette, I love that the colours all have something different to offer. It would be a great palette to travel with and it really forces me to step outside of my comfort zone with some of the shades. I'm really glad to finally have a palette which lives up to all the NARS hype that I've read about over the years! The good news is that the Despair Cheek Palette is still available to buy in quite a few places, so it's not too late to get your hands on it! For example, you can pick it up here for £45 at Selfridges.
