NARS High Voltage Holiday 2018 Highlighting Palette ($42.00 for 0.48 oz.) contains three, warm-toned powder highlighters with a soft pink, gold, and peachy-copper. The performance was consistent with the full-sized highlighting powders that NARS released earlier this year with one shade (Fort de France) being from the permanent range, while the other two shades are new.
NARS’ highlighting powders retail for $38.00 and contain 0.49 oz. or cost $77.55/oz. This palette contains $37.22 worth of product, though two shades are exclusive to this palette. Alternatively, given the higher price point of the individual highlighters, getting three shades for about the price of one single shade may give it more value to some.
NARS Hot Tryst Holiday 2018 Cheek Palette ($59.00 for 0.60 oz.) includes six cheek colors–two seem more like highlighters, while the remaining four seem like blushes. Each shade was a good size to accommodate most cheek brushes (both blush and highlighting brushes). The formula more like a hybrid gel-powder or baked product–denser and firmer to the touch, so no powderiness, but still yielding enough to be easily used with brushes; the formula reminded me of the brand’s own Dual Intensity blushes but a bit softer. All six shades performed similarly semi-opaque to opaque coverage, blendable, and long-wearing. This palette is available at NARS today, and then it will launch at Sephora on October 8th.
Updated 10/4 at 10:30AM PST: As the product went live this morning, I was able to read about the formula, and it is one, a wet/dry formula, so the shades can be used with a dampened brush for greater glow and depth (which I tested for, thankfully, based on prior experiences with this type of texture!). They do intensify–both in terms of becoming a bit more shimmery/shiny and also have truer-to-pan color on the more mid-tone shades, though none of them need to be applied damp to get yield coverage/luminosity.
Secondly, NARS described the formula as having “soft, buildable” coverage as well as “buildable radiance.” Under “how to use,” they recommend applying it dry for sheerer coverage and wet for more intense coverage and glow. Again, most of them were rather pigmented dry, but I’ve updated the ratings to reflect the buildable quality of the coverage (which almost just flipped some of the ratings around).
Becca Macaron Collection Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed Mini Set ($40.00 for 0.34 oz.) includes four, miniature-sized highlighters. All four shades have been released before and are currently available to be purchased individually, though Prismatic Amethyst is a limited edition shade. I found that the quality and texture of the minis in this set was comparable to the full-sized versions I have of all but Opal, as my original Opal has a creamier, smoother consistency (and generally, I have found most of the newer Becca highlighters to have a less cream-like feel, though they still function and perform similarly). A full-sized highlighter retails for $38.00 and contains 0.28 oz. or costs $135.71/oz., which means the set contains $46.14 worth of highlighter. Unless you’re the kind of person who finishes up products or sticks with one shade at a time, I think the set is a great way to try four different shades for a little more than the cost of one single shade.
Hourglass Unlocked Ambient Lighting Edit Palette ($80.00 for 0.24 oz.) is a new, limited edition holiday palette that features two Ambient Lighting Powders, one Ambient Lighting Bronzer, two Ambient Lighting Blushes, and one Metallic Strobe Lighting Powder. The upside to this year’s palette (in a way) is that the included shades are new rather than repeated from the permanent range. The palette contains $10.51 worth of Ambient Lighting Powder, $5.13 worth of Ambient Lighting Bronzer, $20.27 worth of Ambient Lighting Blush, and $9.50 worth of Metallic Strobe Lighting Powder for a total value of $45.41. I’m not sure why the Hourglass Ambient Lighting palettes are priced so much over the “value” in the palette (as usually palettes offer more value than purchasing alone).
I’d actually love to see Hourglass bring back trios for the holidays–maybe two or three (at least one for lighter skin, one for deeper skin) rather than attempting a one-size-fits-few kind of palette. I am not fair (I’d classify myself as light-medium) but found that the second Ambient Lighting Powder darkened my complexion noticeably if used all-over, so it was more suitable as a bronzer on me, so I found that it was a palette that seemed most suitable for medium to medium deep skin tones.
Colour Pop Crush on You Super Shock Highlighter Palette ($18.00 for 0.60 oz.) takes the brand’s cream highlighters (that we normally see in screw-top pots) and puts them in a slim, cardboard palette. I don’t know the magic that was involved in this, but I’m certainly interested in learning more about it! So far, I haven’t noticed any changes in the texture (it’s been a week or so) or that “wet” feel of them in the pan, but I am curious how it will hold up over time. All four shades performed consistently with the Super Shock formula overall with one shade being a little less pigmented (or less buildable) and not quite as easy to work with as the other three.
Jouer Rose Gold Blush Bouquet ($30.00 for 0.39 oz.) is a new, limited edition duo that features a mid-tone, shimmery coral and a light-medium, satiny pink. Both shades had good pigmentation and applied well to bare skin, though Marigold was slightly better all-around.
