Make Up Chemistry: NARS Himalayas and Night Breed

I love duochrome eye shadows: I like that you can get a multitude of effects and shades by combining them with different shadows and often, you never quite know what shade you're going to create!  One of my favourite duo chrome eye shadows is  M.A.C's 'Pink Opal' however, I find I often overlook 'Pink Opal' as it's a loose pigment.  

On a recent swatching trip to NARS (my favourite kind of make up trip!) I came across Himalayas, a slightly more subtle pink duochrome eye shadow.  The MA suggested I also buy Night Breed as together, they create a really pretty, smokey grey/pink/purple eye.

  

When you first look at 'Himalayas', it appears to be a slightly shimmery white eye shadow however, in certain lights, you are able to see the pink iridescence.  When applied as a base it gives a sheer wash of colour - it's not the most pigmented of eye shadows, however it's how 'Himalayas' interacts with other shadows that makes it so special. 

'Night Breed' is a funny eye shadow.  In the pan it's an intense black with extremely twinkly silver glitter.  If you want the eye shadow to appear how it looks in the pan on the lid, you need to use a  fairly sticky base and pat the shadow on. To achieve full pigmentation, I've found that 'Night Breed' works best on top of the NARS eye shadow primer as it provides a tacky base for the pigment and glitter to adhere to.  However, when using 'Night Breed' with 'Himalayas', I use Two Faced Shadow Insurance alongside a pencil and blending brush to buff the shadow into the duo chrome, creating a smokey purple/grey but glitter free effect. 

I think this is a really good way of introducing black eye shadow into your make up collection if it makes you a little nervous! I've got a post coming soon demonstrating how I wear 'Night Breed' on it's own using the NARS eye shadow base.

I'd love to hear some of your NARS eye shadow recommendations?

Love Nicola

xx