NARS Hungry Heart Duo- a review

I've been wanting to get my little hands on this one for a long time so i finally did it. Been using it for about half a week and i guess reviewing it after the first use wouldn't have been a stretch at all...but i considered 'waiting' would be a better choice since several usages could bring up the entire potential of this duo. 

NARS cosmetics website describes the product as 'iridescent gold ivory and pink sand with golden sheen'. Their duos are supposed to be either blush-highlighter or bronzer-blush. This is a blush-highlighter. 

Okay so where do i begin.

Price & Packaging: the classic NARS palette with two squared little pans inside, nice 'gummy', matte material with classy letters embossed on top and a large mirror. Quite expensive- around €31-for a duo (10 g of product). 

How it works: this is supposed to the a blush-duo. However, i have severe reserves with respect to this product.

First off, it's the lightest color option of the duos range. The picture on the website is not similar to what it looks like in the pan, i'd rather say the swatch resembles a lighter Angelika and a golden-ish Albatross. I tried to capture the real pigmentation of the shades but my camera only did it perhaps 95%+. A perfect image of the duo that i managed to find online:

Image from Bellasugar.com

This is what i could capture (indoors, warm light):

Flash

It looks completely different from what it's supposed to look like on the website.

Cutting to the chase, i found this product does not qualify as a highlighter or blusher; it is a sheer powder drowned in pixie golden glitter. 

Though the 'darker' pan is supposed to be the 'blush', it transfers like a pigmented translucent powder with a subtle faint pink undertone that sinks in and is just invisible; perhaps gives the skin a bit of a powdery look. The 'lighter' shade transfers on the skin identically as the darker one; my eye couldn't capture the slightest difference, to be honest. They leave a powdery cast (what's actually supposed to be the blush or the highlighter) and a ton of finely milled glitter. So no, these two pans are NOT highlighter and blusher; they are translucent....colored powders that add major glitterage to your complexion and that's about it.

Now the glitter. I am a glitter fan, sheen, shimmer, whatever shines it's okay with me as long as it fits within certain limits, of course. I wouldn't diss a product just because it is shimmery/glittery. And the Hungry Heart has the most beautiful, delicate and intense glitter i have ever seen in a product. So if you want something dramatic yet tasteful, no frosting or other stories but just very very fine glitter, this is a great choice. 

I was looking for what NARS said they were selling- a blush and a highlighter. These two pans are absolutely not that. I have to agree with more than 90% of the negative Makeupalley reviews this product has-it's just deceitful to label it something it isn't. Translucent pink powder, probably, glittery highlighting powder, maybe, but definitely not a highlighter. Both shades disappear when blended into the skin, as i already mentioned, and all you're left with is a bunch of glitter...on a 'powder set' complexion so to speak.

If you find yourselves in my position, that is being stuck with an expensive product you wish you could throw out of the window, don't despair. Try finding it some use. Some ladies on Makeupalley mention using it for the collarbone/brow bone for the glittery effect, on a night out or for a party look. I wouldn't use such an expensive product for large surfaces because it doesn't last forever; it's pigmented but a little doesn't go a long way. I think the best suggestion would be to try using it as an evening 'blush/bronzer neutralizer'- if you have a blush shade you don't like that much, or if it's too dark and you wish to lighten it a little, or just to spruce up your regular bronzer, then this is a great option, because it's very delicate in terms of consistency, an almost creamy feeling on the skin/fingers, and due to its sheer effect can easily work as a savior in case you've overdone your face/body makeup. 

If this isn't appealing to you, then the last option would be returning it. I can't return it therefore i think i'm going to swap it on Makeupalley. 

This belongs to that narrow category of products that i wouldn't recommend to anyone. Hopefully NARS recalculates the ingredients/initial plans and description for this duo and comes up with a better option.