Obviously, the stand-out product in this mystery bag, this
is the NAM Dazzling Desert Make Up Palette.
I’m not all that into these all-in-one make up palettes,
though I can definitely appreciate how useful they can be in a pinch. So when I
saw this palette in the bag, after the previous one turned out not to be good
at all, I wasn’t too excited. Still, let’s see if this one is any better than
the Wet Look palette!
Packaging: cardboard palette with a mirror inside. It’s got
a wet look to it: a reflective bluish colour in addition to the droplets makes
it look like rain. Which is actually exactly the opposite of a desert, no? Perhaps
it should’ve been beige, instead? Anyways, the mirror is quite large and heavy.
The pans are removable! So you can pick and choose which one you like and put
them in an empty palette.
![]() |
Source: nammakeup.com |
Ingredients: nothing nourishing but also no parabens. The
scent is slightly soapy and chemical, but it is pretty subtle. The glitter has
the most subtle scent, while the blush has the most intense scent. The
expiration date is 12 months after opening.
Colours: mostly warm toned colours, with a champagne and
gold shades. Starting from top left we have: gold multicolour glitter,
champagne shimmer, carrot orange matte, tan matte, plum purple matte, peachy
marbled slightly metallic shade, and a gold highly shimmery, metallic shade.
The glitter, champagne shimmer and the mattes are eyeshadows, the marbled
orange shade is a blush, and the gold metallic shimmer is a highlighter.
![]() |
All eyeshadows |
The highlighter (left) and blush (right)
Pigmentation is mostly very good. The mattes have good
pigmentation, the best pigmented matte shade us the purple. They are all quite
even. The marbled blush has pretty good pigmentation. The shimmers have
excellent pigmentation, and are very intense! By far the most pigmented is the
glitter, but, come on, it’s glitter! Glitter is almost always extremely
pigmented. The mattes and blush need only a few layers to get a good, perfectly
even and pigmented look. The shimmers and the glitter are extremely pigmented
from the very first layer.
In terms of fall-out, the mattes, shimmers, and blush don’t have any fall-out. So, the only one that has fall-out is the
glitter, and boy does it have a ton of it! It’s too coarse so it gets
everywhere. It would’ve been much better if it had some creaminess to it, like
Wet n Wild’s glitters do. It would make it much easier to apply. Speaking of
which, the mattes are incredibly easily applied with brushes, and the shimmers
can be applied with fingers or brushes, both look great. I love how easy the blush, highlighter and shimmer eyeshadow are to apply and how easy it is to get
an even layer. I tried to use a brush to apply the glitter, but it’s much easier
to just use your fingers. It sticks to skin, even without a primer.
The textures are mixed: you have one glitter, two shimmers,
one marbled, and three matte shades. The formula of the mattes is standard, not
too powdery nor too creamy, so they are super easy to use. It’s quite a good
formula! The glitter is far too coarse, it’s like it is loose glitter, so it is
just difficult to use. The marbled Blush has a very nice formula that blends
into the skin evenly and is so easy to use and is just very good in general! The
formula of the champagne shimmer is really, really good! It’s almost creamy and
applies so easily with fingers and is so intense!
The gold shimmer, however, is
coarser than the champagne one, and is just a tad too coarse for me. I prefer
very finely milled highlighters that blend into the skin; this highlighter has
particles that are a bit too large so it does slightly look like it is sitting
on top of skin. It’s not very bad, and it still looks gorgeous, but it could be
finer. Also, it’s really easy to overdo the highlighter because of how
incredibly pigmented it is! The other products (minus the glitter) are totally
buildable, so you can decide just how intense you want it to be.
In terms of
how easy they are to blend, the most blendable is the blush, by far. It is
super easy to blend it out perfectly! The mattes blend easily. The shimmers
don’t really blend too well, so you definitely have to be careful how much you
apply. The glitter cannot be blended at all, it’s just far too dry and coarse. Finally,
I will talk about how comfortable the products are. The mattes, blush, and
shimmers are all virtually weightless so they are very comfortable to wear. But
the glitter is quite uncomfortable: it’s sharp and due to the fall-out tends to
get into my eyes, making them scratchy.
It feels like plastic because of the
lack of any binder that would make it gentler on skin and easier to use. I just
really don’t like glitter.
Longevity is actually excellent! The blush and highlighter
last pretty long on my oily skin, still having good pigmentation 6 hours later.
The mattes seem to have a tiny bit of fading or creasing 6 hours in. The
glitter has By far the best longevity. It had no creasing at all, which is so amazing
given that it’s a glitter eyeshadow! Much better than the Wet Look palette!
Removing these products was incredibly easy. Well,
everything aside from the glitter, of course. Use whatever you usually use to
remove makeup, it will remove the mattes, shimmers and blush easily. However, the
glitter tends to explode all over the face when you remove it. As glitter does.
It is very annoying, and you will keep finding glitter on your face long after
you’ve removed it.
To sum up, this is actually a really good make up palette. It’s
incredibly useful if you are pressed for time and want to be done with your
makeup quickly as there’s eyeshadows, highlighters, and a blush inside this
palette. The pigmentation is pretty good to excellent (the shimmer shades have
excellent pigmentation). Everything is very long-lasting, even the glitter, and
still looks great 6 hours later. The colours are nicely matched to make an
orange/purple eyeshadow look with champagne shimmer and the golden highlighter
complements it very nicely. The blush is far too orange for my pale skin; it
should be good for anyone with light to medium skin. I love how easy everything
is to apply and how nice and even it is, especially the shimmers and the blush.
I expected this palette to be bad, just like its sister palette, the Wet Look
Make Up Palette. But instead it is surprisingly good and the finished look is
rather nice! The only product I don’t like from this palette is the glitter,
and that’s only because I dislike glitter in general. So, you know what? I will
in fact, recommend it! It’s not fantastic, but it’s still pretty good!
Rating: 7.5/10
Would buy again? NO (far too orange tones for my pale skin,
it’s a great palette, otherwise)