NARS Hot Escape Cheek Palette I

L to R Top Row: Blush THRILL; Blush BAD BEHAVIOR. Bottom Row: Highlighter OPHELIA; Bronzer LAGUNA 01

I was very excited about this NARS summer 2025 collection and could not wait for it to arrive to Europe. I love the stripe packaging as it gives ultimate beach vibes and the shades in the cheek palettes looked very trendy and exciting, too.

I chose the lightest cheek palette as my skin tone is Light, however, I expected the bronzer to be a lot lighter than what it is. Instead, the Laguna 01 shade is pretty warm and orange, the pigmentation of the product is also quite intense. I personally prefer lighter pigmentation bronzers for easier blending to have more control when applying them with a big brush.

I was also disappointed that the description of the palette says 2 blushes, however, the shade BAD BEHAVIOR is more of a highlighter and looks very shimmery + intimidating for a blush if used alone.

Even though the palette is very pigmented, everything blended out very easily and smoothly. I enjoyed the finish of THRILL and LAGUNA being more matte and blurring. Shimmer shades also seem very smooth and finely milled.

Swatches of the Cheek Palette I

In this close up you can clearly see how warm toned the bronzer is, especially against the cool toned pink blush.

The packaging is light and easy to open, the mirror is super good quality. Makes it a perfect travel product.

Strange that the item is only good for 12 months from the date of opening as powder dry products tend to last 5 years from the production date.

The manufacturing date on this palette is 4299UC which you can check on a website https://www.checkfresh.com/nars.html

My palette has a 2024-10-25 production date, which means I will likely use it until 2029 Oct.

I have also used this cheek palette on my eyes with Laguna bronzer in the crease, Bad Behavior on the lid and Ophelia in the inner corner. I wouldn't say that these shades are the most flattering for eyeshadow, however, if this was all you had for eyes and cheeks when travelling, you could definitely get away with using it for both.

Laguna 01 as Bronzer, Thrill as Blush and Bad Behavior as Highlighter.

I have used this palette with a light hand and yet it still was very impactful. I tend to use powder cheek products on top of cream so I wonder if it will not end up being too pigmented. Which is why it is slightly disappointing that yet again the lightest available shade does not accommodate well for fair to light skin tones.

As you can see in the side photo the bronzer blended out further down the cheek than what I like which was caused by it being super pigmented and needing to really work it in. This is why I personally prefer more buildable sheer products that would stay where I have placed them.

Priced at £48 and available at most retailers' sites, I find the price point really high for this cheek palette. Each item is 3.5g and the blush and bronzer shades are permanent in the line so it is mostly the outer packaging that is a limited edition than the actual powders inside.

Personally, I would rather purchase the Hourglass palette with more natural shades which also blend easier.