NARS Vent Glacé Duo Eyeshadow from the Fall 2012 Color Collection

Designed by NARS founder and Creative Director François Nars, the NARS Fall 2012 Color Collection features a blend of bold, modern shades and celestial shimmers. I went with the celestial shimmers.

Vent Glacé ($34), French for “icy wind,” is the name of the intriguing Duo Eyeshadow in the collection, which features a "stormy combination of platinum and silver smoke." It looked like my kind of eyeshadow duo, and I hoped that I'd like the look when I ordered it without seeing swatches anywhere.

Wear each shade solo, layered, or one as a base and the other as a highlighter for a seductive, shimmering effect.

I absolutely adore Vent Glacé! NARS hit the ball of the park with these shimmering shades. Silver and the lightest sage green complement each other beautifully, and the shades adhere perfectly to my eyelids. Not only that, they apply evenly with no undue effort (perhaps NARS fixed the texture issues they had last year).

I've had this gorgeous shadow for weeks. I have no idea why I hadn't chosen it for a prime-time feature. As I remarked in the comments recently, sometimes, I just drop the ball and move on. That was a big mistake with my two new NARS beauties. Fortunately, they are both available for anyone who has been on the fence. OK, I promise that was my last baseball reference. Speaking of baseball, why was it dropped from the Summer Olympics?

I took my swatch photos in full, late-morning sun. I applied the shades with a sponge-tipped applicator. The silver is at the top of my arm, with the pastel sage below. The silver shade is pure silver. It does not lean blue. If anything, it leans green - but only to my eye. I think most will see it as pure gleaming, polished platinum or silver. It adheres to the skin beautifully, making application a breeze.

The hard-to-characterize pastel, shimmering sage is stunning - so fabulous that I just ordered another Vent Glacé. I also ordered the new NARS Eyeliner Stylo in Koala to go with it. Call me crazy, but this duo has earned my love. It's definitely one of my favorite NARS eye shadow purchases in years - and there have been some great ones.

Rosemary, my sweet reader, you were looking for a silver shadow. Will this one work for you?

By now, I'm sure at least a few of you have purchased this beautiful duo. How do you like it? If you haven't had time to check it out, you can find it at the NARS Web site, where shipping is free on any order. For some reason, the NARS counters closed at regional Neiman Marcus stores, so online shopping will become even more important for me.

Photo at top courtesy of NARS; other photos by Best Things in Beauty