NARS Boys Don't Cry High Voltage Blush: Review & Swatches

I have an enduring love affair with bright blushes. Blush is the one thing (other than nail polish, of course) that I feel virtually naked without. Or, more accurately, I'm so pale that I look like a corpse without it, but I digress. It's no secret that NARS makes some of the best, most beloved blushes on the market today and one of their new, limited-edition blushes, Boys Don't Cry, has been screaming my name. It's bright, it's bold and the fact that it shares a name with a song by one of my favorite bands, The Cure, sure doesn't hurt.

NARS describes Boys Don't Cry, part of their recent collaboration with designer Pierre Hardy, as a "pink grapefruit" shade, which I'd say is pretty spot-on. It's an intense coral with reddish undertones and it is all kinds of gorgeous!

Unblended (left) and blended (right).

 



This is an incredibly rich and densely pigmented blush. It looks even more vibrant on the skin than it does in the pan. The gold pattern is an overspray, so the blush itself is actually matte. The texture is very finely milled and blendable, which is essential when you have a blush as bright as this one. You'll definitely need to employ a light hand but so long as you only get a tap or two of powder on you're brush, the formula allows for smooth sailing from there.

At $41, this is pricier than NARS' standard blushes but it's also much larger. You're getting 0.45 oz. of product here--nearly three times as much compared to the usual 0.16 oz--so I think the price difference is well worth it for the amount of product you're getting. The large size, coupled with how little product you need to acheive excellent pigmentation with this blush, makes this virtually a lifetime supply of this shade. I can't imagine I'll ever hit pan on this--at least, not for many years to come! Here's one of my standard NARS blushes, Exhibit A (another must-have if you like super pigmented blushes), on top of Boys Don't Cry for reference.

 

Other than the obvious size difference and the addition of Pierre Hardy's name on the front, the packaging here is the same we've come to know from NARS: a sturdy, black, rubberized compact with a handy mirror inside. I like the look and feel of NARS' packaging, but as you can see from the older Exhibit A blush I used for the size comparison above, the rubberized finish attracts scratches and fingerprints like no other. That's about the only complaint I can muster up here though!

If you like bold blushes, you'll find a lot to love in Boys Don't Cry. It can be easily blended out into a subtler cheek color too if you prefer. It's a stunning shade and the formula is a prime representation of why NARS blushes are held in such high regard.