NARS has packed its winter holiday mood into an ice-blue compact. Its Art of Après collection is inspired by the Alps, with the Après Ski Cheek & Eye Palette available in two versions on the brand’s UK website at £65 each. Both contain four eyeshadows, a blush and a highlighter, housed in a mirrored case whose padded-looking surface borrows from a ski jacket.
The packaging is playful, but the colours deserve the closer look. A palette can appear wonderfully practical until you realise the cheek shades are the ones you will never touch. Here, the decision comes down to how much frost and raspberry you want alongside your everyday neutrals.
Aspen Highlands or Snow Games?
Aspen Highlands pairs ecru and taupe eye colours with an iridescent pink. Its more unexpected combination sits underneath: Windchill, an icy blue highlighter, beside Ski Bunny, a matte blue-toned pink blush. The contrast gives the palette its point of view. You could keep the eyes fairly quiet and let the cheek colour do the talking.
Snow Games takes a deeper route. Mauve-beige and mahogany sit with metallic gunmetal blue and a black-brown shade flecked with plum. Its cheek colours are Off-Piste, a light raspberry highlighter with golden shimmer, and Wild Bunch, a shimmering raspberry blush. On paper, it reads as the more evening-minded option.
Aspen Highlands is the one with a matte blush; Snow Games puts shimmer in both cheek pans. That is worth deciding before being distracted by the blue packaging. If your everyday routine depends on a shine-free blush, these two palettes are not interchangeable, even though they share the same format and price.
NARS’s Japanese launch notes also identify a mixture of existing and limited shades. Aspen Highlands includes Ashes to Ashes and St Paul de Vence alongside its seasonal additions. If you already collect NARS eyeshadows, checking your own drawer is more useful than counting six pans as six new discoveries.
There is a smaller way into the theme. Light Reflecting Prismatic Powder in Eternal Snow costs £37.50 for 10g. Its marbled pastel colours and champagne-gold sheen are intended to add brightness. It is worth noticing that finish: anyone shopping for a completely matte setting powder should not assume the winter-white presentation means a shine-free result.
For us, the appeal is the willingness to put an unusual cheek colour next to useful neutrals. The deciding question is whether you would wear the frost after the holiday lights come down. At £65, the best palette is the one whose blush and highlighter you want just as much as its eyeshadows.
This is a launch overview, not a hands-on review. UK prices and online listings checked on 25 October 2026; availability can change.