This duo has a shimmery warm brown side and the other side is a dark brown with gold shimmer. I love the quality of this duo. Both shades are equally amazingly pigmented. This duo is great for everyday. I'm NC30-NC37 and I think it would look amazing on a lot of skin tones.

These two colors are great for everyday. And I love nars makeup, the colors go on and stay on. The cordura duo is definitely one of my everyday favorites.

For reference, I'm NC25 (well, my neck is. My face is NC20 but I wear NC25 to match) and of East-Asian descent.
This is generally a duo everyone can use. If you have darker skin tone, it'll act as a wash of color and might actually make your eyes look "dirty" (especially the darker brown side). It's kind of interesting, because the lighter brown side has red undertones in it, so it'll look pretty good with people who have pink skintones. But the dark brown side seems to fit better with people who have yellow skintones - but the dark brown side can be used as a short-term liner (or long-term if you use UDPP or a good eyeshadow primer) for everyone.
Personally, I love this. It's safe. It's versatile. If I'm going somewhere and I'm a bit hesitant on wearing my usual thick black liner (like somewhere work-related), I just lightly dust the lighter brown side into a nice shape on my eyelid, and gently line my eyes with the darker brown side. OR, I use the darker brown to line my upper lid, and the lighter brown to line my lower lid. It brightens and opens my eyes. It defines my eyes without my eyes screaming "I'M WEARING MAKEUP LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME!!!"
I also love using the dark brown side to fill in my eyebrows. I haven't been able to find another color that fills in my eyebrows naturally without looking unnatural. The brown side is utter perfection (on me at least).
I find this does not stick well to regular clean dry skin. It's a bit powdery. Just like all makeup, it has a tendency to slip down and away if the skin is oily (I mean how else is makeup supposed to come off anyway? With acid???).
If I feel it's a cool day and my oil glands won't be overworked, I just apply sunblock all over my face (even very close to my eyelashes), and use the sunblock as my eyeshadow base. NARS Cordura stays on for the entire day that way.
But if I feel it's a warmer/hotter day and my oil glands are going to even make my sunglasses slip off my nose, I put on 2 layers of UDPP and then apply Cordura. It stays and it's fabulous.
Now, I know the colors can be duped and whatevz, but there's a reason why I always keep a full Cordura by my side at all times. It's pigmented even without having that crumbly-all-over-my-face effect. I've tried drugstore brands and there's no color and my eyes just look dirty when I try to line with drugstore eyeshadows.
Cordura can seem kind of dry and chalky compared to NARS' Mekong, but let me explain why I stopped using Mekong after a month. I found while NARS' Mekong is incredibly pigmented and rich, it has a tendency crumble down to my cheeks making it look like I rubbed rich soil on my cheeks. This was even with my 2 layers of UDPP.
Thus, why Cordura is my soulmate. It's not flashy, it's not incredibly attractive, but I'll be darned, it's Safe and Reassuring.
The only con about Cordura is its price. Nars has been slowly kicking up its singles and duos up a couple bucks each year. I GOTTA STOCK UP BEFORE IT HITS THE ROOF!!!!

I vary between NC35-37 and NW30-35 and this duo looks great on my Asian brown eyes (double lidded, not mono lidded with a tendency to get oily). The shimmer is noticeable but not over the top and certainly is passable for very conservative environments - just don't go heavy on it. I LOVED LOVED LOVED the color combo, BUT there were major problems with this duo for me specifically. I don't consider myself as someone with sensitive eyes, but from time to time during the course of the day (not constant) I found my eyes getting painfully irritated from the flecks of shimmer (felt like mini thistles stabbing my eyeballs). These episodes of irritation were painful enough that I wouldn't recommend buying this if you have sensitive eyes (and I don't consider myself to have sensitive eyes!), or at least test it out for yourself and see how it goes for an entire day before you do. I used UDPP Sin to try to limit the fallout, but this duo still irritated my eyes. I've found that Blondie/Bali are a good matte substitute for this and they don't irritate my eyes like this duo does. Btw, I've had no problems with other shimmers like Lola Lola, Fez, Ondine.

Where has this duo been all my life? The two colors go so well together. I use the lighter shade for the crease or on the lid, and the darker shade smudged on the lashline, or if I am going out I will use the darker shade to darken the outside area. This dup makes my eyes look very intense and I know some people say the dark shade is difficult to blend, but the key is to work with it in smaller amounts because it is VERY pigmented.

I actually went on a binge and purchased several Nars eyeshadows. I was especially excited to purchase this duo. I intenended this to be an everyday shadow. I must of gotten a bad batch because this duo is so underwhelming. The bronze shadow barely showed up on my NC 55 skintone and the dark color was difficult to blend. The overall look was sub par. I will say that I had the same problem with Fez. However galopagos and night porter were fine. I think if I ever purchase Nars shadows again I'll stick to the single shadows.

One of my favorite NARS Duos! While I agree that Cordura looks extraordinary on those with warmer skin tones, I also want to add that no matter what your skin's undertone is, if you have blue eyes, it's really a must-have!

I am very fair (NW5-10; NARS Siberia is a perfect match) with dark hair and light blue eyes -- and the shade combination in this duo makes them practically glow. I think the warmth of the bronze on the left side really contrasts with the blue. I use the lighter shade (on the left) on the lid and then concentrate the darker shade from the outer corners inward.

I find that I can wear it to work without it looking too dramatic, but the intensity can be built up for a deeper, more dramatic smokey eye for the evening. Love!

I like both colours here, the mid tone bronzy brown is nice to sweep on the lower eyelash line for definition and the darker colour provides golden sparkle plus a oomph of dark brown almost black you might need to your smokey look.
I like this combo when I'm going for a neutral toned smokey eye. I usually end up with a pretty dark brown smokey eye because of the darker shade so if that's what you're looking for this is a good duo. :)

This shade combo works on any skin tone. If you haven't tried NARS eyeshadows, this would be the ideal shade to introduce you to the line. Rich color that is buildable and wearable.

this is by far one of the best nars e/s i've tried. unlike some others, cordura is extremely pigmented and easy to work with. it doesn't have much fall-out too = ) like what other mua-ers have said, the 2 shades are extremely warm. one's a rich bronze-copper (which i thought might give me a 'red eye' look but it didn't) while the other's a luscious chocolatey brown with some shimmer. worn tgt the 2 shades look stunning and polished! this is a *must get* because it's so versatile. super-duper happy with this duo! i'm NC35, asian with black hair.

Another favorite from NARS, the combination of the warm brown and dark grey makes this duo perfect for smoky eyes! I love using this duo on my brown eyes - and I love the soft texture of the shadows as in most of NARS.

This is a great duo for people with warmer tones to their skin. I bought it on a whim one day and have never regretted it. Both colours have a high level of pigmentation and a lovely subtle shimmer. I use this over the mid-brown from Napoleon Perdis' Chicago eye palette and it really makes my eyes pop! The brown is great for deepending the crease of your eye, and I use the black on my lash line to help smudge or set eyeliner. Also, being kind of pale, I can attest to the fact that these still look great!
Actually I used these to do a really dramatic smokey eye and all of my girl friends went crazy for it! One of them was even like "I'm going to be staring at your eyes all night, just so you know." Awesome!
Cons? Well I find they smudge quite easily and, only very recently, they have been settling into the crease of my eye after about 6 hours.

This is absolutely amazing.
I was scared the lighter shade was going to pull very warm and red but it didn't happen on my NC25 skin. Its more tan than bronze. The pigmentation in this color is great, and the texture is extra smooth and buttery.
Now the dark shade (my fave) is the star of the duo IME. I absolutely love off-black eyeshadows and this is one. A brown-black with sparkles. When packed on (esp over a dark base) the sparkles show up, and when blended out, they don't appear. Its fine by me..the sparkles weren't really interesting to me. What appealed to me was how pigmented these shades are and how well they cimpliment each other making the SEXIEST kim k smokey eye ever.

I bought this a month ago, I've always been a NARS fans and I dont understand why I never noticed this beautiful duo eyeshadow. One is a bronzy colour and the other is a dark chocolate brown (both with glitter). When you use a light hand, this is very wearable for a day time look. and you can definitely use the darker shade for a night time look or a smoky look. I think this duo is perfect for this season- bronzy smoky eye look! This might look a little orange or too warm on fair skin tone, will look better on tanned or darker skin.

This is a great dark brown duo. I totally agree with the below reviewer that this works as eyeshadow, eyeliner and brow powder. So versatile! The quality of the shadows is excellent and extremely pigmented: with different brushes, you'll get the right look, whether natural (use a fluffy) or intense (pat it on). They blend well and last until you take off your m/u.

The dark brown comes in as a lifesaver as eyeliner: once you put it on your waterline, it doesn't budge - usually eyeliners on my waterline will fade/disappear after a hour. Great colors for the office or night smokey eye looks. Looks like this is a popular duo: mine I just took out of storage and I bought it in high school. I guess colors go around and come around.

I take this product on business trips because it can perform the functions of eyeshadow, eyeliner, and brow powder. The rich gorgeusness of the browns accentuates even my brown eyes, and it's not too shimmery for day. The wear is exemplary even without a base.

I'm an nc 30-35 and this duo is very dark on me. I wanted a great deeper brown set for a brown smokey eye, which I love to do as an alternative to blacks/greys. This shadow creases on my lids, I have very dry skin and normal lids so I've NEVER experienced a shadow creasing before. Also, this is with my YSL cream shadow as a base. The colors are very pigmented and very hard to blend. For 32 USD I'd expect better quality. I just don't think my skin works well with NARS shadows because I also have Rajasthan which is okay but nothing spectacular for 30+ and Kilomanjaro which I thought was okay in consistency, but then someone took a pic of me when I was wearing it and whoa! It is very shimmery and that one went in the trash the moment I saw myself! Chanel shadows are the best by far in my opinion.

I bought this for a smokey eye, but I honestly never do it, so I use the darker brown color for doing smokey eye shadow, and it looks great! I love the shimmer in it. Buy this if you haven't already.

Oh, how I love this eyeshadow duo! Even though I have many dark brown and bronze eyeshadows, this is the duo I keep coming back to. The bronzy colour is gorgeous on its own and the dark brown is a great and not as intense alternative to black. I also use it to line my lower eyelids. I almost didn't buy it because of the many eyeshadows I have but I am soooo glad I did!

I love Nars blushes and lip products but the eyeshadows have been very hit or miss for me. Cordura is a hit, but I definitely like the sooty brown better than the lighter brown, which is a pinch too bronze-y on me. It doesn't look like it has red in the pan, but when applied on its own it's a tad warm for my liking. The two browns blended together create a gorgeous medium smoky brown. Both shades are very pigmented and soft, plus they blend like a dream and stay put all day. This is my go-to smokey brown eye when black eyeshadow is too harsh. I would give this duo a 5 if I liked the lighter brown shade more. I like the right side of this duo better than the Mekong single because the latter is black-based and had a tendency to fade to grey, but Cordura is more of a true sooty brown.