Hi, everyone! No nail polish today but I do want to start slowly reviewing at least a few makeup products as well here and there. It's not my passion at near the level nail polish is, I rarely wear it but when I do I want it to look nice! So I figure there's a place in the beauty-blogosphere for reviews from someone who isn't an expert on it and doesn't wear a full face daily.
When I DO wear it, Urban Decay is one of my favorite brands. I first purchased the Naked 2 palette (described as taupe neutrals) sometime last year and really fell in love. What I liked the most about it was that most of the colors went well together and it was really easy to create a look. I then purchased the first Naked palette (described as bronzed neutrals) which wasn't as flattering on my cool-toned skin but still had some useful colors. When they recently came out with a small palette of mattes (the Naked Basics palette) to complement the prior two, I snatched that up as well (along with a few non-naked UD palettes, my favorite of those being the Smoked palette).
I knew as soon as I heard that the Naked 3 palette would be rose neutrals that I really wanted it, but it wasn't until I saw Polish Hound's swatches (& her mention that it was similar to the Lorac Unzipped palette- another favorite!) that I needed it right now! Luckily they had it in stock at my local Ulta and my sweet boyfriend bought it for me.
Palettes are really great for travel and for beginners. It does sound a little pricy at $52 but when you break down that you're getting 12 shadows (& a brush/samples) you're really only paying $4.30 a shade, which isn't too bad. The reason I think they're great for beginners is as I said earlier, the colors already match each other, so you get a ton of options that can be easily combined in a lot of different ways. I'm also loving rosy hues in general lately, a sentiment which seemed to be shared by Zoya with their recent Naturel Collection.
The outer packaging box was really great, it had a slight texture on the back and just felt really, really nice.
The Naked 3 palette came with samples of Urban Decay's primer potion. This is already my go-to eyeshadow primer but I'll never turn up my nose at samples!
Just like the Naked 2 palette, Naked 3 comes with a double-ended eyeshadow brush. The bristles are soft and the brush does a great job doing double duty as a blending brush & a brush to actually place the shadows. I'm not a huge fan of double-ended brushes because I hate storing them (and in general I'm very loyal to my Sigma brushes) but this one is a nice quality and is good to keep in the palette for traveling and/or touchups on the go.
The palette has a nice hard metal packaging with a secure closure just like the Naked 2. This is nice because you don't have to worry about it coming open in your purse or bag, and the metal is easy to keep clean. It also comes with a nice-sized mirror inside, again just reinforcing how awesome this palette is for travel.
Onto the shades themselves! As mentioned before, these rosy hues all have a strong pink undertone which is really great for my cool-toned fair skin. I've swatched these on bare skin although when I wear them on my eyes I would always use a primer. I tried to only put one or two rubs of pigment on because let's be real, when you put it on your eyes you're not building it up to the opacity that a lot of arm swatches tend to have with many 'coats', as it were.
Strange: A matte pinky-white highlight color. Just a little bit chalky but not terribly bad. Kind of hard to see as it's so close to my skin color but that will make it a great highlight shade!
Dust: Really shimmery pink which is gorgeous but has a ton of fallout! Kind of reminded me of Provacateur from the original Vice palette which is a similar shade and has the same problems. Really pretty and shimmery though and when applied over a cream shadow base sticks on quite well.
Burnout: Similar in shimmer to dust but with no fallout and more of a rosy-bronzey tone. Really pretty.
Limit: A great light matte, perfect for using in the crease to blend out other shadows, rich and brownish-pink (mauve?).
Buzz: Buzz is almost like a darker mix of Dust & Burnout. Very shimmery, very pretty.
Trick: A rose-gold with a metallic finish.
Nooner: This is a great matte mauve, excellent for using as a crease color! Super buttery and blends easily, I really love this shade.
Liar: A brownish metallic with a hint of rosiness, really great.
Factory: Another brownish metallic with a hint of rose gold, very shimmery, a little less metallic and less pink than Liar.
Mugshot: Another great rosy-brown almost metallic shimmery shade, almost leaning over to the taupe end of things?
Darkside: A brownish-taupe metallic with a purple undertone, GORGEOUS and mega pigmented!
Blackspot: A dark black with subtle red shimmer/glitter. I don't know how I feel about this one. It's pretty to look at, but I don't see myself using it much, I prefer the blacks from the other palettes.
All in all, lots of great shades that will surely get a lot of use from me. Now, onto the comparison! First I took a couple of photos of the Naked 3 and Lorac Unzipped palettes side by side:
I then swatched the colors that I found to be the most similar in the pan, although nothing was an outright dupe or even that similar when actually swatched!
Strange vs. Undercover: Undercover is lighter, a little less chalkly and more shimmery, wheras Strange is more matte.
Burnout vs. Unbelievable: They have a similar shimmer but completely different shades. Unbelievable is much more coppery and warm-toned.
Liar vs. Unattainable: Same as above, they have a similar shimmer but the color is totally different. Unattainable is much more warm-toned and more coppery.
Trick vs. Undiscovered: Same as the above two!
Dust vs. Unreal: Again, similar shimmer but Dust is more of a pinky-pink (descriptive, I know!) and Unreal is more of a true rose gold.
Factory vs. Uncensored: Factory is a more true rose gold whereas Uncensored is more bronzed and warm.
Blackheart vs. Untamed: They both have subtle red sparkle/shimmer but Blackheart has more of a darker black base whereas Untamed is definitely more brown.
Overall, I think they both have a spot in my favorite palettes list and I'll continue to use both of them!
After I finished up swatching everything, I did a quick eye look. I still suck at taking eye makeup photos, I'm sorry. :( I began with a base of Mac Paint Pot in Painterly all over the lid. I then used Dust on the lid and Strange for the inner corner highlight & the brow highlight. I used a blending brush to put Nooner in the crease and a pencil brush to place Darkside in the outer V and the lower lashline just a bit.. I used the Kat Von D Tattoo Eyeliner in Trooper to draw a slightly winged line and used Benefit They're Real on my lashes.
Artificial lighting
Natural lighting
Artificial lighting
Natural lighting
Phone picture in natural lighting
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