Urban Decay Naked 3 Eyeshadow Palette

Good Day Everyone,

I've been playing around with the Urban Decay Naked 3 palette for a few weeks now and feel ready to share my thoughts. When this palette first came out, I was in two minds as to whether I wanted it or not because I already have the original Naked and Naked 2. However, when I saw a friend's palette in person I totally fell in love. I for one love pink and blush tones for eyeshadow. I feel they compliment my dark brown eyes and warm complexion really well. Plus the colours in this palette are very different to the original Naked and Naked 2 palettes. I've been on a makeup purchasing ban since the new year and still have just under three months to go but luckily as I had my birthday in January my hubby kindly indulged me :o)

Value For Money:
If you've read my previous posts on the Naked and Naked 2 palettes then you will already know that I think this palette is great value for money. In the US, this palette retails for $52 USD, just like it's predecessors, but in Singapore the price has gone up slightly from $80 SGD to $83 SGD. Likewise in the UK the price has gone up from £36 to £37. However, despite the slight price increase you are still getting a great deal as this palette costs less than the price of three individual Urban Decay eyeshadows, plus you get some freebies thrown in for good measure :o).


The Freebies:
Like the Naked 2 palette, this one also comes with a double ended eyeshadow brush with a blending brush on one side and a regular shadow brush on the other. These eyeshadow brushes retail in the US for $26 USD each so that's the cost of the palette covered right there ;o). Keeping in line with the theme of this palette, the brush handle is a rose gold colour with gold writing on it.

The blending brush from different angles

The regular shadow brush from different angles

The brush isn't bad at all and I do use it although my preference would have been to have the crease brush that was in the Naked 2 palette rather than this blending brush. I find the crease brush to be better at blending and this blending brush better for applying colour onto my crease... go figure!

In addition to the brush, this palette also comes with samples of all four of the Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potions; Original, Eden, Sin and Anti-Aging. Each sample is said to contain about a week's worth of primer and is supposed to be resealable, although I don't have my hopes up for this. The primers are foil wrapped so once it's opened I'm not sure how you would reseal it and prevent it from drying out - I guess I'll have to try one to find out.

The Packaging:
The packaging is very similar to the Naked 2 palette in that the shadows come in a metal tin case, reminiscent of an old school tin pencil case. The colour of this one is rose gold, of course, and the top of the tin isn't completely smooth like Naked 2, but has a ripple effect along with gold embossed writing. The hinged lid snaps shut and the packaging feels secure and travel friendly. 

On the inside of the palette there is a large mirror in the lid, just like it's predecessor, and the 12 rose hued shadows going from light to dark, along with space for the brush.

The Eyeshadows:
This palette contains 12 new shades from Urban Decay and whilst the theme of the palette is rose gold (i.e.pink) the colours are incredibly wearable, in my opinion. The colours are not garish colours that you imagine when you think of pink eyeshadows. I wouldn't even say that all of the colours are pink, some just have a subtle pink undertone to them, rather than actually being pink. There are a range of finishes from completely matte to pearly satin and down right glittery :o). Overall, I feel the colours in this palette are mainly warm toned with a few cool shades. As you can see from the swatches below less than half the shades are what I would actually call pink. Most of them are very wearable neutral colours and hence this palette being referred to as a naked palette.

As you can see from the photos above the shadows are pretty true to colour and most translate well from the pan onto my skin. The texture and quality of the shadows is what I would expect from Urban Decay. They are very smooth and buttery but you do have to be careful with Buzz and Trick as there is quite a bit of fallout from them, and a little from Dust. From the photo above it looks like there are three matte shades, Strange, Limit and Nooner but I have to say that Strange isn't completely matte, it does have a sheen to it that the other two matte shades don't.

Below I've cited the way each of the colours have been described on the Urban Decay website followed by my own opinions, if different, based on my experience:

Strange: described as a pale neutral pink matte-satin. This is an extremely pale pink. Even though this shade looks matte in the photo above, it does have a sheen to it when it catches the light. This is the brow bone and inner corner highlighting shade. On me, it works particularly well on my brow bone but it doesn't translate as well on my inner corners as my skin is darker there and so the colour loses it's brightness. I don't mind this as I prefer something a little more shimmery on my inner corners.
Dust: described as a pale metallic pink shimmer with iridescent micro-glitter. The actual colour within this shade isn't very pigmented and using MAC's Fix+ definitely helps to enhance the colour. This does have some fallout so apply with caution. This shadow is all about the sparkle and I don't mind that at all :o) This shade is great on the centre of the lids for a sparkly pop.
Burnout: described as a light pinky peach satin. This translates more on the pinky side on my eyelids and is a great all over the lid colour.
Limit: described as a light dusty rose matte. This is a great crease and blending out colour.

Buzz: described as a metallic rose shimmer with silver micro-glitter. This is definitely the most pink shade in the palette and looks gorgeous on the centre of the lid. This and the shade Trick have the most fallout but the pigmentation is better than Dust.
Trick: described as a light metallic pinky copper shimmer with tonal micro-sparkle. Gosh that sounds complicated! Basically this is a coppery rose gold shimmer. When I think of the colour rose gold this is what I imagine. The colour in this shade is a bit more pigmented than Dust but not as much as Buzz so I recommend keeping the MAC Fix+ to hand.
Nooner: described as a medium pink brown matte. This is a great crease / blending out colour. On my eyes this has more pink in it than the above photo is showing. It's like a deeper and darker version of Limit.
Liar: described as a medium metallic mauve shimmer. I would say this has subtle brown undertone to it.

Factory: described as a pinky brown satin. The warm brown in this shade is definitely more dominant than the pink.
Mugshot: described as a metallic taupe shimmer with a slight pink twist. This shade definitely has some dusky pink plummy-ness to it and is one of my favourites.
Darkside: described as a deep taupe mauve satin. This has a grey plum undertone to it that is deeper than the one in Mugshot. This shade definitely looks more grey in the pan than it is and for some reason the swatch on my skin looks a lot paler than it does in real life.
Blackheart: described as a smokey black matte with rosy red micro-sparkle. This is the shade that I am most disappointed with whilst loving the most! It is a chocolatey black with red sparkle that looks stunning in the pan but it doesn't translate well onto my lids. It is very easy to over blend the black so that it loses most of it's intensity and the red sparkles just seem to disappear with the tiniest bit of blending. I tend to use this wet on an angle brush as a liner in an attempt to maintain the intensity of the black and keep as much of the red sparkle as possible by not blending it.

As my under eye dark circles extend onto my eyelids, I definitely need to use some sort of coloured primer or base to minimise this darkeness in order for the colours to show up as they look in my swatches. Without a coloured base on my eyelids some of the paler shades just get drowned out by the darkness of my natural lids and don't show up very well. Whilst I have the original Primer Potion, I'm looking forward to trying Eden and Sin in particular to see if they help counteract the darkness on my lids.

I absolutely love this palette and there's not a single colour that I don't use. To me, this palette is different enough from the original Naked and Naked 2 palettes to warrant it's place in my collection, especially as eyes are my thing. As to which of the three palettes is my absolute favourite... well that's not a decision I can make lightly. I'm going to need some time to think about that one and get back to you. Perhaps I'll follow this up with a post comparing all three Naked palettes and give you my decision then ;o).

Do you have the Naked 3 palette? What do you think about it? Do you love it as much as the original Naked or Naked 2?

Love Sheen xxx

Urban Decay Naked 2 Eyeshadow Palette

Good Day Everyone,

I’m following up my review of the Urban Decay Naked palette with my thoughts on the Naked 2 palette. I’ll also make comparisons along the way between the two palettes. If you’re not into makeup or rather eyeshadows, the way I am then you may be wondering why on Earth I bought two palettes from the same brand, that according to my mum look very similar, but to me the colours in Naked 2 were different enough from the original Naked palette to warrant it’s place in my collection. In addition, I think these palettes offer great value for money and makeup tends to be one of those things that last a very long time, with the exception of products such as mascara, which should be replaced every few months for hygiene reasons.

Value For Money

As I explained in my original Naked palette post I bought both of my palettes from Debenhams (in the UK) at Easter when they were having a 10% sale and my palettes cost me £32.40 each (reduced from £36 each). That’s about $66 SGD but I know at Sephora in Singapore the palettes retail for $80 SGD each (although I think the price may now have gone up to $83 SGD) so I made a bit of saving by buying them from back home. In the US the palettes retail for $52 USD.

Again if you've not seen my original Naked post I’ll explain why I think these palettes are such great value. Using the US for the purpose of comparison, a single Urban Decay eyeshadow with a fill weight of 1.5gr costs around $18 USD. With the palettes you get 12 eyeshadows with a fill weight of 1.3gr (so a smidge less per shadow) all for just $52 USD. That’s less than the cost of three individual eyeshadows! Plus you get a couple of little freebies thrown in too. I think that’s superb value for money, don’t you? :o)

The Freebies:

With my original Naked palette I got a sample size of the famous eyeshadow Primer Potion and a single ended Good Karma shadow brush.  With the Naked 2 palette I received a sample size of the Lip Junkie Lipgloss in the colour... Naked of course! The gloss has quite a minty and cooling sensation on the lips but not in a bad way and the colour would suit all skin tones.

The palette also came with a double ended Good Karma shadow and crease brush. Given that the shadow and crease brushes retail for $26 USD each, that’s your $52 USD right there so, in a way, it’s like getting the eyeshadow palette and lipgloss for free :o) Well that’s how I justified to my hubby ;o) The brush is actually very useful and if I’m travelling with either palette then I’ll pop the double ended brush in that palette and that one brush is enough for me to do an eye look.

In an ideal world, my freebie preference would have been for the eyeshadow Primer Potion from the first palette and the double ended Good Karma brush from the second as that would provide a more ‘complete’ package for the eyes. The addition of the lipgloss just felt a bit ‘random’ or perhaps it was some marketers idea of introducing customers to a different product... who knows?!

The Packaging:

I was pleased to see that Urban Decay had taken on board feedback from customers and improved the packaging for this second palette. The eyeshadows come in a taupey coloured metal tin case with darker embossed writing, reminiscent of an old school tin pencil case. The hinged lid snaps shut and the packaging feels a lot more secure and travel friendly compared to the original Naked palette which had a magnetic closure. On the inside of the palette improvements have also been made in that the mirror is much larger compared to the first palette.

The 12 shadows are neatly lined up but I must admit the order in which the colours are lined up does bug me a little. In the original palette the colour sequence seemed to move in a logical manner from light colours on the left to darker shaded on the right. In this palette, they colours seem a bit higgledy-piggledy and confused. There is no natural progression from light to dark or from matte to shimmery to sparkly. Do you get what I mean? Or perhaps it’s just the way my mind works ;o)

I definitely prefer the packaging of this second palette simply because it feels more secure when shut and therefore travel friendly, plus the mirror is much larger. In addition, the outside of the palette is much easier to clean with a simple wipe down and doesn't attract dust like the original.

The Eyeshadows:

Again the palette contains 12 neutral shades, like the original and I've inserted a photo of the swatches from the original Naked palette so you can see just how different / similar they are. Overall, the original palette leaned more towards the warm golden, orangey, brown, dark tones, whereas this palette has more lighter colours with a bit more icy-ness to it with the grey, oysters and whites, as well as some warm shades. Both palettes contain shades with purple / pink undertones and for some reason the shade Half Baked is included in both palettes - I guess it's just as well that it's one of my most used colours.

Original Naked Palette

Naked 2 Palette

On the one hand I can understand why some people would think that the two palettes are very similar, or rather, not different enough, to warrant the purchase of both but on the other hand, for me, the colours are different enough and I'm very happy to have both in my collection :o)

This time there are three matte shades (Foxy, Tease and Blackout versus two in the original). Whilst I didn't particularly miss having a matte black in the original palette I do appreciate it's inclusion as it means I can use it in place of my usual pencil eyeliner and so it's one less product to take with me when I travel. Foxy makes a great brow bone highlighter and I've actually used it to set my under eye concealer as the colour is more or less translucent on my skin. 

The shadows are very true to colour, as you can see from the photo above where I've matched up my swatch photo with the pan colours. Again just like the original palette, the texture of the shadows is very buttery and smooth. Whilst they’re not powdery and crumbly as such I have experienced a little fall out with Chopper and YDK. All of the other colours apply beautifully with no real fallout issues and the pigmentation is great. There is a mixture of textures / finishes within the palette ranging from matte to shimmery to sparkly / glittery. 

Below I've cited the way each of the colours have been described on the Sephora website followed by my own opinions based on my experience:

Foxy: described as a cream bisque with a matte finish. On me this is pretty much like a translucent powder. It has a very slight pale lemon undertone to it.

Half Baked: described as a golden bronze with a shimmery finish and I agree.

Bootycall: described as a shimmering cork but to me this is not what I would expect the colour cork to look like. I’d say this is a white satin with a very pale peach undertone.

Chopper: described as a copper shimmer with silver microglitter and I’d say it has quite a strong orangey peach undertone to it.

Tease: described as a creamy pale brown with a matte finish. This definitely has a mauvey (purple) undertone to it.

Snakebite: described as a dark bronze shimmer with a metallic base. I’d say it’s a dark bronze with a brown undertone to it.

Suspect: described as a pale golden beige with a shimmer finish and I agree.

Pistol: described as a light gray brown with a shimmer finish. I don’t see the brown in this shade and to me it’s just a light-medium grey with silver shimmer.

Verve: described as oyster with a shimmer finish and I agree. It has a very cool, almost icy-ness about it as it leans more to the white side rather than cream.

YDK: described as a cool bronze shimmer with a metallic base and I agree.

Busted: described as a deep brown with a shimmer finish. To me this brown definitely has a dark purple undertone and leans ever so slightly on the grey-brown side rather than the orange-brown side.

Blackout: described as blackest black with a matte finish and I would agree. It reminds me of a soot black – very pigmented and intense.

So there you have it, another gorgeous selection of neutral colours that I am very happy to own. You definitely don't need both of these palettes unless eyeshadows are your makeup thing in which case your 'want' will probably override your 'need', as it did with me. So really it comes down to which colours you think you are more likely to use. Having had both palettes for several month, I would say that I use the original palette slightly more than Naked 2, simply because if I'm ever in a rush then the middle four colours (Buck, Half Baked, Smog and Darkhorse) have become an easy go to look for me. Otherwise I tend to mix colours from both palettes to create a complete look. 

Do you have this palette? Is it one of your favourites? If you could only pick one, which would it be? The original or Naked 2?

Love Sheen xxx

My verdict: 5/5

For the UK: UD Website and you can purchase this palette from Debenhams and House of Fraser stores

For the US: UD Website

For Singapore you can find this product at Sephora

(Note: I purchased this product with my own money)

Maybelline Color Tattoo 24hr Gel-Cream Eyeshadow

Good Day Everyone,

When it comes to makeup eyeshadows are definitely my thing. I will always opt for drawing attention to my eyes over any other facial feature, after all they do say that ‘the eyes are the windows to the soul’.

I picked up this Maybelline Color Tattoo in a Boots 3 for 2 when I was last home and I am so impressed with my first venture into gel-cream eyeshadows. I typically wear powder eyeshadows and more recently I've been adding the crayon type eyeshadows to my collection, which I guess could be classified as ‘cream’ eyeshadows but this is my first gel-cream eyeshadow in a pot.

This Color Tattoo has amazing staying power. Now I've not tested the ’24 hour’ claim, but I have gotten to the 14 hour mark and this looked as good at 14 hours as it did when I first applied it. Aside from the amazing staying power the other great thing about this eyeshadow is that it just does not crease. I don’t have particularly oily eyelids but I do have to use an eyeshadow primer if I’m going to be wearing my powder eyeshadows for more than a couple of hours as otherwise the shadow creases but this baby does not budge, it does not slide and it certainly does not crease, and I don’t need to use a primer beforehand.

The slight (and for me it is only slight) downside to this product is that once on, the eyeshadow does set very quickly so if I want to blend this shadow out at all, I literally have a matter of seconds. As a result I finish the look on one eye first before starting the second eye.

When it comes to application, I like to apply this with my finger rather than a brush as the warmth from my skin melts the product slightly making it easier to work with when it comes to blending. It also reduces the likelihood of packing on too much product (which is easy to do as a little goes such a long way), and with my fingers I can better sense when the product is setting and know to be quick with my blending. The eyeshadow is very soft, smooth, and creamy and it glides on beautifully.

I picked up the colour Pink Gold which is a beautiful pale pink. It’s definitely a wearable shade of pink that I think would look great on most skin tones. The colour has a lot of what looks to be incredibly fine shimmer in it which gives it beautiful metallic-y sheen. It’s definitely not glittery or sparkly. I opted for this colour rather than a more neutral shade because I thought it would work well as a sheer wash of colour on its own but also as a base with some of the powder eyeshadows from my Naked and Naked 2 palettes and boy was I right! This is a gorgeous and very versatile colour and product. I can imagine some of the darker and the more brightly coloured shades being great as eyeliners given the staying power of this product.

I will often wear a sheer wash of this shadow during the day to give my lids a soft sheen of colour, with some black eyeliner on the top lash line and mascara. If I want to create a little more depth to my eyes then I will run a matte brown-y shade through my crease. The colours Naked and Buck from the original Naked palette work great for this as does the colour Tease from the Naked 2 palette which has a purple-y grey tone to it and works nicely with the Pink Gold.

If I’m doing an evening or night out look with this Color Tattoo then I apply it all over my lid with a bit more intensity than a sheer wash. From my Naked palette I will then use Sin or Virgin as an inner corner highlighter and Toasted and Hustle in the crease and outer ‘v’. If I want to intensify the look even further then a small amount of Darkhorse works great in the outer ‘v’ layered on top of Hustle. I use the colour Naked as a transition colour above my crease as it’s not too far off my own skin tone.

If I only have my Naked 2 palette to hand then I will use Bootycall as my inner corner highlighter, YDK on the outer half of my lid and Busted to create the dark outer 'v' and Tease in my crease. I will use Foxy as a matte brow bone highlighter and above my crease as it just blends in to my skin tone quite naturally.

It was only when I got the Pink Gold Color Tattoo that I noticed just how many pinky toned eyeshadows there were in my Naked palettes, which reminds me that I do need to do a review on both of these palettes as I think they are absolutely amazing products!

Back to the Color Tattoo, the eyeshadow comes in a clear round glass (I’m pretty sure it’s glass) jar with a black screw on lid. Now the packaging is a little bit deceiving in that it makes it look like you’re getting more product than what you actually are. This is because the base and sides of the jar are really thick and the product doesn't go all the way down to the bottom or to the sides of the jar. If you look at the bottom of the pot you will see that the diameter of the jar is a lot bigger than the circle of eyeshadow. Also if you look at the jar from the side you will see that the product doesn't go all the way down into the pot, in fact it looks like it’s sitting on a thick glass platform.

Aside from this little deception I actually quite like the packaging. The clear glass jar and the lid with the corresponding eyeshadow colour sticker make it really easy to know which colour is inside, if you have several of these eyeshadows. The lid feels very secure and airtight which is really important to prolong the life of the product and stop it from drying out. In addition the product sits very close to the top of the jar so I don’t have to dig my finger deep into the pot to get the product out which avoids getting the product caught under my nail. Some people may feel that the packaging isn't particularly hygienic, having to stick your finger in each time you use the product thus risking the transfer of bacteria, but I just make sure I go in with clean fingers, or you could use a brush.

It’s not very often that I buy individual eyeshadows simply because I feel palettes are much better value for money and easier to store than lots of individual eyeshadows but I am seriously tempted to buy more of these Color Tattoos. In fact, what would be even better is if Maybelline came out with miniature Color Tattoos that stack up on top of each other, a bit like what you get with some lip balms, and that way I could get a Color Tattoo palette – how great would that be?!

Have you tried these Color Tattoos? What did you think? Are you a fan of cream or gel eyeshadows? Which brand would you recommend?

Love Sheen xxx

My verdict: 5/5

For the US you can find this product at most drugstores 

For the UK you can find this product at Boots and Superdrug

For Singapore you can find this product at Watsons and Guardian

(Note: I purchased this product with my own money)