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

Banned!

Good Day Everyone,

As we’ve come to the end of March, I'm now half way through my six month makeup purchasing ban and so I thought I’d let you know how I’ve got on thus far. I had several reasons for imposing this ban on myself. Firstly, I’ve probably bought more makeup in this last year than in the last decade. The main reason for this is now that I am no longer working I have a lot more time on my hands to explore and play around with products. As I had a few special occasions last year that I decided to do my own makeup for, I went on a bit of spending splurge to update (or rather create) my makeup collection. This ignited some kind of suppressed passion for makeup, especially eye shadows and products that make my skin glow. When I had my career I didn’t work a nine to five job. I worked pretty long hours with a fair bit of overseas travel and whilst airport duty free might seem like an ideal place to indulge, I was usually sat in some coffee shop tapping away on my laptop trying to finish a presentation and never had the time to indulge.

Birthday makeup

Secondly, makeup isn’t (always) cheap and as we have a few big expenses this year I wanted to try and save our pennies by spending less. It’s a little ironic that when we had a higher disposable income I was too busy with my career to have time to enjoy makeup and now that I have the time we obviously don’t have the same kind of disposable income with me not working. 

Thirdly, the thing with makeup is that I rarely finish it. My collection only ever grows because most makeup products are rarely completely used up, and the more I have the less likely I am to finish something. Therefore I wanted to try and use up what I have.

Fourthly, I was getting to a stage where I would sometimes forget about a makeup product that I really loved until I accidentally came across it again. I think that’s more likely to happen when I have more and so I really wanted to take time out from buying new products and simply appreciate the ones that I have.

Also, a girlie chat with my best friend back in December scared me a little... in that I had a realisation. I was talking to her about the Revlon Lip Butters (reviewed here and here) that I’d bought at Singapore airport and how I loved the three colours I’d picked up, but now being in England I’d seen a couple more shades in Boots that I really wanted, but had to stop myself as I already have five Lip Butters. My friend looked a little aghast and asked how many different colours of lip products could I actually want / wear as she just has two – a pink and a red. When I sat there with her and easily recalled twenty different colours just of the top of my head and explained that I had a makeup bag full of just lip products she asked whether I have some sort of makeup addiction. I explained I don’t, just a passion for pretty colours. My friend laughed and said that I could try and justify it however I wanted but seriously what I had could easily last me for several years. Of course I knew she was right and so the seeds of a makeup ban were sown into my subconscious… thanks Lucy!

So those were the main reasons for my self-imposed makeup purchasing ban. Within a few weeks of the ban I noticed that Sephora in Singapore started to stock Tarte products and there was a blush that had my name on it... literally...glisten, which clearly is meant for me but I have stuck to my ban and resisted. I also recently discovered theBalm cosmetics in Singapore for the first time and they had 20% off but again I stuck to my guns. I think one of the reasons I’ve managed to stick to the ban is because my husband is convinced that I will cave in at some point. Now I see that as a challenge and I like to rise to a challenge... or he might just be being clever and using reverse psychology to get me to not buy anymore makeup ;o).

In all seriousness though, I have really enjoyed just using the makeup that I have. I recently reorganised the way I stored my makeup and in the process had a bit of a clear out and got rid of things that I’d had for way too long. Just that process of having a tidy up gave me a better handle on what I actually have in my collection. I now have things organised in a much better way and have pulled out some products that are close to finishing that I am focusing on using up. 

I had noticed that I was falling into a bit of makeup rut where I would use the same products again and again and so with my recent tidy up I now also have a bit of a rotation system going with some of my products just so that I get to appreciate a little bit of everything that I have in my collection. 

Finally I guess another factor that has made this little makeup ban more bearable is that fact that I’ve had my birthday since the new year and obviously got makeup as presents, including my first ever Dior lip product (review) as well as the Urban Decay Naked 3 palette. So I guess I’ve not really gone cold turkey as such, although with no special occasions coming up in the next three months, plus the fact that I’m going to be transiting through several duty free airports, now is when my will power really will get put to the test. Let’s see if I continue to rise to the challenge!

Have you ever imposed a makeup or other kind of purchasing ban on yourself? How did you get on?

Love Sheen xxx

Burt's Bees Radiance Healthy Glow Kit

Good Day Everyone,

I really like starter kits / product miniatures as I find they are a great way of trying an unfamiliar brand without committing to the cost of full sized products that I may not like. So whenever Sephora has its 20% off sale I use it as an opportunity to test out new brands and products. I recently got round to trying the Burt’s Bees Radiance Healthy Glow Kit which I picked up a while ago.

 

The kit contains five products from the Burt’s Bees Radiance range and you also get a leaflet that details the benefits of each product along with directions on how to use; 

1. Radiance Day Lotion (e 7g / Net Wt. 0.25oz) 
2. Radiance Night Cream (e 7g / Net Wt. 0.25oz) 
3. Radiance Lip Shimmer (e 2.6g / Net Wt. 0.09oz) 
4. Radiance Eye Cream (e 4g / Net Wt. 0.14oz) 
5. Radiance Facial Cleanser (e 20ml / Net Wt. 0.75 fl oz)

Before I share my thoughts on each of the products I just want to get a couple of things off my chest. One of the first things I noticed when I opened the kit is just how tiny some of the products were. Now I know these are trial / sample size but seriously some of them are much smaller than any other sample size trial kit I’ve ever used. 

 

Secondly, the leaflet has pictures of each of the five products but two of mine did not look like the pictures. The picture of the eye cream, suggests that it would come in some sort of jar / pot like the night cream but mine was in a tube. My cleanser was also in a tube rather than a bottle with a pump, as suggested by the picture. I’ve no idea why the packaging for two of the products is different to what’s depicted in the accompanying leaflet, and whilst it doesn’t affect the actual product's performance, I did find it a bit annoying...  I'm just saying.

 

I have no thoughts, whatsoever, to share on the Radiance Day Lotion for the simple fact that I could not access the product. The pump action just did not work. At first I thought maybe it was me with my arthritic hands not being able to work it. However, after my hubby played around with it, trying to pump it, unscrew it or break into it using whatever means possible and still failed, I realised it wasn’t just me. I don’t understand why there would be a pump dispenser for something that contains such a tiny amount of product. It seems like really complicated packaging when a simple jar / pot or tube would have sufficed plus that way there’s likely to be less product wastage as these pump dispensers rarely pump all of the product out. So that was a not a great start!

On a more positive note, I really enjoyed the Radiance Night Cream but you really don’t get a lot. I only got a weekends worth of use out of this! I found the cream very hydrating, it absorbed into my skin quickly, didn’t leave my skin feeling greasy and the next day my skin looked very healthy, plump, hydrated and dare I say it... radiant. Like several of the other products in this kit, the night cream contains the coveted Royal Jelly (a honey bee secretion thought to have anti-ageing properties) so I don’t know if that was the magic ingredient. However, I did not like the smell of this cream and this is a running theme I have with several of the products. I found the scent unpleasant to the extent that it would stop me from buying the product again despite me really liking this cream. The scent isn't subtle enough that I could ignore it. To me, the cream smelt like stale, bitter nuts, which I know is very specific but that’s what it reminded me off. 

Moving onto the Radiance Lip Shimmer, Burt’s Bees state this as being 100% natural and reading through the ingredients list I do recognise (and understand) most of them. The list contains oils such as sunflower seed oil, peppermint oil and castor seed oil as well as cocoa seed butter. The Lip Shimmer has a slight pleasant peppermint scent to it and has a cooling sensation when I first apply it to my lips. It’s very hydrating and, on my lips, the shimmer is more obvious than I was expecting but I don't mind it, and it does seem to slightly lighten the natural colour of my bare lips. I use this alone as well as on top of any lip products that are a bit on the dry side. The Lip Shimmer is a skinny size which means it’s easy to apply without a mirror. For me the only downside to this product is, again, to do with the packaging. I find that if I twist the product up a bit too much I then can’t twist it back down which is annoying, and so I have to push it down with my finger. 

Size comparison of The Body Shop Born Lippy lip balm with the Radiance Lip Shimmer

Me being me, when I was swatching the Lip Shimmer on my arm for the below photo I thought to myself that the shimmery effect is actually prettier on my arm than on my bare lips. I’m sure you can guess what’s coming next ;o) And so I decided to see how this product would work as a highlighter and I have to say it gives a really nice effect on the cupids bow and cheek bones. The shimmer is definitely more subtle compared to on my lips and it just adds a nice bit of radiance whenever the light catches it. It can even be used as a brow bone highlighter as it’s not too obvious, although I prefer a matte brow bone highlight. So lately I have been using this more on my face than my lips. The texture does have a slight tackiness to it but it’s not sticky and as I tend to wear more liquid and cream products this doesn’t bother me at all.

I’m pretty indifferent towards the Radiance Eye Cream. It didn’t impress me the way the night cream did even though it also contains the Royal Jelly which Burt’s Bees likes to emphasise. Again it had that weird scent which was very off putting. I did finish it but it’s not something that I would purchase again.

Finally, on to my favourite product from the kit, the Radiance Facial Cleanser. I really liked this and for once there was a decent amount of product with no annoying packaging issues. The cleanser contains the Royal Jelly as well as jojoba butter and fruit extract. The leaflet states that this gently removes oil, dirt and makeup but as the directions for use state to avoid the eye area, I didn’t use this as my evening cleanser i.e. to remove my makeup and so cannot comment on that aspect. I used this in the evenings on days when I didn’t wear any makeup and sometimes in the morning. The cleanser turned milky once I started to massage it over my wet skin and felt hydrating and all together very pleasant. I found that it didn’t strip my skin of moisture which can happen with some cleansers, especially as my skin is more on the dry side. The best part was that after I rinsed my face I was left with the most wonderful glow and my skin looked radiant time and time again after each use. I’ve no idea how it did that but it was amazing! I examined my skin close up too see if I could see any tell-tale signs of shimmer but there was nothing, just my healthy radiant skin staring back at me. I will definitely be buying this in the full size and best of all whilst the cleanser did have a scent it wasn’t as unpleasant as the night and eye creams and definitely more subtle.

Whilst I haven’t been impressed by all of the products I am pleased that I picked up this little trial kit as I have found a great cleanser that I may not otherwise have done so. I would definitely recommend that you smell the Burt’s Bees products before purchase because some of the scents are quite strong and unpleasant, I found. 

Have you tried this radiance kit or any of these products? What did you think? What other Burt’s Bees products would you recommend?

Love Sheen xxx