Naked 3 Palette from Urban Decay

 

Not that you haven't already seen a million reviews on this palette already, I thought I'd share a few thoughts...

 

 

First of all, I own Naked 1 and Naked Basics, and I have never been in love with either of them. I probably would have preferred Naked 2 to either of the ones I own, but I skipped that one because I didn't want to waste anymore money on Urban Decay. So it was quite a surprise when I found myself practically drooling over the initial images floating about the internet of the Naked 3. So I was quite happy when I got it for Christmas. I have only had it for a few days, but I am already forming strong opinions about this palette. So let's jump in! 

  

 

 First of all, the packaging is adorable. I love the way it feels in my hands. Naked 1 palette had the magnetic closure because it was easier to use the mirror, but Naked 3 feels more expensive and luxurious in the hand. This one doesn't lay flat when it's open, but I think that over time it probably will. Naked 3 comes with 12 eye shadows. Three are matte, and the rest are either glitter or shimmer.

 

 

Naked 3 comes with a double sided brush. I really like it. One end is a fluffy shader brush, it works good to deposit color on the lid or in the crease. The other side is a flat eye shadow brush, only useful for packing color on the lid. The flat brush is the same as the brush that came with Naked 1.

 

Fluffy Shader                                     Flat Shadow                              Flat Shadow(side)

______________________________________________________________________

 

I'll start with the left half of the palette. These six shadows are on the lighter side.

 

Strange - Matte off white with pink undertones. Good for under the brow.

Dust - pink champagne, chunky, powdery mess.

Burnout- Pale Pink Taupe. Very little color pay off, I really had to dig at it to get a swatch.

Limit - Matte pale pink. Very nice crease color for a natural eye look.

Buzz - Pale Pink Bronze. Gorgeous. Reminds me of Sidecar from Naked 1, but its pink.

Trick - Pink Copper, messy and flaky. Chunks of product fell all over my cheeks.

 

 

 

The first six shades of this palette are a bit of a flop. Limit and Buzz are great, but the other four are hard to work with. Strange is a bad choice for this palette, and should have been replaced with a  shade more like Virgin from Naked 1. Dust and Trick are so MESSY, which is really too bad because they are beautiful colors.

 

__________________________________________________________________________
 

Now with the right half of the palette.
 

Nooner - matte light brown with purple undertones. Very nice for the crease or subtle blending.

Liar - A rose tone shimmery taupe. It reminds me of Toasted from Naked 1, but more purple.

Factory - Bronze with pink shimmer. Very nice to use and versatile. Similar to Hustle from Naked 1.

Mugshot - Shimmery Taupe with pink shimmer. Easy to dupe, but beautiful.

Darkside - Chocolate brown, with a bit of shimmer. I love this color.

Blackheart - Matte black with large fuschia glitter.

 

 

 These six are much darker, and were far easier to swatch. I will get a lot of use out of everything on the right side, except for maybe Blackheart. The glitter is a really odd choice for a neautrals palette. Mugshot and Darkside are my favorite shades from this half.  

 

_________________________________________________________________________ 

 

Here is a swatch of all the colors all next to each other. I feel like a lot of the shades here are too similar. There was definitely more contrast in Naked 1. So I wouldn't recommend this palette for someone who has a limited stock of eye shadows already. I just think this palette would serve better as an accompaniment to other more colorful shadows.
 

 

 Other than Burnout, Dust and Trick, all of the shadows apply smoothly, are well pigmented and last for a very long time. I mentioned it above that Dust and Trick and chunky, glittery messes. and Burnout is really hard to get color pay off. I also want to mention that right of the bat, I like Naked 3 better then I like Naked 1. Naked 1 grew on me over time, so I'm hoping that I fall more in love with Naked 3 the longer I have it.

 

The Balm Instain Blush in Toile

Wow, what an unusual shade of blush. Toile is definitely a unique color. The Balm website describes it as strawberry, but I think it's more like an orange/fruit punch color. This being an Instain blush, you get long lasting full impact color pay off. But since this is such a bright color, it's just got too much going on. This might be why I find this color to be really hard to wear. It doesn't quite go with any make up looks that I usually sport.

 

 

But to give it a fair trial, I paired it with a simple black cat eye and a mauve lip gloss the first time I wore it for a full day. It looked nice, but it's still not my favorite color. I think it will look better on me in the summer with a bit of a tan. In the winter though, I just don't see myself reaching for this that often. I also think it clashes with my red hair really badly.

 

If you are a lover of coral and orange blushes, then you might really like this shade. As with other Instain blushes, it is not matte, rather it has a nice sheen to it. But for this color to work for me, I feel like it needs to have more of a shimmer to it. I applied highlighter above this blush, and didn't like it. But the highlighter on top of Toile looked pretty. But I own other blushes in this color family that I find to be more flattering on my skin.

 

 

*All of the Instain blushes I have tried are over the top pigmented. The swatch on my finger above is basically just a tap on the powder. Because of this, they are a little hard to apply at first. It's best to use a large brush and lightly tap as much surface area of the brush on the powder and then start blending that onto your cheek. Blending is your friend because it is really easy to go overboard with these. But when applied just right, you will have perfect blush ALL DAY LONG! I don't think these actually stain your skin, because they come off easily without leaving any residue behind. If you like really natural looking blush, I don't think these are your cup of tea, because even when applied with a light hand, there is just so much color on your face. I love these, but wouldn't use them with a really bold eye look because it would just be too much in your face competing for attention. (I copied and pasted this from a previous post on Instain blushes.)

The Balm Instain Blush in Pinstripe

I bought this blush online, and it was really hard to tell how dark it was going to be based on the photos. So when I opened it up for the first time, I almost didn't even swatch it. But if you read my review of Cabana Boy, you'll know I felt the same way about that one, and now I love it! So I gave it a try. Pinstripe is a deep brownish plum shade. I love plum blushes and I love brown blushes, so I should love this, and I do :)

 

 

I actually find it to be one of the easiest blushes to wear from the Instain line. Because of the depth of color for this shade, it's almost impossible to look clownish. But since this is an Instain Blush, you have to apply it with a light hand. The light sheen to the blush is beautiful and helps this shade to blend in better to the cheek bones. I like this blush with a cool tone highlighter.

 

 

 

I found that this blush goes with almost any shade of lipstick. I've started thinking of it as a neutral blush, isn't that crazy. But it's because it suits my skin tone so well. I really need to stop being so afraid of dark blushes.

 

 

 

 

 

 When swatching and photographing The Balm blushes, I noticed that Pinstripe and Cabana Boy are really similar. They are close enough that you probably don't need to own both. So just decide if you want long lasting (Cabana Boy) or super long lasting ( Pinstripe).  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*All of the Instain blushes I have tried are over the top pigmented. The swatch on my finger above is basically just a tap on the powder. Because of this, they are a little hard to apply at first. It's best to use a large brush and lightly tap as much surface area of the brush on the powder and then start blending that onto your cheek. Blending is your friend because it is really easy to go overboard with these. But when applied just right, you will have perfect blush ALL DAY LONG! I don't think these actually stain your skin, because they come off easily without leaving any residue behind. If you like really natural looking blush, I don't think these are your cup of tea, because even when applied with a light hand, there is just so much color on your face. I love these, but wouldn't use them with a really bold eye look because it would just be too much in your face competing for attention. (I copied and pasted this from a previous post on Instain blushes.)

 

The Balm Instain blush in Argyle

The Instain line of blushes from The Balm are supposed to be long wearing and act as a powder stain on the cheeks. I find their regular blushes to be quite long wearing already, so it's funny that they came out with blushes that even surpass those in terms of lasting power. Argyle is described on the website as a petal pink. This is one of those colors, that anyone can pull off, but probably looks best on people with pale skin and warm undertones. 

 

 

I purchased this blush online, but if I had been in a store to swatch, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have bought it because I own so many blushes that look like this. There is nothing unique about this shade, and there are a lot of dupes out there for this color. However, there are not a lot of dupes out there for this type of product. The color payoff is INSANE. So if you don't have any blushes in this color, and you like long lasting blush, then this is the one for you.

 

 

All of the Instain blushes I have tried are over the top pigmented. The swatch on my finger below is basically just a tap on the powder. Because of this, they are a little hard to apply at first. It's best to use a large brush and lightly tap as much surface area of the brush on the powder and then start blending that onto your cheek. Blending is your friend because it is really easy to go overboard with these. But when applied just right, you will have perfect blush ALL DAY LONG! I don't think these actually stain your skin, because they come off easily without leaving any residue behind. If you like really natural looking blush, I don't think these are your cup of tea, because even when applied with a light hand, there is just so much color on your face. I love these, but wouldn't use them with a really bold eye look because it would just be too much in your face competing for attention.

 

The Balm Cabana Boy Blush

Ahhh, Cabana Boy... where have you been all my life. If only this blush didn't look so frightening in photos, I could have owned it ages ago and been happy. Cabana Boy is a dark burnt rose colored blush. It is definitely dark, and not for the faint hearted, or the fair skinned. I found it a bit scary when I first swatched it after purchasing it online. I was sure it was going to be too dark for me but when I applied it, I fell in love. I'm quite pale right now, and it looks good, so I'm thinking it will look even better in the spring/summer time when I'm tanner.

 

 

 

It is such a nice blush that helps make your face look contoured and a bit more tan. This blush is not matte, because it has just a little bit of a sheen to it. But it can still be paired with a highlighter without looking like a disco ball. As with the other blushes by The Balm, Cabana boy is very pigmented, lasts all day and blends easily. It was one of the best formulas for a blush I have ever come across.

 

 

And the packaging!!! It's so cute, I love that each product has its own little scene on the cover. Each blush comes with a mirror too. It is a cardboard case with magnetic closure, and comes with a paper sleeve to help protect it. I have never had an issue with any The Balm blush opening up in a cosmetic bag.

 

 

Since I bought them together, I wanted to compare Cabana Boy to Pinstripe Instain. As you can see in the swatch, Pinstripe is darker and looks slightly more plum. But because they are so close, if you own one of them, you probably don't need both. So if the color is appealing to you, just pick which formulation you like better, regular powder blush for Cabana Boy or the super pigmented "stain" powder of Pinstripe. Please see my review on Pinstripe here.

 

 

 

 

 

The Balm Haul

I purchased all of these items from Hautelook in the middle of December. They were all about 50% off retail price (SCORE!).

 

 

I think I was most excited to try out the Instain Blushes because of all the hype I have heard about them. But the mascara is a re-purchase and Cabana Boy was a must for me since I love their other blushes. I have had all of these for a little over a week and have been able to try them out so I will post separate reviews for each item. I just wanted to post this as a chunk of products because I got all of this for under $60 including tax and shipping.

 

 

Burt's Bees Assorted Mix Lip Balm and Bag Gift Set

I got this adorable lip set in my stocking for Christmas. I believe "Santa" got it for around $10 from Ulta. It comes with 4 lip balms and a mini cosmetic bag. All Burt's Bees products are made in the USA, so the bag kind of ruins it a bit because it was made in Indonesia. The tag on it says it was made out of recycled paper, which is cool. But I wish that the whole set could have had a big fat "Made in America" stamp on it. Aesthetically, the bag really isn't my taste, so I think I might pass it on to my sister who I know will like it. But the lip balms are all mine :)

• The Original Beeswax Lip Balm with Vitamin E and Peppermint Oil
• Replenishing Pomegranate Oil Lip Balm
• Nourishing Mango Butter Lip Balm
• Rejuvenating Acai Berry Lip Balm

I have always been a huge fan of Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm, in fact, it is my Holy Grail Lip Balm. But I have never tried any of the other "flavors". So this set is perfect for me to try them out.

The original is still my favorite, but these other lip balms are good. The scents are a bit off to me, but they are actually a bit more moisturizing than the original. Although they all contain almost the same ingredients, the original Beeswax lip balm has more beeswax and the others have more vitamin e oil. I Suggest you check these out if you like the consistency of the original lip balm, but prefer a different scent from the peppermint. 

Barbie Inspried Nails

For Christmas I gave my niece a Barbie doll, and in return she gave me an adorable Wet N Wild Fergie 4 piece Nail Polish Set. The polish that stood out to me was the star shaped glitter. It is so cute, and exactly the sort of thing my 4 year old niece would pick out. I decided to really go for it, and pair it with a Barbie pink polish (this one is from Pixi). As you can see, it is very girly and quite tacky. But I must admit that I LOVE the way it came out!