Thursday, January 23, 2014

Urban Decay Naked 3! Review & Swatches

I'm so excited to share my review on the new Urban Decay Naked 3 palette! This is the latest Naked palette that features "rose-hued" neutral colors.

 
 
Naked 3 features 12 all new shades. No repeats like in Naked 2.  The eyeshadows are what I've come to expect from Urban Decay.  They are soft, highly pigmented and blend like a dream.
 
The colors are absolutely beautiful. The pinkest tones are in the first half of the palette, with the second half containing the deeper shades. I've been playing with it for a few weeks I'm finding that the rosy tones complement my hazel eyes and complexion nicely.
 
 
      
 

It comes with a double sided synthetic brush. I'm not really a fan of these brushes.  They are ok for cream products, but for eyeshadow I like to use natural brushes.  I wish they would've included an eyeliner instead.
 
The palette also comes with small pouch samples of all varieties of Primer Potion. Instead of having the small samples, I wish they would've included just one deluxe size sample.
 

 
 
The packaging is reminiscent of Naked 2. Its metal and it reminds me of a pencil case, not my favorite.  I was hoping they would've brought back the Naked 1 packaging.  Its just very sturdy and you can fold the top over without worrying about it cracking off.  I always take Naked 1 with me when I travel and I've never had a problem with any of the shadows breaking.  Although Naked 3 has the metal packing I don't love, the binding does seem a little more flexible.  When you open it it lays down flat, unlike Naked 2.


 
 
The natural question is how does it compare to the two other palettes in the Naked line? Urban Decay describes the original naked palette as "bronze-hued neutrals", while naked 2 is "taupe-hued neutrals". Naked 1 has always been my favorite. The colors are just so versatile and really compliment my complexion.  Although I think the colors in Naked 2 are beautiful.  I just don't reach for that palette as often.  I think its because it has a lot of darker colors and also a lot of frost finshes.  I usually think of Naked 2 for a nighttime look.


 
 
Final Thoughts:
 
All of the shades have nice pigmentation.  The only one I don't really like so far is "Dust" because it was very flaky. It was hard to even get a decent swatch if it. Some of the more frosted colors have fall-out issues, but thats to be expected with heavy glitter.
 
My favorite shades in the palette are Trick and Nooner.  Trick is a shimmer that has a bit of gold sparkle.  I'd describe it as a rose gold. Nooner is described as a "medium pinky-brown matte".  I'd call it mauve.  I've used it in my crease to blend and it is really a pretty effect.
 
I've been really gravitating towards warmer rosy tones this winter.  I find myself reaching for my Maybelline Designer Chocolates quad, the Lorac Unzipped Palette and now my new go-to, Naked 3.
 
~Monica 

Friday, January 10, 2014

Christmas Eve Beach Walk

This post is a little late but I wanted to share some pictures from a walk I took with my family at Scusset Beach in Plymouth on Christmas Eve Day.  My parents moved to the area this summer and it was our first time celebrating Christmas at their new house.  Mike and I, plus the dogs, arrived the night before. We had some time to kill before the evening's festivities so we all decided check out the beach.
 
 
 
The sky was so beautiful! I took all these photos with my iPhone and I'm really surprised they came out as nice as they did.
 
 
 
 
Walking along the Jetty at the mouth of the Cape Cod Canal.
 
 
 
 
It was really windy (see Piper's ears) and much colder at the beach than it had been at my parent's house, but the dogs didn't seem to mind.
 
 
 
There was a shipwreck scattered all along the beach which was pretty interesting to see. Hopefully this boat just broke away from a morning nearby and no one was injured. I wasn't able to find any information about it online so it remains a mystery.
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
We didn't stay too long because it was riddiculously cold but it was very picturesque and a nice way to spend the afternoon before our Christmas Eve family party.  I can't wait to come back in the summer!