re.view: Urban Decay Naked 3 palette! **UPDATED**

The Naked 3 Urban Decay palette is here...and boy it's a beauty! I was actually going to hold off buying this until the initial frenzy was over it was back in stock after a few months (since it's not limited edition, sooner or later you'll be able to get your hands on one if you want one), however I was lucky that I received this one as an early Christmas gift! 

The palette comes with a sample as per the other Naked palettes, and this time it's of four variations on the Urban Decay Primer Potion (original, Eden, Sin and Anti-ageing). I was a bit disappointed with this, but only because I'm already a fan of the original formula when I'm not using my own concoction, and I do reach for mine instead of buying the anti-ageing one (mine's very moiturising!)

The do come packaged up in cute little pockets though, which I readily popped into my stash of 'I'll use when I'm travelling' stash. I rarely actually remember to revisit this stash though, so perhaps I'll show you what's been collected up into it at some point and go on a mission to get through them! 

The outer casing of the palette itself is very similar to the Naked 2 palette but this time comes in a rosy-gold colour with a rippled-silk-like textured finish.  It's quite pleasant to hold and has the reassuring weightiness of the Naked 2 (though for travelling light I tend to prefer the lighter Naked 1). It close shut securely which the Naked 1 lacks, and should be fairly durable as long as you don't keep bending the mirror back on itself (I see YouTubers do this all the time - no wonder the hinge breaks!).

Onto the most important part - the contents. 12 eyeshadow pans, all rose-taupe spectrum except for 'Trick' that is a brighter copper colour. There are two matte shades ('Limit' and 'Nooner') that are dusty pink, and a semi-matte/satin cream highlight colour ('Strange' to the far left). The real hits of the palette are the 6 shades in the right hand side as these are more highly pigmented than the first 6 shades (with the exception of Limit which is beeaautiful as a quick all-over-the-lid colour).

Here is a picture with flash - trying to capture the sparkle and nuance in the shades!

'Dust', 'Buzz' and 'Trick' are not as pigmented as we've come to expect from Urban Decay, and it's a shame as they really catch the eye when first opening the palette. I've heard some other reviewers be really disappointed by this, but I think that I will use them - in fact I have used them in the last few days - as a 'pop' of dazzle over the top of a look created with the other colours in the palette. For example, 'Buzz' is a stunning rose-copper pressed with the finger over the top of 'Limit' with 'Nooner' in the crease and a little flick of eyeliner.

**UPDATE - both 'Buzz' and 'Trick' perform much better once you get past the top layer of the product where it seems to form some sort of a film. I have heard that this can also occur with products such as the Nars luminising powder. You can just wait it out until the top layer wears down, or I recommend running a spoolie gently over the top of the eyeshadow to disturb and break up the very top layer so you can access the more pigmented goodness underneath! Thank goodness, as these are quite unique shades in the palette and the closest to true' rose-gold' shades.**

In the second half we have 'Liar', 'Factory' and 'Mugshot' that look quite similar in the pictures here but swatch quite differently in person (you can see this best in the final picture). They are variations on grey-brown-taupe. 'Darkside' completely confuses me with its existence as a sort of warm grey (I know!) and is perfect used as a smokey eye with 'Liar' or on its own as a day-time liner with a pink look from the first-half shades. 'Blackheart' is a near-black that has been shot through red sparkles. Although the sparkles don't come across vibrantly when swatched, it is clearly a complex off-black that would be really interesting when used to deeping the outer 'v' of the eye making a look more dramatic.

Like the Naked 2, the palette comes with a dual ended brush which I was extremely pleased to see. I don't really like carrying around many extra brushes, particularly eye ones, and you can create some very nice looks just with this brush.

One end is fluffier, but a hybrid of the crease brush of the Naked 2 palette brush and a fluffy shader, which can be used to lay a transluscent sweep of colour all over the lid or to blend out/soften the edges of your eyeshadow to make it look nice and diffused.










The other end of the brush is a flat lay-down brush which you can use to pack on colour to the lid or use the tip to draw a 'v' in your crease (blend out with the other end), or to add an eyeshadow liner next to your top and bottom lashes.

Versatile, no?

 Here are the swatches in natural light:

And with flash:










So, do you need this palette if you have one or the other Naked palettes? Well, no, of course you don't need it. So, the question really is - will this palette add £37 worth of fun and looks to my existing collection of Naked palettes? To this I answer YES! I would say that Naked 1 and 2 are far more similar to each other than they are to the Naked 3. Granted, if you don't like or wear pink on your eyes then it might be a shame to pay that amount for the use of half a palette, but if you are open to it then it's worth it by a long way. I have been really happy with this and would have bought it for myself had I not received it as a gift. It is possible that in your makeup stash you already have colours similar to those in the first have of this palette, but those in the second half are really quite unusual and anyway, it's handy to have those two beautiful off-pink mattes ('Limit' and 'Nooner') handy for a day-time look!

With two of the stand-out colours being the matte ones from this palette I really hope the Naked 4 will be a full collection of mattes (perhaps with one shimmer to be used a an optional 'top coat'). One can wish!

Available (currently in stock) here for £37