Urban Decay's Naked 3 Palette - Rosey Neutrals

Hey everyone! So this is the big one. The one everyone is waiting for and talking about and obsessing over. I'm right there in the middle of that crowd, no doubt. I've been lusting after this palette since I heard the first rumor of it's possible existence. I was lucky enough to spot that the palette was available when at the very first launch date on UrbanDecay.com and snatched it up before it sold out. It is crazy how quickly it sold through and that it sold through again when it came back in stock. Insanity! It's finally popping up at other retailers online so you can go to Urban Decay, Sephora or Ulta to try to get your hands on one of these if you so choose. In store launch is still scheduled for December 12th. So, let's go over my thoughts as well as some nice swatches and hopefully this can help you decide if this palette is right for you or not.

First off (which all of you probably already know, but just in case you've been under a rock...) Urban Decay released the Naked palette a couple of years ago featuring 12 neutral eyeshadows. This first palette had more warm bronzy creams, browns, golds and greys. All gorgeous and so amazing that it was then followed up with the Naked 2. This also has 12 neutral eyeshadows, but more cool taupes, coppers, browns and greys. And now we have the Naked 3 with 12 all new neutral eyeshadows in rosey mauve shades. The palette comes in a rose gold metal casing (same format as the Naked 2). You can always trust Urban Decay to have excellent color choices and great color pay off. I'll go into more detail in a second, but I think this one lives up to most of that. I do love the shades. They are extremely flattering and I think they'd look fantastic on anyone. I don't think there is one better palette than the other. I really think this is a personal preference sort of thing. I, of course, am indecisive and love variety so I own all three and I'm sure there are more of me's out there! 

OK, let's get into the nitty gritty. There are three matte shades - Strange (cream color), Limit (light mauve pink - similar to Naked, but more pink) and Nooner (a deeper mauve pink - similar to Buck, but more pink). There are eight shimmers (Burnout, Buzz, Trick, Liar, Factory, Mugshot, Darkside and Blackheart). And there is one glittery frost color (Dust). I think all the matte shades are beautiful and creamy with great pigmentation. If there is any brand that understands how a matte eyeshadow should be, it's Urban Decay, hands down. The shimmers are all gorgeous shades, but I felt like Trick was a bit more sheer than I had anticipated. It's the only swatch in all of the ones below that I layered over itself three times to achieve the pigmentation for the camera to pick it up. All the others only needed one swipe for the color that you see. So, although this shade is amazing, the color pay off isn't what I expected. All the others though, I felt were amazing and completely up to par with what we've all come to expect from these palettes. I personally love Blackheart. It's a really nice deep blackish burgundy shade with reddish shimmer running through it. It reminds me of Beauty Marked from M.A.C which is one of my favorite colors. Dust, the glittery frosty shade, was another slight let down. It's just so glittery that there's a lot of fallout which annoys me. It is a beautiful color, but be prepared for it to be messy.

All that being said, I am really happy with this palette. I think it's a great addition to the first two. It has a great assortment of light medium and deep shades to create various dynamic looks. A good variety of matte and shimmer and I think these rosey hued colors are really universally flattering. I like to think of the three palettes like this. Naked - the bronzed goddess, Naked 2 - The sexy vixen and Naked 3 - The romantic heroin. I've swatched the Naked 3 below as I'm sure that's what everyone wants to see, but I've also gone and swatched the first and second palettes in case you want to see how they each compare to each other. 

- click on images to enlarge-

Naked 3 Swatches below in natural daylight

From left to right: Strange, Dust, Burnout, Limit, Buzz, Trick, Nooner, Liar, Factory, Mugshot, Darkside, Blackheart.

Naked 2 Swatches below in natural daylight

From left to right: Foxy, Half Baked, Bootycall, Chopper, Tease, Snakebite, Suspect, Pistol, Verve, YDK, Busted, Blackout

Naked 1 Swatches below in natural daylight

From left to right: Virgin, Sin, Naked, Sidecar, Buck, Half Baked, Smog, Darkhorse, Toasted, Hustle, Creep, Gunmetal. 

So, do you think you'll pick one up? And if you have, what do you think? 

Hope this was helpful. Talk to you all soon! Kisses, J