I'd like to share my thoughts and opinions with you, and also compare this palette to Urban Decay Naked 3 and L'Oreal La Palette Nude 2. Many individuals are unaware, L'Oreal owns both Maybelline and Urban Decay. So when I started testing this palette, I was looking for similarities between both new L'Oreal La Palette Nude 2 and also Urban Decay Naked 3 & which ill be providing examples. The Palatte comes with twelve (12) colors and two double-ended sponge applicators (photo 1) The back of palette (photo 2)- shows it broken up into 3 sets of four colors aka quads (see label on back of palette), I decided to break them up into quads (info on left) for these swatches to make it easy to understand: QUAD #1: (photo 3) hade #1 - Shimmery cream white with fine sparkle. This is the most sheer shade in the palette. Shade #2 - Shimmery light pink with fine sparkle. This shade is sheer as well, but can be built up a bit better than the cream white shade. Shade #3 - Shimmery light gray with yellow flash. In my opinion, this is the most unique and original shade in this palette. I can't think of another shade in my eyeshadow stash that is quite like this one. My swatch doesn't do this color justice--in real life this is a beautiful light gray, almost silver shade and there's a yellow (not gold, but yellow) flash to it when the light hits it just right. The pigmentation on this color is impressive, although it is powdery in texture. Shade #4 - Shimmery neutral brownish-taupe. The pigmentation is great on this one, and easy to pick up with your brush, apply and blend. QUAD #2: (photo 4) Shade #1 - Shimmery pinky-peach with fine sparkle. This one's deceptive in the pan, since you can't really see the pink flash until you get it on your skin. Definitely gives nice pigmentation over primer. Shade #2 - Light purple-ish mauve satin matte. There are only two mattes in this palette and this is one of them. But when you wear it over primer, it becomes more of a satin-matte, without primer it's more matte; since there's a subtle sheen that come through over primer. Good pigmentation over primer, although the texture doesn't feel quite as smooth or silky as the mattes in the L'Oreal La Palette Nudes. It feels a little bit drier, but still smooth (not chunky or grainy). Shade #3 - Shimmery warm brown. Nice pigmentation on this one, as it's easy to apply and blend. Shade #4 - Shimmery dark charcoal/steel gray. Unless you're wearing it over primer, the pigmentation on this one is quite sheer. Also, it has a drier consistency than the other shimmers in this palette. QUAD-#3: (photo #5) Shade #1 - Shimmery warm bronze. To me, this is the smoothest shadow in this palette when it comes to texture. It also has good pigmentation over primer and it's easy to work with, apply and blend. Shade #2 - Shimmery medium rose-gold with pink undertones. The texture of this shadow is like the shade before it (the warm bronze)--to me it feels a bit smoother than the other shimmers in this palette, but not quite as smooth as the bronze. Good pigmentation over primer and easy to work with. Shade #3 - Purpleish-brown satin-matte with fine iridescent sparkle. This one's quite deceptive in the pan, since the purple undertone doesn't become visible until you get this on the skin and even then, you still can't completely see it until you wear it over primer. The texture is dry and the pigmentation is poor unless you wear it over primer (you definitely NEED primer with this one). Shade #4 - Black matte with rose gold glitter. This is the only other matte in this palette, and it does contain a good amount of rose-gold glitter. The texture is dry, but perhaps a tiny bit less dry than the shade before it (the purple-ish brown). You definitely need primer with this one since the pigmentation is quite weak without it. Conclusion: prices approximate ***Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette ($54, 0.60 oz.) Maybelline The Blushed Nudes Palette ($9.99, 0.34 oz.) (photo #6)*** ***L'Oreal La Palette Nude 2 ($15.84 at Walmart, 0.62 oz.) Maybelline The Blushed Nudes ($9.98 at Walmart, 0.34 oz.)**** (Photo #7) As promised, I wanted to compare this palette to Urban Decay Naked 3. Since L'Oreal owns both Maybelline and Urban Decay, I was quite curious how they would compare. There are NO exact dupes for Urban Decay Naked 3 in The Blushed Nudes, but there are six shades that I did find to be similar to shades in UD Naked 3: There are no exact dupes between Maybelline The Blushed Nudes and L'Oreal La Palette Nude 2. In the pic above, I selected the most similar shades between the two palettes. The closest "dupe" I could find was in the first set of swatches above (the medium rose gold shades). But even then, the L'Oreal shade is deeper and more rose-goldish than the Maybelline shade, which has a bit more pink to it. ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ABOUT THE BLUSHED NUDES: Overall, I find the texture of the shadows in The Blushed Nudes to be inferior to the texture of the shadows in the L'Oreal La Palette Nudes. The La Palette Nudes (also keep in mind the drastic price difference), the shadows in those palettes all have a very smooth, silky feel to them, but I find that most of the shadows in The Blushed Nudes (with the exception of the bronze and rose-gold shimmers and matte mauve) to have a very slight chunky/grainy texture to them, and a few shades are too dry/stiff for my liking. That said, these shadows are not without merit. I find most of the shades to be nice and vibrant over primer (primer is a MUST with this palette) and once you start working with them, they're generally easy to pick up with your brush, apply and blend. I also really love this color palette in general. FINAL VERDICT: I'm absolutely blown away by this palette and I think if you're on a budget I do think it's worth considering, with a few conditions. First, you must love shimmery shadows since 9 of the 12 shades here contain shimmer. If you're more of a matte lover, then La Palette Nude 2 is definitely for you. Second, eyeshadow primer is a good idea if you're thinking of purchasing The Blushed Nudes by Maybelline -although my sister and cousin like them without using a primer, I also sometimes forgo primers. Primer really brings out the beauty of these shadows, and some of these shades have weak pigmentation without it, so depending on the color I wouldn't skip it. Third, if you prefer your shadows to be very smooth, silky and buttery, you may be in for a disappointment here. Most of these shadows have a slight graininess/chunkiness to them, (a drop of Argon soil solves this!) but if you're willing to forgive that, they still apply nicely over primer and blend out well. If you don't already own Urban Decay Naked 3 and you're drawn to the shimmery shadows in Naked 3, then this could be a nice, affordable alternative if you have a bit of patience (and primer). I think the price & Amazon Prime shipping is worth it! disclaimer:*All colors were swatched over a primer.
