Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette

You gotta love how Urban Decay but pounce out the blue with the palette that everyone has been waiting for, right slap bang in the middle of the cray cray festive season, but the rumours are true – a third incarnation of the Naked eyeshadow empire is currently winging its way to shelves as I type – the Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette. Another neutral bevy of shadows that is sure to have everyone twitching at their keyboards come midnight of the release date, again.

Let’s cover the basics first. 12 shades – three mattes and nine shimmers – lined up in a rose gold metal case (plus points for once again ditching the cardboard packaging, the only downside of the original Naked Palette) and packaged up with a dual-ended eye brush (I like) and a week’s worth sample of each of their primers (liking the extras). I’ll save you the swatches this time round (Temptalia has got that covered), but I’ll be back with lookbook of lid recipes once I’ve had more of a play.

Now for a shade breakdown:

Strange – “a pale neutral pink matte-satin“. A light peach matte that’s actually pretty unique in my collection. I reckon this will come in handy for under brow highlighting when more warmer eye looks are in progress.

Dust – “pale metallic pink shimmer with iridescent micro-glitter“. I have to admit the words ‘iridescent micro-glitter’ do not set my heart a flutter, and though pretty in shade, the texture of this one is a bit too gritty for my tastes.

Burnout – “light pinky-peach satin“. A pale not-too-pink pink that reminds me somewhat of Sin, I can see myself getting quite a lot of use out of this – one for green eyed gals to give a go. Required: lashings and lashings of mascara to pair with it.

Limit – “light dusty rose matte“. Again a colour that comes in as a new entry to my collection. The texture of this matte is like butter; love it. I say this will be good as a crease warmer-uppper.

Buzz – “metallic rose shimmer with silver micro-glitter“. Oh no, it’s those words again, though Buzz is a more like a packed pigment and leaves behind a foiled effect when swatched, I’m still not sure I’ll get much use out of this one.

Trick – “light metallic pinky-copper shimmer with tonal micro-sparkle“. This is one of my favourites from the palette. Yep, the sparkle is still there but the rusty gold shade is just screaming to be sported on a Xmas night out.

Nooner – “medium pinky-brown matte“. Bizarrely this is my favourite, favourite. A matte shade, that I predict with one quick sweep over the eye will give that appearance of definition without looking too polished or done, and you know I’m all over that.

Liar – “medium metallic mauve shimmer“. The next three to me when swatched look pretty similar – all deep browns with a tweak in their undertone. This is the most golden and pinky of ’em and one I think I could sport equally well for daytime or nighttime looks.

Factory – “pinky-brown satin“. This is like a straight-up rich brown with a not too in-yer-face dose of shimmer. A good crease shade and one that will look fab with a little under eye smudge.

Mugshot – “metallic taupe shimmer with slight pink shift“. A classic silver-laced greyish taupe. I reckon I’ll be whipping this out as part of my ‘one-wash-wonder’ gang.

Darkside – “deep taupe-mauve satin“. A deep, deep purple brown that I can see being a lot of peoples go-to in smokey eye times. A hint of shimmer keeps things looking fresh and in some lights it has a hint of MAC’s Smut about it.

Blackheart – “smoky black matte with rosy red micro-sparkle“. I’m not usually fan of the darkest colours in the Naked line, but this one? Well, even I can appreciate it’s bloomin’ beautiful. I doubt I’ll be using it daily, but it’s a beaut of a colour nonetheless.

In comparison to the other two Naked offerings the third is the pinkest of the bunch, if you hadn’t picked that up from the official shade descriptions, and kinda of the most contrasting; the left-side playing up to pretty pastel hues and the right side getting down to the smokey nitty gritty, there’s not much middle ground. But the creators have somehow made it different enough from the other two without alienating neutral lid lovers. Whereas the Naked 2 is more cool and grey based and the original being the warmest of the trio. Do I have a favourite? Well I’ve always had a soft spot for their debut attempt – bronzed lid perfection right there.

So if you too, like me, won’t feel at inner peace until you have completed the trilogy then here are the deats you need. It’s due for release in the UK on 16th December 2013 at House of Fraser and Debenhams and U.D online stockists (heads up it’s already on pre-order at Look Fantastic) and will be priced at £37, putting it in line with the previous two. The conclusion; do you need it? No. Do you want it? Well that’s a whole different story… 

UPDATE: It’s arrived at House of Fraser – time to complete the family.