Recently Slovenes and Croats finally got theBalm in our drugstores (Müller specifically), which was an unexpected and a very lovely surprise. You may have seen my recent wishlist where I said I'd love to have the Mary-Lou Manizer, however, today I have a review of a different theBalm product - the Nude'Tude palette. I've really been enjoying using it and the quality of it is just as good as UD's Naked (which are my favourite eyeshadows), it's even a bit cheaper and I have to say, I like the colours more than in the original Naked.
There are twelve shades in this palette, all neutral, which is just my thing. I'm not loving the far left side of the palette that much, but I really like the rest. It's a nice mix of matte, satin and shimmery finishes. I think especially the satin eyeshadows are so incredibly lovely. Not all eyeshadows are impressive unfortunately, but the grand total is very much in favour of the fantastic eyeshadows.
ROW1
Sassy is a shimmery white colour. I use it as a highlighter in the inner corner though Stand-Offish is actually better. It's nicely pigmented and in blends well. I'd swap it for a beige matte base colour or something like Virgin in the UD's Naked.
Stubborn is a light pink-peachy shade. This was one of the colours that when I first opened the palette, I said to myself that there is no way it would look good on me. I was so wrong. Fortunately it is not actually as pink as indicated in the pan, instead it's very similar to the shade below, Stand-Offish, which is similar to one of my favourite eyeshadows, UD's Sin, but it's a less shimmery version and it's more of a satin finish. It just ends up looking like your natural lid colour, but better and the quality is so lovely.
Selfish is a shimmery taupe-brown. This is my type of shade and I adore it. It's in the same colour family as Satin Taupe and the quality of it is so nice, way better than MAC's version because it's so silky and pigmented.
Sophisticated is a cool dark brown with shimmer. Another fantastic quality eyeshadow and I use it mostly in the outer corners
Sexy is a matte burgundy-purple shade. It's very smooth and pigmented, but needs a few layers for an even, fully opaque look because blending takes a lot of it away. I actually wore a smoky eye with this on the lids and loved it.
Serious is a classic black matte that every palette needs. The quality is nice and it's very black.
ROW 2
Snobby is a yellow-gold shade. I'm not a fan of this one. I do use it sometimes as an inner corner highlighter, but I think it's too yellow for me to use all over the lid. The quality isn't as good as the rest, but still nice enough.
Stand-Offish is a dupe for UD's Sin, so it's a light shimmery pink that looks beautiful as an inner corner highlighter or all-over the lid. It's very soft and pigmented, basically a dream eyeshadow and it's one of my favourite.
Sultry is a matte medium neutral brown. I adore this! The texture is divine and we are talking about a matte eyeshadow. It's so smooth and silky, it blends beautifully and it very pigmented. The texture is very similar to L'Oreal's L'Ombre Pure 106 Breaking Nude, which is the definition of the perfect matte eyeshadow.
Seductive is a warm gold-brown shade that is similar to UD's Smog, but a bit lighter. It's more like Patina and Smog had a baby, so obviously I love it. It's one of my favourites and the one I wore on my lids the most. The texture is again silky, smooth, pigmented and all in all just a pleasure to use.
Silly is a deep plum with red shimmer. This is the one shade I've very disappointed in. It has poor colour pay-off, doesn't blend as the others and the shimmer is just a bit out of place. I don't know how this landed in this otherwise fantastic palette. It might be just the top layer that behaves that well, but the rest were so soft from the first brush stroke that it's hard to believe only this one behaves so strange.
Sleek is a very deep matte brown. I love that it's in the palette as I use such a shade daily to deepen the outer corners. It's a lovely matte eyeshadow that is nicely pigmented and blends well.
I gave it my best shot, but my camera just doesn't pick up blended gradients. Well at least I tried. I blame it on my phone camera and stupid eyeshape. First pic: Sexy on the lids, Sultry in the crease. Second pic: Seductive on the lids, Sophisticated and Sleek in the outer corner. Stand-Offish in the inner corner at both,
In general the quality is fantastic. It's similar to the Naked palette, with smooth, silky eyeshadows that are very pigmented and blend well. There are a couple of exceptions, most notably Silly, but the colours I love using are fantastic. Staying power is ok, they do crease a bit without a primer after several hours of wear, but with a primer they lasted all day on me, but they did fade a bit.
The packaging is a cardboard one, but it's not as nice as at the Naked palette. The one thing that does bother me is that it gets dirty and you can't really wipe the eyeshadows off. This won't bother most people, but I'm a crazy woman who wants her makeup to look perfect at all times. There a duo-sided brush included that is pretty much useless because it's too harsh and doesn't pick up eyeshadows well.
I have to say this is the most impressive palette I've tried in a very long time. It's been mostly drugstore for me in these past years and the only high-end palettes I have (and adore) are Urban Decay ones. The quality of eyeshadows in theBalm palette is very similar, maybe even a bit smoother, so I'm very impressed. There are a couple of eyeshadows that are a bit disappointing, but the colours I love are amazing quality. I would prefer some other colours instead of Sassy, Snobby and Silly because that would make it my ultimate perfect palette, but all in all I'm a big fan of it.
It costs 35.70 € in Slovenia, which is 6 € cheaper than on Feel Unique. I know, my jaw dropped to the floor too. It's like a Christmas miracle. The price per eyeshadow comes at a bit under 3 €, which isn't too bad for such great quality. If you need a neutral eyeshadow palette that offers a great variety of neutral looks, this one is really lovely.
I was asked if I'd like to maybe present the brand, so I thought why not. Some of you might not be familiar with it, since it's so new to us, but they have these cute retro packaging and clever names, which makes them a really fun brand. I checked Makeup Alley what are the most popular products. I already had their TimeBalm concealer, which is in a pot and has a high level of coverage (more suited for oily skins in my opinion), but I do have my eye on several of their products. I already said that Mary-Lou Manizer (Petra's review) and the Manizer Sisters palette are on wishlist, so that's at the top. I wouldn't mind having Cindy-Lou as well, but Betty-Lou is definitely better suited for people more tan me. Frat Boy is a very popular blush, my fellow blogger Sanja rates it highly as do many others. I got my cousin Bahama Mama bronzer as a replacement for Nars' Laguna and she really liked it. I recently had my eye on Desert Bronzer and Blush, just because it looks like an interesting colour and I hear Hot Mama is similar to Nars' Orgasm. Also highly rated on MUA are Sexy Mama Anti Shine Translucent Powder, Meet Matt(e) Nude Matte Eyeshadow Palette (Nadja's review) and a spinoff of the Nude'tude palette - the Nude'Dude. Personally I'm really looking forward to Meet Matt(e) Hughes Long Lasting Liquid Lipsticks if they plan to sell them here (I think they do).
Have you tried anything from this brand or do you have anything on your wishlist list?
*PR product
No comments:
Post a Comment