Natural Eyes Palette vs. Naked Basics Comparison Review + Exciting Announcement!

Friday, January 30, 2015

Hey everyone! Hope you're having a great new year so far and you're keeping up with those New Year's resolutions ;)

One of my resolutions this year was to write more, whether it be in my journal, creative story writing, or blog writing. So I thought it best be time to start up my blog again, ya know, before January ends. It's not considered a new year anymore when February hits, but rather another year we're living, and it would be an official resolution failure.

Another resolution of mine was to finally save up enough money, buy that camera that I've been wanting, and start up a YouTube channel. Many of you may or may not know that I've been obsessed with the YouTube community for the past few years, and the thought of running a YouTube channel of my own has always excited me. 2015 was the year I was gonna bite the bullet and take my shot in content creating on YouTube. This past weekend I finally bought a Canon Rebel T3i, which was the camera I wanted because of its reputation of being a great beginners DSLR camera for both photography and videography, while being easy to use for beginners and newbs like me. Today I uploaded my first official YouTube video on my channel Ribbon Head. It's very much the video version of my blog, but a bit crazier, and maybe a bit awkward, at least until I get a hang on this talking to a camera, YouTube video making thang.

Update: Just realized that this crosses off an entry on my bucket list! Haven't been working on it for awhile and almost forgot about it!

I made the video to coincide with this blog post, so be sure to check out the video if you're in to rambling with a side of makeup tutorials...

*insert monkey Emoji with the hands over the eyes because el-oh-el at me*

And now for the comparison...

The Basics

Too Faced Natural Eyes Palette

Picture from Sephora

Cost: $36 US

What's inside the box: 6 x 0.03oz eyeshadows; two pearl finishes, two mattes, and two shimmers, 3 x 0.07oz eyeshadows; two pearls and one matte, a 'Glamour-Guide' step-by-step instruction card.

Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette

Picture from Sephora

Cost: $30 US

What's inside the box: 6 x 0.05oz eyeshadows; one pearl finish, five mattes.

Swatches & Performance Comparison:

(From left to right) Top: Heaven, Cashmere Bunny, Sexpresso.
Middle: Silk Teddy, Push-Up, Erotica.
Bottom: Nudie, Honey Pot, Chocolate Martini.

All shadows are generally really creamy, as expected, with the pearls and shimmers being exceptionally pigmented and creamy. The colour 'Nudie' is very similar to my skin tone, and is one of my favourite shadows to use for a minimal look. It is the perfect warm light to mid-toned sandy brown that the Naked Basics lack. The Naked Basics also lacks the variety of shimmer colours, but I often prefer mattes over shimmer on an everyday basis, and will rarely ever use the dark colours in the bottom corner. I haven't had any issues with the colour fading, but keep in mind I use eyelid primer since my eyelids get super oily.

From top to bottom: Crave, Faint, Naked 2, Walk Of Shame, Foxy, Venus.

I must apologize for the horrible swatching I did for the shade 'Crave', my knuckle was getting in the way. All of these shadows are exceptionally creamy, transferring colours to skin like a dream. Like I said above, the only mid-toned colour they have in here is a bit more cool-toned and darker, which I rarely use since I find cool-toned browns to look a bit too powdery and ashy on my lids (I don't use Cashmere Bunny from the Natural Eyes that often either.) I really like using 'Faint' to define my crease on an everyday basis because it looks more natural as opposed to 'Sexpresso' from the Natural Eyes. *Nudie and Faint are literally the Dream Team for everyday makeup, just saying.* Since they're really creamy, I think it sticks to your eyelids a bit better, but like I mentioned, keep in mind I often use eyelid primer and have super oily eyelids.

From left to right: Walk of Shame (Naked Basics), Heaven (Natural Eyes), Foxy (Naked Basics)

In both the Natural Eyes and the Naked Basics, their light mattes are the faulty ones in the palette, except for Walk of Shame from Naked Basics, which is as creamy and pigmented as the other shadows from the palette. 'Foxy' and 'Heaven' are very sheer and slightly chalky; it took me forever to get some kind of colour to show up for the swatches. If you watched the video you could see how barely any colour showed up when I used 'Heaven', so I kinda gave up and moved on. It might help if you pack on the colours on top of primed eyes.

(From left to right) Top: (Naked Basics) Naked 2, Faint, Crave
Bottom: (Natural Eyes) Nudie, Cashmere Bunny, Sexpresso

Just a quick comparison of the darker mattes in both palettes. I think they're all pretty different from each other, and they're all very similar in texture and pigmentation. All six would be valuable players in your collection, and though not very unique in the spectrum of natural eyeshadow, these colours are very great mattes to have in your collection.

From top to bottom: Silk Teddy (Natural Eyes), Venus (Naked Basics)

I also just wanted to compare the two lightest pearl shades in both palettes. Like the dark mattes, these are pretty much the same great quality. I prefer using 'Silk Teddy' from Natural Eyes over 'Venus', just because I like a more subtle, off-white inner corner brightener, but it really goes down to personal preference.

Verdict:

The Naked Basics palette was the very first high end product that I ever bought, and it is hands-down my most used palette. $30 was a big deal of money for me to spend on makeup, because as you know I am all about getting the most out of your bucks, but I really couldn't ask for a better first splurge. The eyeshadows are exceptional, high end quality, and I really think it was well worth the $30. It's also a great complimentary palette, and has all the basic mattes and white pearl that your other palettes may be missing, but are necessary in every collection. It's great for travel; the small container is really sleek and sturdy, and it feels well made.

The Natural Eyes palette on the other hand is probably the best choice for a second high end eyeshadow palette. Since I'm now more into makeup, the Natural Eyes have a wider variety of shadows that leave me with endless possibilities. With the Naked Basics, you could only get a limited number of looks, since there are less shadows and less finishes. The Natural Eyes has everything you need for experimenting with neutral shades. The quality of the matte shadows isn't as great as the Naked Basics, but the shimmers are fantastic. I tend to use matte shades more, as I find it more flattering on hooded eyes, but I enjoy the shimmer shades once in awhile, and it's good to have these basic shadows in hand.

Oh, and by the way Ariana Grande used the colour Honey Pot in her makeup tutorial that she posted awhile back. #funfact

Either palette you pick, you won't be sorry. They're both worth the money and will probably be your best friend forever.

✖

M. Anne

noun.
1. mother of C&L, and Peri the guinea pig
2. an art and makeup junkie with way too many things
3. a self-proclaimed donut lover

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