Urban Decay Naked 3

I become a little manic when new palettes are made available and I was especially delirious when I heard rumours way back in October 2013 about the possibility of an Urban Decay Naked 3 being released. Cue more make-up lunacy when it actually was available for purchase and I realised it was unlike the two previous neutral Naked  palettes. 

Beautiful rose gold detailing of the Naked 3 case.

My fiancé clearly paid attention to all the bombs I dropped, furiously hinting for it to be mine in time for Christmas past. Not only did he generously buy me one as a stocking filler, he also bought one for my mum in order to complete the Naked trio. Did Colm (fiancé) understand the vast differences between Naked, Naked 2 and Naked 3? Nope, not one iota. Like most people ignorant to cosmetics , he thought they all looked exactly the same without even the slightest hint of a colour variance. Unsurprisingly, I disagreed, as Naked 3 is jam-packed with pink based browns, bronzes and mauves, making this palette my favourite of the Naked range. Note that Naked is full or warm neutrals and Naked 2 is made up of cool neutrals. 

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

The packaging is similar to Naked 2 as the eyeshadows are encased within a tin holder, this time in an embossed rose gold metal. It comes with a dual ended synthetic brush perfect for laying down the product on one end and blending out with the other. Naked 3 does not disappoint with 12 blendable, never seen before velvety shades all centred around rose gold hues. There is a mixture of matte, shimmer and glitter shades. The colours are Strange, Dust, Burnout, Limit, Buzz, Trick, Nooner, Liar, Factory, Mugshot, Darkside, and Blackheart which resemble the metallic cast of a certain infamous Michael Kors watch. 

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

Strange - pale neutral white/pink, demi-matte finish.

Dust - pale metallic pink with  white gold micro glitter, frost finish. 

Burnout - light peachy pink, pearl finish.

Limit - light dusty rose, matte finish.

Buzz -  light silver pink with silver micro glitter

Trick - light metallic pink-copper with a gold sparkle, frost finish.

Nooner - mid-tone pinky brown, matte finish.

Liar - mid-tone metallic mauve, shimmer finish.

Factory -  mid-tone pink brown, pearl finish. 

Mugshot - metallic pink taupe, shimmer finish.

Darkside - deep taupe mauve, pearl finish. 

Blackheart - matte black with red micro glitter, shimmer finish.

Urban Decay Naked 3 retails at £37 from Debenhams, House Of Fraser and Feel Unique. For customers overseas, it costs $52 from Urban Decay, Sephora and Ulta. An expensive palette, however each shadow weighs 1.3g each, making you receive 15.6g of shadow altogether. Compare that to individual 1.5g eyeshadows from MAC which cost £12.50 /$15 for the consumer packaging and £10/$10  for the pro-refill pan and consider how much you would spend to re-create a palette similar to the Naked 3.  Considering that perspective, the Naked 3 is worth every (of Colm's) penny. 

For dupes and alternatives, click here.