theBalm Nude'tude eyeshadow palette

Another post from American company The Balm. This is basically The Balm's take on the ever popular nude palettes such as Urban Decay Naked Palette. The palette is slim and sleek, and like the rest of their products, the packaging is just fantastic. It gives a fun, vintage feel to the item and is a bit more interesting than some basic palettes. You get 12 shadows and a double ended brush (but who actually uses the brushes you get free?!). You also get a mirror inside which is also handy, and a magnet that keeps the palette closed (which seems incredibly strong!). 

Swatches are in top/bottom pairs..hope that makes sense!

Sassy: frosty white..good pigmentation. Very smooth to apply. Seems good for highlighting around the brow area and corners of eyes.

Snobby: rich yellow..came off quite powdery and difficult to apply which was a shame, so I can't see it getting very used.

Stubborn: a very light frosted peach..one of my favourites from the palette. Definitely appears lighter than in the pan!

Stand-offish: a bronze/light brown/hint of red frosted shade..pigmentation was really good for this and it's lasted well on the times I've worn it. Almost metallic.

Selfish: frosted taupe colour..another of my faves, and a slight dupe for MAC Satin Taupe, but I think Satin Taupe is slighly redder possibly.

Sultry: more matte brown..not one that I think I will use often as I do like my frosts and metallics, but blended really well and was smooth to apply.

Schitzo: warm brown with metallic shimmer..easy to wear and had good lasting power. Had major fall out with it but nothing too drastic!

Sophisticated: brown with bronze shimmer..lovely shade, although slightly too brown for me I think.

Sexy: matte burgundy..had good pigmentation and applied well.

Silly: brown with copper sparkles..I like this shade a lot also it feels a bit too sheer for a shade you could have as a base. This might look good layered over another one of the shades?

Sleek: matte brown..pigmentation was crazy on this and lasting power was strong. Took ages to clean off!

Serious: semi-black matte..not as dark on the skin as it is in the pan for any fraidy cats like me!

Now I really do like this palette. The shades are great, the theme is fabulous as ever and it seems to have a good vibe from it. However, I always find I never use the darker shades in palettes. I'm such a wimp when it comes to dark eyeshadow as I have small eyes and I find it makes them smaller. I'm trying to branch out a little more with the dark shadows, as Sexy is a gorgeous shade, and I'd like to wear it more. In a comparison to Naked palette? Well, the shades aren't very similar I must admit, so these almost feel like two very different palettes. Don't go buying this palette expecting a Naked palette dupe because you wont get it. However, if you want a fun, good range palette with really good formula shadows that are super easy to apply, then this would be a good one to get.

If you do fancy buying this palette, head to Find-Me-A-Gift.co.uk and you can buy it for £30.99. Yes, it's quite expensive, but for 12 really well pigmented eyeshadows, which have a different edge to the Naked palette, I'd definitely recommend it!

-Tamsin xxx