Too Faced's Naked Eye palette is a collection of 9 eyeshadows packed in a cute cardboard palette that retails for $36 at Sephora. The lid closes with a magnetic clasp and is relatively secure without being a pain in the arse to open. The three shadow pans in the left column are an admirable 2g each, but the 6 shadows in the other 2 columns are under a gram each, which is a bit of a disappointment. Still, you're getting a total of 11.4 grams of product, and with the shade variety you get, that's nothing to sneeze at. Each row could be considered its own go-to trio, but I personally preferred to mix and match the shades, as I think most people will. Note that this palette is probably best for neutral and cool-toned folks, as evidenced by the pinky shades and cool taupes/browns; if you find warmer colors more flattering, you may want to purchase the Natural Eye palette instead.
I have plenty of neutral palettes already, but a few of these shades just sucked me in, namely Lap Dance and Silk Sheets. Every time I wandered past this palette in Sephora, I would swatch the tester on my fingers and sigh with longing. Finally, after seeing one too many awesome FOTDs featuring the beautiful taupes, I caved.
First, I do have two qualms with this palette. The first is the "look cards" that are tucked in to the top part of the palette, which provide instructions on different looks you can do with this palette. Call me stupid, but I could NOT get those damn cards out of the pocket! They were really wedged in there. I even tried grabbing them with tweezers, but to no avail; I just couldn't get the darn things out.
My other issue is that these eyeshadows are different sizes. I understand the idea that the 3 shades in the left column are supposed to be both highlighter and lid shades, so you'll supposedly use them up faster, but to be honest, those 3 shades are not the most unique or the best in terms of texture. I give those honors to Lap Dance, Stiletto, and Pillow Talk, with are extra-smooth. That being said, none of these shadows are particularly BAD. They all have the buttery, very-slightly-powdery-but-not-chalky-or-dry texture that appeals to me. They're also very blendable, which was a relief, as I have a tendency to turn neutral eye looks in to muddy messes. As an added bonus, none of these shadows are glitterbombs, but are rather all matte or satin-type finishes, which Satin Sheets being the only shade that reminded me of an actual "frost." I enjoyed this palette, and when my mom (who hasn't worn makeup in 5+ years) and my sister started eyeballing it, I wasn't surprised.
And yet I have decided to purge this palette.
First, let me explain the difference between "sheer" and "not pigmented," since I think those terms get a little mixed up. A product can be pigmented AND be sheer, sheer meaning it's not completely opaque and lets the skin shine through, but still shows up true to color. A great example of this would be the Urban Decay cheek tint in Quickie: it's a neon pink in the pan, and it applies that way, but it's sheer, so you can still see your skin through it. That means the color is bright, but fresh and pretty, not scary. A product that lacks pigment doesn't show up at all, or doesn't show up as well as it's supposed to; consider a red eyeshadow that's advertised as an opaque, bold blue-red, but applies as a barely-there pink. These Too Faced eyeshadows are more like the former: they're sheer, but there's still pigment in them. The problem is that I'm a gaudy ho and just don't care for 99.9% of all sheer products, even if they are neutrals. (I openly admit to being a huge fan of the "heavy neutrals" look of the 90s). It's my own fault, really, considering these shadows are outright advertised as being "soft" and subtle. Um. Oops?
Overall, this palette is a great buy...for someone with different tastes. It's got its design flukes, but they're easily overlooked when you consider the quality and variety of the shadows themselves. I'm not afraid to admit when a product is fantastic, even if it doesn't suit my personal style.
Rating: 5 out of 5
No comments:
Post a Comment