“Flaunt your natural side with a look that appears so effortless you can wear it before breakfast or after dark. Natural Eyes is a palette of nine richly-pigmented shadows that pair perfectly and blend beautifully!”

I was super excited when I found out that the Too Faced Natural Eye Palette would be included in our April POPSUGAR Must Have box!

Now yes, yes; I know I need more neutral eye shadows like I need a hole in my head. I am fully aware that I currently have a sick amount of browns and taupes and similar colors in my collection, between the MAC palettes I have created and the pre-made neutral palettes I have purchased (like my beloved Urban Decay Naked palettes) but… What can I say? I just love eyeshadow and I love neutrals even more! They are the colors I find myself reaching for most frequently, so they kind of fall under that “you can never have too many” mentality. As much as I love to rock a bright green eye, that’s not always appropriate for the office–yet neutrals are always in style.

I was even more excited when I realized that the Natural Eye Palette we were receiving was the new, updated version that included three new shadows not featured in the previous incarnation. (Not that I own the previous version, so I can’t compare, really… I just like knowing we got the shiny, new version I guess.)

I briefly described the palette in my original POPSUGAR review, but promised a more in-depth look at it once I had the time to play around with it. I’ve been wearing it all week, so let’s take a more in-depth look at what this palette has to offer…

This palette is housed in a small, metal tin, which I really love. It is a pale pinky-beige color overlaid with a pink lace pattern, with golden borders around the edges. I think it looks very sleek and feminine. This new style of metal tin packaging is very compact and sturdy–a marked improvement over the clunky cardboard containers Too Faced used years ago. (I believe some of their older palette sections might still be sold in that cardboard packaging.)

Inside, there are nine neutral shades of eyeshadow–six of which are small 0.03 oz pans, with the remaining three “core” shades being larger 0.07 oz pans. The shadows are broken up into three rows, all of which coordinate to create a specific look–a Day look, a Classic look, or a Fashion look. This is typical of most Too Faced palettes, which all feature the same three styles. The “Day” look is the most demure of the three, with “Classic” being a touch more intense, and the “Fashion” look being the most dramatic of all.

The underside of the lid houses a small folded up pamphlet which is the “Glamour Guide.” This Guide explains how to achieve a series of looks using the shadows in this palette. It clips into the top of the case beneath little plastic prongs, and once it is removed, you’ll find a nice sized mirror beneath it. Its not a large mirror by any means, but it is good for if you’re using this palette on the go.

Again, I am a huge fan of cheekiness in my makeup (see for devoted love for theBalm if you doubt me!) and I think Too Faced has some of the best color names, hands down. They are always creative and a touch on the raunchy side–and that is right up my alley!

Maybe that right there just told you a little more than you needed to know about me. Oh well.

Anyhow, let’s get into the shadows.

The top row is our Day selection.

The largest shadow, on the left, is called Heaven. Heaven is a matte, cream-colored shadow. This shade is wonderful for an all over base to help make the other shadows pop, for highlighting without shimmer under the brow bone, and it also does a passable job when blending out the edges of darker shades on my fair skin (though I think it would be too light to do so on medium to darker skin). It has a lovely, creamy feel to it and no fallout; it is a great matte shade that doesn’t read as being at all chalky.

Next to Heaven, are the two shades most suited to blend with it, to create a daytime look. The first–one of the new shades added to this reformulated palette–is Cashmere Bunny, a cool, matte taupe brown. I love this shade; it is a lovely taupe suitable for a range of skin colors. Like Heaven, it has a silky feel on the skin but does not become powdery.

The last shade in the Day row, which is also the darkest, is the deep, matte brown called Sexpresso. Adorably risque name aside, I really like this color as well. Its a solid, matte brown that–like its two partner shades–goes on smoothly and evenly, with no fallout or powderiness. It is well pigmented and can create a lovely, defined crease and looks equally nice smudged along the lashline.

The middle row is the Classic selection.

The large shade in this row is the shimmery peach champagne color called Silk Teddy. This is probably my favorite shade in the whole palette; it is a lovely color, with the perfect amount of shimmer. It makes a great all-over shadow. It reminds me a bit of Stila’s Kitten, though a touch peachier. (Any regular reader of this here blog knows just how much I love peachy shades of, well, everything!)

Next in the line is Push-Up, a bronze shade with a slightly pearly finish. This shade is very warm and went on my skin quite strong. I’m not particularly fond of really bronzey colors on me; they just pull a bit too orange, and this one was no exception. The pigmentation was nice and the shimmery finish was eye-catching, yet this just isn’t one I see myself using very often.

The last color, which again is the darkest in this particular look, is Erotica. Erotica is a bit deceiving. In the pan, it almost has a red-brown quality to it, flecked through with golden shimmer. On the skin, however, it reads much more as a deep, strangely cool-toned chocolate-y brown strewn with a pronounced golden glitter. Love of the name of this color aside, this is probably the color I was most “meh” about in the entire palette. Perhaps I had expected more of a uniform golden shimmer, from looking at it in the pan; I’m just not too fond of the distinct gold flecks in it.

I found there was a tiny bit of fallout with each of these shimmery shades–the worst offender being Erotica–and they didn’t glide on quite as smoothly as the matte shades did. Using a good primer as a base helped reduce the amount of fallout.

And, finally, on the bottom row, are our Fashion shadows.

Nudie, the larger shade on the end, if another of the new shades in this palette. Described as a “fawn matte,” this shade is a lovely cool taupe-y brown. This shade, as dull as it might seem, wins the place of Second Best Loved in my heart. This is the perfect nude, matte shadow on my skin. This is the penultimate blending shade in this palette; it softens the edges of darker color beautifully, and it also makes the best all-over base on my eye.

The second to last shade in the palette, is the shimmery golden bronze, Honey Pot. This is a bronze I can see myself wearing; it is not nearly as strong or as orange as Push-Up. It is more of a gold than a bronze, really, with just a hint of pink in it in certain lights. Again, this shade is very shimmery, but has a nice, smooth feel on the skin. It looks lovely on the inner corner of the lid, making the whole eye look really pop!

Our last shadow, which also happens to be the third new shadow in the palette, is Chocolate Martini. This color is a deep, dark espresso brown with more of that golden shimmer. I like this one a tad bit more than Erotica–it is less powdery and better pigmented. It is also a richer, more–well–chocolate-y brown with less glitter in it, and it did not have the fallout issue I had with Erotica.

Swatches

Verdict

Do I like this palette? Yes.

Do I think this palette is essential to any collection? Yes and no.

Is this an essential palette to my collection? No.

You might be saying, “What?!” I know, I know; I just went on and on for, like,ten minutes on how much I liked these shadows. And I do; really, I do! Don’t get me wrong; if I didn’t own other neutral palettes, this one likely would have found an instant place near and dear to my heart. That right there is the only reason I don’t find it essential to my collection. Personally, with the large collection I already have, adding this palette to it is a bit of overkill. I do like these shadows, but they aren’t my favorites. If push came to shove and I was asked to choose, I would pick my Urban Decay Naked palette over this one, as I like the formula of their shadows a bit more and that palette has a wider color selection.

With that in mind, if you don’t own any other neutral palettes, I do highly recommend this palette. It is a very nice place to start on your journey to using and loving neutral eyeshadows. It has a good price (retailing for $36.00), is readily available at Sephora and Ulta, as well as many places online, and it has a very nice selection of brown-toned neutral eyeshadows. I also really love how they make the three base/blending shades so much larger than the darker colors. It makes sense, as you will likely be using those so much more often than the other shades in the palette.

I’ll say again, I love how sleek and compact it is, and I feel like the metal tin casing makes this a good palette for travel as well. The magnetic closure feels pretty strong and the case overall is sturdy; this is one I could throw in an overnight bag without too much worry.

So, if you don’t have an overabundance of neutrals or a stockpile of Naked palettes, this is a great palette to try!