Believe it or not, apart from a lip/cheek stain, I hadn’t properly tried out anything from The Balm before this palette. I’ve long admired their quirky packaging, but with the constant stream of beauty products I need to try, I just never got round to them. The Balm NUDE’Tude Eyeshadow Palette* (£30 from Debenhams) is a collection of twelve matte, metallic and shimmer shades.

I think that the name of this palette is a bit misleading- I don’t think I would term this collection of shades as nude. Is it just me, or does anyone else think makeup brands are stretching the definition of nude too far now? The lighter shades are very pretty though and there are some useful dark smokey ones too. With this palette I also got a miniature of The Balm’s Put A Lid On It Eyelid Primer. I don’t think this intensifies the colour of the shadows, but it does make them last longer and apply smoother.

I wanted to swatch these for you so that you can see what they look like out of the pan as they don’t all translate the same. The metallic and shimmer shadows have a creamy satin formula, but the matte shades (Sexy, Serious, Sultry & Sleek) are a bit more powdery. Above, I have swatched the first four shades in the palette- Sassy (white), Stubborn (baby pink), Selfish (taupe) and Sophisticated (a burnished gold). These all have a metallic finish, are very pigmented and blend really well with no fall-out.

The next four shades are the mattes Sexy (wine) and Serious (black), and metallics Snobby and Stand-offish. Snobby is my favourite shade in the palette- this yellow gold is just stunning and in one swipe you get this intense colour. Snobby is closely followed by Stand-offish- a stunning champagne highlight shade that looks beautiful in the inner corners of your eyes and on the brow bone. The matte shades though, whilst really pigmented, are quite powdery and not so easy to blend. It’s useful to have these in the palette to do a quick smokey eye, but I’m not in love with them.

The final four shades in the palette are the matte brown Sultry, metallic copper Seductive, chocolate brown matte with glitter Silly, and the dark brown-black Sleek. Again these matte shades aren’t brilliant in terms of quality, but Seductive is a really pretty and workable copper shade that looks great on its own washed over the whole lid.

Have you tried this palette before? Do you like the look of it?

This post contains press samples, but all opinions are my own.


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