It was the best of palettes, it was the worst of palettes. I'll stop the metaphor before I go too far - today I have a review of two palettes, both alike in dignity (alright, alright) yet which give very different results. From the generally excellent makeup brand NYX, they both offer 15 eyeshadows and 7 cheek products in a sleek two-tiered palette and that's about where the similarities end. Let me give you a quick tour of both palettes and you can make your own mind up about which one would be your favourite.
First up, we have the Butt Naked Eyes palette, because it was released first. I wrote a review of this palette way back in February, and I love it just as much now as I did then. Feel free to go back and read my full review here, but the SparkNotes version is: it contains a great range of well formulated face products, including a bronzer, blushers, highlighters, eyeshadows, and eyebrow powders. They all co-ordinate with each other very well, yet can be combined in heaps of different ways to create new looks. They've been well thought out with regard to combinations of those which do have shimmer and those which don't, so you're never stuck with something shimmery when you wanted something matte, and vice versa.
Moving on to the Butt Naked Turn The Other Cheek palette, and it's a completely different story. A lot of the colours are very similar to each other, some almost indistinguishable, and there are far too many glittery shadows which lack pigment.
To illustrate my point, here are some side-by-side shots of the palettes. First up, the eyes:
The Butt Naked Eyes has a balance of 7 matte shades, 7 frost shades, and 1 sparkly shade (in which the base shadow is deeply pigmented). In contrast, the Butt Naked Turn The Other Cheek has 6 matte shades, 3 of which are mid-browns and two of which are pale cream colours. It then has one frost, one shade with a slight sparkle, and then six really glittery shades. 4 of those are shadows in which the base colour lacks significant pigment - pale pinks, whites or coppers. The problem I run into with the Turn The Other Cheek eyeshadows is that it's really only possible to create a couple of looks, seeing as the shade range is all so 'samey'. Plus I'm not really big on glittery eyeshadows, especially those which add little colour but lots of sparkle. There are only so many brown smoky eyes a gal can stretch to with 4 shades.
Moving on to the cheeks:
Versatility is the name of the game with the Butt Naked Eyes, with a flattering matte bronzer (which could be turned shimmery if desired using one of the highlights), 4 blushers with a range of finishes from sparkly to matte, and 2 highlighters, which have a delicate shimmer to them. The colours of blush are varied, yet wearable. However the Turn The Other Cheek palette has no bronzer, just 3 highlighters. 2 of them are extremely similar and basically look the same on the cheek, and they're all very glittery. 3 of the blushers are pink, pretty similar pinks at that, and 3 of them (not the same 3!) have glittery finishes.
Here are some swatches which show the similarities between some of the colours. From left to right, here are 4 of the brown eyeshadows, 3 of the blushes and 2 of the illuminators. Now, dodgy lighting aside (sorry) is it just me or...
The Verdict
Overall I'd say that the Butt Naked Eyes palette is a great, do-it-all palette for every day looks. There's variety, it can do a bit of everything, and it's perfect for travel. The Butt Naked Turn The Other Cheek is more suited for evening looks, due to the high amount of glitter present in most of the shades. It's also not as varied a palette as the Butt Naked Eyes, meaning it's less likely to be one that you'd travel with. I can see this being fantastic to dip into when getting ready for a night out, but I can't see you getting more than a couple of looks out of the whole palette if you were restricted to using this alone.
That said, the formulation of the powders is decent in both palettes, although they can run a little dry on some shades. They last well over a primer and are well pigmented (except for those sparkly ones on Turn The Other Cheek). I think this is reasonable, considering the price point - the average RRP is £25 for each of these palettes, and they can be sourced from your favourite online NYX stockist. I'm glad I tried the Butt Naked Turn The Other Cheek, however when I feel the need for a Butt Naked Anything, I know I'll be reaching for the Butt Naked Eyes palette.
Have you tried either of these palettes? What did you think of them?
-Rachel
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