Product Review -- The Balm Nude Beach Eyeshadow Palette

It seems like a lot of makeup brands had the same idea for shadow palettes this summer.

Just the other day, I reviewed the Urban Decay Naked Heat Palette, which features all warm, reddish toned shadows.

The Balm's new Nude Beach Eyeshadow Palette isn't quite as tone on tone as the Naked Heat, but it does contain plenty of warm, reddish, rosy shadows, with some peach and bronze shades thrown in for good measure.

It's the third palette in the Balm's Nude Palette series (with the Nude 'Tude and Nude Dude Palettes being volumes 1 and 2), and if you've been following this blog for a while, you know that I am a huge fan of The Balm.

In fact, it's the only brand that I feel a pretty much pathological need to collect palettes for.

So I was all on board with the Nude Beach Palette before I even saw the shade selection -- when I finally did, I was pretty sure that it was a match made in heaven for me.

More warm reddish, rosy shadows? Yes, please!

Like all The Balm's Nude Palettes, the Nude Beach some in sturdy cardboard packaging that features adorable vintage beach-inspired artwork. Inside, there's a decent sized mirror but the palette doesn't stay open by itself so you have to prop it up against something if you want to use it to do your makeup.

The Balm Nude Beach Eyeshadow Palette

The Balm Nude Beach Eyeshadow Palette

The palette also contains a small, double-ended applicator with a slightly angled shader side and an angled liner side. Unlike the brush that comes with the UD Naked Heat, this one is pretty useless.

The Balm Nude Beach Eyeshadow Palette brush

Inside, you get 12 eyeshadows. The shades include: Brilliant, a matte cream; Buff, a metallic light golden peach; Brainiac, a metallic rosy pink; Built, a metallic gold; Bodacious, a matte orange-y brown; Bootylicious, a metallic chocolate; Babe, a shimmery pale peachy gold; Bright, a matte mauve; Brave, a matte deep purple with purple micro-glitter; Bold, a matte mid-tone brown; Breathtaking, a metallic deep bronze; and Brazen, a matte dark brown.

The Balm Nude Beach Eyeshadow Palette

I'm always a huge fan of The Balm's eyeshadows -- they are typically very pigmented, smooth, creamy, and easy to work with -- and I really dig the color palette that they're going for here.

From l. to r.: Brilliant, Buff, Babe, Bright

From l. to r.: Brainiac, Built, Brave, Bold

From l. to r.: Bodacious, Bootylicious, Breathtaking, Brazen

Buff, Bright, Brainaic, Bodacious, Breathtaking, and Bootylicious are my favorites, for sure.

I will say, though, that this is the first palette from The Balm I can remember that features an out and out dud shadow.

Brave has little to no color payoff and has a dry, thin texture that doesn't make it much fun to work with.  I've been using it as a liner, because it works well for that, but don't expect to blend it through your crease all that easily.

That said, if you like the warm, reddish shadows and think that UD Naked Heat is a little too much for you because your skin is light, this may be a good alternative. I can get plenty of dramatic looks with the Nude Beach, but it also lends itself to some softer look as well.

On the other hand, if you have medium or darker skin, I think the shades in this one are a little lighter, so if you're choosing between it and Naked Heat, I'd go with Naked Heat.

Or you could be a makeup glutton like me and get both of them.

I expect to get plenty of use out of both palettes this summer.

Still, if you haven't tried all palettes from The Balm, I'd go with the Nude 'Tude Palette over this one because it's more versatile and there isn't a single dud shadow in the bunch.

The palette retails for $36. You can purchase it on The Balm's website.

Have you tried The Balm's Nude Beach Eyeshadow Palette? What's your favorite palette for the summer?