Eyeshadow palettes haven’t been my favorite make up item in a long time. Because my eyes are already big enough for Asians, I don’t like heavy eye make up with bold eyeliners. To be honest with you, I only had two small eyeshadow palettes before I bought this Nude Beach palette. One of them is the Lizly “What a Lovely” palette which is super gorgeous, I highly recommend it to everyone, and the other one is CANMAKE in matte brown shades which I bought during my trip in Japan. So yeah, I decided to buy bigger and nicer eyeshadow palette with versatile colors that would last long. I trusted my sister’s recommendation on this one, and also because I LOVE their Mary-Loumanizer, it’s been one of my holy-grail items. So keep reading to see my TheBalm Nude Beach Palette review and swatches!

Let’s start off with the packaging, I think it’s super adorable with those funny pictures! Some of you may already know that NudeBeach is the latest release of its series, which is after Nude Tude and Nude Dude. All three versions have the same size and same packaging material, which is cardboard. For some people, the cardboard packaging might be its minus point, but for me I don’t mind really, as long as the colors pay off, plus it has a big mirror and a brush. TheBalm is famous for their quirky sexy images but low quality packaging materials, which I admire because they put more costs to the product quality itself, so that the price would still be affordable. I bought this from a trusted seller in Shopee for like IDR 345.000 (USD 26), pretty darn cheap compared to UD Naked Heat palette. Many say they have similar color palettes, but since I don’t have the Urban Decay one, you could check their comparison here.

It has pretty matte and shimmer color combinations that are versatile for day and night look. I prefer Nude Beach rather than Nude Dude because it doesn’t have too many dark colors which I wouldn’t be using much. In addition, it has very beautiful and pigmented gold and champagne colors, best for Asians. As you can see, the colors are very pretty, highly pigmented, smooth and easily blendable. The lighter colors might not be obvious because my skin is quiet fair. My favorites are Buff, Brainiac, Built, Breathtaking, and Bootylicious. Whereas some colors that I find a bit hard to blend are Brave and Brazen.

Another thing that I love is that it's got both matte and shimmer colors, so I can mix and match according to my mood. Are the colors suitable for Asian eye makeup? I would say, yes! They are soft and bright enough for fair skin, especially the rosy pink colors and with a touch of darker color for deeper intention. The brush is okay, lots of better brushes out there. One thing to note, because the packaging is cardboard, gentle care might be needed, or else you will end up with dirty and dented palette.

According to Cruelty Free Kitty, although they’re not certified by PETA or the Leaping Bunny, TheBalm does not test on animals and they’re a cruelty-free company. The line is not considered a vegan line as some of the ingredients may have animal byproducts (such as bees wax or carmine) but do not contain any ruminant extracts or derivatives.

WHAT I LOVE

+ Highly pigmented

+ Smooth and easily blendable

+ Matte and shimmer combinations

+ CUTE packaging with a mirror and a brush inside

+ Pretty affordable!

WHAT I DON’T LOVE

- Cheap packaging material

That's a wrap! I hope my review would help your buying decision :) especially for Asians who'd like to try different color palettes. What's your favorite palette? I'd love to hear from you.