Urban Decay N@ked 3 eyeshadow palette review, swatches and photos on medium skin

I received the Urban Decay N@ked3 eyeshadow palette as a Christmas prezzie and nearly flung it into the air in delight (this actually happened to my mobile phone once) - incidentally I didn't feel like doing this when I had received the first two palettes earlier! Urban Decay N@ked3 launched in the Middle East two weeks after the US launch, though there is very limited stock in the three Sephora outlets I've seen - every customer I've seen in the tills seems to have one, and every customer around has been asking for it! Anyway, you've probably read everything there is to read about, but I've got to show my palette off and wax eloquent about it. And you can also see what the rosy-toned neutral shades look like on medium, NC37 skintone.

Here's my review, including swatches, of the Urban Decay N@ked3 eyeshadow palette.

Packaging of Urban Decay N@ked3 palette

This is my favourite packaging of the three Urban Decay N@ked palettes so far. One was too furry and two was too metallic. Of them both, I had preferred the first one in every way. Number three looks absolutely classy.
The cardboard external box shows the shades both in front and behind and has a brief write-up. Inside, you have the fabulous palette itself. I've said it before, and I'm saying it again - this metal box is my favourite of the three.

The sturdy metal case inside has these ridges in a pattern, which takes away blandness.

Urban Decay N@ked3 eyeshadow brush

Inside the palette is the best brush in a UD palette so far. Okay, the best brush in ANY eyeshadow palette so far. It is double-ended, like N@ked 2. But while the latter had a blending end and a shading end, this seems to have a thicker and a flatter shader at each end.

Freebies, offers, gifts or samples with Urban Decay N@ked3 palette

Before we go into the shades, take a look at a little card that was in the box.

It contains four Urban Decay eyeshadow primers - Original, Eden, Sin and the new Anti-ageing - in four little sample pods. Please click on each picture to enlarge it and read the print.

Each pod holds a week's worth of primer, according to the external box - which means there's enough primer in here for a whole month! This is very generous of Urban Decay Cosmetics - you can try four different primers!

Urban Decay N@ked3 eyeshadows

Now for the shadows themselves. Usually, I prefer a nice mixture of colours over neutral palettes. How many cream, brown, ivory, beige and other neutrals can a person possibly own? So I reach for N@ked 1 and 2 rarely. However....

The 12 shades in the Urban Decay N@ked3 palette are "rose-hued neutrals". Which means they are all neutral colours with rosy undertones. And, let me tell you, I. Love. These. Photographs with flash (rosy above) and under artificial light (no rosy colour below).

Urban Decay N@ked3 eyeshadow swatches

Swatches are photographed in natural light (below and last photograph in the post) and direct sunlight respectively (second-last picture towards the end of the post), and are in the same order as the shadows. You can see that the shades are very pigmented. They are worn on bare NC37 or Shiseido O40 skin, no primer, and are one swipe each.

From left to right, the shades are:
Strange - A light ivory-pink matte eyeshadow. Good for inner corners, but won't do much else on medium skintones like mine.
Dust - Glittery pink eyeshadow. Nice for inner corners and can pass off for lid-shading as well.
Burnout - A pearly peachy-pink. I love this for lid-work and have combined it with Buzz in the crease successfully.
Limit - Dusty rose matte eyeshadow. If they released a lipstick in this shade, it would be my Holy Grail shade!

Buzz - A deeper pink shimmery shade. It can go on the lid with a deeper colour such as Darkside or Mugshot in the crease, or in the crease combined with Dust or Burnout on the lid.
Trick - A glittery golden-copper shade. Very pretty on the lid, combined with Factory or Mugshot in the crease.
Nooner - My favourite in the whole palette. This is a matte brown eyeshadow with mild pink undertones. I love the milk-chocolate hue here and the rosiness adds to the charm. Lovely on the lids with Darkside in the crease. I've also tried Nooner in the crease with Limit on the lids.

Liar - A pearly-brownish mauve eyeshadow. Nice for the crease, but can pass off on the lid with one of the four deeper shades below.
Factory - A beautiful brown with rusty-rose undertones. Shimmery. Great in the crease with any of the lighter shades.
Mugshot - This is actually a shade lighter than Factory - a slightly silvery taupe shadow. Again, great for crease work, though I want to try it on the lid with Darkside.

Darkside - A pearly deep brown with purplish undertones. I love this on the crease, and it functions nicely as a wet eyeliner.

Blackheart - AMAZING! Is it black? Is it maroon? Is it magenta? I can see all three here. I call it a berry-black with maroon and magenta glitter. And my camera shies away from photographing this shade very well. I know it looks black in the swatch, but it isn't. The black part alone comes out matte. I don't know how they do it!

Urban Decay N@ked3 on different skin tones

The N@ked3 palette will suit ALL skin tones; believe you me. I've seen swatches on NC20-30 and NC45 and deeper, and this is mine, on NC37. For those with yellow or neutral undertones, the rosy-hued neutrals will set off your eyes even more brightly than yellow or neutral-toned shadows, as I am discovering. Brown or yellow-toned goldish shades sometimes - rarely, but still - get lost on medium or tanned skin, but this won't. I love how the shades are neutral enough, yet brighten my eye area so nicely. I've worn it on an overnight flight over UDPP and it hasn't budged.

Do you need Urban Decay N@ked 3 palette if you have 1 and 2?

You NEED this palette. I have both #1 and #2 and I can tell you #3 is FAR better than N@ked 2, and better than N@ked 1, both of which have brownish and some yellow-toned neutrals. I like this as much as N+de'Tude for sheer versatility - there's such a lovely mixture of light, medium and deep shades, unlike the first two. And the rosy-hued neutrals are better than Nvde'Tude shades. This is the best neutral palette I've seen; the shades don't look meh or bland on me. Will do looks with it soon. I'm returning home and will spend tomorrow sleeping off the last few days' exertions.