Urban Decay Naked Palette VS. Physicians Formula Nude Palette

If you caught my previous posts about the new Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips collection, then you know that probably the most talked about item in this new collection is the Nude Eyes palette. Since I was asked by a few of you to do a comparison of the PF Nude palette to the Urban Decay Naked palette, I wanted to get this up as quickly as possible considering that CVS is running a sale this week on Physicians Formula. You get $5 Extra Bucks when you spend $10 on Physicians Formula this week, so you can get this palette for $5.99 (regular retail price is $10.99) through this Saturday, 12/17.

 Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips Nude Eyes Palette

(retail: $10.99, 0.26 oz)

 

I love the little lace overlay on this hard plastic palette. The lace extends all the way across the back of the palette too:

As you can see, this palette opens lengthwise, as opposed to most rectangular palettes:

I swatched this palette on bare skin (no primer underneath) and honestly? I was NOT impressed:

On bare skin without primer it seemed like, with the exception of the black shade, all of the other eight shades in the palette had the same shimmery finish, and none of the colors really jumped out at me.

BUT THAT WAS BEFORE I TRIED THIS PALETTE OVER PRIMER. I swear to you, it becomes a whole different ballgame when you use primer first. In particular, there are three taupe shades that REALLY stand out:

These three colors are the 3rd, 4th and 5th shades in this palette, and in these photos I swatched them on top of Urban Decay Primer Potion in Eden. What was so interesting to me was that on bare skin, these all seemed kind of warm. But over UDPP Eden, their "taupeness" really came out. Also they're much more opaque than when used without primer. Without primer these colors are so sheer they barely show up on my NC20 skintone, but with primer they're awesome and the staying power's great too.

So let's take a look at how the PF Nude palette compares to the UD Naked palette:

 Top: Urban Decay Naked Palette (retail: $48)

Bottom: Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips Nude Eyes Palette (retail: $10.99)

The first thing you'll notice is the size difference. You get a total of 0.6 ounces of eyeshadow in the Naked palette, compared to 0.26 ounces of shadow in the Nude palette. the Naked palette contains 12 shades of eyeshadow while the Nude palette contains nine. And of course you get extras like a full-size eyeshadow brush and a mini bottle of primer in the Naked palette, while the Nude palette comes with one slanted sponge applicator.

A quick glance at both palettes and I think it's pretty obvious that the shades in the Naked palette lean more toward the warm end of the spectrum, while the shades in the Nude palette are split pretty evenly between warm and cool.

While obviously the Nude palette is not a shadow-for-shadow dupe of the Naked palette, I DID find some similarities between a few of these shades. I numbered the following photo to make it easier to reference each shade comparison:

 

ALL OF THE FOLLOWING SHADOWS WERE SWATCHED OVER URBAN DECAY PRIMER POTION IN EDEN:

First, I compared the black shades:

There is more silver sparkle in UD Creep, however there IS some sparkle in the PF shade. I think the PF shade is actually a bit of a deeper black, while UD Creep leans a bit more charcoal.

Next, a dark brown comparison (sorry, for some reason my camera wouldn't quite focus on these colors):

I have never liked the texture of UD Hustle (I find it dry and chalky) so I was happy to see that the brown shade in the PF palette was actually smoother and easier to work with. As you can see, the PF shade is warmer and has more shimmer.

This next comparison is actually a better dupe ON THE EYE than you would imagine. When I put UD Sidecar under my left brow and the PF shade under my right brow, I could barely tell the difference after I blended. The only thing that really tipped me off was that UD Sidecar has a lot of silver glitter in it, while the PF shade contains no glitter (sorry, for some reason the glitter in Sidecar isn't showing in my pics, but trust me it's there).

I know it looks like the PF shade is so much warmer, but when it's blended it really looks like Sidecar on my eyes. I just wish that the strip of color in the PF palette was wider. If you scroll up and look at the palette again, you'll notice that this shade, as well as one of those lovely taupes, are the smallest two strips in the palette. Such a bummer.

And finally, we have UD Sin vs. the 6th shade in the Nude palette:

Again, not an exact dupe, but on the eye they're quite similar. Don't get me wrong, I can tell them apart when I have them on my eyes, but I have to look pretty closely.

PF NUDE PALETTE PROS:

• very affordable
• nice balance of cool and warm shades
• at least four nice dupes or "almost dupes" of Naked palette shades
• three taupes
• cute yet functional packaging

PF NUDE PALETTE CONS:

• nine small strips of colors
• must use primer due to weaker pigmentation
• not much variety in texture (almost all shades are shimmers)
• some strips are too narrow to be able to use an eyeshadow brush with ease

I'd also like to point out that I actually had better success using the sponge-tip applicator to apply these shadows on top of my primer. I used a fluffy brush to blend, but for application I find the sponge applicator works best.

I hope this post helps those of you who were wondering how close this new PF palette comes to the UD Naked palette. For me, it's obviously not a perfect dupe (not even close) but it has its own special qualities if you're willing to use primer and work with it a bit. It's not going to be as luxurious straight out of the box as the UD palette is, but with a little bit of trial and error, I think you might really enjoy it (especially if you like taupes).

All of the products featured in this post were purchased with personal funds.