Urban Decay Naked Palette - $44 at Ulta.com

I'm sure that the manic frenzy for this new Urban Decay palette hasn't escaped your attention if you shop for makeup online, read beauty blogs, or belong to any of the number of makeup forums out there, but in case you've managed to avoid the mental chaos, let me introduce Naked. Having been in stock several times on sephora.com, and selling out almost immediately each time, it's obviously well-loved. It's reported to be a permanent addition to the UD lineup, but that hasn't stopped people paying prices in excess of double retail on eBay (gack!). It's now in stock at Ulta.com, and if you're lucky you might find one at your local Sephora. As of right now, it's slightly difficult to get, but hopefully that won't last long as it's an amazing palette. I drove a 130 mile round-trip to a Sephora because after calling around they were the only Sephora even relatively close that had it. They had one left and held it, and I still counted myself lucky.

The deal with this palette is that it includes 12 full-size shadows, two mini liners in the form of a double-ended pencil, and a mini Urban Decay Primer Potion all for $44. Considering that UD shadows are $17 each for a single, this is a crazy deal. That's not all that makes this palette amazing... In every UD palette I've ever owned, there seems to be at least one or two glittery shades which I never use, but every one of these twelve are smooth and glitter free. There are mattes, satins, shimmers and frosts, but no glitter! With twelve shades of neutral shadows ranging from ecru to steel, you can create any number of flattering and varied looks that go from day to evening.

If you'd like to see the swatches and review, keep on reading! Click for more...

Sephora PURE Natural Believer Palette in Star Gazer - $15 at sephora.com

Please click the photo above to see the palette in more detail! Last week I posted about another one of these awesome palettes, in Island Sunset, and I like this one nearly as much. These palettes were originally about $36 but then were marked down to $15. So during the 15% off sale at Sephora I picked them up. I am so glad I did. First off, as I said before they are purported to be made of recyclable metal pans, sustainable bamboo and no less than 95% natural ingredients. I was afraid that since these are "all natural" and "pure" that staying power, texture and color pigmentation would suffer, but they don't. I am exceedingly happy to be able to tell you that these six shadows and blush are smooth, soft and packed with color that sticks around pretty well. The shades are beautiful and range from cool to neutral, as opposed to the warm shades of the Island Sunset palette.

Like the other palette, the packaging is attractive, includes a large mirror and includes all the shade names on the back of the palette, which is hard to come by in a pre-made palette, especially such an inexpensive one. The textures again range from buttery mattes, to lustres, frosts and satins. All are blendable and pack a punch whether it be in shimmer or pigmentation. Click to read shade descriptions and see swatches...

Benefit's buttery-smooth Velvet Shadow family ($18 each at BenefitCosmetics.com) is getting 6 new schmexy members. Fresh and shimmery pastel shades that seem like they'll find a good home on any skin tone. Shamrocker and Fancy Pansy are calling to me. Pray for my wallet.

I am in love with this eyeshadow from Sephora. I've been looking for the perfect matte grey that could work for everything from a simple subdued smokey look to a light neutral contour to set off the green in my eyes. I've found that perfect matte grey. This shade is from the new revamped Sephora shadow singles like and is called City Fog and will run you $12 bucks at sephora.com. Here's an Eye-of-the-Day I did with it:

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