Never have I come across a neutral makeup palette set so appropriately named and wonderfully petite. There are two matte shades (one good for brows), two satin metallic shades (one to highlight), and 2 richly dark shimmer spiked shades. The title basically also evokes “Naked” in 5 words. It comes with one #3 soft blending brush and the cherry on top is the NARS Pro Prime Eyeshadow Base, a favorite among the world’s top makeup pros which Lisa Eldridge also likes using. It could have also been called the Half-Naked palette, it has less fallout than Urban Decay’s Naked eyeshadow range and there are half the number of shades. I think Eve would have approved.
Mom picked up this NARS palette for me via Duty Free shopping in Thailand, she converted the cost and said it amounted to about Php2400-2500. I think what makes it worth the 2k mark is the brush and NARS Pro-prime Smudgeproof Eyeshadow Base that comes with it. So many people love this eyelid primer. What also never fails to impress me about NARS stuff is they always include a good mirror, even for their single eyeshadows and blushes. This palette is tiny, it’s about 2″ x 4.5″ inches in size, similar to the size of an iPhone 4s but slimmer and lighter.
The “And God Created the Woman Kit” has a very wearable selection of shades and I did my brows using the middle shade from the 2nd row (. Read more to get the complete shade names and details about how I progressed to this evening look beginning with a daytime version using only 2 shades.
Apart from an element of the Divine in the palette’s name, the bestselling shade that drew a lot of women towards purchasing this palette is Kalahari, a metallic lightly warm taupe (top right). Coconut Grove is the shade I use for the brows, if it’s too dark you can mix it with a little bit of Galapagos (Bellisima is too grey) In real life the colors are just slightly cooler…just slightly, it was a bit hard gauging the color balance with a dim monitor, but I got pretty close.
The texture is pigmented but not too soft, they’re buildable without being too chalky. Fallout is present but minimal, not nearly as much powder fallout as Urban Decay
Pardon the veins LOL and bones…the primer ensures that the shadow lasts longer on the lid and colors are more vibrant. If you touch the eyeshadow over primer after it has set you won’t get easy transfer on your fingertips. The pro-prime eyeshadow base doesn’t make it completely waterproof but it does become sweat and crease resistant.
To begin with I did a light day look using just Kalahari all over the lid and worked it into the crease, plus Alhambra on the brow bone and inner corner blended towards the center of the eye lid. I also applied Coconut Grove as a brow color. If you have the Naked 2 palette you can do this look as well using Verve or Bootycall as the highlighter and Suspect in place of Kalahari.
For this first day look you can finish off with a not so heavy mascara on both the upper and bottom lashes. Next to amp up the look for evening (a night out with Jars of Clay) I popped in my Freshlook Colorblends Hazel enhancers which people around me don’t often notice are actual contact lenses because my natural dark brown color still comes through. I like how these contacts don’t scream “doll” or “anime cosplay” and that it takes several hours with someone for them to suddenly realize I’ve got contacts on. They’re the perfect believable pick me up for photos.
I intensified the eyeshadow look by blending in Galapagos, a chocolatey brown into the crease buffing it slightly upward toward the brow bone but just enough to meet with Alhambra and with a soft angled brush I then stippled Coconut Grove, a dark dark brown, along the outer corner of the eye and along the upper plus lower lashlines. No liquid, pencil or gel eyeliner for cat flicks in this look afterwards, just a good strong lash curl and lots of good mascara (my well-loved L’Oreal Telescopic) to finish it off. I wanted a soft earthy look that was noticeable for evening but did not scream “club hopper” because I wasn’t going clubbing. Here I had L’Oreal Magic Lucent foundation on in the shade Gold Shell (my slightly tan shade) and nothing on the lips…because I’d probably apply balm later on.
On the Sephora website the price for this NARS “And God Created the Woman” Eye kit which contains the palette, brush, and Pro-Prime eyeshadow base is USD$59 which converts to about Php2,460 shipping not included. I do recommend getting this via Duty Free. You can check the price difference via Rustan’s NARS boutiques locally and see if there’s any major difference. I definitely have a feeling I’m going to hit pan on this palette sooner than usual, it’s not been sitting around since it’s been bought.
