Urban Decay Naked Illuminated Trio | Review & Swatches

 

I have literally typed the intro to this review like seven different times because I really don’t even know where to begin with this, haha. I guess I’ll start by saying that I absolutely love Urban Decay (as is evidenced by my excessive amount of glowing UD reviews) and with them having rolled out absolutely amazing product after product over the last year, I expected nothing short of perfection for the Urban Decay Naked Illuminated Trio.

Unfortunately, perfection is not what I got- not in my opinion, at least. The packaging is beautiful, the products in the pan look beautiful, the price ($36) really isn’t that bad for a set of three highlighters… but the shimmer. Actually, I’m not even sure I can say shimmer, it’s more of just a straight up glitter situation. I have said it time and time again, I am not a shimmer/sparkle girl when it comes to my makeup (with the exception of glittery eyelids, because that’s totally cool with me) and that’s basically all this trio gives.

There are three shades in this palette: Pyrite (a gold champagne), Oasis (a marbled frosted taupe), and Twilight (an iridescent pink).

Pyrite definitely performs the best out of the three and is actually not too bad at all, with significantly less glitter than the other two shades. It reminds me a little bit of BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector in Champagne Pop, but a way lesser version, haha.

Oasis is supposed to be a frosted taupe, but it comes off as a kind of muted peachy beige on me. It’s SO hard to get any pigmentation with this, I had to build it up quite a lot to even get it to show up slightly in this picture, so keep that in mind. Also, SO. MUCH. GLITTER. The fallout is real.

Twilight is more of an iridescent peachy pink that just an iridescent pink as described by Urban Decay. Again, it was hard to get any pigmentation with this shade. Applying this with a fan brush on my face = total disappearance of product minus the glitter that stays behind. Another no go for me.

I should note that these are for the face AND body, so the fact that I’m specifically judging these based on their use as highlighters probably isn’t completely fair. I know a few people who love a bit of body shimmer (and hey, you could totally scrape off a little bit of these powders and mix them in with a lotion for some glitzy skin), and even some who enjoy that sparkle in their highlight- so while this isn’t at all a product for me, I’m sure there are a fair few people out there who love it.

On that note, Urban Decay has released a whole bunch of other products I am absolutely LOVING for the holiday season and will be sharing with you very soon!

If sparkle is your jam, you can grab the Urban Decay Naked Illuminated Trio at ULTA, Sephora or Nordstrom.