City Color Barely Exposed Eyeshadow Palette Review + Swatches

Hellooo loves!

I have been wanting to post a review on this palette for a very very long time. I was reminded of this palette when I read Fashion Trinket’s February Favorites. She included the Urban Decay Naked Eyeshadow Palette. And it wasn’t until I read her post that I realized the City Color palette is a dupe to the UD palette!

Price: $6.99

Product Description from City Color Cosmetics:

Dare to bare your natural beauty with City Color Barely Exposed palette. Nudes, coppers, browns and greys never made your eyes look so good! Create an array of matte and shimmer eye looks for both day and night with 12 naturally seductive hues.

See ingredients and more at: City Color Cosmetics

Packaging:

The packaging is plastic but very sturdy. It’s also smaller than  the UD Naked palette so it won’t take up much space. (I realized too late that I didn’t take a photo of the palette closed..oops!) The front of the palette (when closed) is quite neat as it has see-through plastic that shows that shades inside. I also love how the shades are separated into trios.

Formula:

The formula is pretty good. It’s decently pigmented for a palette that cost me $7. However, it DOES have a significant amount of fallout (although not every single shade has fallout).
I do like how soft these shades are and to my surprise they’re fairly blendable. I don’t own nor have I ever swatched the UD palette for myself, but judging from the numerous reviews that I’ve read, the formula for the UD palette is really great. So while this doesn’t compare to UD, for someone on a budget who wants similar shades, this is a great dupe. I’m still very surprised at myself for not realizing it sooner because the shades look a LOT alike!

This was my go-to palette for natural eye looks when I first got into blogging. It was my favorite and I honestly don’t mind the fallout very much because I do my eyes first and I can easily wipe it off.

Swatches:

The lighter shades barely show up on my skin and I had trouble photographing them. But the rest of the shades are gorgeous and I love that there’s a mix of nudes, coppers, and browns. I also love how shimmery some of them are!

Top photo: Flash | Bottom photo: Natural Lighting

Pros:

• Nicely pigmented
• Soft formula
• Blendable
• UD Naked palette dupe
• Cruelty free
• Affordable

Cons:

• Some fallout
• Formulated with parabens
• Too many shimmers/Not enough mattes (just a personal preference)

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Even though I don’t use this palette as much anymore, I still like it and I really like the shades it contains. I can make some very simple looks or a simple smokey eye. I may just try following some UD Naked palette tutorials with this one and see how it turns out! 🙂

Have you ever seen this palette before?
What do you think of it?

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Disclosure: this review is a personal opinion and is honest. I do not receive compensation for my reviews. Product(s) was/were purchased by me, unless noted otherwise.