Before we get in to the pretty pretty swatches, I think we should take just a quick moment to talk about how awful the name of this palette is. Nude Awakening? Really Wet n’ Wild? What does that even mean? Is it supposed to be sexy? Or maybe it’s the start to a really weird sci fi film? It’s gross whatever it is and apparently it’s been weighing on me for a while, it feels good to get that off of my chest! Oh wait, there’s also a weirdly spelled word in palette name? Wet n’ Wild, pull yourself together.

There are two “Au Naturel” palettes available, Bare Necessities is a gold themed palette and Nude Awakening is a rose themed palette. To my knowledge, these palettes are exclusive to Walmart and as far as I can tell, these are part of the permanent line but I can’t actually find confirmation of that.

At my Walmart, this palette was listed as $4.99, but other blogs (the Walmart website has decided that they don’t carry anything in any stores near me, therefore, no prices are being provided. On anything. Where does it think I am?!) the price is marked as slightly higher so it may just depend on where you live.

There are five matte shades in this palette (we’re going to label all shades as 1-10 from left to right), 1,6,7,9 and 10 are all matte. The rest of these shadows are shimmery or metallic to varying degrees.

All swatches are three passes of my finger over the product and a single pass over bare skin.

The nude shades might actually be my favorites in this palette. They all look much better on the lid than they do swatched.

1 – Great matte base shade. A little powdery but overall, very nice.

2 – Very shimmery metallic nude shade. This is gorgeous on the eye but it does have a little bit of fall out with the glitter. It’s not very noticeable but it’s there.

3 – Soft subtle nude shade that is perfect for glowy highlighting.

4 – Shimmery coppery gold.

6 blended with MAC Uninterrupted as a transition, 9 – crease and outer corner, 4-lid, 1-base, Rimmel Nude liner, Benefit Rollerlash mascara, Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade (medium brown).

Peter Thomas Roth concealer and highlight duo, MAC This Could Be Fun blush, Colour Pop Monster highlight. Marc Jacobs Kiss Kiss Bang Bang lipstick.

ABH Dipbrow Pomade, Covergirl Queen eyeliner in Cabernet to tightline and in the waterline. Rollerlash mascara.

Nothing else on the rest of my face. Jordana Easyliner For Lips in Plush Plum with MAC Russian Red lipstick.

Milani Stay Put Brow Color (medium brown), Urban Decay Deep End eyeliner to tightline and in the waterline. Rollerlash mascara.

Kat Von D Thunderstruck as highlight. Nothing else on the rest of my face. MAC Viva Glam I lipstick.

This is the section of the palette that drew me in initially. It also ended up being a little bit difficult to work with.

5 – Glittery nude pink. This shade is really really soft. It’s easy to pick up way too much product creating a little fallout. It’s a pretty shade though.

6 – On the eye, this shade is a fair bit darker and more pigmented than it is in this swatch. It’s a great transition shade and I used this in every look.

7 – Matte red eyeshadow, it gets me every time. This is a really pretty shade but it does read a bit more brown on the eye than it does in swatches or the pan. It can also be a tiny bit patchy.

8 – Damn this color is crazy! It’s so dark and so pigmented (much more pigmented when a brush is used as opposed to the swatch above) that I really struggled to work with this shade. You’ll see in the upcoming photos, but I inevitably ended up looking like I had a black eye when I use this shade. It just kind of goes everywhere.

L’Oreal Voluminous Smoldering Eyeliner in Black as a base (I used this in the shape of a really sloppy and huge wing and then blended it out), Avon eyeliner to tightline and in the waterline, Rollerlash, ABH Dipbrow Pomade.

L’Oreal Tru Match Lumi Cushion Foundation, Peter Thomas Roth concealer, elf tone correcting powder, KVD Contour palette, MAC Beauty Powder in Pearl Blossom as a setting powder, MAC MSF in Lightscapade to highlight. Lips are MAC Lip Liner in Spice with MAC Twig lipstick and Buxom lip gloss in Mudslide.

I forgot to write down what I used on this day but I definitely used the #9 shade on the lid. The reswt I just can’t recall.

Nuance brow powder, UD Zero to tighline and in the waterline, Rollerlash mascara.

I’ve been so bad about using sunscreen lately, but I remembered to use it on this day. And you can tell. Check out that sexy creasing action happening there. You too can have this messy look, just skip primer!

L’Oreal Cushion foundation, Dior powder (discontinued), MAC Lighscapade, Camp Cosmetics Monogomay to contour, MAC Tenderling blush. Jordana Sweet Cream Matte Liquid Lip Color in Tiramisu.

9 – This is an interesting shade in that I don’t really know what it is. Is it charcoal? Taupe? Gray? Off black? It’s decent quality and I didn’t have any trouble using this. Mostly I used it in the crease.

10 – Ah the matte black eyeshadow. Normally I hate matte black eyeshadow but this one is nice and I actually managed to somewhat successfully use it! Woo hoo!

  
Pros:

• Incredibly affordable.
• Nice balance of matte and shimmer shades.
• Works as a stand alone palette.
• Lovely tones.
• Potential for a wide variety of looks from very very dark to “no makeup makeup”.
• Generally long wearing and crease free under normal conditions.
• Cruelty free.

Cons:

• Some of the lighter shades read very similarly on the eye. There could have been a bit of shade variation there.
• Some of the darker shades require a little finesse to get them to look good.
• The day that I actually remembered to wear sunscreen, these shadows creased within an hour. That isn’t exactly unusual, but it’s worth noting that if you have oilier eyelids or use heavy eyecream etc. you’ll definitely need a primer.

Overall, I’m really pleased with this palette! I’m really guilty of overlooking the little drugstore palettes in my collection but I actually enjoyed using this enough that I can see myself reaching for it in the future. I think quality wise, it absolutely beats any of the other drugstore palette options (including some of the other Wet n’ Wild palettes available). I don’t think that it is going to compare to some of the long standing palette favorites in the higher end department, but I think it’s a good solid palette and I would definitely recommend checking it out!

Tidbits:

• Yesterday I did full glamour, dramatic makeup to go to Walmart. But I didn’t brush my hair so it all evened out.
• I had a major haul planned for this weekend so you have that to look forward to on the blog! I do think that I’ll do a no-buy for the rest of March though. I have a bunch of things in my stash that I want to actually use. Do you ever have cravings for certain products? I get that with palettes all the time. Like I want to just wear my Monarch and Chrysalis palettes for a few weeks. Is that weird?
• Dude. My diet has been such a wreck lately! With my brothers here, I was in full on vacation, junk food, eat like it’s 1999 mode. It was delicious and wonderful and I think that several Girl Scouts can probably retire comfortably now. But I really need to get back to eating right, I definitely notice a difference in how I feel when I eat junk all the time.