On New Year’s Eve at approximately 11:59 p.m., I made a promise to myself that I was going to steer away from neutral eye shadow palettes in 2020. Not because there’s anything wrong with them, but because I already owned 27, and the time had come for me to start playing with color. Despite all the bullshit this year brought us, I did a pretty good job of sticking to that goal, however, I back-tracked when the new Huda Beauty Naughty Nude Eye Shadow Palette arrived at my door.
Although I do admit I’m a sucker for any good neutral palette, the Naughty Nude palette is different. It’s more than just a beautiful lineup of shadows and innovative formulas (we’ll get to that part later). This palette is all about being physically nude with yourself and embracing your personal sexuality.
Huda Kattan, the founder of Huda Beauty, exclusively tells Allure that she wants this palette to make people feel empowered. While growing up in the Middle East, Kattan struggled with expressing herself in a conservative environment, which partly inspired Naughty Nudes. “I want whoever buys this palette to feel in love with themselves, their bodies, their sexuality, and their minds,” she says. Kattan adds that her original New Nude palette and the new Naughty Nude palette were both created to help redefine what “nude” means — it’s not just a shade range.
The Huda Beauty founder also feels that right now, given the current state of the pandemic, this palette can help provide the self-love 2020 has made increasingly sparse. “It’s our mission to give everyone the confidence to love themselves inside and out and to really feel empowered to be their sexiest self,” she says.
With all that being said, let’s get into what makes this palette hit so different.