*I typically would have a book review up today but I wanted to get this reviewed first since it’s new. My book review will be up Friday.

The Nubian 3 Coral Eyeshadow Palette by Juvia’s Place was an impulse buy for me. I bought it the day it released even though I wasn’t sure I really even liked it. This palette is $20.00 for twelve shades; six shimmers and six mattes. I AM glad that I bought it but I do have some mixed opinions. I’m going to let you know all the pros and cons then show you three looks I made just using this palette.

Pros:

• Juvia’s Place is known for their very loud and in your face eyeshadow shades. The Nubian 3 is the complete opposite of loud, however. All of the shades in this palette are very soft and muted. They can be built up to “pop” more on the eyes but overall, it’s an everyday/work appropriate palette.
• The mattes in this palette are phenomenal. They are the creamiest and most blendable mattes I’ve tried from Juvia’s Place. They also produce very little fall out.
• This palette is advertised as being a cool and warm toned palette but I honestly think it’s more neutral toned. A few of the shades are more warm or more cool but overall they’re the same in tone.
• I really enjoy the gray and coral shades together. That’s not a color combo that I had really thought about before this palette.
• The ratio of shimmers to mattes is perfect.

Cons:

• The shimmers in this palette, while beautiful, are not up to the usual Juvia’s Place standard. They are harder pressed and very crumbly. I had to wet my brush and gently pack them on my eyes. The silver, gray, red and brown shimmers are the crumbliest ones. This, of course, creates a massive amount of fallout.
• This palette is very small. It’s the exact same size as the original Nubian. This is only a minor con for me, however, because I do like that this palette doesn’t take up as much space.
• It’s difficult to really deepen looks. The matte dark gray and matte dark brown have to really be packed on because they’re just not that deep in tone.
• Many, if not all, of the shimmers can be almost exactly duped in the Saharan, Saharan 2 and Magic palettes. I don’t own the Warrior 2 but some of the mattes in this palette look similar to a few of the shades in it as well.
• This is a petty complaint but I’m annoyed that they didn’t name each shade. That makes it much harder for anybody that reviews palettes and seems lazy on their part.
• There are no really fun, intense coral shades in this palette. I would have liked to have had at least one really vibrant matte coral and one vibrant shimmery coral. This palette is just very muted and the most vibrant shimmer we get is more red which just doesn’t make sense to me in a CORAL palette.
• The matte taupe shade is almost useless on my skin tone. The only real use I have for it is to blend out the edges of the matte gray.

Swatches

None of these eyeshadows have names and there are no shade descriptions on the Juvia’s Place website so I will describe them to the best of my ability.

Eyeshadow Looks

I used only this palette to create these looks except for a cream eyeshadow that I used to set my primer. I will go in the order of the swatches on my hand, left to right and top to bottom. You can click on each picture to see it better. I’ve also started including close ups of the eye look because I think that will be more helpful. Since I numbered the shades above, that’s how I will refer to them below.

I liked the way this look turned out but it wasn’t a favorite. If I recreated it, I would add more of the dark brown on the lower lash line.

1. I blended Shade 9 all above my natural crease.
2. I then blended Shade 8 into my crease and up into Shade 9. This shade is also smudged out on my lower lash line.
3. I applied Shade 4 all over my eyelid.
4. I lined my lower lash line with Shade 6.
5. I used Shade 11 in my inner corner and on my brow bone.

I really liked this look. The grays in this palette are excellent and I can’t wait to create more looks with them and the coral shades.

1. I blended Shade 10 above my natural crease.
2. I blended Shade 2 into my crease and up into Shade 10.
3. I applied Shade 3 on about half my eyelid.
4. I then applied eyeshadow primer from the innermost part of my eyelid to about the middle where it met Shade 3. I then patted Shade 1 on top of the primer to make it pop more.
5. I used Shade 11 in my inner corner and brow bone.
6. I smudged Shade 12 on my lower lash line.

I really liked this look as well but it’s much more red than what I wanted from a “coral” palette.

1. I blended Shade 8 above my natural crease.
2. I then blended Shade 6 into my crease and up into Shade 8.
3. I applied Shade 7 on the innermost and outermost parts of my eyelid.
4. I applied Shade 5 in the center of my eyelid.
5. I mixed Shades 5 and 4 in my inner corner.
6. I lined my lower lash line with Shade 6 and then lightly smudged the mix of Shades 5 and 4 underneath 6.

As you can tell, I have very mixed feelings about this palette. I think if there were just two more vibrant and interesting shades, this palette would have been a total win for me. If you love this color story, I do recommend buying this. It’s not a bad price or quality. However, if you’re wanting a vibrant coral palette, this is not it. I think this is going to be a fun addition to my other palettes, especially the Saharan and Saharan 2. I feel like those color stories will compliment this one nicely. I’ll probably do a post in a month or two showing how I’ve used those palettes together. I would love to know what you think about this palette! Do you love or hate the color story? Thanks for reading and have a great day!