Review -- The Balm Nude'Dude Eyeshadow Palette & Body Builder Mascara Set

The Balm's Nude'Tude Palette is one of my all-time favorite eyeshadow palettes, hands down.

I love the shadow formula, the range of colors and finishes, and, of course, the adorable artwork on the package.

Given how much I adore that baby, I wouldn't really think it possible for The Balm to ever top it.

But they decided to try with a sequel to the fabulous Nude'Tude Palette, the Nude'Dude Eyeshadow Palette -- and of course, I had no choice but to pick one up.

As far as I know, the palette is only available at Kohl's at the moment as part of a set that also includes a tube of the What's Your Type? Body Builder Mascara.

(But the copy on Kohl's website refers to the set as providing a "sneak peek" of the Nude'Dude Palette so I assume it's going to be available in other locations, including The Balm's website, shortly.)


The original Nude'Tude Palette features a range of natural shades in shimmery, matte and glitter finishes, as well as cheeky artwork of scantily clad pin-up girls with the shadows themselves covering up their naughty bits.

The Nude'Dude is very similar -- except that instead of pretty pin-up girls, the artwork depicts some hunky dudes.

(Once again, The Balm scores major points with me for their sense of humor and fun packaging. Sure, it's the quality of the makeup that matters most, but I enjoy having products that look nice on my vanity or in my drawers too.)

As with the Nude'Tude Palette, the Nude'Dude features cardboard packaging with a fairly generous mirror on the inside. It's a nice thin palette, so it should be pretty easy to store.

The Balm Nude'Dude Palette

There are 12 shadows in the palette for a total of 9.6 grams of product. The shades include: Fearless, a matte beige; Flawless, a matte light brown; Firm, a shimmery light bronze-y brown; Flirty, a shimmery mauve-y taupe; Friendly, a matte dark black-brown; Fierce, a matte black with fine gold micro-glitter; Fabulous, a shimmery white gold; Faithful, a shimmery warm peach; Fit, a shimmery light copper; Feisty, a matte pink-y brown; Funny, a shimmery purple-y/reddish brown; and Fine, a shimmery chocolate brown.

The Balm Nude'Dude Palette

From l. to r.: Fearless, Flawless, Firm, Flirty, Friendly, Fierce

From l. to r.: Fabulous, Faithful, Fit, Feisty, Funny, Fine

Just like the original Nude'Tude Palette, the Nude'Dude shadows boast a pretty fab formula -- they're soft and creamy, so they're easy to apply and blend. They're all nicely pigmented too, though Friendly is slightly disappointing (but I always feel like it's better for darker shades to be a little less pigmented so you don't over-apply and wind up looking like you got punched in the eye.)

The shades in this palette are also gorgeous, and I have so many favorites that it might be easier to just list the ones that I don't use as often.  Faithful, of course, is a fave because it's a peachy tone, but Firm, Flirty, Fabulous, Fit, Feisty, and Funny are all standouts too.

One of my go-to easy looks lately is Fabulous on the lid (it's such a gorgeous brightening color) and then either Flawless or Feisty, applied with a fluffy crease brush, through the crease, and a darker shade like Funny, Flirty or Friendly in the outer portion of the crease. It's simple, but oh-so-pretty.

If you made me choose between the Nude'Tude and the Nude'Dude Palettes, I'd probably still give the slight edge to the Nude'Tude. But while they both feature natural shades, there's not too much overlap between them so you don't need to feel guilty about picking up both.

The Balm Nude'Tude (top) vs. Nude'Dude (bottom)

I haven't tried the Body Builder Mascara yet because I just have too many mascaras open at the moment, but maybe I'll do a separate review when I finally get around to trying it.

The Balm Body Builder Mascara

The kit with the Nude'Dude Palette and the mascara retails for $39.50 at Kohl's. When the palette is available on its own, I assume it'll be $36 just like the original Nude'Tude Palette.

If you're a fan of The Balm and natural eyeshadow palettes, I definitely recommend picking this one up. (And if you're curious, I'd rec this one over The Balm Balmsai Palette that I just reviewed the other day, though if you're a fan of color, there's obviously none of it in this palette.)

Are you interested in The Balm Nude'Dude Palette? Or is Nude'Tude more your style?