Naked Palette Scientific Method

So today I got both shipments in (yay!) and I was able to try out both products. The first was a lipstick by Cover Girl, which i tried out and will have to review tomorrow because... well you'll see.
I also received the original Naked palette. I know, I'm so 2010 or whatever, but I was really excited to try it out because I've seen and heard so many good things. So, here's the breakdown through the scientific method.
1. Formulate a question: Will this palette, priced at $50, be of high enough quality to accept into my collection of make-up products?
2. Hypothesis: The product will own up to its popularity
3. Prediction: Due to excessive popularity, I believe this product will indeed be of very high quality, a good price, and a beautiful addition to my collection.
4. Test:

5. Results: I'm very excited about this palette and had high hopes for it. I ordered it off of Amazon here*, and it shipped to me in two days. The box is velvet, and it came with an eyeshadow brush (albeit a rather basic one) and some eyeshadow primer that really didn't do anything for me. It was of a very milky texture and appeared white but blended in with no pigmentation at all. 
I looked at lots of reviews on the product, the best of which I found here (no seriously though, she's very in depth about it). Basically, the way it showed up on everyone's skin made it look very pigmented. So I got really excited about that. The swatches on my arm were after 3 or 4 layers with a standard make-up brush. I kept thinking, "wow, this can't be normal." Everyone kept mentioning how strong the pigmentation was and here I couldn't get anything to show up! Spoiler alert: you need to apply these shadows with a good primer. It made a huge difference for me. I applied one shadow on the back of my hand with and without primer as a reference: 

Straight up though, I applied both with the same applicator and pressure twice and that's the difference. So to reiderate: primer is essential to get pigmentation.
With primer, these are my new favorite things. I know I will use them all the time. I'm not sure how suitable the box is for travel (though I guess you can just bring that and no other eyeshadows and call it a day!) because it's made of velvet and will probably get dirty really fast but I mean, who cares when your face looks awesome, right? So, my findings are that it is as awesome as everyone says it is, as long as you have the right tools. 

On my face: Laura Mercier Eye Basics (found on her site here)
Naked Palette eye color in Sin
Underneath Sin I had a layer of MAC's Naked Lunch (found on their site here)
Laura Mercier blush in Opera, which has been discontinued. There is a similar blush called Tender Mauve (found here)
Rimmel's Kate Moss Matte Lipstick in #103 (found here*)
Chanel's Reverie Illuminating Face Powder (from their Holiday 2012 collection)

* by links means that if you buy a product from that link, I get a small compensation from the company. It doesn't sway my choice to use certain links, as I hope you can tell from the abundance of other links I provide.