Good Day Everyone,
Today I have a real treat for you, if you love eyeshadows
the way I do... I've finally got round to photographing and swatching my two Urban
Decay Naked Palettes – about time given that Naked 3 is about to hit the market
very soon! So without further a do I'm going to jump right to it as this is quite a lengthy post.
I bought both the original and Naked 2 palettes from Debenhams
(in the UK) at Easter when they were having a 10% sale and my palettes cost me
£32.40 each (reduced from £36 each). That’s about $66 SGD but I know at Sephora
in Singapore the palettes were retailing for $80 SGD each (but I think the price has recently gone up to $83 SGD) so I made a bit of saving by
buying them from back home. In the US the palettes retail for $52 USD.
Using the US for the purpose of comparison, a single Urban
Decay eyeshadow with a fill weight of 1.5gr costs $18 USD. With the palettes
you get 12 eyeshadows with a fill weight of 1.3gr (so a smidge less per
shadow) all for just $52 USD. That’s less than the cost of three individual
eyeshadows! Plus you get a couple of little freebies thrown in too. I think
that’s superb value for money, don’t you? :o)
The Freebies:
With my original Naked palette I got a sample size of
the oh so famous eyeshadow Primer Potion which is a great way of sampling another
product from the brand. The Primer Potion makes the eyeshadows last longer and
delays creasing on my lids.
In addition, the palette also came with a single ended Good
Karma shadow brush which actually retails for $26 USD . Normally I don’t tend
to use the brushes that come with palettes as they don’t tend to be the best
quality and it often feels they've just been included for the sake of it but
this one isn't too bad for patting shadow on the lid. However, I do wish that it
was double ended with a blending brush on the other side and I think Urban
Decay caught onto this as the brush that comes with the Naked 2 palette is
exactly that.
The eyeshadows come in a beautiful rich chocolate brown sleek
palette with a magnetic closure so it just snaps shut. I think the actual
packaging is cardboard that’s covered in brown felt like material with gold
foil lettering. I keep my palette within a makeup case as the felt fabric does
attract dust and as you can see from the photos, the gold lettering chips
pretty easily which is a bit disappointing.
Inside there is a
mirror in the lid, which I do feel could have been larger and again Urban Decay
seemed to have picked up on this as the mirror in the Naked 2 palette is much
larger. The 12 shadows are neatly lined up going for light to dark with a slot
for the eyeshadow brush.
Despite the magnetic closure, the palette doesn't feel all
that secure when shut so whenever I travel with it I don’t simply throw it
into my suitcase for fear of it opening and ruining the contents. I usually travel with the palette in a toiletries case or makeup bag.
The Eyeshadows:
The palette contains 12 ‘neutral’ shades and just because
it’s a ‘neutral’ or ‘naked’ palette, doesn't mean that it doesn't contain any
colour because it does. The colours are just not the bright bold colours that I
would only wear occasionally, instead they are very
wearable, everyday shades that can glam up an eye look as a well as being
appropriate for day time wear. Overall
the palette is warm toned which suits my complexion very well but I think these
colours would suit most skin tones. Having used the palette for several months
now, I feel the range of colours is more extensive than what I first
thought upon purchase. The colours range from very pale pink champagnes to gold and various brown
tones through to brown toned pinky plums and blue toned grey.
I find
the colours to be very complimentary and have no problems creating a day or
night time look from this palette alone. The two matte shades are great blending
colours. The colour Naked in particular just blends into my natural skin colour
and Buck can be used lightly as a blending and transition colour.
The texture of the shadows is very buttery and smooth.
Whilst they’re not powdery and crumbly as such, I have experienced a little
fall out with some of the more sparkly shades. The pigmentation is great and to
be honest I don’t think my swatching skills does the pigmentation much justice
(I did a better job swatching the Naked 2 shadows). There is a mixture of textures / finishes
within the palette ranging from matte, satin, shimmery to sparkly / glittery.
Below I've cited the way each of the colours have been
described on the Sephora website followed by my own opinions based upon my
experience:
Virgin: described as a nude satin. I’d say it’s a very pale pink satin that leaves a beautiful sheen on the lids rather than any sort of colour.
Virgin: described as a nude satin. I’d say it’s a very pale pink satin that leaves a beautiful sheen on the lids rather than any sort of colour.
Sin: described as
a champagne shimmer. Similar to Virgin but with a little bit more of the pink
coming through. With it being a shimmer rather than a satin finish it does look
more sparkly / bright and reflective. Both virgin and Sin make great inner
corner highlighters.
Naked: described
as a buff matte. This is one of the two matte colours in the palette. The
colour doesn't really show up on my eyelids due to my skin tone, and so I use
it to mattify my lids and as a blending colour just above my crease. On my
photograph swatch I really had to build up and layer this shadow for the colour to
show. It’s a nudey beigey brown with a slight pink undertone when I build the
colour up.
Sidecar:
described as a beige sparkle. Sidecar is a colour that seems to look different
on different people. Swatched on my arm in the photo it’s a sparkly browny
peach with a silver sheen to it. On my lids the peach undertone doesn't come
through so much and it looks more like a browny beige with a silver sheen. It definitely
has more brown to it than what ‘beige’ implies.
Buck: described as a brown matte this is the only other matte shade in the palette. I’d say it has an earthy orangey undertone to it – very autumnal.
Buck: described as a brown matte this is the only other matte shade in the palette. I’d say it has an earthy orangey undertone to it – very autumnal.
Half Baked: described
as a bronze but it’s definitely more golden shimmer. It didn't swatch that
well on my photos but the colour is actually a lot more intense when I apply it
on my eyelids.
Smog: described
as a golden brown shimmer. Like Sidecar this is another colour that looks
different on different people. On me it’s more of a coppery bronze colour.
Darkhorse: described
as a bronze-plum shimmer but to me it’s more of a chocolatey brown with gold
flecks – I’m definitely not seeing the ‘plum’ in this shade.
Toasted: described as taupe-bronze. This is a beautiful taupe with a pink undertone and a rose gold-esque sheen.
Toasted: described as taupe-bronze. This is a beautiful taupe with a pink undertone and a rose gold-esque sheen.
Hustle: described
as a mocha shimmer but it definitely has a plumy undertone to it.
Creep: described
as a near-black metallic. It’s a dark charcoal grey with multi-coloured
sparkle.
Gunmetal: described
as a dark grey metallic. I’d say its a slate-grey with a blue undertone
and silver sparkle.
In terms of fallout, Sin, Sidecar and Gunmetal are the only
ones where I have to be particularly careful. All of the other colours apply
beautifully with no real fallout issues.The shadows are very true to colour, as you can see from the photo below where I've matched up my swatch photo with the pan colours. Clearly the colour isn't going to look as 'intense' swatched on my arm as it does in the pan where the shadows are more densely packed and reflect the light differently compared to my skin. The good thing is that most of these colours can be built up to increase their intensity on my eyelids.
So there you have it, a gorgeous selection of neutral colours that would please any eyeshadow lover! Having had this palette for several months I think this is a truly amazing palette with a gorgeous range of shades and fantastic value for money. I would not hesitate to recommend this at all. The criticisms that I have are minor relative to the greatness of the palette and some of these have been addressed in the Naked 2 palette, such as, a larger mirror, double ended brush, and more secure packaging so it shows that Urban Decay have listened to their customer's feedback.
Regarding the shadows I love most of the colours, especially Sidecar, Buck, Half Baked, Smog, Darkhorse, Toasted and Hustle - I think I just named most of the colours- haa haa! Flipping it over, the colours I use least are Creep and Gunmetal just because of the sparkle factor, they get reserved mainly for night out looks. This is definitely my most used palette
So there you have it, a gorgeous selection of neutral colours that would please any eyeshadow lover! Having had this palette for several months I think this is a truly amazing palette with a gorgeous range of shades and fantastic value for money. I would not hesitate to recommend this at all. The criticisms that I have are minor relative to the greatness of the palette and some of these have been addressed in the Naked 2 palette, such as, a larger mirror, double ended brush, and more secure packaging so it shows that Urban Decay have listened to their customer's feedback.
Regarding the shadows I love most of the colours, especially Sidecar, Buck, Half Baked, Smog, Darkhorse, Toasted and Hustle - I think I just named most of the colours- haa haa! Flipping it over, the colours I use least are Creep and Gunmetal just because of the sparkle factor, they get reserved mainly for night out looks. This is definitely my most used palette
Do you have this palette? Is it one of your favourites? What
other eye palettes do you recommend?
Love Sheen xxx
P.S. My thoughts on Naked 2 are not too far behind :o)
My verdict: 5/5
For the
UK: UD Website and you can purchase this palette from Debenhams and House of Fraser stores
For the US: UD Website
For Singapore you can find this product at Sephora
(Note: I purchased this product with my own money)
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