Sunday 29 July 2012

Urban Decay Naked Palette Review and Swatches

Now I know I'm a bit late on this one...but to put it simply this entire blog would not be complete without a review plus swatches of the Naked Palette. Simply put this palette is amazing. So if you do not own this palette go buy it. Now. Okay okay...wait until you have read this review and then go buy it!  :)




This palette is striking...even before you open it up. It's luxurious packaging with sensuous velvet encased box with rich gold lettering...what's not to love!? I don't even know where to start with this review...so let's start with the price...because hey...that's important these days right? The Naked Palette contains 12 full sized eye shadows...yes you read that correctly...the eye shadows are full sized and not promo sized. Also with this palette you get a mini primer potion AND shadow brush. All this can be purchased for €40.50 and retails for $48 in the U.S and £36 in the UK I believe. Now let me focus on how unbelievably good value this is...ONE single Urban Decay eyeshadow retails at €17 ($18 £14) and the Good Karma eyeshadow brush retails at €20.50 ($26 £14.50) so the actual price of what you are getting comes to €224.50 ($242 £168). Now that is what I call a bargain!

So lets move on into the palette! 

The brush I feel did a good job of applying the eyeshadow, it picked up a good amount of product and using a patting motion can apply the shadow to your eye with minimal fallout. This brush in my opinion would also work very well as a concealer brush. 

The Primer Potion is very good...in fact I love it and use it every day! A tiny amount is enough..and it has a velvety consistency that dries clear. It makes your eyeshadow "pop" and really brings out the colour. It stops shadows creasing...however I found that if you apply this product too thickly you may encounter creasing...so less is more with this one! :) As for staying power...I've found you will get a good 8 hours from this primer. If you have very oily lids you may find this product a bit too greasy, however this could easily be solved by washing a light layer of a matte flesh toned eyeshadow over the primer, this will give you a smooth surface to apply your eyeshadow. Overall this primer is a win!! 



Sooo onto the swatches... 

Virgin, Sin, Naked and Sidecar




Virgin: A light frosty shimmery which makes a beautiful highlight colour for the brow bone and inner corner. This is quite frosty and shimmery so some people may prefer not to wear as a brow bone highlight but for the tear duct area this is lovely and brings a lot of light to the eye.

Sin: This is my absolute fave out of this palette. I just adore it as a wash of colour all over the lid. Sin is a frosty metallic light champagne colour. It has more cool tones than warm and is excellent for use all over the lid or to create a neutral smokey eye. Such a pretty colour.

Naked: Simply put this is my go to shadow as a crease colour. It is a perfect warm matte brown, the colour can be layered to create the perfect intensity. It works as an excellent transition colour to blend out your lid colour. As I'm blonde I also like to use this as a brow filler combined with the colour Buck. Love it! 

Sidecar: This is a shimmery pink toned brown. It's an unusual colour in my opinion...it's not bronze but it does have slight red/pink tones in it. This colour does have glitter particles in it so use with caution as there will be fallout with this colour.





Buck: This is the second matte brown in this palette. Buck is darker than Naked and has a slight red tone to it. This is also perfect as a crease colour and is a beautiful transition colour. 

Half Baked: This is another one on my favorite eye shadows in this palette. Half Baked is a fabulous high metallic yellow gold with lots and lots of shimmer!! This colour is so easy to work with and it glides onto the eye. The pigmentation of this colour is excellent. 

Smog: This is a deep brown bronze colour with shimmer and it pairs really well with Half Baked when used in the outer V of the eye.

Darkhorse: This is a very dark brown/bronze with a slight hint of dark green to it. An unusual colour but nice used to darken the outer V of the eye. This shadow is also shimmery and would be nice used to create a slightly glossy smokey eye.






Toasted: This is a medium champagne based pink brown, it has shimmer in it and it nice used to transition from Sin or Half Baked in the outer V of the eye.

Hustle:  Hustle is a plummy brown with flecks of purple in it. This would be one of the colours I use least but that's just due to personal taste. The texture of this colour is good and it applies easily but with a slight bit of fallout but this is normal with darker shades.

Gunmetal: This is a standard gunmetal grey with flecks of silver. Straightforward enough but essential for creating a nice silver/grey based smokey eye.

Overall Thoughts

Overall I have to say I absolutely adore this palette, I love it so much that I am on my second palette. I first purchased this over a year ago when it was first released and last week repurchased it (along with Naked 2...but that's for a different review ;) ) So with heavy usage of this product it will last approx over a year, which is excellent considering the price. I love that it contains everything you need, so it's excellent for traveling. 

Cons:

I really find it hard to fault this product, however if I was being very picky I would say that I wish there was a matte black and a matte highlight colour. Buttt that's just being very picky! Also if you like to keep all your makeup clean then this product may disappoint. Due to the velvet case it tends to attract fluff and all sorts of makeup related mess!! It's hard to clean and I found much to my disappointment the gold lettering started to fade and chip after a few months. But these things are just purely cosmetic and I don't want to deflect away too much from a product that is overall wonderful! 

I hope this review was enjoyable and informative, I will be doing lots of tutorials featuring this palette in the future.

Have you got this palette? What do you think of it? If not, do you think you will purchase it? Let me know your thoughts! :)

Lots of Love,
Emma xx

4 comments:

  1. Hii thanks for stopping by my blog! <3 I want to follow you but I can't seem to find the GFC to follow you? :/ Let me know how I can follow you.. ;)

    By the way, I love NAKED palettes. I have both of them.. :D Have a good day!

    www.cutedumpling.blogspot.com

    xoxo

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  2. Hi thanks for your comment...i've been having trouble adding blogs to my reading list too! But it's just been today so maybe its down at the moment! Keep trying to add my blog and I'll keep trying to add yours! :) xxx

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  3. I don't know how I don't own either Naked palette yet (?) but after seeing this cannot wait much longer!!

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    1. Oh I def think this is worth having! If you follow my blog though I'm going to be posting about an amazing and very affordable dupe for the Naked Palette! xxx

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