Reviews
Comments 32

Drinking the Kool-Aid: A(nother) Review on the Urban Decay Naked Eyeshadow Palette

Urban Decay - Naked Palette

I know the world doesn’t need another post on the Urban Decay Naked Palette, but holy shit you guys, this is one of the best beauty products I’ve ever owned. If I’m not mistaken, this palette was released some time in mid-2010 and has achieved crazy cult status since then. I mean, I can see why. It’s a bunch of neutrals that go freakishly well together… but as with many-a-fawned-over things, this is so much more than that.

Urban Decay - Naked Palette - Pans

With the Naked Palette, you get 12 shades:

  • Virgin — pale shimmery beige-y nude. I thought it looked a bit 90s-browbone highlight in the pan, but it actually goes on very well and more subtly. Personified, this beige shadow would be Emma Watson.
  • Sin — frosty pink champagne. This is a gorgeous wash of color on the lid for everyday.
  • Naked — matte beige brown. Oh, another beige. Fancy that. Naked‘s beigeness is akin to The Carrie Diaries. It’s nothing special, but it gets the job done.
  • Sidecar — shimmery medium bronze/brown with a little pink thrown in. Sidecar is notorious for being the fallout queen, which is a shame because it’s so pretty.*
  • Buck — matte mid-tone brown. Ah, reliable Buck. I bet you get around.
  • Half Baked — frosty pale coppery gold with a slight pink-peach undertone. It’s neutral enough for you to wear around a lot for different types of occasions, but there’s enough oomph in it that it’s not boring.
  • Smog — frosty mid-tone brown, with a slight bronze-green tinge.
  • Darkhorse — shimmery deep brown that looks a bit mossy under certain light. A beauty staple for Ents.
  • Toasted — shimmery medium pink-brown. This shadow looks like it likes having copious amounts of tea in the afternoon.
  • Hustle — shimmery dark chocolate brown that leans a bit plum.
  • Creep — shimmery blue black. The color of sad, despairing, unrequited love.
  • Gunmetal — shimmery dark blue-grey. If you want your eyes to smolder, this is what you use.

Here are some swatches:

Urban Decay - Naked Palette - Swatches 1

L-R: Virgin, Sin, Naked, Sidecar

Urban Decay - Naked Palette - Swatches 2

L-R: Buck, Halfbaked, Smog, Darkhorse

Urban Decay - Naked Palette - Swatches 3

L-R: Toasted, Hustle, Creep, Gunmetal

I swatched these shadows left to right, and by the time I got to Naked (the third shadow), I couldn’t believe how great the quality of these shadows were. They are positively buttery and incredibly pigmented. I don’t know how they’ve priced this at $50, $6 more than its original price when it was released. That’s $50 for 12 shadows, or $4+ each. Though the pans in my Guerlain quad are bigger than the UD pans, that cost me $59 for 4 colors, and while I love it to bits, this is by far a better value. I mean, clearly.

Urban Decay - Naked Palette - Brush

The palette is longer than I thought it would be. It has a good-sized mirror and a shader brush. I don’t particularly care for the brush; my MAC 239 is better at applying shadow. This doesn’t really blend all that well either. It’s really pretty, though. It also comes with a sample of UD’s Primer Potion, which I haven’t tried yet.

This is the first look I made using the Naked palette:

Urban Decay - Test Face

Roughly: I have Sin all over the eyelid. I added Toasted on the inner third of the lid (near the duct), and Hustle and Creep on the other third of the lid and outer crease. I added Smog on the inner 2/3 of the crease, Virgin on the browbone, and Creep on the upper lashline. On the other third of the lower lashline, I put Hustle and on the inner 2/3 of the lower lashline, I put Sin. Sounds complicated, but it’s really not!

Rest of the face: The Body Shop Brow & Liner Kit (02) for my brows, Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush (Blushing Bride) on my cheeks, bareMinerals Warmth to bronze, bareMinerals READY Luminizer (The Love Affair) to highlight, Buxom Big & Healthy Lip Cream (Berry Blast) on my lips.

Urban Decay - Naked Palette - Side

I have a lot of higher end makeup and palettes that are way more expensive with subpar quality. They’re not “bad” products, but the quality isn’t equally comparable to this palette’s. And I know that when you say “good value for money,” sometimes you mean it in a “it’s an okay product, especially since it cost so little,” but in this case, you are really getting a whole fireworks display for your buck. (Instead of a bang, you get a couple of bangs, get it? Okay, I’ll stop.)

Long story short, I was apprehensive about getting this palette because I don’t really get on very well with too-shimmery shades, and these looked so shimmery. But! Not so. They are all quite wearable, and now I see what the fuss is all about.

VERDICT: Worth the hype. Get it if you like having a wide selection of neutrals.
How much? $50. Bought at 20% off.
Will I repurchase? If I ever run out of neutrals, this well may be my first pick.
Where to get? There are tons of online resellers with ridic mark-ups. I just got mine from Urban Decay directly.

———
* The new eyeshadow singles, which I believe has had their formula er, reformulated, has a less pesky version of Sidecar.

32 Comments

    • I haven’t tried out my Naked 2, but it looks so good also! I think the Naked Basics is such a good little palette, my sister bought it and now I kinda want one for myself, lol.

  1. I’ve been wanting this palette for a loooong time, pero laging iba binibili ko haha You look really pretty, btw. 🙂

  2. Are you still using the Globe Amex card to purchase, and how much did you pay for additional shipping? 🙂

  3. Things I find hilarious: you make me want a product I already own. I already knew this was great. I use it all the time. I love it. And yet, you make me feel like I should go find it now and give it some love.

    • Hahaha that is both hilarious and awesome. 😀 I think people generally forget about this palette then fall back right in love with it when they “meet” it again. Which is indicative of how great it is, IMHO!

  4. Jin says

    Shall wait for your Naked 2 and Naked Basics review before I make a purchase. 🙂 Did you and Beng split the cost of all 3 palettes? You’re so lucky to have a sister to share makeup with!

  5. How about a video tutorial featuring a look from the palette? 🙂 By the way, I think I saw on your Instagram that you got both this and Naked Palette 2. In case you’ve tried the latter already, I’m wondering which you think is better to get, for fair skin? (My skin tone’s more or less like yours.) I’m looking for a good neutrals palette that includes great colours for a smoky eye look. I like the dark colours in the original palette, but most other reviews claim Naked 2 to be the more versatile option overall. Thought I’d seek your opinion!

    • Sure, I’ll try to make one ASAP. 🙂 Most of the reviews I’ve read say that the Naked 2 is more suited for cool-toned skin tones!

  6. Nice to hear that the shimmers aren’t over the top! I’ve been hesitant to get this palette for that same reason.

    • Yup, it’s like a subtle sheen lang (for me, anyway) and realy nice on the eyes. Doesn’t fall out or leave a trail of glitter on your face/cheeks, so +++ points haha.

    • Well, there is a good variety of colors, I would say, since the only repeat from both palettes is Halfbaked! 🙂 I honestly feel like it’s a great value, and if I was better with self control and stuff like that, I feel like I could just own the Naked palettes and call it a day.

      • Lol true, do you wear a lot of other colors? I’m just figuring out how to do that, hehe.

      • I rocked a deep shimmery violet once, but there haven’t been occasions for me to try other palettes yet. Love your neutral-eye tutorials though! Waiting for you to try some jewel-toned looks next 🙂

  7. I completely agree on Naked having a well-deserved cult status 🙂 and hey you look great in nude looks 🙂

  8. Pingback: Softly Special: My Top Five Favorite Eye Palettes | Softly Sometimes

  9. Pingback: Top Five Eyeshadow Brands (Cruelty-Free) | Softly Sometimes

  10. Pingback: One Week Naked: Day 1 | Softly Sometimes

  11. Pingback: This or That: Urban Decay Naked Eyeshadow Palettes | Softly Sometimes

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.