I Give In To Peer Pressure and Get Naked! Urban Decay Naked Palette Swatches, Review, and EOTD

When Urban Decay's Naked palette was released I smugly would declare to friends obsessing over it, "Hmm, it doesn't look THAT special to me."  And I managed to maintain that stance for months- through the sold-out status and subsequent high eBay marks-up and through several re-releases fraught with drama (fingerprints in shadows, etc.).  I was so proud of myself for not giving in to the hype and being strong.  "Why do I need neutrals? They all look the same, and I have plenty already," I would tell myself.  I now know this was a lie.

So I walked into my local Sephora a week ago or so, not knowing my life would be forever changed. Okay, maybe that is a little over-dramatic.  Just a little, though.  I was actually looking for the Rollergirl palette (which is STILL not in my local stores, ugh).  I asked the sales lady and of course she had no idea what I was talking about.  Pet Peeve- Why am I always more knowledgeable about products and upcoming releases than Sephora employees?!  Anyway, she said, "Do you mean the Naked palette?"  She pointed over to the Urban Decay section and there was a huge stack of brown and gold velvety goodness.  For the first time I felt the palette calling my name.  I don't think I even responded to the girl, I just walked over to the shelf in a trance.  By the time I had swatched the first 4 shadows I knew it had to be mine.

Luckily this just so happened to be when Sephora was having their 15% off sale and I had the coupon with me.  On the way to the register I saw the much coveted LE Stila Make Me Blush heart embossed blush thingy (review here).  I pried my grubby hand off my Naked palette just long enough to grab the blush and hurried to the register as if I thought someone was going to take my pretties from me.  So yeah, that was a good day.  I bought two really hyped items and they both majorly EXCEEDED my expectations. Woohoo!

Now I know everyone and their mothers, grandmothers, aunts, cousins, second-cousins, and best friend's sister-in-laws own this palette and have seen the swatches, but I'll show you again.  I have an EOTD at the end for ya too.

These are swatched dry on bare skin.

The included brush.

I would actually rathr have this brush than the eyeliner the palette originally came with because I have so many of Urban Decay's eyeliners.  This brush is really nice.  It feels solid and well made.

From left: Virgin, Sin, Naked, Sidecar, Buck, Half Baked, Smog, Darkhorse, Toasted, Hustle, Creep, Gunmetal

Naked and Buck are mattes with no glitter and are smooth with great pigmentation.  Creep is matte with silver glitter and is rather patchy and not very pigmented.  This is the worst shadow in the palette to me.

The first 6 shadows- Virgin, Sin, Naked,Sidecar, Buck, and Half Baked

The last 6 shadows- Smog, Darkhorse, Toasted, Hustle, Creep, and Gunmetal

I love the pigmentation of Urban Decay's shadows but hate how so many of them have large pieves of glitter that cause major fallout.  However, only one shade in this palette has the glitter and it is a color I probably wouldn't use that much anyway- Creep.

This is Virgin in the inner corner and to highlight the brow bone.  I used Sin on the inner half of the lid and Toasted on the outer half with a tiny bit of Half Baked in the outer corner. Hustle was used in the crease.  I lined my upper lashes with Darkhorse applied wet and below the bottom lashes with Smog applied wet.  For my water line I used Urban Decay's 24/7 Eye Pencil in Stray Dog.  I also used Naked to fill my eyebrows.

 

Pros:

• Great value for 12 high quality eyeshadows
• Great pigmentation on 11 of the 12 (Creep is a bit patchy)
• Easy to blend
• Versatile color will work on any skin tone
• The brush is great
• Plenty of colors unique to this palette

Cons:

• If you are an avid Urban Decay palette collector you probably own some of these shades
• The matte black (creep) was patchy and prone to glitter fall out
• Thous a great value, $48 may be a bit too steep for some
• Constantly seems to be going out of stock

Available:

• Retails for $48 at:
• Sephora and Sephora's website
• Urban Decay's website

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!