Friday, February 4, 2011

Urban Decay Naked Palette Review


I know you have all seen and fallen in love with the Urban Decay Naked Palette but I wanted to do a review of my own because this product really deserves all the hype it's generating.

Shortly after I got my new job the coveted Naked Palette came back into stock on Sephora so I decided to treat myself and I am so happy I did. This palette comes with 12 full sized (just different shaped) eye shadows, a double sided 24/7 Eye Pencil and (not pictured) a mini bottle of the iconic Primer Potion.  Since there have been problems keeping this item stocked it appears Urban Decay has replaced the eye pencil with an eyeshadow brush, which in my opinion is slightly less desirable but still a great deal. I paid $44 for this and I think it's worth every penny. 


The Eyes Shadows:

The eye shadows are all full sized and neutral with a slight edge. Every single shade, in my opinion, is wearable. I love that there are some matte shades included in the set because sometimes mattes are left out. Do I wish there were more mattes? Sure, I guess, but I am not missing them.  The frosty colors are excellent and I don't experience much, or really any,  fallout. 

The texture of these eye shadows is absolutely spectacular. They are highly pigmented, go on smoothly and blend like a dream. I think they are very high quality. I don't find a single shade in the palette to be chalky which is a huge plus. Sometimes MAC special edition palettes are a little sub-par compared to their permanent line but these are fabulous. 

The shade Naked is reminiscent of MAC's Soft Brown it's perfect for blending out colors in the crease. It's probably one of my favorites in the palette simply because I can use it in practically every look. Half Baked and Sidecar are two of my other favorites, they're stunning metallic shadows. I really love every color in this set. I can't pick a favorite. 



The Primer Potion: 

Not much to say, we all know how fantastic this stuff is. Applied as a base this makes shadows more vibrant and last longer though out the day banishing creasing. My only complaint? Compared to other bases, like Too Faced Shadow Insurance, UDPP makes it slightly difficult to blend.  I still think it's a phenomenal product and I am happy they threw in a mini with this palette.

The Eye Liners:

I bought the palette before they changed the liner to a brush so I have a double sided 24/7 eyeliner pencil in Zero (black) and Whiskey (brown).  These are great quality eyeliner pencils. They're so soft and glide on so easily.  They dry fast so if you want to smudge you need to work fast. These suckers stay put! I love that! They perform well in the waterline as well well. Nothing will stay put in my watery eyes but this performed really nicely compared to other liners. 

Packaging:
The packaging is the one thing I don't love about this palette. It's mostly cardboard.  The outside is suede which feels luxe but gets dirty fast and frankly, isn't very durable.  The inside has a mirror which is nice and a compartment for the liner so it's nice for travel. I'd be careful traveling though because like I said it's cardboard.  

The one thing that drives me bonkers about the packaging is that the dang thing just won't stay open. It always wants to flop over and close on me. It's irritating. I would have liked to see some more durable, more practical packaging on this.  




 

Overall:
Overall I'd give this palette an A.  It's a fantastic value and all of the makeup is very high quality. I took off a few points because the packaging really doesn't do it for me but overall I am really satisfied with this palette and highly recommend it for those of you who like neutral colors with some shimmer. I could personally only use this palette for a long time without getting bored.  I think the only people who might not like this are those who steer clear of frosts.  

Share your thoughts on this palette with me. I'd love to hear what you think about it. Do you think it's worth the hype? 

Prim and Polished