[Review] Urban Decay – Naked Palette (Original)

Hoola, my first post! Been thinking of starting a blog for ages and no more procrastination! Since I just moved back to Singapore marking a “new” chapter of life, I thought it will be nice to write about what I received as a welcome gift the moment I touch down 🙂

I know Urban Decay Naked Palette has been overly reviewed and swatched, but I still like to have my own page about it. So here goes:

Brand:    Urban Decay
Product:  Naked Palette Original (or Naked Palette 1)
Price:    SGD83 (or USD54)
Type:     Eyeshadow Palette
Size:     12 x 1.3g
Origin:   Made in USA
Website:  Urban Decay Naked Palette 

THE PACKAGING

The box and the dark brown velvety case with gold wording imprint.

Definitely looks and feels classy and elegant, but I can’t say I like the velvety texture. It looks best in a brand-new state but tends to get dirty easily and I have witnessed some over-touched tester palettes in Sephora and velvety becomes gruey….quite disgusting.  I’ll make an effort to maintain it clean so it remains mint and elegant!

THE PRODUCT

Beautiful. What can I say… j.u.s.t beautiful.

12 slim long shadow fills, a double-ended shadow/blending brush and also a mirror of decent size.  All in a cardboard based box and magnetic closure.

Quoting from the website and the description on the box:-

It’s the palette that revolutionized neutrals forever. Loaded with 12 bronze-hued shadows in an insane range of textures only Wende and our product development team could dream up—including matte, satin, shimmer and sparkle—Naked proves that neutral is anything but boring. From the palest champagne to the grittiest gunmetal, it’s all here. Whether you’re going for a laid-back, beachy vibe or black-tie drama, you’ll definitely look better Naked.

Fill Weight: Eyeshadows: 12 x 1.3g e 12 x 0.05 US oz

Close up the 12 shadows.

Virgin (cool pale beige shimmer); Sin (champagne shimmer), Naked (nude matte), Sidecar (beige shimmer w/silver micro-glitter), Buck (fawn brown matte), Half Baked (golden bronze shimmer)

Smog (deep coppery bronze shimmer), Darkhorse (deep mocha shimmer), Toasted (antique copper penny shimmer), Hustle (plum-brown satin), Creep (onyx shimmer w/gold sparkle) and Gunmetal (dark metallic gray shimmer w/silver micro-glitter).

THE BRUSH

This is the double ended brush – one side visibly for main shadow packing onto the lid and blending, and the other slightly shorter and thinner for some eye corner work or liner.

Made of synthetic fine hair.  It’s my first time using synthetic brushes for eyes and I had the impression synthetic doesn’t work well with powders but I was proven wrong by these. Blending was a breeze and I did not have any fallouts!  I was glad it became a double-ended brush as opposed to the previous version where it came with a liner pencil.  With the brush, the palette is truly travel-friendly on its own!

MY VERDICT

Pros

• 12 beautiful, beautiful neutral colours that is really flattering on any skin tone
• Contains full range of colours from highlight (Virgin, Sin) to basic contouring (Naked, Buck) to dark colours for adding depth (Darkhorse, Creep) which also means it takes you from Day to Night
• Super blendable and velvety texture
• High pigmentation
• No fallouts
• Strong lasting power of >8 hours (used together with Innisfree Eye Primer) (their claim is 24 hours if used with Urban Decay Primer!)
• Awesome brand and feel of the product (makes me happy just having it haha)
• Comes with high quality double ended brush (truly travel friendly!)

Cons

• Only 2 matte shades.  I really love Naked and Buck, they are awesome shades but sometimes just wish there is 1 or 2 more matte shades in other tones to play around with.
• Velvety exterior (a plus for some, but not for me) gets dirty easily so needs more care
• All shadows are same size but obviously we will never use as much Creep as Sin or Naked. Would prefer if they contain more product of the base shades although that might mess up the 12 symmetric look of the palette.
• Pricey.  But I’d say for the quality and the lovely colours, it’s definitely a worthwhile investment if you love neutral shades for your eyes.  Certainly not expensive if you reach for it daily! 🙂

Overall

I’m so happy to receive this as a gift and have used it continuously for days now and everyday is a joy playing with the different types of shades and looks I can create with this palette.   I love neutral natural daily look for the eyes and I find Sin, Naked, Buck and Darkhorse to be my favourites.  Virgin is the most gorgeous highlight for under-brows and inner eye corners.  Toasted and Hustle are beautiful taupe-like shades.

Haven’t tried a few shades yet but there is no shade where I’d go “when I would ever use that shade….”.  I’m so excited to try all the shades and would so highly recommend this palette to neutral eyeshadow lovers 🙂

SAMPLE LOOK

A sample look using Naked Palette ^^

Sidecar all over lid. Darkhorse in the outer corners and outer under-eye. Half baked in the centre of lids. Sin in the inner eye corners and inner under-eye. Virgin as highlight under the brow bone.

I like it light and mild, very suitable for daily look.  Of course the palette can create many other ‘heavier’ or ‘darker smoky’ looks but daily is most practical for me.  I will certainly try smokier looks on weekends or special occasions. What do you think? ^^