Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette: Swatches and Review

I was so excited when I purchased this palette from Ulta the other week, I have been dying to own at least one palette from the Naked series, even if there are only 6 shades. I'm dealing. I really didn't want to blow 50 bucks on one palette, even though it's well worth the money I'm sure, but I just though it wouldn't be super portable for me to throw in my purse or backpack.

Read on for the rest of the review!



Front of the package

Back of the package

Courtesty of the Urban Decay website:

Our first MATTE palette, featuring six gorgeously Naked neutrals to build on or wear alone—including four never-before-seen shades.

Venus/Foxy Ingredients: Talc, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Zinc Stearate, Sodium Dehydroacetate, Phenoxyethanol, Sorbic Acid, Ethylene/Acrylic Acid Copolymer, PTFE.

Walk of Shame/Naked 2/Faint Ingredients: Talc, Ethylene/Acrylic Acid Copolymer, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Zinc Stearate, Sodium Dehydroacetate, Phenoxyethanol, Sorbic Acid, PTFE.

Crave Ingredients: Talc, Zinc Stearate, Silica, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Sodium Dehydroacetate, Phenoxyethanol, Sorbic Acid, Boron Nitride.

All Shades May Contain: CI 77019 (Mica), CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide), CI 77491/77492/77499 (Iron Oxides), CI 75470 (Carmine), CI 77742 (Manganese Violet), CI 77007 (Ultramarines).

First of all, may I say that due to Talc being the first ingredient in all of these, I expected these shadows to be a little more powdery than Urban Decay's usual, but I'll get more on that later.

The packaging was a really weird texture for me, it was like rubber, kind of velvety to the touch, yet also made of plastic. So... A plasticy rubber?


Shades from Venus, Foxy, and Walk of Shame (left to right)

Shades Naked 2, Faint, and Crave (left to right)

Swatches (from left to right): Venus, Foxy, Walk of Shame,  Naked 2, Faint, and Crave

Honestly, the whole palette is not all matte. The claims on the website are not true, while the box says, au contraire, my fully clothed friends! The back of the box claims:

Begin ANY look with these six essential shadows. This palette of must-own shades (with four exclusives!) features both mattes and satins for lids, liner, and crease.

Theerrre's the truth.

We will start with darkest to lightest, shall we?

Crave:

Dry swatch on top, wet on bottom

Crave is one of my favorite shades in this palette. At first it can appear to be a matte black, but when actually swatched, it's a dark brown with very little, subtle shimmer, or flecks of glitter. You can barely see it in the dry swatch, but if you wet your brush a little, you can see the glitter more pronounced. But this is a macro shot, which shows every little fine detail. One issue that occured for me with Crave (and Foxy now that I think about it), was that it was a bit powdery when I swirled my fluffy crease brush in it for a bit. This is what happened:

Poopie. Oh well, it doesn't do that on my eye, it's one of the most blendable colors in the palette. Also an exclusive! 

Next up is Faint! There's not really a major difference between the wet and dry swatch, and it's a pretty matte finish. I like using this in my crease to give it definition, it's a great crease color. I would describe it as as a matte, dusty brown that is one of the exclusive shades in this palette. This is one of the colors I liked more in the palette, honestly.

As you can see, Naked 2 really blends into my skin. It's a good blending color, but I don't really find a use for it other than to blend. It has a gray-ish undertone in real life, and it took a few swipes to build up this color against my skin. This is also anther palette exclusive, and it suits cool toned ladies opposed to somebody like me (warm). 

W.O.S. aka Walk of Shame, is found in the Build Your Own Palette from Urban Decay. It's a nude color leaning toward a pinky undertone, and it really blends in with the skin. It might be a good highlight color for most skin tones, but it can look too light in contrast to darker skin tones. It's a nice, creamy base color for lighter and more pastel-y eye looks. The wet and dark swatches don't have much of a difference, it just gets darker when applied with water.

As you can see, Foxy is a more yellow nude color, the lighting makes it looks a lot more yellow than it actually is in person. It's a bit chalky, and is kind of interchangeable with W.O.S. Both are the same shade of nude, but they just have different undertones. This is a good match for my skin, which have obvious tints of yellow in it, but if you have pinker skin, W.O.S. might be a better alternative. I believe this shadow is also found in the Naked 2 Palette, and is a part of the permanent eyeshadow collection from Urban Decay. 

Oh Venus, how I love thee. Venus is a pearly ivory shade with very fine micro glitters. It has a satin finish, and I absolutely love using this in the inner corner of my eye, or as a brow bone highlight. I honestly think I could even brush it atop of my cheekbones to give a radiant glow. It's very versatile, and is palette exclusive.

I would just purchase this palette for Venus and Crave, those are such unique and amazing colors! But, if you're just starting out or need a neutral palette, this is for you. It's a really good basics palette, every essential color you need is right here! And you get a bang for your buck as well, you get 6 x 0.05 eye shadows for only about $27.00.  

Sorry for the long post, it's an important palette! (: I tote this around everywhere, and use it everyday. It's a great palette that I recommend to almost anyone that doesn't have a similar neutral palette. But, if you have a darker skin tone, this may be too light for you, and can appear chalky, though all of the shadows apply like a dream.

Thanks for reading, I'll post again soon! Have a great day!

Your teenage beauty addict, 

Mai

Disclamer: This product was bought with my own money, and reviewed with my own complete opinion. Always.I do not get paid to review any products, and I just enjoy blogging. A lot. Dear Lord, I'm not a professional makeup artist, or doctor, so whatever happens with the beauty products to you, it's not my fault! I'm just expressing my own, true opinion. And I can't predict how everything will work for you, only tell you how they worked for moi. EVERY REVIEW IS OF MY OWN AND HONEST OPINION.