It's official.
If I could only pick one product to use every day for the rest of my life, if would be Urban Decay's Naked2 palette. For all of the self proclaimed smoky-eyeaholics out there, Naked2 has been sent to us to answer all of our eye-shadow dilemmas.
Black eye-liner and dark eye-shadows found themselves being the most used products in my make-up bag ever since I started experimenting with cosmetics during my high school years. I wouldn't leave the house without popping a jet black Kohl into my jacket pocket. Applied, and re-applied haphazardly throughout the course of drunken teenage nights, my youthful flirtation with these products eventually blossomed into a long-term romance. If there's one thing that defines my look, it's my love for smoky eyes (that, and stripy shirts).
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| The day-time look smoky eye I created with Urban Decay's Naked2 palette |
It's my passion for the smoky-eyed look (and the quest to perfect it and experiment with it) which lead me into discovering Urban Decay's Naked2 eye-shadow palette. The phenomenal success of the original Naked palette, released in the summer of 2010, spurred on Urban Decay into revamping the best-seller - thus Naked2 was launched at the end of 2011.
Whereas the original Naked palette contained 12 neutral bronze and cocoa shades, Naked2 is made up of 12 neutral taupe and greige (greyish beige, hellooooo!) shades. Ranging from dreamy creams (perfect used as base colours and highlighting the brow bone) to sultry coppers, gunmetal greys and the blackest of blacks - Naked2 is versatile enough to be worn during the day, as well as evenings, when a little more sex appeal and sultriness is called for.
Before I go any further with this review, it's best to say now, that Naked2 (or the original Naked) doesn't come at a cheap price - £36 (ouch) to be exact. Luckily, I managed to get hold of Naked2 for £19.99 from a seller on Ebay who distributes factory seconds. This meant the cardboard box the palette came in was superficially damaged, but the actual product was untouched and in perfect condition.
Still, £19.99 is a huge amount to blow on eye-shadow - but let me reassure you, the price is absolutely justified.
I am blown away with the quality of the pigment-rich shades, the sturdy metal tin the product comes in (complete with mirror) as well as the double-ended eye-shadow brush included inside. Still not convinced? After a whole day of wearing, the shadows do not crease on my eyelids! Crease free eye-shadow at last! Hallelujah!
The 12 shades included are...
Foxy: a semi-matte creamy white
Half Baked (also in the original Naked palette): a deep shimmering copper
Bootycall: a semi-matte cream
Chopper: a shimmering light bronze
Tease: a semi-matte taupe
Snakebite: a shimmering grey/taupe
Suspect: a lightly shimmering grey taupe
Pistol: a shimmering gun metal grey
Verve: a lightly shimmering creamy silver
YDK: a shimmery greyish bronze
Busted: a shimmering deep purply bronze
Blackout: a matte blackest black
I fell in
love with the colours included - they're not too orangey and harsh, minimal fall-out and most importantly, perfectly suit my light olive skin tone. I checked out the shades in the
original Naked and I think Naked2 is less harsh and more wearable. The possibilities of colour combinations/effects you can create with Naked2 are endless - there's colours subtle and natural enough to wear day to day, and most importantly, there's colours you can use to create the perfect sultry and seriously sexy smoky eye.
Below is step-by-step how I created the day-time smoky eye look with Naked2. For a night-time smoky eye, I would simply add more of "Blackout" on my upper and lower lash line and more of "Busted" on my whole eyelid.
1. Cover the whole lid and brow bone with "Bootycall"
2. Highlight the brow bone with "Foxy"
3. Follow the crease of the lid with "Pistol" and blend upwards towards the brow bone
4. Cover the outer 3rd of eyelid with "Snakebite" and blend outwards
5. Apply "Bootycall" as you would with liquid eye-liner and blend well
6. Use "YDK" underneath the eye and blend well in a downwards sweep
7. Finish with lashings of black mascara and black eye-liner on the waterline to make the eyes pop!
I really can't find any negatives with this product, apart from the obvious fact that it is quite expensive. But I've had this product for around 3 months, and have used it almost every day and the shadows look barely touched. The pigments are so rich you don't need to use a lot on your brush to get an effective result. All of my other eye-shadows are now redundant because of this
The only criticism I have is that the two lightest shades, "Foxy" and "Bootycall" are really quite similar. Other than that - girls, what are you waiting for? I can guarantee you'll love Naked2!
Do you own the original Naked palette?
Which palette do you prefer - Naked or Naked2?
Love, kisses + smoky eyes
xo
