Urban Decay Naked 2 Basics Palette // REVIEW


Today I thought I'd give you my review and thoughts on the Urban Decay Naked 2 Basics palette that came out in the 2nd half of 2014. I know I am totally late on the bandwagon but I did finally manage to get my hands on the palette this week and of course had to tell you how I feel about it. 

General: The palette retails for 25,95€ and has got six different shades eyeshadows in it. The first colour called Skimp has got a bit of shimmer in it, so it is a great hightlight shade. The rest of the colours are all matte. It comes with a big mirror which is always very handy. You do not get a brush with it but let's be real, those tiny brushes you get in palettes aren't always the best anyway. The size of the actual palette is really small and perfect for travelling. It's got kind of a rubber texture on the outside. All in all the packaging and everything is basically the same as it is with the Naked Basics palette except the eyeshadows are a lot cooler in tone. I do not own the first palette because the colours in the 2nd one appeal to me a lot more, but from what I can tell, in the original basics palette, the colours aren't really that warm in tone either. But Naked 2 Basics definitely has cool toned shades.


Eyeshadow Quality: Since I do not own the first basics palette from Urban Decay, I can't compare the quality of the two palettes (which is quite annoying, but what can you do). When you feel the eyeshadows in the pan, they do feel smooth and you get a lot of colour on your finger, when you then try to swatch them on your hand, the colour gets a bit lost and comes off a bit streaky. Especially with the light shades (skimp, stark and even still frisk) you have to put on a few layers to get it to show some colour. Although, when you use them on your eyelid with a brush, I do find that the colour pay-off you get is decent. Don't get me wrong, I don't think they're bad eyeshadows. I'm not sure what it is but when you swatch them with your fingers it just doesn't work properly, so when you use them as an actually eyeshadow, you should definitely use a brush with them. I also recommend an eyeshadow primer with these eyeshadows especially. The darkest colour (undone) is not an actual black eyeshadow but I do actually prefer it to a black because it's easier to work with and do a smokey eye because it is definitely buildable to be intense, but if you're just starting out with make-up, it's usually easy to go overboard with the black shadow in your outer corner but with that colour, it's pretty much impossible.

Excuse my little hairs on my arm, and excuse this really bad swatches. I went a little crazy with the dark colour, haha.

Conclusion: I do not think this is worth 25,95€ (because I'm actually quite greedy and don't like to spend a lot of money on things) but I do think it is a great palette, especially for beginners because it's always good to have different matte shades for the crease or an easy everyday make-up look for school/work. If you can afford it though, it is something worth checking out. I think the highlight colour is really pretty and I love the colours frisk and primal for an easy everyday smokey eye, I also love cover as a crease colour when I put something shimmery on my lid. Undone is a nice dark colour for a deep smokey eye, easier to work with than an actual black eyeshadow. I love cooler toned eyeshadows for my eye colour and skin tone, I do have quite cool undertones in my skin so I don't find cool eyeshadows to be unflattering on me but I know they do look a bit off on some people. But that's really up to you and your personal preference. I am glad I picked the palette up because I like the colours and I'll definitely get my use out of it. Maybe check out Naked Basics the original if these colours aren't your type.

I really hope you enjoyed this post!

- Julia

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