Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette Review

It’s the 1st of December! Whoop – are you feeling the Christmas cheer 🙂 Well, I’m excited as the wait is finally over and I can reveal to you a little post that I have been working on for a while. I’m not really one for ‘newest releases’ nor do I aim to be a ‘breaking news’ blog, however this one caught my eye. I’ve seen rumours swirling the Internet about this product, and I can confirm that the whispers are true – Urban Decay is releasing a ‘Naked 2’ Palette! Their original Naked Palette remains the beauty industry’s best-selling palette of all time, so it’s no surprise that Urban Decay are whipping out another one! It’s released online in the US today, and will be wheeled out over here early next year (9th January on Debenhams Online and the 6th February at all other retailers) and will retail at £36, £1 more than the original Naked palette. I was lucky enough to be asked to take part in their ‘Where Do You Get Naked’ campaign, which means there may be a picture of me and my palette on their US website, but of course this meant I got to give the Naked 2 palette a good road test, so here is my run-down…

For £36, you get 12 neutral eyeshadows in a variety of finishes (matte, shimmer and micro-glitter), 5 shades of which are brand new, a custom double-ended and full size shadow/crease brush and a mini Lip Junkie Lipgloss in the pinky-brown shade Naked. My first thought was that the shades in this palette seemed cooler in tone than the original one – Naked contained quite bronzey, golden shades, whereas Naked 2 is more taupe based with a slight purple undertone. The casing is also more sturdy. Much like a pencil tin, the outer packaging is a rectangular tin, with a snap lock top which means it won’t fall open while in transit like the original palette did. It also has a humongous mirror – they have really tried to make this palette as travel friendly as they can. In terms of what you get with it I was impressed with the doubled ended brush – a fluffy crease brush on one end and a flat brush on the other, I can see myself using it a lot. Although I thought the addition of a lipgloss, was a strange one! Not really in a colour that I would use often, however the formula is nice – a minty scent and completely non-sticky. Now onto the colours…

Foxy is not a new colour for Urban Decay, it used to be in individual pot form however it is no longer available. It is a creamy bisque shade with a matte finish (can be slightly chalky), although I find it to be slightly yellow on my skintone. This makes it the perfect base colour as it will counteract any darkness on the eyelid. 

Half Baked is the only repeated colour in this palette as it was also featured in the original Naked palette. I’m not surprised to see it back as so many people touted this as their favourite shade! It’s a bronze gold, with a shimmery finish, and to me it seems paler than the one in the original palette (I will pop up a post on that soon!). 

I do love the names UD give their shades – ‘Bootycall’ – for some reason I can’t see the word ‘Booty’ without thinking Beyoncé! But anyway, this is shimmery cork shade – it has a touch of MAC Naked Lunch about it. It is also a never-seen-before shade, so is exclusive to this palette. A fab base colour. 

I was so excited to see this shade in the palette as Kim K’s makeup artist cites this shadow as one he uses in a lot of her looks. A copper shimmer with a fine silver micro-glitter, this shadow definitely has the wow factor. Chopper has featured in palettes before and is available individually, although I can see this being the ‘Sidecar’ of the Naked 2 Palette due to it’s glittery fall-out tendencies. 

On first glance, this was a shade that I was really drawn too – a creamy pale brown with a matte finish and slight purple undertones, this will be a great crease colour for green eyed ladies like myself. Although I did find the pigmentation was lacking. It’s definitely an interesting shade though and it’s new and exclusive to this palette!

Hello anybody remember ‘Smog’ from the original Naked palette? Well this is basically it’s Naked 2 palette equivalent, they are very similar – both dark bronze shimmers with a metallic sheen. It’s a ‘never-seen-before’ shade, but like I said, it’s the twin of ‘Smog’ – go figure 😉 

I really like this colour – it’s the perfect neutral, but with a really different taupey tone running through it! Like a much cooler, slightly darker version of MAC All That Glitters, with a touch of shimmer. It has appeared in the UD ‘Rollergirl’ Palette before, but isn’t available as a single eyeshadow.  

Pistol is a the perfect mix between a grey and a brown, and has a nice shimmer finish. Surprisingly this is one of my favourite shades out of the palette, I don’t think I own anything else like this in my collection, it’s pretty unique – plus, it’s a new shade from UD! I think this would be a nice shade to pop all over the eye with lashes of mascara for an evening look. 

Verve is a pretty oyster pearl shade with a high shine finish. To me, this shade should be nearer the left of the palette as it is quite pale compared to it’s neighbours – but that’s just my inner OCD talking 😉 It has featured in a UD palette before in the ‘Rollergirl’ one. Alright shade, but nothing too exciting. 

This is one of Urban Decay’s best selling shades in individual pot form and I can kinda see why – it’s a very easy to wear cool bronze shimmer! When I first saw it I thought of Sidecar, but without the glittery fall-out and I’m quite pleased to say that after some confirmation swatches it is! 

Busted is the more shimmery version of MAC Sketch, a dark plummy brown that is a new, exclusive shade to the Naked 2 palette. This is a shade that would be great for the crease, or run under eye for a smokey look. Due to it’s reddy tones it’s going to be a fab one for blue or green eyed gals. 

There isn’t too much to say about this shade, it’s a matte black and has appeared in previous palettes. It has good pigmentation and isn’t too powdery. I stupidly sold MAC Carbon, my only matte black a few months back now, so I was quite happy to see a good replacement in this palette. 

Wow, I think that is one of the lengthiest posts I have ever written – I even did swatches and everything, and I hate doing swatches! But I know there are a fair few of you who would want to see this, so there you have it – my take on the Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette. Now I predict the big question will be ‘If you already own the original Naked palette then do you need both’, and don’t worry I have a whole nother post ready for that one 😉 I really think Urban Decay are missing a trick with this not being out in the UK till next year, missing out on the Christmas rush and all that. I’m sure there will still be a flurry of you queueing up to your hands on one when it is released in January. Form an orderly queue ladies….

Much Love,

Vivianna x