Review and Swatches: Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette.

If you follow beauty news, you're bound to have heard of this product. Personally I am becoming a bigger and bigger Urban Decay fan, something my wallet isn't too happy about!

Let's get started!

The palette was created as a companion to the Naked Palettes as neither of them have many matte shadows in them, and Urban Decay fanatics across the world had let the company know they were not too happy about that. I love the fact that UD listened to their followers and produced this baby!

About the product Urban Decay says:


"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." - taken directly from the packaging.

Alright, on to the actual review!

The packaging is exactly half the size of the other Naked Palettes, smaller than your average smart phone! It's a sort of metallic-y, suede-rubbery like texture which feels very soft to the touch, sort of a funny feeling really. The lettering is matte and embossed on the packaging. All in all a very classy and pretty packaging, I like it! Very much like the product itself, timeless and gooorgeous.

L-R: Venus, Foxy, Walk of Shame (W.O.S), Naked 2, Faint, Crave.

The inside of the packaging has a beige-y mother-of-peal sheen and as we are used to from UD each shadow has its name written underneath. (Click the picture for a fullsize version!)

L-R: Venus, Foxy. Walk of Shame.

Venus is a shimmery creamy-white. It's more than just as a satin, as the packaging would have us believe. It's very pigmented and great as an inner-corner highlight. Also doable for brow-highlight, but only on very pale skin tones. (Exclusive to this palette.)

Foxy is a matte, yellow beige. It's very buttery smooth and has amazing colour payoff. It's very pigmented and makes for a great allover lid base or colour.(This colour is available as a single from UD and also is in the Naked 2 Palette.)

Walk of Shame (W.O.S) is a pink-toned beige, with once again great payoff. To me it's a little darker than my skintone and therefore not quite a highlight colour, might be on medium skin though! It's completely matte and very smooth, as we expect from UD. (Is only available for the UD Build-your-own palettes.)

L-R: Naked 2, Faint, Crave.

Naked 2 is a matte, medium taupe (brown-grey) colour, which is a great crease colour on my skin-tone. It's very smooth and blends wonderfully on the lid. The neutral tone in this means it looks amazing on all skin-tones, be they warm or cool. (Exclusive to this palette.)

Faint is a medium to dark, slightly warm-toned, brown. It's again completely matte and blends like a dream thanks to the Urban Decay softness. It's great as a crease colour or maybe for extra definition in the outer corner of the eye.(Exlusive to this palette)

Crave is a dark black. You'd think "Black is black!" but when it comes to eyeshadows, it's not. This is very pigmented, but there's something in it that's not quite a proper, deep black. It sort of has a brown tinge to it, like there's a smudge of dark, espresso brown mixed in to it. This blends amazingly and can therefore be used for anything you'd use a black shadow for. Personally I use it as a soft eyeliner with an angled brush and maybe for a touch more definition in the outer corner. (Exclusive to this palette)



Pros:

• All the shadows have great pigmentation.
• Urban Decay has made their matte shadows much easier to blend, which makes them much more pleasant to use. They truly half the time I need to spend blending them!
• If you're a lover of matte neutrals, this is surely a one-stop-shop.
• The packaging is great for travelling and easy to keep clean.
• Cruelty free, the whole brand is.

Cons:

• Price-point could be an issue for some. I personally did take some persuading to lay down the €25.95 it cost, but I sure am happy I did.
• Availability. Only sold at Sephora (in Holland at least) and in online, overseas, stores.
• Not really worth it if you can't live without shimmery shadows.

Conclusion: I'm in love. I've really been on a matte, brown, smokey-eye kick lately and this palette is PERFECT for it. (I blame the always awesome Gemma Teller Morrow from Sons of Anarchy.) This is perfect for travel, as you can create a soft day-time look and jazz it up in the evening with the darker colours. For my friends out-there who love mattes and maybe a 50's inspired pin-up type of look, this is the place to go. Throw on a red lip and it's ON! 

Share your thoughts on this palette, let me know what you think about it, if you have it, anything!

Thank you for reading and untill next time!

XXX