Urban Decay Naked Palette 2: Review, Swatches, UK Availability

Last year, Urban Decay launched the Naked palette, which probably most of you have heard about it. It then went on to become nothing less than ‘the world’s best-selling palette of all time’! So, after all the anticipation being built up since the last months of 2011, last week the Naked palette 2 was finally released in Debenhams in the UK, and I had to get my hands on it ASAP.

And here it is, girls! This is the Naked 2, a sequel to the original Naked palette, containing 12 neutral shades, including 5 brand new ones. There’s a bit of everything there; shimmer, matte, glitter – pretty much everything you’ll ever need to take you from day to night.

One of the biggest criticisms of the original Naked palette was the velvet packaging. It got dirty very easily and the lid was magnetic and quite flimsy. The Naked 2 comes in a tin box, which is much more sturdier and stylish in my opinion. They have also replaced the magnetic lid with a a proper closing mechanism to protect more your palette. Now let’s get onto the eyeshadows!

Foxy – Cream (matte, excellent pigmentation). This is your average cream, skin-toned eyeshadow which is great all over the lid to even out and highlight your eyelids at the same time. The fact that it’s matte was a major plus for me, and a good palette would not be complete without one of these. In the original Naked palette, the shade ‘Naked’ was the closest it came to a skin-toned eyeshadow, but it was more leaning towards brown than cream.

Half Baked – gold (shimmer, excellent pigmentation). Repeat from original Naked. I love using this for an evening brown and gold smokey eye, but I still can’t decide whether I like that this is a repeat from the old palette. In any case, I’ve loved this shadow so much that I was quite happy to get a ‘refill’.

Bootycall – champagne (semi-matte, good pigmentation). To me, this looks like the shimmery version of ‘Foxy’, just a little bit more pink-toned. It’s a great colour on it’s own for a natural look.

Chopper – cooper (shimmer + glitter, good pigmentation). A good wordplay on the name of this shade. It’s the only shadow of the palette that in addition to being shimmery, it also has tiny flecks of glitter. It’s quite a warm copper tone and I can see me loving this during the summer to accentuate a sunkissed look.

Tease – pink brown (matte, poor pigmentation). This is a funny little colour. I’m not sure what to make of it yet, but the swatch looks amazing! I’m guessing this is equivalent of ‘Buck’ from the original Naked palette, but I’d say ‘Tease’ is a much cooler brown, slightly pink-toned. Good crease colour for an everyday look.

Snakebite – bronze brown (semi-matte, excellent pigmentation). This is your average brown eyeshadow with a twist. The hint of bronze is what makes this a very interesting shade and I’m really looking forward to creating some edgy ‘everyday’ looks with it.

Suspect – bronze gold (shimmer, good pigmentation). I had a really hard time differentiating this shadow from ‘Half Baked’. Apart from the fact that ‘Suspect’ is less pigmented and less chalky, the only other difference I noticed was that ‘Suspect’ has cool bronze undertones and ‘Half Baked’ has warm bronze undertones.

Pistol – dirty silver (shimmer, excellent pigmentation). This eyeshadow got me all excited to break free from my same old ‘gold and brown’ looks. It’s a dirty silver/grey colour that I’m thinking will look great on the crease for a silver smokey eye look.

Verve – silver champagne (shimmer, good pigmentation). For me, this is the silver version of ‘Bootycall’, just a bit more shimmery. This is my least favourite colour of the palette, because it looks like there’s something missing for it to be amazing. Maybe, with time, it will change my mind!

YDK – bronze (shimmer, excellent pigmentation). I like the looks of this colour and I don’t have anything like this in my collection. It’s bronze, shimmery and beautiful with an amazing pigmentation! You only need the tiniest amount of it, but be careful of fallout as it can be a bit chalky.

Busted – taupe brown (semi matte, good pigmentation). I love my taupes and my browns, so I can’t tell you how happy I was to see this colour in the palette. It is definitely comparable to ‘Hustle’ from the old palette, except ‘Hustle’ had more purple undertones. I’m absolutely in love with this brown, and I’m really going to enjoy using ‘Busted’ to create some evening looks.

Blackout – black (matte, good pigmentation). Not much to say about this, except that it is really pigmented, comparable to MAC Carbon eyeshadow, and it feels like I’ve rubbed real charcoal on my skin. It’s the perfect basic matte black eyeshadow that everyone needs in their makeup collection!

The palette comes with an exclusive double-ended crease and shadow brush that says ‘Naked 2′ on the handle. How cool is that? I love the feel of the crease brush, and the bristles are sturdy and soft at the same time, which is great to give you more control over blending colours. The shadow brush looks like the same one that I got in my original Naked palette.

If the brush wasn’t enough, the Naked 2 also comes with a miniature Lip Junkie Lip Gloss in the shade ‘Naked’. which is a neutral pink shade. 

This is one of the best lip glosses I’ve ever tried! The formulation is thick, moisturising, non-sticky and it smells and tastes yummy. It is also really cooling on the lips and it has a plumping feeling, without it being too tingly.

Overall, I’m really happy with the Naked 2. The original Naked was a pretty big deal, and its sequel did not disappoint! I might even like the Naked 2 a little bit more (sorry original Naked!) just because it has a few more matte eyeshadows and because the actually palette feels more sturdy and secure.

The only downside is the hefty price tag. This palette costs £36, a pound more than the already expensive original Naked. Ouch! But if you ask me, it is totally worth the money.

Shop Urban Decay Naked Palette 2: UK – US

What do you think of the Naked 2? Are you disappointed or impressed? Do you prefer it over the original Naked? Leave a comment below :)

Au revoir!

Ysis