Urban Decay - Naked Basics Palette

Nude matte eyeshadow palette by Urban Decay

The Naked Basics palette is the highly blogged about matte nude neutrals palette that has rightfully earned its HG status amongst many beauty bloggers. It is my go-to palette for everything from an everyday nude eye to a dramatic smoky eye look.

It is the newest palette in the Naked series from Urban Decay and although it is the first travel size palette in the Naked range it is not the first travel size that Urban Decay have produced. Although it contains half the amount of eyeshadows than its two predecessor palettes, its 6 eyeshadows are still in full size shadow pans, so you get the same amount of each shadow, there is just a smaller choice of shades, which may or may not be a bad thing.

The Naked Basics palette is exactly what it says in its name - the Basics. It contains the basic nude shades to create many a sought after eye look; a beautiful nude to go with a bright lip, or a daring and dramatic smoky eye to go with a nude lip. It can be used for looks for any and every occasion, from your high school prom to just a normal day in the office. It is a perfect basis for those that are starting out with makeup – (albeit an expensive one), but also for those more established with makeup that just want a handy little palette to take on nights out.

For me, this palette is exactly what I needed, wanted and expected when I bought it. It is the only palette in my collection because the shades work so beautifully together and on their own. However, though it may be at the centre of my cosmetics collection, I have some problems with it… the packaging gets dirty quite easily – though this is easily cleaned off … the shadows don’t seem to last much longer than 2-3 hours without a good eyeshadow primer beneath them – though this may just be my skin and they may last differently on others’… I still don’t use all the shades – who’d have thought it, they halve the shades and I STILL don’t use them all – but I suppose this could be a good thing!

Packaging-wise, it is the perfect size for handbags, it is sleek, has a suede-like feel to it and is even a matte colour itself. It has its name embossed on the front and the overall look and feel of it is luxurious. Oh, plus, it has a handy little mirror on the inside of the lid… but no applicator brush like the full-size Naked palettes have.

Despite being half the size of its predecessors, it has a lot of product - it has lasted me a good 4 months so far having used it every day… here’s  some of the ways I use it –

•  For an everyday nude look I use Naked 2 (taupe matte) as a base and dab Venus (semi-matte off white)in the corner of my eyelid and brush Faint (dusty brown matte) on the crease of my eyelid.
• For a night-time smoky eye look I use Faint as my base, brush W.O.S (light nude matte) in the corner of my eyelid and sweep Crave (dark brown/black matte) over the outer edge of my eyelid.

Overall – I have spent 4 happy months with this beautiful little palette as my eyeshadow essential and have found very few negative aspects to it. The price tag is a little high admittedly; I bought this for myself as a treat and would not have bought it if I had not heard all the hype about it around the time I bought it (when it was first released). The eyeshadows apply smoothly and last a reasonably long time without primer and a good deal longer with primer. The packaging is beautiful and my happiness with this product led me to buy more Urban Decay products which I will review sometime in the near future.

This  palette costs £20 and can be found in Debenhams, House of Fraser and at many online retailers.
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