Original Nakedness

Hello everyone, 

A couple of weeks ago I went shopping with my housemate to restock her makeup bag, naturally I talked her into investigating the Urban Decay counter. She fell in love with the gorgeousness that is the Naked collection, it was inevitable. Being a brunette with a lovely rosy complexion, she suits quite different colours to me. We spent a lot of time umming and ahhing over which palette to get, it’s a tough choice Naked 1 or 2??

After lengthy deliberation, she went for the original Naked 1 palette. The packaging is quite different, it’s a deep brown velvet with gold, embossed lettering. Unlike the Naked 2 and 3 palettes which are tin palettes that snap shut. I’m not such a huge fan as it makes this palette less portable. The lid easily flips up and this could damage the shadows if they are in your handbag. However, it does look very smart and slightly more luxurious than the later palettes! 

As with all the Naked palettes there is a cute double ended brush, so useful! The 12 colours are quite neutral, cool tones ranging from very light to very dark. There is a nice mix of matte and shimmer colours in a fab range of creams, golds, browns and greys, as well as a couple of more pinky tones for good measure. This palette really would suit anyone, I feel like it would be incredibly versatile in terms of looks for different occasions. 

Left to right: Virgin, Sin, Naked, Sidecar, Buck, Half Baked, Smog, Darkhorse, Toasted, Hustle, Creep, Gunmetal 

So far she is loving it and really enjoying experimenting with different combos. The colours she is loving most are Darkhorse, Hustle and Gunmetal for a very smoky look and Sin, Half Baked and Toasted for a more neutral day to day look, but still keeping a lovely pop of shimmer. Sidecar is also a gorgeous sparkly, milky hot chocolate colour to sweep under your lower lashes to brighten your eyes.

Who else loves the Naked palette and what are your go to looks? Let me know in the comments :-) 

xoxo

Naked and Nudes

Hello everyone! 

I hope you're all enjoying this wintery Sunday by cosying up with a good book or movie! Today I thought I'd write about my new makeup palette from Urban Decay.

I have always been a fan of Urban Decay products, particularly their eyeshadows and eye pencils. When I was in London a couple of weeks ago, mainly to make the most of the January sales, I popped into Selfridges with my Mam because she needed a new Clinique Chubby Lipstick. While we were in there we started browsing the Urban Decay stand and she said that she would treat me to a new palette, don't I just have the most awesome Mam! :-) 

I'd been lusting after the Naked on the Run palette which has a bit of everything in it (bronzer, blush, mascara, powder, eyeshadows, lippy and eye pencil) as I thought it would be ideal for travelling, all I would need beyond the palette would be foundation and brushes! However, I didn't realise it was limited edition and they were out of stock *sigh*. I had heard rave reviews from friends and fellow bloggers about the other Naked palettes so I eyed them up. UD have just brought out a new Naked palette aimed at doing smoky eyes, so there are now four different palettes (Nakeds 1, 2, 3 and smoky). I'm not a huge fan of smoky eye looks on me, I have quite big eyes and I find that too much colour kind of makes me look like a cartoon bug! This means that Naked 1 and Naked Smoky aren't really for me, there are just too many dark colours in there for my skin and style. 

Being faired skinned and having red hair warmer tones tend to suit me better. Naked 2 has some very beautiful earthy colours that really caught my eye, but I thought they were a tad too cool toned for me. If you are fair with quite a few pinky tones to your skin then this is definitely the palette for you, but if you are like me and are extremely pale with tonnes of freckles and a more honey tone to your skin then I'd recommend going for some warmer toned pinky/nudey colours. 

From left to right - Stranger, Dust, Burnout, Limit, Buzz, Trick, Nooner, Liar, Factory, Mugshot, Darkside and Blackheart. I think Trick is my favourite!

Naked 3 has some gorgeous colours that suit me down to a T! (I have never understood that expression...oh well) I find that the subtle pinks and even the more plumb tones really make my eyes pop and my skin glow. In fact I have already established two favourite everyday looks. When I'm doing my eyeshadow I like to use three colours. For the first look I use Stranger, which is a matte beige, all over my lid, focusing on the inner corner, with a small amount going up to the brow bone to act as a highlighter (only put it very very lightly higher up otherwise you'll end up looking very startled!), followed by Burnout, a slightly shimmery dark nude, on the outer V and central lid and finally I use Liar, a rose hued taupe, for the crease then I blend. I also like to put a small amount of my darker colour under my bottom lashes from the outer corner to the centre. For a bit more sparkle I use the same technique but using some brighter colours, Strange (again - it really is a good highlight), Dust and Trick. Those tones are much more shimmery and have a rose/gold hue to them. 

Just some different lighting so you can see the shimmer better! 

I find the colour pay off from these is very good and definitely worth the money, when I do these looks at 7:30 am they still look the same at 6 pm. And, of course, the packaging is very luxurious and smart, I love the way the palette comes with a double ended brush with one thin end for application and a larger fluffier end for blending. My only quibble, which to some people could be a good thing, is that it does come with 4 primer samples, they are Original, Eden, Sin and Anti-aging. Why is this a bad thing? Well I used to have the UD Potion primer and I really did not get on with it, something about the formula just made my eyelids so dry and sore, I think I must be allergic to it and my eyes still won't tolerate UD primers very well...but don't let that put you off! I do have notoriously sensitive eyes, so you should give them a try and see if they suit your skin. 

Overall this is a gorgeous palette, but trust me to buy the one awkward one! If colours from the other Naked palettes run out you can buy them individually, but this is not the case for Naked 3. However, I think this palette is gorgeous enough that if I ran out, after using it extensively, it would be worth repurchasing! 

What do you guys think? Let me know in the comments below if you love this brand or know something better :-) 

xoxo