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Tuesday 1 October 2013

Review: Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette

Rather than have an entire post dedicated to the fact that I've been M.I.A for the best part of two months I decided to jump in with a big ol' review and have just a smidge of exposition as an introduction...

I am officially now a resident of LONDON! I'm at the University of Westminster and am a whole week into my BA Journalism. I've been a total whirlwind of emotion and activity recently and it's so good to finally sit down and just breathe. Right up until the moment I left my little East Midlands town I was working as an Assistant Manager at Coral. I was literally doing 40-45 hour weeks in a desperate attempt to save as much money as possible for university and whilst it has really helped me financially, pretty much everything else fell by the wayside. I hardly saw my boyfriend or my family and organising and packing was left until the last minute (much the aforementioned boyfriend's irritation.) Needless to say I all but abandoned my little corner of the internet and it's looking very sorry for itself at the minute. But! I have a ton of time to myself now so I shall be getting creative with my new frugal student lifestyle and start producing some fun content in the very near future.
But for now...


As a celebration of my new freedom and the beginning of what should be the best time of my life I decided to take a wander to the Debenhams on Oxford Street to see some Urban Decay products in real life, something I'd never been able to do before. In a total contradiction to my insistence that I wasn't going to be spending any money I ended up walking out with the truly lovely Naked Basics Palette. Shout-out to Rickie who served me at the Urban Decay counter as you were super sweet and helpful. Go you.


First things first, I do love the packaging and presentation of this palette. It's neat, sleek and a great size for just slinging in your bag for top-ups during the day. The design and colours are sophisticated, grown-up and seem ideal for a whole host of simple, neutral looks. 


I genuinely wanted to adore this. I mean I spent £20 on it! But I think I may have expected a bit too much. No matter how I tried, I just couldn't get the pigmentation I'd seen elsewhere in my swatches. I don't think the variation between colours is great enough and the fall out is substantial in the darker colours. 


The above is a single, dry swipe on clean, bare skin without primer. I found that the shades could be built up with two or three heavy swipes but that's not how I usually do my swatches and I wanted a fair representation of what I was actually getting. Don't get me wrong, this is by no means a bad product. The pigmentation is fair and I think with a really good primer I could get a much better colour pay-off. However, I personally feel that when it comes to £20 for six shades, I shouldn't need to buy a great primer just to get the shade in the pan. The fact that these are matte shades (bar Venus which has a light shimmer) was always going to mean that they were a little dryer but I still can't help but be a touch disappointed.

It's not all doom and gloom though, as I say, these can be built up to produce better pigmentation and they do work well on the lid. They blend easily and the shade range means that you can pretty much put anything together and it won't look ridiculous. They're ideal for a range of daytime looks and the deliciously dark Crave can smoke out any look for a gorgeous night transition (but do have some tissues/wipes on hand to deal with fall out!) These also wear extremely well, no creasing or migration and easily 8+ hours of wear so they're ideal for a busy working day.


Final Verdict: A compact, neutral palette that may require a bit more effort than expected. Great if you're looking specifically for more matte shadows, but by no means essential.

I would LOVE some advice about how to work with this palette and please let me know if I'm doing anything wrong! What did you think of the Basics? Do you agree that it may have been a touch over-hyped and therefore a touch disappointing like me?

Lauren

26 comments:

  1. I ordered this palette the day it was released, and I loved the colors a lot, I just don't find my self grabbing for it too often lol. I do love it though, and I really think I should start using it some more! :)

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    1. I'd wanted it for the longest time! Wish the swatches were a bit more pigmented but still such a great selection of daytime neutrals :)

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  2. LAUREN!!! So happy to see a blog post from you... you've been missed! I'm glad to hear that things are going well in life for you though and that you've gotten settled in at University and whatnot :) Enjoy it while it lasts (you're making me feel old hahah)!
    Anyways I'm with you in thinking this product is overhyped. The colors are just FAR too similar to justify the price... they end up blending to look the same so what's the point? I've swatched this palette many times in Sephora expecting all of the wonderful things bloggers praise it for but each time I'm left sorely disappointed and glad to keep the extra cash in my wallet.

    ♥Cassie
    thriftthick.blogspot.com

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    1. Aww you're so lovely! Yeah I'm really enjoying it :) already nervous about the workload though D: I've been out of education for two years so it's hard to get back into the habit of academic reading and writing :/
      I know right! I so wanted to love this and whilst it is nice and it's great to have some mattes in my collection I just wanted that little extra push of brilliance! And it was so expensive, sobsob. Ah well, I'll still get a lot of use out of it I think :) x

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  3. Congrats on your move, hope you do well)))
    This palette intrigues me as Naked and #2 does, but I know that I won't wear these colors a lot(( Still I metally beat myself that I didn't buy anything from UD when it was available at local Boots and I had lots of money ><
    It's a good palette to get lots of wear out of it.

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    1. Thank you :) yeah I know what you mean :/ I should have bought the original Vice when I had a chance! Now I really want the second one and can't really justify the price :'( boo
      Hope so :) x

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  4. I've missed you in the blogging world!

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    1. awwh thank you! :) I've missed it too. Still been reading your posts though :P x

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  5. I love this palette and find Faint a great colour for filling in my browsl! :)

    egtx3.blogspot.co.uk
    xo

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    1. ooh thats a good idea :) I use the MUA similar colour in the undressed palette atm but I'll try faint too :) x

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  6. Congrats on your move and surviving your first few weeks at uni! I'm lusting after this palette, but I'm not so keen after reading this. The swatches look terrible and have no colour pay off x

    fabheadtotoe.blogspot.co.uk

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    1. Thanks lovely! :)
      arghhh I was really in two minds about it. You can build them up with a few layers and a primer but I just didn't wanna misrepresent them yaknow? Swatches are awkward! x

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  7. If you can get Sonia Kashuk across the pond, you should get the 'Eye On Neutral' palette! It's all mattes, some of which are dupes of this, and you get 12 shades. I know I sound like a commercial but it's really a great palette, and although it's a little powdery, I think the pigmentation (and price) is better than the Naked Basics.

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    1. I've actually been looking at Sonia Kashuk for a while! it's pretty difficult to get hold of here but I've heard some great things. Thank you for the recommendation :) x

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  8. I'm stuck on whether to get this or a bigger palette for christmas - definately getting the bigger one after reading this! xo

    zofia xo
    littlemisspradaxo.blogspot.co.uk

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    1. I would have to agree! I still kinda want the naked palette. Just not sure how to feel about urban decay's mattes any more! x

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  9. Welcome back! Great review! I might have to try the very cheap MUA Matte Palette first then see if this would be worth it xx

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    1. Thank you beautiful! I really like the mua palette! I use the darker matte shade for my brows :) the pigmentation is fantastic for the price. Such a good value product. x

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  10. I've wanted this since it was released! Still haven't managed to get my hands on it yet :-(
    Jasmine | www.ohso-flawless.com

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    1. It's a bit expensive for what it is really :/ wish I'd seen more swatches like mine, probably wouldn't have bought it :( x

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  11. Ahhh sooo pretty!!!

    hannahthefresher.blogspot.co.uk

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    1. it really is! shame about the pigmentation x

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  12. Yayyy you are now a Londoner, lets go shopping!! Great review, this palette didn't really catch my attention as I find the Urban decay Matte shades so hard to use! I think for me it's because I have darker skin so they just don't show up! I have to really pile it on, and after a couple of hours it wil be gone. Kind of defeats the point of subtle make-up.

    http://mylushbox.blogspot.co.uk/
    xx

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    1. haha! I'd love to :) I have to agree, the lighter shades are so similar too :/ and they do have a tendency to blend into nothingness. x

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  13. This palette looks awesome, especially the black. I've nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award.

    Hannah x

    madeupintimeandspace.blogspot.com

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