BEAUTY // Urban Decay: Naked Smoky

Hello!

Man, my blog has been pretty beauty inspired recently. After working for a couple of months I feel like I can finally spend money again and with deals here, there and everywhere, keeping my purse strings tight is very difficult right now.

Anyway, today's post involves a new #myprecious in the form of the new Urban Decay palette. I had one look at this palette and knew it needed to be mine. I was going to get the Naked 1 but decided that was far too similar to the 2 (which I already own - see review here) and when Feel Unique were offering £10 off when you spend £30 I couldn't buy this fast enough. For £28 I am very, very happy with this palette! £38 is just too much for me - that's the price of a fancy dress (which I may have just bought from ASOS - oops!).

This palette is very different from it's predecessors. Rather than going from light to dark, which is useful but doesn't particularly help when it comes to which shadows you can pair together without looking like a clown, it appears to come in the form of three quads. There is a wonderful mix of satins, mattes and micro-glitters that can be mixed to create looks to get you through every day to the red carpet.

High, a champagne-shimmer with micro-glitter, is hands down my favourite shade. I don't like a glitter but this eyeshadow is so silky and pigmented and doesn't have a major fall out issue either. Combust is a little warm toned for me and wouldn't move it further than the crease but Thirteen is a fabulous highlighter. There a few other shades such as Password and Armour which I think need a mention. They aren't quite as useful but lovely, lovely shades.

There are 9 brand new shades as well as three brought in from other (non-Naked) palettes so, if like me, you have only jumped onto the Naked bandwagon you don't need to worry about having duplicates. They seem to be a lot less shimmery and metallic than the Naked 2 (and apparently other Naked palettes) due to being designed for, you guessed it, a smoky eye. They are a little lighter but they still blend effortlessly to get a complex look for a lot less effort than it looks.

I won't lie to you, I was a little upset that this palette doesn't come with the primer testers. They were such a lovely touch in the Naked 2/3 and made me want the primer so bad. However, the lovely lot at UD did include a little information book to help you get the most out of the palette. I tried two of the looks and found they were just too much for my little eyes so will probably steer clear of their full tutorials. Three different eyeshadows in the crease? Just how?!

I will mention the packaging, full plastic with a magnetic closure, which is beautiful. This is sitting on my dressing table with pride. I love the tortoiseshell look and matching brush. The brush is different to prior palettes. I find it harder to work with and will probably use the other brush more. It has a massive tapered end for applying base colours and then a smudging brush for more precise application. I cannot get used to the tapered end - it's too big for my eyes!

Overall, I am really pleased I have this palette. It's pretty, has totally wearable colours and only cost me £28. I'm glad I didn't spend the £38 because that is crazy money but I am super glad I have it. Sure, it's not as usable as the earlier offers but is completely different and so deserves a place in my make up collection.

Do you have your paws on the Urban Decay Naked smoky yet? What are your favourite looks from it? Let me know!