Urban Decay Naked Palette: A Review A Couple Years Later

The palette that started the whole neutral palette craze. They claim one is sold every 6 seconds. That's  a lot of palettes. And a lot of money Urban Decay is raking in. I've had mine a couple years now and reviewed each color separately not too long ago. Now that I've had it a couple years, I figured I would re-review it. Why not?

Urban Decay claims:

It’s the palette that revolutionized neutrals forever. Loaded with 12 bronze-hued shadows in an insane range of textures only Wende and our product development team could dream up—including matte, satin, shimmer and sparkle—Naked proves that neutral is anything but boring. From the palest champagne to the grittiest gunmetal, it’s all here. Whether you’re going for a laid-back, beachy vibe or black-tie drama, you’ll definitely look better Naked.Every shade features our Pigment Infusion System™, a vehicle for color that holds tightly to pigment and gives the formula its glide. The proprietary blend of ingredients allows color to weave itself through the Eyeshadow formula. What does all that mean? Insane color payout. Sparkle that doesn’t fall. Color that stays on your lids. And a velvety, suede-like smoothness and blendability.

The chocolaty velvet case is emblazoned with the word 'NAKED' in gold foil lettering. (Just wait 'til your friends see you pull this sexy thing out of your bag. Jealous!) The mirrored case also includes a professional-quality, cruelty-free double-ended shadow/blending brush AND an Eyeshadow Primer Potion sampler with resealable samples of ALL FOUR formulas (Original, Sin, Eden and Anti-Aging). Each sample holds about a week’s worth of Primer!

It comes with 12 full size shadows, a brush, and a primer potion (not sure if it still comes with the primer and the brush is a little different now) for $54. A regular eyeshadow will cost $19 from the regular line, so you are definitely getting a deal! I was lucky, my little sister bought mine for me as a birthday gift-Thanks Little Sister! I was so surprised and very grateful because this was definitely my first pricey palette  and it had been on my wish list awhile(besides the Urban Decay Black palette!).

The palette is mostly cool-toned with a couple of warmer shades, although most people might tell you differently. I think it depends on skin tone which way colors pull sometimes. 

Most of the shades are quite pigmented and I would say I get an average wear of around 4-6 hours or so before I see fading or creasing. Some a little sooner depending on the weather. A good primer should help though.

1. Virgin-Described by Urban as a Pale Beige Nude Satin. I would say it's more of a white champagne satin. Unfortunately shades like this are plentiful in palettes, and I don't get much use out of them. I've been using it as a highlight because I'm currently trying to use it up, but there are better shades out there for me to highlight with. I mix it with Naked in the palette to tone it down some. Probably works better on someone with a lighter skin-tone though. D

2. Sin- Urban describes it as champagne shimmer. I would agree, it has a hint of pink which is worth noting. Doesn't come across on my skin that way. It swatches a pink champagne but goes on my eye a golden champagne. Strange. It's an OK color. Nothing worth raving over for me. D

3. Naked- Urban describes it as a nude, I say it's a cool tan. The formula is excellent, the color is awful. I've been mixing it with Virgin as a brow highlight, but otherwise it's not a good color for me. No matter what I do. F

4.Sidecar- Urban describes this as beige with silver micro glitter. I'd say it's more a golden brown. And the GLITTER. Pretty color but I hate the FALL OUT. No matter what I do. I've been thinking of turning this one into nail polish.  C-

5. Buck- Urban says this one is a fawn brown. I would say it's a medium brown  that can have the tiniest hint of purple on the eye. One of my faves in the palette. Alone it looks exactly like the natural shadow my eyes naturally have. So perfect for the no makeup look. Or just to add in to blend out anything. Or just to pair with other shades as a crease color.  A+

6. Half-Baked- I avoided this for years thinking I hated yellow golds. But it has a hint of copper to it that makes it a lot more wearable than I thought originally. Summer must have.. A

7. Smog-  Urban calls this a deep coppery bronze. Definitely a deep warm bronze color and my absolute favorite shadow in the palette. It's my perfect one shadow and done, quick and easy eye look. I used it all the time until I realized I didn't want to use it up. Now it's on ration, because I don't want to buy the full size at $19. A++

8. Darkhorse- Urban describes it as a deep mocha. I would say it's a little more complex than that. It's a deep golden bronze. Sometimes the gold really shows through. I like it as an all over color. It's nice color but I wouldn't be too upset if I couldn't buy it again.  I'll enjoy what I have though. B

9. Toasted- Urban says this is the color of an shimmery antique penny. It's a mid-tone pink brown. I love the color in the pan, but it just doesn't do too much for me when I wear it. I've seen it took great on others though. I had high hopes for this one. C

10. Hustle- A deep purple brown. I have to be careful or it can get quite muddy. Works best as an all over lid shade for me and paired with dark matte brown shades from other palettes. B

11. Creep- A grayish black with multi-colored sparkles. Sparkles don't transfer much though. I prefer my blacks very dark and without the glitter. I could do without it. D+

12. Gunmetal- A dark blue grey shimmery shade. An odd color to include in so many bronze, beige, brown colors. I have another color similar that I like a lot more than this. I'm just not really a fan of it and it doesn't look that great on me. D

 The primer is OK, but I like the Too Faced primer better. And the brush sucks. It's usable, I just never liked it.

Oh yeah, almost forgot packaging. I like it. It's kind of velvety. And none of my shadows have ever broken and it's done it's fair share of traveling. I like it better than their other packaging on the other Naked palettes. 

Would I buy it again? No. There are some colors that I absolutely love and others that were fun to try but don't work as well for me as I would have liked. I love Buck, Half-baaked, and Smog. And I think Hustle and Dark Horse are OK if I'm careful with them. And I wish Sidecar didn't have glitter. The rest I straight up don't really like. 

This palette could also use a couple improvements. More matte shades would be nice. Some deeper matte browns in particular. And I would take out some of the cooler shades like Gunmetal and Creep. 

Although I am really glad I was able to own the legendary Naked palette, I wouldn't purchase again. If I did manage to use the entire palette I would probably want to try something new, like the Naked 3. Or possible the new matte palette. But then again looking at all the light shades, maybe not! For now I'll stick to rationing my favorite colors so I'll never run out.

While I probably wouldn't purchase it again, I can see why it was such a popular palette. I've seen some people that this palette looks amazing on. But of course that varies depending on your skin, eye, and hair color. I wish there was a warmer Naked Palette. With more oranges, browns, golds and matte shades.  Maybe Naked 4? Who knows!