Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette Swatches and Quick Review

Following on the success of their Naked Palette, Urban Decay has released their Naked2 Palette and it is now available in the UK. I bought mine on Friday night and it arrived in the post this morning. I've had a quick look and swatched it for you all, but I have not had time to use any of the eyeshadows yet (except those that are permanent or repromotes, but not from this palette anyway).

My first impression is that I like it, some shades more than others. My favourite is the right half of the palette, in particular Suspect, Pistol, Verve and YDK, they all seem well pigmented and smooth, and the colours are lovely. Foxy (first one from the left) is a very hard to see skin tone shade, pretty unremarkable, Bootycall (third one from the left) is a nicer highlighting shade. Half Baked is included in this as well as the Naked Palette which is totally unnecessary. All in all it's not a bad palette and if you don't have many neutral shadows, this might just be exactly what you need. There are some mattes included and some rather shimmery, frosty shades too. There's also a Lip Junkie gloss included which is pretty nice, it has a minty scent and sweet taste, and lasts well on the lips, but colourwise it mostly just adds shine as it's quite pale. I have not used the included double ended brush.

The palette is exclusively available online from Debenhams, but it will hit the stores in February I believe. It costs £36 and you get 12 good sized eyeshadows, the mini gloss and the double ended brush. Not a bad deal at all. Also Debenhams are giving 500 bonus points to their Beauty Club Card holders at the moment (that's £5 worth!) with orders over £30. Have you ordered it yet? Are you planning to? Let me know!

See lots more pictures and swatches after the jump!

Stila In The Light Naturaleyes Eyeshadow Palette Swatches and Review

It seems every brand is coming out of their version of Urban Decay's Naked Palette and today I have Stila's Naturaleyes (why one word?) palette to show you. I bought this online a couple of months ago for £22.50, but literally days later I noticed that it had gone up to £25. I'm glad I managed to snatch it up for less. :)

You get 10 eyeshadows, 4 matte and 6 shimmery ones. The colour selection is really good, you get a couple of highlighter shades, and as well as lots of neutrals, you also get grey and black, so you can create a nice smoky eye as well. All of them swatched nicely, and I'm sporting a look today I did with 3 of the matte eyeshadows and they applied and blended easily and their colour payoff is very good too. You also get a smudgestick included which I'm also wearing and it has stayed put on my waterline for hours now (6 hours and counting). It's a plumy colour, so less harsh than black, but still dark enough. You also have a small booklet with ideas for looks included which is a nice idea.

My only complaint about this palette is that you don't get a mirror in the lid, instead you have some quote from someone I don't know that I quite frankly could do without. I feel that at this price and considering that this palette is supposed to be a portable, contain all you need for your neutral looks, it really really should have a mirror.

Other than that I am really happy with it and I think it's a nice alternative to Urban Decay's Naked Palette. It's also quite a bit smaller, so should be easier to carry with you, if only it had a mirror too... The palette cost £25 and you get 14 g eyeshadows and 0.28 g eyeliner.

See lots more pictures including swatches after the jump!

My Urban Decay Eyeshadow Palette and Eyeshadow Singles Stash

After reviewing Urban Decay's Rollergirl palette, I thought I'd show you my entire stash of Urban Decay eyeshadows: palettes and singles alike. I love Urban Decay's eyeshadows, they are one of my favourites, they are usually great quality, come in loads of gorgeous colours and while the singles are pretty pricey at £13 each (£14 for Deluxe eyeshadows and £15 for Stardust eyeshadows), the palettes are always very good value. Although once you have a massive collection like mine, it's not always worth picking up the palettes as there are a lot of duplicates (I didn't get any of the 3 new palettes: Fun, Feminine and Dangerous due to duplicates). Mind you though, the new 15 year anniversary palette is most definitely worth picking up as it includes 15 brands new eyeshadows! I will definitely review that for you once I have it.  

My entire Urban Decay eyeshadow stash

Anyway, enough with all the talk, have a look at the details instead! Sorry no swatches this time due to the number of items, but I have reviewed a few of these before. Some of my singles were swatched here, Vegan palette here, my Stardust eyeshadows here and Rollergirl palette here.

See pictures of all my eyeshadow palettes and singles after the jump!

Cool smoky eyed look featuring Mac Tartan Tale lips

I created this look using some of the shades from Urban Decay's Naked Palette and the new Mac Tartan Tale Happily Ever After lip kit. I know some of you might be wondering how on earth you create a grey smoky eye from the neutral Naked Palette, but it does have some darker shades including Gunmetal and Creep.

For this look I used:

Face:

Guerlain Meteorites Perles primer

Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid Foundation

Chantecaille White Tiger pressed powder

Mac Dollymix powder blush

Eyes:

Urban Decay Primer Potion

Urban Decay Gunmetal eyeshadow (Naked Palette) all over lid
Urban Decay Creep eyeshadow (Naked Palette) in crease

Urban Decay Vorpal (S&M) eyeshadow (Alice in Wonderland BOS) inner corner and above crease

Urban Decay Uzi eyeshadow (UD Heart NYC BOS) inner corner and above crease

Mac Frozen White Pigment inner corner and below browbone

Urban Decay Gunmetal 24/7 eyeliner on lower lashline

Boots No 7 Extreme Length mascara in black

Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Lips:

Mac Happily Ever After lip kit: Cheers All Around lipstick and Endless Fun lipglass

See more pictures after the jump!

My HUGE Urban Decay haul and Vegan palette review

Urban Decay HAD to release 4 palettes at the same time, and I HAD to buy all of them didn't I? :) Even though I wasn't even planning on buying the Black Palette and was undecided about the Naked Palette, I ended up buying them too. The Black Palette because it looked really great in person and there was a 3 for 2 offer in Boots when I went to check it out (I got a free blush - which reminds me I should have included the two blushes in this review too, but forgot, never mind, next time). The Naked Palette because - I admit - gave into the craze and there was a 10% off offer, so I snatched it up. It's pretty, but I'm not a neutral kinda girl and I actually have about 7-8 of the shades already, but there are a few shades that I do really love (Virgin, Sin, Toasted, Hustle, Gunmetal), so I figured I might as well get it. As you know I'd already got the UD Hearts NYC Book of Shadows a little while ago (reviewed it here) and I really wanted to Vegan Palette as it's super pretty - even if I already have most of the eyeshadows in it, so I am now one happy bunny. :) And one thing's for sure: I will NEVER run out of Zero eyeliner! :) I also purchased the new 24/7 eyeliner pencil in Eldorado which is a new full size shade (it was featured in one of the sets last year, but it was a teeny tiny size and I really love it, so wanted to full size one as well) and got a free Big Fatty Mascara sample with my purchase. (As I mentioned earlier I also got two of the Afterglow blushes: Quickie and Score when I bought the Black Palette, I'll try to review them soon.) So here they all are: See LOTS more pictures and swatches of the Vegan Palette after the jump!

Urban Decay Naked palette now available on debenhams.com!

And not only that, there is 10% off all cosmetics and free delivery, so if you've wanted to pick up this palette, but haven't done it yet, now is the time! Also available are the new Vegan palette and Black palette, so if you love Urban Decay, head over to debenhams.com and stock up on these lovely palettes! Edited to add: Unfortunately the Naked palette is now sold out, but do not fear, it is a permanent item, so will be available again soon for sure.