Review: Urban Decay Naked Smoky Eyeshadow Palette

Smoky eyes? Yes please! Seriously, who doesn't love dramatic, dark, smoky eyes? 

Today's review will be on the long awaited Urban Decay Naked Smoky eyeshadow palette! It is something all makeup enthusiast would get.

Should you get the Naked Smoky palette? We'll see what the hype is all about, and whether it is something every girl should purchase. I am so excited to do a review on this, and there will be color swatches too!

Let's take a look...


Description

Urban Decay packed this Smoky Naked Palette with a dozen sultry, smoky neutrals, including nine never-before-seen shades and three exclusives from past palettes. Experiment with warm bronzes, dimensional grays, rich browns, gorgeous taupes and deep black. From mattes and satins to shades with sparkle, Naked Smoky Palette has it all. Check out the product page on Sephora here


Ingredients

All eyeshadows feature almost all basic ingredients such as Talc and Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride. For a full list of ingredients for each individual color, please check out the Urban Decay website here


Price

RM 199.00 from Sephora Malaysia. The palette contains 12 colors, so its RM 16.58 per color.


Packaging

The eyeshadow palette comes in a grey cardboard packaging. Simple, nothing fancy, with the brand and product name printed on the front side.

On the under side of the box, a short product description is printed along with a visual of the color shades the palette contains.

The Naked Smoky case itself is very sleek. It measures the same size as all previous Naked 1, Naked 2 and Naked 3 palettes.

I'm not exactly sure what material the case is made of, but it certainly feels like acrylic or perspex. The case design features a cool floating smoke effect, with "Naked Smoky" engraved in gunmetal foil.

The case doesn't have any latches or clasps. It is held together a magnetic closure. Super easy to open. No more fumbling with an eyeshadow case! No need to use extra strength to open a case (I'm looking at you Sleek palettes!)

Each palette comes with a full-sized mirror. Oh yeah, every Naked palette always comes with a double-ended Urban Decay eyeshadow brush. Easy to get Naked whenever the urge strikes!


Review

Urban Decay Naked Smoky is a palette with 12 smoky neutral eyeshadows. These shadows range from warm bronzes, dimensional greys, gorgeous taupes and a rich black color. It is a mixture of matte, satin and shimmery shades.

Take a look at the swatches below:

Color:

Naked Smoky colors description. What you see is what you get!

High - Champagne shimmer with micro-glitter
Dirty Sweet - Medium bronze
Radar - Metallic taupe with micro-glitter
Armor - Metallic silver-taupe with sparkle
Slanted - Light metallic grey
Dagger - Medium charcoal with shimmer
Black Market - Jet-black satin
Smolder - Deep plum-taupe
Password - Cool taupe matte
Whiskey - Rich brown matte
Combust - Soft pink taupe
Thirteen - Light beige satin

A great balance of satin, shimmer and matte shades. This could be the perfect all-in-one palette for smoky eyes. I could definitely build many smoky eye makeup looks with these shadows.

Black Market is definitely very dark and pigmented. With that said, I do wish Black Market was a matte shade instead of satin. But I guess I can't have everything to my liking. For a super black matte color, I'd stick back to MAC's Carbon eyeshadow.

Pigmentation and Texture:
Each shade in the palette features Urban Decay's Pigment Infusion System, their own proprietary blend of ingredients. This is why Naked palettes are so well-loved by makeup enthusiasts. Every shade has a velvety texture. The colors look so alluring and rich on my eyes.

Blendability:
It is super easy blending each color. I usually go with a combination of matte + shimmer shadows. Colors always look even with very minimal effort of blending. I have never experienced patchy or blotchy application before.

I use my own fluffy eyeshadow blush for application and blending. Frankly, I've never used any of the brushes that came with each Naked palette, but I'm sure those will work just fine.

Staying Power:
I have somewhat oily eyelids. My eye makeup will start to fade after 6 hours of application without a primer. Which is why eye primers are a must for me! I can't imagine the horror of dark eyeshadows smudging without a primer.

This "Staying Power" test was done with my E.L.F. Mineral Eye Primer, on my usual day to work. Naked Smoky eyeshadows stayed on perfectly for a good 10 hours from 9am - 7pm. I honestly do not know how long these will stay on without a primer.


Pros

• Versatile range of eyeshadow colors
• Beautiful palette case
• High quality and good texture
• Easy to blend, great for beginners
• Good staying power
• Pigmented colors, what you see is what you get

Cons

• Price might be too expensive for some people
• Similar shades can be found on dupe palettes
• There are some shades I won't be using often

Final Verdict

Is the Urban Decay Naked Smoky palette a worthwhile investment? It is to me. Although I can find similar colors from cheaper palettes, the quality and texture of those shadows will never be on par with Naked eyeshadows. It may be called Naked Smoky, but the palette has such a versatile range of neutral colors. I can always skip the darker shades for a light and simple makeup look.

Should you get a Naked palette? The price is definitely on the higher end side at RM 199.00, and I know I will not use certain shades as often as the others (such as Password and Thirteen). That being said, I still feel the Naked Smoky palette is a worthwhile investment.

I used Combust, Dirty Sweet, Smolder and Black Market in the pictures below:

- Crystal