Nude Dungeoneering! The Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette Review

Greetings from safely behind the cleric’s Turn Undead spell, fellow rogues!

Funny thing: despite Urban Decay being one of my favourite brands ever, and its products featuring (one way or another) in quite a lot of my posts, I don’t actually have that many dedicated reviews. I think the only one is the review of their (excellent) Venom lipstick, and I’ve decided that needs to be rectified. I may not be at the forefront of their latest releases, but I think there’s always room for a rogue’s perspective on any kitbag staple, right? Of course there is 😀 So without further ado, I bring you (slightly infested with the risen dead), The Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette!

Cap’n Skelzor and his crew were trying to figure out what ‘Naked’ meant (and why there were two of them) when we happened on the scene…

I’ll get this out of the way early: I have a special fondness for Urban Decay because of how accessible they make their products to (in my case) NZ consumers despite having no stores or regular stockists here. Sure, you have to use a parcel forwarding service (NZ Post’s You Shop or the American one suggested by UD), but the total for buying and shipping a Naked 2 palette to New Zealand (mildly dependent on exchange rate) is , in my experience, ~NZ$75. US readers may choke on their campfire rations a bit, but people who buy them and resell them here usually want ~NZ$110 (plus shipping) for a Naked palette, so you can see the maths works out well in my favour to go with UD directly. There are other websites around, but I’m never entirely sure of the authenticity of the product. Anyway, babbling aside, I just wanted to say thanks to UD for making their stuff accessible here at the ends of the earth, at the US price. I much prefer that to the usual model of opening a store/counter here and doubling (or tripling, MAC?) the prices!

Cap’n Skelzor’s motley crew, shortly before the Cleric went all Turn Undead on their a-… ischia?

Anyway, on with the actual review…

Right! For anyone who’s just come up from an extended expedition into the Underdark, the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette is a sturdily metal-tinned offering that contains twelve neutral toned eyeshadows (four matte and eight shimmery). The colours run the gamut from pale matte yellow, through metallic copper, taupe and warm silver to deep matte black. The palette is supposed to be ‘the cool-toned one’ of the three Nakeds – this is most definitely a relative term, however, as many of the shades are warm. Overall, though, I can see where the ‘cool’ idea is coming from. The palette also comes with a double ended brush (lid+blending – nice to have but kind of scratchy) and a mini lipgloss that I found way too minty/plumping and instantly misplaced (I think the paladin ‘liberated’ it, actually – he’s been looking extra pouty for a while now…).

Finally! Cap’n Skelzor and crew have the chest open. Now they’re arguing about what you’re supposed to do with the contents, since they lack eyelids.

Okay, I think I’ve kept you in suspense for long enough – I know your day isn’t complete without seeing swatches on my phosphorescently white forearm, so here we go, from left to right in the palette:

First round! As you can see, Foxy is nearly invisible on me, and Bootycall’s shimmer is the only thing saving it from the same fate on my phosporescent…phorearm. You know, I actually had to dangle my arm down and let the blood pool in it to even make enough contrast between my skin and Foxy for what little you see in the top picture! 😀

Foxy is a matte, cream yellow shade. It’s smooth and non-chalky, but obviously doesn’t stand out against my skintone. I usually use this for highlighting the inner corner or blending in the upper edge of a bolder shade near my browbone.

Half Baked is a fabulous medium gold. The payoff is incredible and the shine made the rest of the party start looking at me funny and asking where the treasure was (it’s always the rogue they suspect – not like we spend our lives disarming traps for them or anything, hmph!).

Bootycall is a lightly shimmery pale peachy pink sort of colour. Like Foxy, this one is nearly invisible on my skin when blended, so makes a great inner corner/browbone blender highlighter, or a cheek highlighter!

Chopper is a warm pink copper. Its pigmentation and standout qualities are similar to those of Half Baked – rich, opaque and shimmery. (used here!)

Still taking advantage of the arm dangling trick to get better contrast on these 😉 My photo skills may be fledgling, but having only daylight for your setup and a glow-in-the-light-or-dark skintone doesn’t help…

Tease is a matte…heathery taupey brown? It’s sort of hard to describe, but it’s smooth and buttery and works well as a crease shade or soft smoky liner. (used here!)

Snakebite is a warm/cool shade. On the one hand, it’s a coolish dark brown, but then it has what I’d sort of call rosegold shimmer. The net effect is to make it a warm shimmery brown, but it’s technically more complicated than that.

Suspect is a softly shimmering tan. This one is nice as a crease shade or liner when I’m going for a really neutral, natural look.

Pistol is a gunmetal grey shimmer. Great for smoky eyes or lining!

And the last four! No, I do not make a soft generator like humming in direct sunlight, no matter what that sniggering druid told you…

Verve is a pale silvery shimmer that almost has a kind of ‘faded antique rose’ note to it. Very pretty, and has the texture and pigmentation of Half Baked and Chopper. (Used here!)

YDK is a warm pinkish brown copper – next to it, Chopper looks positively orange! Once again, we see the Half Baked effect in terms of texture and pigmentation. This one is both a great crease shade to Chopper’s lid colour, and a standalone beauty. (used here!)

Busted is a cool dark brown with what almost seems like fine plum shimmer in it. It’s not supposed to be that specifically, I think, but in the pan it always has a more purple tone to it than I imagine it should…

Blackout is a solid matte black. The pigmentation could possibly be slightly more intense, but it’s a solid colour in terms of application, blending etc. You can see it most definitely in action here in my rogue look!

I take My Naked 2 palette on all my travels with me – its secure packaging and versatile nature make up for the little bit of extra weight, and the shadows don’t crease (even after two hours of nice sweaty ballet/catacomb clearing). They last until I choose to take them off, and if I use the UD primer potion with them, then, well, I haven’t found out how long they last yet because I don’t sleep in my makeup. Two daggers up from this rogue!

What do you think, fellow adventurers? Is the Naked 2 a favourite neutral palette of yours? Or is there another treasure out there you prefer? 😀

 The Verdict:  Despite the warmth of some of its shades, you really can’t go wrong with the UD Naked 2 palette if you’re a cool-toned vampire (or anyone else, really). If you don’t own a lot of eyeshadow, it gives you a really great selection of useful colours, both matte and shimmery. The payoff is excellent, the longevity is great (with or without primer, in my experience) and you get a troll-load of eyeshadow for the price (especially if you’re in Middle Earth). The packaging is sturdy and the brush is…functional if rather scratchy. If you don’t already own a lot of neutrals, I would say definitely check this one out!

The practicalities: The Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette costs USD 52.00 each for 12 x 0.05 oz /12 x 1.3 g, is permanent, and may be acquired from http://www.urbandecaycosmetics.com. If you’re not in the US, they have a parcel forwarding service that they recommend, and if you’re in NZ, you can use YouShop from NZ Post to get a US shipping address. Importantly, there’s NO requirement to have a US billing address or credit card, which is usually where things go wrong for non-US consumers. Yay! 😀

Until next time, fellow adventurers, don’t forget to check for traps!

Syl

I am an adventuring rogue, not a mercenary for hire, and as such, all opinions expressed here are my own, based on a genuine fondness for/interest in this product. If you have any queries or suggestions, please do not hesitate to pin your parchment to the board (contact me) at thepaintedrogue [at] gmail [dot] com., or use the contact form provided! All images and text on this blog are the property of The Painted Rogue unless otherwise stated. If you nick off with any of it, be prepared to find a dagger in your back. Possibly with a legal troll attached to it. You don’t even want to *know* what he powders that wig with.