Urban Decay Naked Basics Eyeshadow Palette - Review and Swatches

I apologize for the lack of posts recently. I have just been feeling a little uninspired lately for a few reasons. One, I have been doing a lot of overtime lately at work so I have been pooped. Second, my allergies have been bad for the last few weeks so I have been wearing little to no eye makeup. My eyes have been so itchy! Third, all of the products that I have been trying lately have been so middle of the road, it isn't funny. What I mean by that is that I have neither loved them nor hated them. The UD Naked Basics palette is one of them.

From left to right the colours are Venus, Foxy, W.O.S., Naked 2, Faint and Crave. Here are two pictures in two different lights for you.

A lot of bloggers have suggested that this palette is an excellent compliment to the Naked palette and the Naked 2 palette. I see their point and I would have to agree. This palette is basically matte and the Naked and Naked 2 palettes are mostly frosts and shimmers. I am not a boring blah brown eye makeup gal most of the time. Needless to say, I can therefore not get too excited about this palette. This retails in Sephora for $27 U.S. and $32 Canadian.

First of all, I really like the packaging. It is small and compact. The case is sturdy and the outside plastic has a cool texture. The inside looks bit cheap though. The mirror is a good size. This would be perfect for travelling or throwing into your purse. That being said, there are only so many looks you can get out of this palette. I quickly got bored with this.

Venus is a great highlight colour and has decent pigmentation. I am not so keen on Foxy as it is kind of yellow and that is not my thing. W.O.S. is a nice nude shade with a pink undertone but it, like Foxy, does not have the best pigmentation. I find myself repeatedly applying both to get it to show up on my eyelid. Naked 2 is a very nice cool beige - it reminds me of a mix of MAC's Malt and Wedge. I just wish it was more pigmented but it is buildable which is good. Faint is really nice. It is a good basic medium brown but it is a bit warmer than I would like. I think most people will like this colour. Finally, Crave is the best of them all. An awesome smoky black. Crave has great pigmentation and is easy to work with.

The swatches are as follows: Venus, Foxy, W.O.S., Naked 2, Faint and Crave

 

 

I will use this palette. I don't think I will reach for it all that often, but I will use it as all of the colours are useful. I think I am likely to pull it out and pack it when I go away overnight for work. That being said, I have a million dupes for each colour in here. Many of my dupes are better than the colours in this palette! Because I love the Naked palettes so much, I had to buy this and try it. I got sucked in the way most people did. I did resist for awhile as I knew from reading other bloggers posts on this that all of these colours are easily duped and let's face it, the colours are nothing to get excited about. It was the makeup collector in me that finally decided to make the purchase.

 

If you aren't a makeup collector like myself or if you are on a budget, don't waste your money on this. I beg of you to resist! This isn't a bad palette like I said, it is just nothing to get excited about. If you own very little makeup and you want to start building your collection I would say maybe consider buying this. You can likely do better for cheaper though with another similar palette elsewhere. I used birthday gift cards to buy this myself.

 

Packaging: 8.5/10 (cheap inside keeps it from being a 10) 

Pigmentation: 5/10 (Foxy and W.O.S are pathetic and Naked 2 is subpar)
Easy to Work With: 7/10 (Foxy and W.O.S are pathetic) 
Longevity: 9/10 (stays on and stays put) 
Colour Stays True: 9/10
Texture: 7/10
Price: 8/10
Ingredients: 8/10
Travel Worthy: 10/10
Attractiveness of Product: 6/10 (Foxy and W.O.S are pathetic)
Would I buy this again? No 
Overall Rating: 7/10