Tried & Loved - Urban Decay - Naked 2 Palette

[Left to Right: Foxy, Half Baked, Bootycall, Chopper, Tease - in natural light]

[Left to right: Snakebite, Suspect, Pistol, Verve, YDK, Busted, Blackout - in natural light]

The Naked 2 palette from Urban Decay is the follow up the ever popular Naked palette which was first released in 2010 (it still sells out on Beauty Bay all the time!). Being such a fan of the original Naked palette this was something I couldn't pass up on buying too, and I'm glad that I did. 

The Urban Decay brand is something you might not have heard of before if you're from Australia as, unfortunately for us, it's not stocked in any shops here! Quite a shame really as I've loved everything I've tried from them so far. The Naked palette is definitely my most used eye shadow palette and I'll review that one soon too. :) I am a frequent beauty blog lurker though and ever since hearing the rave reviews about the Naked palette I have been trying to get my hands on more from the Urban Decay brand. Luckily for me, I came across a stockist that ships to Australia - Beauty Bay! 

The Naked 2 Palette is described on the Urban Decay website as: 

"The most anticipated sequel of the decade. Naked2 has 12 pigment-rich, taupe and greige neutral eyeshadows, including FIVE NEW shades. 

Our palette proves once again, neutral is anything but boring, (and is downright sexy when worn Naked). Feast your eyes on our shades ranging from pale to deep, matte to sparkly. This collection lets you achieve lots of neutral looks, smoky dramatic eyes, and everything in between. Let's just say there's a whole new way to get Naked! 

The case has an art-school inspired look with hinged lid - taupe metal with embossed chocolate brown artwork. It's smooth, modern and cool to the touch - a real tactile experience. Plus, our palette also features a travel-size Lip Junkie Lipgloss in Naked, AND a double-ended, cruelty-free Good Karma Shadow/Crease Brush (available only in this palette). Any self-respecting makeup lover will have to have both palettes to get their complete neutral fix!"

The colours in this palette as swatched above are: 

• Blackout - Blackest black with matte finish.
• Booty Call - Shimmering cork.
• Busted - Deep brown shimmer.
• Chopper - Copper shimmer with silver micro glitter.
• Foxy - Cream bisque with matte finish.
• Half Baked - Golden bronze shimmer.
• Pistol - Light grey/brown shimmer.
• Snakebite - Dark metallic bronze shimmer.
• Suspect - Pale golden beige shimmer.
• Tease - Creamy pale brown with a matte finish.
• Verve - Oyster shimmer.
• YDK - Cool bronze metallic shimmer.
• Travel sized Lip Junkie Lip Gloss in Naked - Sheer neutral pink shimmer.
• Good Karma Shadow/Crease brush - exclusive to Naked Palette 2.

As you can see in the swatches above, there really is a nice range of colours and finishes in this palette. I feel like more of these colours are on the bright metallic side than the original Naked Palette, so this is a palette that I use more so when I am going out instead of as an every day palette, but for me that's a good thing. There's more than enough variety than I could ever really need in 2 simple palettes! 

Unfortunately for me, on my pale skin some of these colours really don't show much at all, so the colours 'Foxy' and 'Bootycall' (aren't the names sassy! haha) don't really get any use for me personally, and that also means I don't really have many light base colours to work with once they're eliminated - that's my only gripe with this palette I think. What I'm left with is perfect for smoky eye looks though or sultry shimmery peepers. 

I think the original Naked palette has a better combination of colours that easily work together. With that palette you can literally use any colour as a base, and any colour as a contrast and it will look amazing, with this one I feel like I have to think about it a bit more, but the end results are usually still great. 

The eye shadow itself is super pigmented, smooth, and a little goes a long way with blending. The swatches above were from a single swipe of colour with my finger, impressive yes? Some of the colours that have more glitter in them can be a little bit soft, so be careful and watch for a little fall out with those (Chopper, Verve and YDK especially, as you can see above). I have had my palette for at least 6 months now though and I'm not even close to using any of the colours up as the product is so pigmented that you really don't need to load your brush up to get good colour pay off. This palette will last me for years, so it's definitely a great investment. 

I find that with a primer the colour of this will stay perfectly all day long without creasing, and without primer it's almost just as good. I've often applied my eye makeup early Friday morning before work, and still had it perfect and ready to go for dinner and a night out straight from the office that night!  

The brush that comes with the palette is really good quality, and I often use the flat end to apply my base colour, then the round end to blend where required. If I needed to I think I could do a whole eye look with just this brush which makes it great for travel, but I've never had to so far as I love my normal eye brushes so much I take them with me everywhere. :P 

The packaging is really sturdy without being too heavy and the top clips into place with the base meaning it won't fall open in your bag. I've taken this travelling with me a few times now, and even dropped it once or twice (oops!) and haven't had any colours break or run over into each other.  It's a bit of a strange finish being made of a soft metal, and I'm still not sure that I love it, but it's super easy to keep clean and sturdy for travel and storage so no complaints here. It's just not really pretty which I think more of my other palette's are. 

I haven't pictured the lip gloss that comes with this palette, but I absolutely LOVE it. It has a bit of a minty feeling when you apply it and the colour is quite nice on my lips. It's quite sticky on the lips which some people may not like, but it lasts forever which is not the case with most lip glosses. I've applied this before bed and still had it on my lips in the morning! It's tiny though and I always lose it in my bag, and there's no spot to keep it in or with your palette so it gets a little lost for me. I think I might look at purchasing a full size version of the gloss so it gets a bit more use, and less left in the bottom of my bag alone. 

In the picture below I've just used shades from this palette along with a liquid eye liner to create this look. I can't remember the exact shades I used as it might have been a bit of a mish mash, sorry about that. But you might be able to work the colours out from the swatches above. 

Overall I am super happy with this palette and this along with the original Naked palette is pretty much all I use for all my eye looks now. 12 shades is a lot to play with, and for a beginner it's a great way to start building your eye shadow collection with quality pigmented eye-shadows without it costing too much. Or as a bit of a collector like myself, I find it's an easy way to have quality colours that I know will work together well all in one palette.

As I said earlier, I use this more for bolder eye looks, and not as much for every day, but that's not to say you couldn't use it as every day eye shadows as well, I just prefer the original Naked palette for that purpose. If I had to pick, I'd still pick the original Naked palette as a first preference, and have even gifted it to my friends because I love it so much I want to share the love. 

I purchased this palette from Beauty Bay for $59.20 and free postage for Australia. If you think about it, that's just under $5 for each colour. The single Urban Decay eye shadows sell for around $20 each so this is a perfect way to test a large slab of their range for a quarter or the price!  The Beauty Bay site stocks most of the Urban Decay range including the original Naked palette and is the only site I've found so far that will ship it to Australia, and free! I can't wait to try more from this brand, and I've definitely got my eye on the new Smoked Palette for smoky eye looks. 

Have you tried the Naked or Naked 2 Palette? What's your favourite Urban Decay product? Have you heard of this brand before today? x