Rant: Urban Decay Naked Line

Oh my god. I know I've talked about it before but I absolutely hate the Urban Decay Naked obsession. Now the Naked Smokey has come out and I'm (metaphorically) slamming my head into my vanity.

Seriously??? SERIOUSLY?!?! Another Naked palette. Does anyone else remember when Urban Decay was a makeup company that provided makeup to a more alternative clientele. I understand the need to branch out, really, I do. But in that they seem to have left their old customers behind.




Despite still using the tagline "beauty with an edge", there's such an obvious lack of "edge" in the new line of products. Almost everything in the past year or so sporting the name "Naked".

With the launch of the Revolution High-Colour lipgloss and Afterglow 8 Hour Powder Blush I thought that the company was starting to (re)broaden their horizons. I was let down of course when the Naked Smokey launched.

Please can we go back to the Urban Decay of the past, when palette's like the Deluxe shadow box, Fun palette, and Bamboo palette existed. To those of you insisting that you need to own four different palettes with muted nudes, great, you have it.

I can even appreciate the variety of nudes. It's a type of all inclusive collection that a lot of brands lack. What I don't appreciate is the complete focus on this line.

Urban Decay, please take a minute to look at a different business model. Too Faced cosmetics has become pretty much known for the Cocoa collection. And they do frequently release new products to that line. But at the same time, Too Faced is still releasing some very exciting Limited Edition products (Color Pop palette), new innovative products to their permanent line (Born This Way foundation), and spins on their old products (Metallic Melted Lipstick). As much as I used to ADORE Urban Decay, I've found myself drifting to other lines like Kat Von D, Too Faced, and even drugstore brands like Maybelline and Covergirl to get the kind of variety in makeup I've been looking for.

What are you thoughts? Are you getting fed up with the Naked obsession like me? Or are you a faithful lover of the endless neutral trend.

My Shameless Obsession With Urban Decay: The Electric Palette

So, remember my adventures in Sephora? I believe we had a moment like this:

Let me say it does describe that moment when I have to decide what to buy perfectly. My stomach drops, and my mind begins to calculate what I could have gotten instead. That's exactly how I felt on the way home from the mall the day I purchased the Electric Palette. The reason I did was simple; it was the weekend of the Vice LTD palette launching at Ulta, and I was hopeful that either there or Sephora would have a lonesome Vice 3 left... but of course they didn't. The next three hours was spent with my friend looking around aimlessly for something to fill the hole that the Vice 3 left in my heart. Two hours later I hadn't found something, and the only thing I knew I wanted was pink. My best friend (and most dangerous friend to be in a makeup store with) pointed at the Electric Palette for two reasons. 1) Pink! and 2) Sparkly/crazyness. Of course I've seen it before and always rolled my eyes because what a freaking worthless palette. What would I do with that? But we all know this ended with me purchasing it and walking out of the store with it. Regret happened again when I realized four of the colors couldn't be used on the eyes (or so I thought, check out the answer to the safety question in my next post). However, now I can't imagine living without it.

The Electric Palette

Year Sold- 2014 (still being sold)

Year Purchased- 2015

The Packaging- Pretty? Check. Sturdy? Check. Great mirror? Check. Basically I have no complaints about the packaging. It's much sleeker than any other Urban Decay palettes I own, and has the most sturdy closer of them all. This palette has a magnetic closure, which I normally feel can come a bit loose, but this is one of those super magnets like you used in middle school science class. Yeah, it's that awesome.

Swatches and Color Reviews!

Revolt- When I can say a super shimmer metallic

silver is the most boring color in the palette

you know you've done something right.

Revolt is a very smooth, silver color that can be 

layered over a color to make that color

metallic, or layered several times over 

itself to make a very opaque silver.

Gonzo- Bright electric blue matte shadow

with light blue sparkles. It's got the same texture

as my favorite Urban Decay mattes.

Slowburn*- Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. I have

not used this color on my eyes yet but I've swatched

it over and over and I really want to use this in a sunset

eye. This isn't a matte shadow but ti seems to have

the texture of one, making me think that rather 

than a satin finish it just has many micro glitters.

Savage*- My favorite shadow in this palette 

and it's why I bought it! Matte pink deliciousness.

Fringe- This actually honestly just reminds me of

Deep End, meaning it's the third teal I own, I don't

wear many teal eyeshadows 

Chaos-

I'm pretty positive this color is called chaos because

of the chaos it's causing in my mind. TARDIS BLUE

EYE SHADOW OKAY?!? Fangirl moment over, this

is pretty legitimately a great true royal blue. 

Thrash- When describing this color casually I will

refer to it as the "ugly yellow green", but I mean that 

in the most loving way because I love this perfect

acid green. I don't know how I'm going to be able to 

use it but it's a green/yellow with gold sparkles

and a satin type finish.

Freak- TINKERBELL GREEN. The Disney obsessed

girl in me loves this. I can honestly relate every single

color in this palette to a fandom and it would fit perfectly.

Freak is... freaky. Previous pictures probably showcase

my green walls, green stuffed animals, maybe green

clothes, because I love green and I love this pastel

green with a satin finish.

  

Comment if you remember this commercial.

Urban*- Wanna know how I feel about this? See above gif.

It is the purpley-est purple to ever purple with a gorgeous

satin finish. It has more of a pink/red undertone

than a blue undertone and holy cow! Purple!

Jilted*- Pinky-purple! It's seriously like a neon version of 

Fishnet which I have come to love even more in the last week.

It has a satin finish with a slight hint of shimmer. Yay!

*These products are not approved for use in the immediate eye area by the FDA.

Over all, I didn't think I would ever use it and I thought the people that would dish out $49 on a palette with this kind of color scheme. Now I can't imagine being without it. 10/10 DO recommend.

Disclaimer: This isn't sponsor. Urban Decay doesn't know me. And I don't own any of the rights to Peter Pan or Tinkerbell.

My Shameless Obsession With Urban Decay: The Smoked Palette

The second palette I paid for by Urban Decay, and the second palette I did not pay full price for. I'm not sure what deal I happened upon that made it only 16 dollars, but considering it retailed for 40, it had to happen. To be totally honest I've never done an eye look with this palette, and I really only see me using it for special occasions, like if I do makeup for prom this year. But it was good to have in the collection and in conjunction with other things, it's still a good purchase.

The Smoked Palette

Year sold-2014

Year purchased- 2014

The packaging- Something feels very dark and sleek and mature about this palette. Which I think is the point. As discussed with the Fun palette I freaking adore the zipped cases Urban Decay puts out. They are really travel friends, durable, and convenient. The outside is an odd almost sleeping bag textured fabric, which makes my skin crawl if I run anything even slightly dry across it, but I don't find that it marks up or stains easily. This palette also came with a full size 24/7 Glide On eye liner and a travel sized Urban Decay Primer Potion, but those are both in a drawer somewhere.

Swatches and Color Reviews!

Kink- Let me just say right now that I love

how Urban Decay does mattes. Normally

these shadows would not be as soft and 

would be more chalk. The color of this shadow

itself is truly beautiful though. It is the

perfect highlight for the browbone

and inner corner of the eyes and is

a soft cream color.

Freestyle- A perfect color for blending out harsh edges.

Smokey eyes are all about soft lines. This tan color

is great for eliminating sudden stops between colors

and the skin.

Mushroom- I feel like this color is a lot

more usable than I let it be. It's a shimmery

taupe with a gorgeous almost metallic 

finish.

Backdoor- A grey/brown matte color. I don't

find it to be as smooth and buttery as my other

Urban Decay mattes, in fact it's a bit chalky.

Blackout- So. Much. Yes. Matte black for life. This

is the absolute best matte black eye shadow. Urban 

Decay hypes up their Perversion eye shadow as the

blackest black but I've swatched that in store and I

own this and they really should just say Blackout

falls under that category. This picture doesn't do

it justice at all.

Barlust- Someone needs to write love songs about

this color. The pigmentation is amazing. The shade

is perfection. The texture is the bomb dot com. It's

a red toned brown, like a richer version of Toasted.

Rockstar- Meh. It's a "purple". Another color that

isn't my dream purple. One day it will happen. 

Because this is a smokey palette all the colors 

are very toned down, but I do wish this was brighter.

Evidence- Yeah this is a really nice blue. I realize

I just complained about the lack of excitement 

I feel from these colors but I find this blue to be

very nice and subtle but it also shows up as blue

where I don't feel like Rockstar does.

Loaded- This green is also a nicer green than

what is in the picture. It's very mossy with a

Satin finish. 

Asphalt- This is kinda a perfect name for this

color. It's a dark brown/grey with rainbow

micro glitters. I really do enjoy this color.

Over all it's a great palette and I purchased it not only for my collection but because it really did have some great staple colors that I will use for different occasions.

Disclaimer: Do I even need to put a disclaimer for this series anymore? Probably not. I'm not sponsored. UD doesn't know me.

My Shameless Obsession With Urban Decay: Pulp Fiction Palette

We've come to the first Urban Decay product that I actually bought myself. I spent the two months of my blog eyeing this palette. It went on sale sometime around then for half of its original price, and while 16 dollars for an limited edition UD palette is a steal, I had Christmas presents to buy other people, and so I moved on. I was pleasantly surprised in late December, the palette was still available and on sale! Not only was it on sale, but it's sale price was on sale! I managed to pick up this baby for an extra 20% off. My patience paid off and I only paid $12.80 for this gorgeous palette. Sorry for the enthusiasm but I have been waiting months to gush about this. Great sales are how I (and I'm sure most other makeup lovers) justify my addiction.

Pulp Fiction Palette

Year Sold- 2014

Year Purchased- 2014

What the original palette looked like.

Packaging- Okay I love this in a million different ways. First of all I obviously love the Pulp Fiction quote, the logo, and the embossed UD is pretty dang nifty, okay? Okay. Also, this thing is sturdy as heck. I know cardboard can be kinda an iffy thing for some people but you know what? I've sat on this palette. Meaning it can take a whole lot of pressure and still look fine. The mirror on the inside is perfect and that little brush? Perfect. I see this as a travel palette, and I'm not the only person to liken the type of shades to the Naked basics palette. Christine discusses the similarities here.

Swatches and Color Reviews!

All swatches done without primer.

Righteous- First let's talk shadow quality. All of 
the shadows in this palette are crazy creamy, but 
I'm much more excited about this particular color's
consistency because it can be hard to find a matte that 

isn't powdery. As for the color, it is a cream color with a

 yellow/peach undertone. The picture seems to cancel 

out that peach note, but it's there.

Tyranny- This color is really unfortunately too orange
for me. It's a pretty color and I definitely will still wear
it but I'm not a big fan of warm toned eye shadows, and
will definitely choose Urban Decay's Naked over this.
It has the same smooth consistency and is a matte
finish as well.

Vengeance- Now this color I love. It's much cooler than
Tyranny and has a satin finish, which is always nice.
I love that the browns in this palette have an almost
ombre thing going on. Makes achieving a very natural
look so easy!

Anger- Black, Sparkly, better pigmentation and texture
than Urban Decay Creep but no where near Blackout.
I do like that it has a bit of sparkle but not glitters.

Furious- This is the prettiest white color I own okay???
It's a very pearlescent white with a cool undertone.
As you can see my forearm is basically the same color
white so all you can see are the shimmers but I think
this is the perfect color for the inner corners of the eyes.

There must have been some sort of manufacture error because I just realized that Furious is supposed to be over top of Anger in my palette, which would make it much easier to not get the white muddied with the black. Oh well, I guess that just makes this limited edition even more limited edition! Over all I like this palette, though I may not use it all that often thanks to my love for the bold. I'm definitely glad I have it in my collection for those days I feel like doing a 'my face but better' look. Plus who can resist something based off the beauty of this fabulous woman?

Disclaimer: Urban Decay doesn't know who I am. I mean I really wish they did. Seriously. But they don't. This post is not sponsored by anyone. 

5 Dupes for Urban Decay's Naked Line

Here's my problem with the Naked line. It's dupable. So so easily dupable. Almost every single cosmetic company has a version of the Urban Decay product you may have your eye on. This makes me sad because rather than taking the next logical step and moving on to something that you aren't seeing everywhere, Urban Decay seemed to spend their whole 2014 year promoting this line, and as 2015 rolls in that trend has continued with an even larger expansion on the Naked line. We get it, we're supposed to try to fool people into thinking that your cheeks are that perfect shade of coral, your cheek bones sparkle, and your eyelids are perfectly rose gold. Absolutely naked face. No one is fooled but still...

So please, I'm praying that in 2015 we'll be moving on, and there'll be more exciting and inspiring products to come. Below are 5 dupes to popular products that further prove the "Naked" craze needs to find it's way out (in my opinion). Leave the neutrals to basically just about everyone else, Urban Decay. 

5. Urban Decay Naked/Too Faced Chocolate Bar

4. Urban Decay Naked 2/Too Faced Natural Eyes

3. Urban Decay Naked 3/Lorac Unzipped

2. Urban Decay Naked Flushed/Sleek Makeup Face Form

1. Urban Decay Naked Skin Liquid Foundation/L'Oreal True Match Lumi Foundation

Disclaimer: I'm not sponsored by anyone. Unfortunately. How do we make that thing happen? 

Comment below and let me know how you feel about the Urban Decay Naked line?     

My Shameless Obsession With Urban Decay: The Fun Palette

When I was little, I was completely desperate to wear makeup. So much so that I used to sneak little smudges of eyeliner or smears of mascara on my lashes to see if I could get away with it. The answer is, I could not. Finally, I hit the magic number of 13, and I was allowed to wear simple eyeliner, mascara, and lip gloss. It wasn't until 14 that I really wanted to wear more than that. We went to the Sephora store inside of JCPenny's and let the lady at my face. Unwrapping wasn't really a surprise, except for one item. I received my first Urban Decay palette. And it allllllll went downhill from there. Through the years I've collected a slightly ridiculous amount of Urban Decay (particularly in the past year), and was at a loss for new blog posts. Which is how this big week of swatches, reviews, and general rambling came about. We'll start from my oldest palette to my most recent.

The Fun Palette

Year Sold- 2012
Year Received- 2012

What the brand new palette looked like

Packaging- As far as packaging goes, I love the zipped Urban Decay palettes. A lot of people don't like them but I find them superior for traveling. In the two or so years I've had this palette I've dropped it, stepped on it (yes, stepped on it), and brought it with me on every single vacation I've been on, meaning it's been through being thrown around and absolutely crushed. Yes, the mirror has broken, that was the side effect of stepping on it. However, putting a hundred lbs. worth of pressure on it didn't bust or break any of the eye shadows. I'm pretty sad I lost the lip gloss to this (pretty positive it got left in a hotel room in Amsterdam), because the Lip Junkie gloss was absolutely gorgeous. I'm even considering buying the full size version. Another really cool thing about this palette in particular is you can remove the whole block of eye shadows and use the case as a clutch.