Naked Again

 

My Mum usually buys me practical gifts for my birthday but this year Lee was in her ear and advised that this might just be the only thing I'd want. He was right. I have been remarkably restrained  to not have rushed out and bought it before now as I absolutely could not wait for it to launch but I have been trying to save my pennies to spend in Vegas and with my birthday approaching I thought it best to 'wait and see'.. it paid off.. yay!

Ok so...

The palette is comprised of 12 neutral (duh) shades from the pale base shade of Foxy to the incredibly pigmented Blackout. Having worked for the company some time ago I was tipped off there was to be a sequel to the naked. I was understandably giddy and now I have it I'm pleased to see some of my old favourites are in there...Chopper, YDK and Half Baked (the only repeat from the first Naked).. all fabulous golden tones. I also like that they've kept two matte shades, I'm wearing tease today in my crease over my foxy base and loving the simplicity. The whole palette is encased in a tin and the lid opens to reveal a huge mirror and a double ended shadow/crease brush. You also get a bonus mini lip Junkie gloss in Naked - how appropriate.

Now on to the swatches.. I always love this part...

And now of course I would be remiss if I wasn't to compare the new Naked with the original. I read/watched a LOT of reviews and comparisons and the general consensus is that the new Naked is generally cooler toned which I would agree with but I can see more to it than that. 

On the whole the palette offers a variety of paler shades and unfortunately in my opinion those that aren't repromotes are not the quality I'm used to from Urban Decay. They lack the payoff and longevity I would expect. They're still very nice don't get me wrong but the brand has set the bar high and I was disappointed with the new shades in this set. The packaging.. well, what can I say? I loved the original chocolate box velour but yes its looks beaten up after a year and a half so I guess the tin is an improvement and I do love the full sized in-lid mirror. When the Naked was first released in 2010 it was produced with a double ended 24/7 liner, it was said liner that made it the must have item that nobody could get hold of. The manufacture of the pencils was difficult and slow and so eventually they replaced the liner with a shadow brush. Many loved the amendment.. I'm glad I got the pencil. In the new palette they've created a new double ended brush (I appreciate the symmetry) and I think it's a lot more appropriate. I'm a huge fan of blending and with just this 'one' brush you can lay down a base, define your crease and under your eyes and blend blend blend. Love it!Lastly this is one of the only UD palettes I've known come without  primer and I for one miss it. It comes instead with a mini Lip Junkie lipgloss - Naked of course! I am already a fan of these, love the cooling, tingly sensation and they smell deliciously like After Eights so I've made my peace with the missing primer. It doesn't give a lot of colour but it will make a nice handbag gloss to jazz up what ever lipstick I'm wearing.

When you compare the two side by side I have to say I think I still prefer the original palette, there's more depth and I've loved it for so long it's hard to replace it with something new. I do like the new one and I'm sure it will also get a lot of use but I would have liked to see some deeper shades. 

Do I Need Both?

 So many bloggers have remained on the fence about this but I'm going to put myself out there and say YES! If you are a neutrals girl (or boy..hey.. it's 2012) I think so... They are very very different so yes it is nice to have both and what I do like about my new addition is that between them I now have a neutral range that spans the palest nude to the darkest black.

Available online and in store at Debenhams now

£36.00 (link)

There's something very beautiful about an untouched eyeshadow.. you almost don't want to use it!

I said ALMOST!

Miss BB

Something Naked This Way Comes

At the start of 2011 I was working for Urban Decay and we were told there was going to be a Naked 2 in the fall. They said it would be in a tin and that was all we were allowed to know so when the 15th anniversary palette was released I thought perhaps they were talking about that. I assumed they were expecting to be as popular as the Naked. I was mightily disappointed that we weren't going to get an actual new Naked.. until this morning. I've never had a more exciting reading list appear in front of me! 

Now I didn't want to go pinching pictures from those lucky few that have the palette in their possession so I will point you in the direction of Charlotte at Lipglossiping who has some fab up-close shots and promises swatches later today (can't wait) here's the link to her review post. I love that it's in the same format as the first Naked but it's in a wipe-clan tin. Much as I thought the chocolate box velvety finish looked great on the first it's not worn well over time. There's also a useful double ended eyeshadow brush included at launch as opposed to the double ended pencil that was so hard to manufacture and made the first palette so tricky to get hold of until they replaced it with a shadow brush. Lastly the mirror is the size of the whole lid so more usable and rather than the mini primer potion that is usually included with UD's sets they've put in a mini Lip Junkie Lipgloss.. I can tell you these smell and taste delicious.. nothing like the disgusting pocket rockets (eugh) So that's a nice to have.

I have no idea the price point or the uk launch date but rest assured as soon as I do, you will!

This is one item I will be rushing to the shops for, how about you?

MissBB

Too Faced - Natural Eye Palette

This is the first Too Faced palette I've bought and I didn't know what to expect. I always considered them to be Urban Decays poorer sibling. It seems to be they bring out very similar products that just aren't quite as good but cost more money. Anyone else get that impression? Anyway.. I was pleasantly surprised by this little box of shadows so I thought I'd share some swatches with you. I know it's been out an age already so it's hardly breaking news but for those of you still wondering here are some swatches and my take on the product.

When you get it opened up you see that in a similar way to Urban Decays Book Of Shadows the bulk of the product is wasted packaging. There's a tiny "drawer" in the front that houses a dual-ended applicator of no use to anyone and in the lid there's a pull out section with "how to" cards which is a nice detail. It is unfortunately missing a mirror which is disappointing and makes it not so great for travel but if it's going to live on your vanity then a mirror is wasted anyway! As with all of the Too Faced shadow collections there are 3 rows of colours offering 3 different looks each with a base, a highlight and a crease shade. This totally takes the hassle out of your everyday eyes which I think makes this a great little package. I really like the design they've used on these collections and I think I'll be purchasing some of the others.

Top Row Swatches - "Day"

Middle Row Swatches - "Classic"

Bottom Row Swatches - "Fashion"

I favour the Classic row for everyday with a little of the Cocoa Puff from the Fashion row and the Velvet Revolver from the Day row. I love my neutrals and all but for the crazy yellow gold Honey Pot this is a really useable, beautiful palette for everyday eyes. I wouldn't swap it for my beloved Naked palette but it's definitely a valued addition to my collection.

In the above photo I'm wearing colours from the Classic row. Silk Teddy, which I have all over my lid and highlighting the inner corner is the stand out shade for me.

Do you have this? What's your most used shadow?

MUA Pro Heaven & Earth

Firstly let me start by saying I LOVE this palette. It may just be the best £4 I ever spent.

I'll get the formalities out of the way now, you can buy this from MUA Pro exclusively at Superdug here and if you're a tweeter like myself you can follow MUA here

This particular palette goes in and out of stock frequently so if you want it and you see it in store or online grab it 'cause you just never know when you might get your hands on it again. One thing I would say about MUA is that unlike other brands they haven't increased their prices as their popularity has risen which I hope they stick with because it's what's made E.L.F a household name in the states and I'd love to see them accomplish that kind of success and branch out in to that kind of product range. for us Brits.

Anywho... on to what I came here for..

I intend on making a series of tutorials with this and other palettes from MUA so if you have any requests please leave me a comment and they will be considered before I film the next one. I will also be doing some direct comparisons with the Naked palette which should be fun. For now I thought I'd show you my go-to everyday look I've been sporting recently. It's just a really basic, contoured eye. I thought I'd start simple and work up to the more elaborate, creative tutorials.

Check back for the video here when it's live!!!

I got NAKED!!!

Omg you guys I have wanted this palette soooo long and now I have it :)))

yay!

so..

here a few pictures...

How cute is the packaging?!

Its wasn't obvious to me in videos that the palette in actually like a velour type material and the letters are embossed in a kind of gold leatherette.. it's so cute and looks really luxe.. just hope I can keep it looking nice and not bust it up like most things I have... fingers crossed!

How gorgeous is this palette?! I mean reeeaally gorgoeus!

I wanted to post swatches on here, I think it's easier to see on my blog than on a video.. you can really see them all against the shades on the palette and against each other.

Right now I'm favouring sidecar and smogged as a cute bronze smokey combo but I know naked and buck will maked their way into every day eye rotation and LOVE half baked... it's maybe the prettiest colour in the palette.

Toasted is a really nice rose gold kina colour and gunmetal is really different, it's a matte glitter which I've not come across before, there's no shimmer in the powder at all!

I have come across the fallout problem that many people report with Urband Decay shadows because of how dense and packed with glitter they are ... but I'm sure using the primer and a shadow shaper will fix that. It's probably something I'll perfect over time. In the mean time I will be staying away from super glittery shadows for work when I don't have time to redo my base LOL.

So let me know what you guys think and if you have it yourself let me know your first thoughts, what are your favourite combos etc? I'd love to hear from you, also check out my Urban Decay NYC book of shadows III blog post and video.. in all honesty I don't now which palette I was more excited about but friday night.. I was a LUCKY GIRL!! :D x

xoxo

miss bb

Naked Palette Dupes...

Hi Guys!

Firstly thanks for all the kind and supportive message from everyone regarding the harsh hater comments left on formspring yesterday. It really means a lot that you guys would go out of your way to be outrgaed on my behalf lol.. Shows a united front to these people!!
Anywho, on to the swatching, I'd like to take this time to remind you AGAIN that this is NOT MY ARM!!!
It's a loaner arm for the purpose of swatching... my arm was already covered in swatches from me trying to find the right colours as I went a long, Hope you like the post and here's the link to the blog I found the original swatches from and tried to match up to (sometimes unsuccessfully I know)
http://www.vampyvarnish.com/2010/07/31/urban-decay-naked-palette-swatches-review/
This is my budget way of obtaining the unobtainable Naked Palette!!!

and here are the products I used

The toughest thing I found when finding dupes for Urban Decay colours (ever) is finding shimmers as highly pigmented! the closest I cam to any really great dupes I feel were the sahdes I had as kind of loose pigments.. very few of the pressed shadows gave the same kind of depth of colour you get from the UD palette.
So... I guess I still really do "need" the palette after all, but for the time being this excercise has at least refreshed my memory to some of the fabulous neutral shades I already own and maybe that will quench my beauty thirst... for now.

Miss BB