Urban Decay Naked Heat Palette: Swatches and Review

Urban Decay has released yet another palette in their now infamous 'Naked' line of products. This palette, titled 'Naked Heat' boasts flaming oranges, burnt reds, and ashy purples to fall in line with the warm toned trend.

 The packaging mimics its predecessor: the Naked Smoky palette--a nice hard and practical plastic which is easy to clean with a magnetic closure for a satisfying 'snap!' upon closing.
This palette comes housed in a cardboard which slides out to emulate a match box with an image inside revealing an inspiration for the palette's color theory:

 And then we get to the palette itself. The name Naked Heat is stamped on the plastic in a shiny gold. This scratches off easily, but otherwise the pretty plastic is easy to wipe clean and is sturdy for travel. There is really nice plastic detailing housed under the lettering along with warm colors mirroring the shadows housed inside. All in all, a very aesthetically pleasing palette!

 And now for the colors! Like the burning match series of images inside the packaging, the colors get darker in shade as your eye goes from left to right. There are a nice mix of satins, mattes, and shimmers with enough hues for a complete eye look.

 The shadows are all quite smooth with little powdery kick up. The only color I had to work slightly hard to swatch is 'Lumbre,' but after I've used and worked with the color a bit and gotten the first layer of hard compacted pigment out of the way, the color is easier to work with.

 The matte red and purple with deep warm browns were really what drew me into this palette. Orangey tones are complementary to blue eyes so I knew this palette would really compliment me without leaning tooooo red or pink giving me the appearance of illness or a bad case of conjunctivitis.

And here we are all swatched. Something I will say about this palette is it is very easy to go VERY orange with your eye look the second you pop any of the shimmers onto your lid. While this makes a very pretty look (Lumbre spread all over the lid and buffed out and blown out into the crease is the perfect one stop shop eye look) I'd caution someone looking for a nice nude look to steer away from this palette. The darker mattes are very pigmented and buildable and blendable. While not creamy smooth like how some prefer, I think this makes them easier to blend without getting too muddy. Caution with the mattes: overblending can cause them to not be easily distinguishable from one another so take care. The lightest shade Ounce is a brilliantly pigmented wash of satin and I think a real standout in this palette. The lighter mattes (He Devil, Chaser, Sauced, and Low Blow) are warm toned and I think a nice addition to anyone without a hugely substantial warm eyeshadow collection. I've really enjoyed this palette thus far.

If you are okay with experimenting and trying something a little different than your typical neutral brown look, this is one step away from a plain neutral eye while still remaining in the realm of work place appropriate.
Stay to the far left and right for your more neutral eye looks and then dip into the middle area to spice it up (or should I say, HEAT things up?....someone please stop me.).

This palette can be found on Sephora's web site, direct from Urban Decay, and from Ulta!
The palette is sold for $54 for 12 shades at 0.6oz of product total.

Let me know your thoughts on this nice addition to the Naked line!

xxSJ

Naked 3 Review

Review: Sephora Favorites Give Me Some Lip

Sephora comes out with these value kits every couple of months, it seems! I was excited to try this lip kit out as it comes with 1 full size product and very neutral shades. Here are my thoughts on this little box of goodies!

The little box comes with the deluxe samples inside. The Smashbox lipgloss is actually a full size product! 

From left to right: 

Smashbox Be Legendary lip gloss in 'Pout'

Bite Beauty 'Meritage'

Marc Jacobs Lust for Lacquer in 'Kissability'

Buxom Full On Lip Cream in 'White Russian'

NARS 'Orgasm'

Urban Decay Revolution lipstick 'Naked'

Swatched on my lips are in the same order (upper left, upper right, middle left...etc) as the list above and swatches on my arm.

My favorite product out of the bunch was the BITE lip pencil in 'Meritage.'  I found the color to be very flattering and the pencil to be extremely hydrating and lovely to wear. The color wore off after about 5 hours of wear (including eating and drinking) and wore off in a flattering way. I also REALLY enjoyed the Urban Decay Revolution lipstick in 'Naked.' It was a bit heavier than the BITE pencil but had a longer wear time. The color is quite a neutral pretty pink.

As for the glosses, I really enjoyed the Buxom lip cream. This lip gloss is a lip plumper so it has a very minty and cool feeling on the lips followed by a tingly sensation.  The color is nice on top of other lipstick, otherwise it is not noticeable on bare lips. I also enjoy NARS 'Orgasm' in the summer and spring for an easy breezy look. This gloss has some pigment to it so need to layer this product up.

As far as misses, I really don't see myself wearing the light Smashbox color. Though nice the product is full size, I think that it is too milky and rather unflattering on me. The Marc Jacobs gloss also barely showed up at all even though the little tube looks like it is packed with glitter. Such a disappointment!

Anyhow, this kit was $25 and I do recommend trying these kits out when they come out at Sephora if one or two products in the kit interest you. They are a great way to try out some products for a steal.

xxSJ

Light Brown: Comparing Transition Shades

A transition shade is a color you place in and a bit above the crease of your eyelid to make blending easier and the transition between all your eyeshadows smoother. The most popular transition shade is a matte light brown color. That being said, there are SO many to choose from and so many that are proclaimed 'must-have' colors by makeup gurus and companies. With so many to choose from you'd think picking one would be easy but wading through all the choices can be a tad daunting! I thought I'd share all the matte light browns I have to give you an idea of how more popular ones compare and my thoughts on some of my faves!

Let's get started from left to right! First up are the two matte browns from the Naked 1 palette, Naked and Buck. These colors are great because they layer beautifully on top of one another, meaning you can dip your brush in both of these, buff them into your crease and effortlessly add some great dimension to your eye look. MAC's Soft Brown is the next color and is a great shade if you're looking for a warmer brown that leans peach. It is really similar to Makeup Geek's Creme Brulee and Stila's Wit (from Eyes are the Window 'Mind' palette).  I like these colors if I'm going for a warmer eye look. I think they all perform comparably to one another though I prefer MAC's Soft Brown slightly because I think it is slightly less powdery and blends with other colors a bit better because of its satiny feel.  Next I have the NARS eyeshadow duo in 'Portobello.' These colors are SO amazingly buttery and soft and yet don't kick up a bunch of product when you dip your brush in or are blending them. The color on the left is unique as it has a bit of green in it and the color on the right in the duo is so rich and adds gorgeous depth to any eye look. I highly recommend this little compact if you're looking for some unique and gorgeous colors for your collection that you can get a TON of use out of. Lastly I have the matte brown color from the Dior 5-Colour palette in Grege. Unfortunately I don't think Dior sells this palette anymore which is a shame because it is gorgeous (find my review of it HERE), but if you have it, here is how the rich matte brown in it compares with some other popular browns.

I hope this post was helpful for anyone looking for comparisons of these popular colors!

xxSJ

New Favorite: Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette

When I bought the bulk of my eyeshadows in my collection I was all about the glitter and shimmer! I have a TON of pretty shades but not a lot of matte shadows that will create a pretty, sophisticated, and basic look. I thought the least expensive and quickest way to get me a nice array of shadows would be to purchase the Naked Basics palette by Urban Decay. 

This little palette was so perfect for what I needed! It was $28 at Sephora for 6, 1.5g eyeshadows (for reference that is the same size as Urban Decay single pot shadows, the shadows in the Naked palettes, and MAC single eyeshadows). 

The colors from left to right are Venus, the only shimmery shade in the palette that is a great highlighter; Foxy, a yellowy bone-toned highlighter; Walk of Shame, a beigey pink shade; Naked2, a  taupe gray shade; Faint, a deep brown color; and Crave, a blackest black charcoal color.

All of these shades are buttery soft to the touch except for Crave which feels like a piece of charcoal. I don't mind it, though, because I think the texture helps make it so inky black! These shadows work so wonderfully on their own for an all matte, sophisticated look, and they also work fantastically to begin a look which you can add shimmer or colors to later.  This little palette is a seriously amazing addition to my makeup collection because I feel like I can just use this little guy for a work or school-appropriate eyeshadow look.  No fuss of reaching for a bunch of different palettes since everything I need is all in one place!

I highly recommend this little palette for its practicality, quality, and affordability.

xxSJ