NAKED 2 Review

Hey beauties! So first of all, apologies for being M.I.A for quite some time.. it appears that college has taken over my life, and with deadlines and exam season approaching (and rapidly, may I add), blogging will become difficult but we will power through!

So recently I had come to learn that I will be attending a grand total of.. wait for it.. three weddings! Many of you may be thinking, '3 weddings? That shouldn't be too difficult to style for, it's just three different outfits, three different hair styles, and three different make up looks, right?' WRONG. Let me fill you in here. You see, the thing with Indian weddings is that, we actually have one or two days leading up to the wedding, whereby traditional rituals and ceremonies are held, then the following day the wedding takes place, followed by a party in the evening should the bride and groom wish for it, and then the wedding reception which can be held either the day after, or even before the wedding. So that ultimately means, I have to create and style three different looks, for 3 different days, for three different weddings… *welp*

This is where Naked 2 comes into play. I had been searching for a versatile and exciting eyeshadow palette for quite some time, and to no avail. With custom MAC Palettes being out of my price range (by a long shot) I decided to try and test out Urban Decay's Naked Palette 2, as many of my friends had been raving on about both 1 and 3. So, why didn't I go with their advice and buy either one of those? Well to put it simply, I'd fallen in love with Naked 2s vast range of neutral taupes and mid tones, elevated with darker shades of browns and beiges and a charcoal black. It's the perfect palette for anybody who like me, can sometimes enjoys the attention being on your eyes but in other circumstances like your lips to do the talking (ha, no pun intended) - this eyeshadow palette does it all. 

Eyeshadow names from left to right: Foxy, Half-baked, Bootycall, Chopper, Tease, Snakebite, Suspect, Pistol,Verve, YDK, Busted, Blackout.

Foxy - is a nude, cream shade, with a matte finish. Although it looks oh so pretty as it is, I find it to be slightly chalky when applying it onto my lid, and therefore I only really use it as a base colour which is brilliant in that sense because the matte finish and neutral colour makes any other shadow I use on top, pop!

Half baked - is a bronze gold with a shimmery finish, beautiful if you are looking to create a subtle day time look, just pair it with chopper and YDK in your crease and boom. Perfect spring day look.

Bootycall - is again, a colour I would use as a base or along my brow bone, as I find it doesn't quite sit right against my skin tone, however I did recently use it along with Tease and Snakebite.. and I do really like that combination. It's a matte nude cream similar to foxy with a slight hint of rose in it.

Chopper - sooooo apparently Kim K's makeup artist used Chopper a lot when creating some of her beautiful make up looks.. eep! This shade is the most gorgeous deep copper, and although sometimes I find the shimmer can sort of fall out during application, the actual finish and colour is so gorgeous and rich it's pretty difficult to stay mad at it. I usually use this when creating a brown smoky eye look.

Tease - WOW. I love this! Okay so this matte shade is the most intriguing of all. It is a pale, yet creamy brown, with slight purple undertones..strange? Yes. But versatile and b-e-a-u-t? Most definitely. I recently did a friends make up and used tease all along the eye lid, followed by busted, blended into the crease, and finally finished it off with blackout, blended along the outer corners of the eye for the most amazing smoky eye which was carried off as an evening look.. something I would probably do myself for the wedding reception I have to attend. Because Tease isn't all that pigmented I would recommend using it for both day and evening looks.

Snakebite - another one of my favourites, Snakebite is a mid-brown shade with a shimmery finish, which is so so versatile, I use it for both day and evening looks, and it is especially effective if you would like to create a dark smoky eye. 

Suspect - I haven't actually used suspect myself yet, although it does look like it would pair well with chopper and half baked to create the ultimate subtle yet super cute spring look. It is a lovely taupe colour with a shimmery finish that I would recommend be used as perhaps an all over the eye lid jobby before blending Halfbaked into the crease finished off with Chopper or Snakebite in your outer eye corner. 

Pistol - Again, I've not used Pistol as I don't tend to wear silver on my eyes a lot, however after careful consideration, I think that it would look lovely if worn with perhaps Bootycall or even Verve and Blackout for the classic black smokey eye.

Verve - a gorgeous shimmery mushroomy taupe kind of colour.. another one that I haven't tried out yet but I can imagine it going quite well with pistol and perhaps even busted.

YDK - is a colour that I find is the most perfect shade for any skin tone, and applies like a dream! It can be paired with mostly any of the other eyeshadows in the palette, and is essential within this collection, as is Busted. It is a shimmery brown tone, with a slight gold finish which I love.

Busted - another one of my ultimate favourites! I absolutely fell in love with both this and Tease when I first laid eyes on this palette, and is very versatile. It is a very deep brown, with a hint of purple (I think?) and can be dressed up or down, and I find I will probably be using it a lot during wedding season, as you can create many different looks with it, it is build able and pigmented, so even the tiniest amount can look effective. A winner for me.

Blackout - finally. Naked 2 would not be complete without a charcoal black as I find that because many of the colours are taupe/beige based, the black just enhances and creates a versatile palette that like I said above, can be dressed up or down. A perfect finish to the collection!

Just a little look I created using - Tease all along the eye lid, followed by Busted blended in the crease of my eye, finished with winged eyeliner, and a soon to be reviewed drug store lippy!