Review & Swatches: Urban Decay Naked 2 Eyeshadow Palette

The beauty world banded together online at UrbanDecay.com last Thursday with a quickness. Rumor had it that Urban Decay would release a follow-up to the ever-popular NAKED palette that sold out time and time again after its release—and as suspected, they did release one. The latest rendition, NAKED 2 sold out so quickly that many didn’t even have a chance to scoop one up. As I watched the #Naked2 tweets roll by on my Twitter timeline, scores said they were ordering two! Now that’s some serious NAKED love! Now, now…if you didn’t have a chance to snag one—never fear. Urban Decay promises more are on the way, and I would definitely sign up for their waiting list here so you don’t miss the next release. They promise everyone who wants one will get one—just like with the original NAKED palette, more will be released and from what I hear—this is going to be a permanent item.

Did you know…

• The original NAKED palette sells at a rate of more than one a minute?

• After two years on the market, NAKED remains the beauty industry’s best-selling palette?

In the meantime, let’s ooh and ahh over NAKED 2, shall we? After a few days of tinkering around with mine, I think it’s well worth waiting for!  

The top is nicely embossed and the case is easy to open. It also snaps shut securely.

NAKED 2 is housed in a sturdy taupe, hinged case with a large interior mirror (much larger than the original NAKED palette). While I’m not really going to focus too much on the differences between NAKED 1 and 2, there are a few differences I can point out along the way. NAKED 2 also comes with a mini Lip Junkie lipgloss in Naked (sheer shimmery neutral pink), and also includes a full-size shadow brush inside the palette. This is a welcome addition for me, because most of my palettes have mini brushes. NAKED 2 includes a full-size dual end brush with both a crease and shadow brush (with their signature cruelty-free synthetic bristles). I really like the crease brush in here!

Okay, and for the Pièce de résistance…

The 12 eyeshadow shades! These shades are a little more on the cool-toned side and have more greiges and taupes than coppers like in the original NAKED palette (in which the shades are all a little warmer). Try to contain yourselves…I know I had a hard time myself—I was seriously “ooh-ing & ahh-ing” while swatching these!

All swatches were completed without any primer as to display the most accurate pigment payoff…

These shadows glide like buttah across my skin!

Here’s the shade breakdown:

**Blackout — darkest matte black
*Booty Call — shimmery cork
*Busted — deep brown shimmer
Chopper — copper shimmer with silver glitter
**Foxy — matte creamy bisque
Half Baked — golden bronze shimmer
*Pistol — light greige/brown shimmer
*Snake Bite — dark bronze metallic shimmer
**Suspect — pale golden beige shimmer
*Tease — pale matte creamy brown
**Verve — oyster shimmer
YDK — cool metallic bronze shimmer

*Indicates a brand new shade
**Indicates a shade not available as a shadow single

And last but certainly not least, swatches of the Lip Junkie gloss in NAKED:

Bottom Line: There’s not a single thing I personally can find wrong with NAKED 2, and I highly recommend it. Now, if you have the original NAKED—it’s going to be a personal choice for you whether you think both are necessary. NAKED 2 focuses on greige-y, cooler tones (with a few coppery ones thrown in), while the original definitely focuses on warmer, coppery shades. (Temptalia has great comparisons in this video.) It’s truly up to you which you’ll prefer, but I’m placing my bets on NAKED 2 this time around! This palette breaks down to $4.17 a shade with a free full-size dual-end shadow brush and mini gloss, which makes it cost effective to me. On my next trip, this will definitely be the palette that winds up hitching a ride with me in my suitcase!

Price & Availability: $50—UrbanDecay.com (get on the list!), and soon to be released (I think in January) at Sephora, sephora.com, beauty.com, ULTA, macys.com and select Macy’s locations.

An editorial sample was provided by the company and evaluated to determine our opinion of the product in this post. Please see the Disclosures page for further information regarding our policies for using editorial samples.